MERGED: Should heating / water be left on?

Cardew

Anyone who maintains it is cheaper to leave heating/hot water on all the time - cos it costs more to heat up from cold - should perhaps leave the kettle boiling all the time - cos it costs more to heat it up from cold - or saucepans of water simmering on the stove - cos it costs more to heat it up from cold!

Same mistaken principle.

mikemoate

Energy Advice Urban Myths or Simple Truths?

http://www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice/mythstruths.htm#answer3

Advice re a lot of the issues covered in this thread.

rubix_76

mikemoate wrote:

Energy Advice Urban Myths or Simple Truths?

http://www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice/mythstruths.htm#answer3

Advice re a lot of the issues covered in this thread.

I stand corrected ! :T

I have obvously sucked in by the first myth on this page. Thanks for the link mikemoate, very interesting.

Well if we turn the flourescent tubes off (and the enrgy savers) we might further reduce our elec bill even more from the 2400kWh we use a year.

I was suprised how much peoples bills are (ref the "how much are your bills" pole on MSE)

Rubix

gzed

Cardew wrote:

Anyone who maintains it is cheaper to leave heating/hot water on all the time - cos it costs more to heat up from cold - should perhaps leave the kettle boiling all the time - cos it costs more to heat it up from cold - or saucepans of water simmering on the stove - cos it costs more to heat it up from cold!

Same mistaken principle.

Exactly. I was reading through this post for interest and was quiet shock to read that some keep the heating on (even on low) all the time. The efficiency of new boiler/heaters and appliance is really good and that would be such a waste of energy to have them on 24/7.
You'll save more money by replacing an old boiler or dish washer and first of all house insulation is where you can really save some £££s.

I've lived in the Alps for 25 years and I've never had the heating on during week days when we're at work. Only mornings and evenings obviously and all time at WE (in the winter).

philgee

New link for NEF - http://www.nef.org.uk/actonCO2/energymyths.htm

Been trying to reduce our energy consumption recently. Used to have the boiler on 2 hours in the morning, 3 at night for hot water. Now it's just on for 1 hour in the evening 5 days, and 2 hours on 2 days (bath nights!). Washer & dishwasher use cold water feed only, and have electric shower. Just got gas bill and payments reduced by £19pm. Will see what happens in the winter!

lizzyb1812

Excellent link - thanks!

We have recently changed the programming on our central heating/hot water. The most significant change has been to set the water to be heated just once a day, for an hour in the morning before we get up. That does us one bath, one shower and one sink of water for dishwashing which is done once a day. Washing machine is cold fill. There are just the 2 of us and one is out 4 days a week. So far the "one tank a day" system seems OK and there is usually enough lukewarm water left during the day to make washing hands etc comfortable enough.

We're going to check consumption over the next month. But I do wish I could find out the following: if the heating (gas central heating) is on for 4 hours per evening anyway, does it cost more to have the hot water heating on as well for some/all of that time? ie is it more efficient to heat my "one tank a day" when the central heating is on?

I konw we will be saving anyway as we've set our programmer - which does weekdays and weekends separately - to suit our current lifestyle and have set the thermostat a bit lower as well as changing from two tanks a day to one. But any further improvements that could be made without sacrificing comfort would be great.

Any thoughts?

Lizzyb1812

oldskoo1

This is also interesting to me

We used to have our hot water on for the same time as our central heating; twice a day for about 40mins in morning and 4 hours in evening.

Since we setup the water to heat for 30mins and morn and 1 hour in evening our bill has come down quite a bit.


However now its getting cold the question is leaving the central heating on 18 all day or have it at around 20-22 twice a day. Some people say its cheaper to leave it on lower all day some people say its stupid.

We have a well insulated house, 250mm loft, cavity filled walls, 10yr/old, all UPVC DG, detached. Seems to keep the heat ok.

So would love to know what is best. I will probably try to measure consumption soon. Problem is we have a newborn so its important to maintain 18 anyway.

Cardew

oldskoo1 wrote: »

However now its getting cold the question is leaving the central heating on 18 all day or have it at around 20-22 twice a day. Some people say its cheaper to leave it on lower all day some people say its stupid.

So would love to know what is best. I will probably try to measure consumption soon. Problem is we have a newborn so its important to maintain 18 anyway.

Your question simply cannot be answered by anyone as there are too many unknown factors.

It is like asking which will get me to my destination quicker, cruising at 40mph or a couple of flat out dashes at 100mph and then pull over. - Think about it!!

Firstly despite what some hardy individuals will say, 18C(64F) is too low for comfort for most people. 20C is the minimum for most people and many will like it considerably warmer.

Incidentally the temperature as set on the dial of a room thermometer can be so inaccurate to be meaningless!

A well insulated house loses heat very slowly, so properly heated to a genuine 22C it will take a long while to drop to 18C.

The solution is to fit Thermostatic Valves to each radiator and heat each room to an acceptable level as required.

kmckee999

I am so glad iv stumbled over this thread, my husband and i have been having this conversation for months now, but no evidence to prove which would be cheaper....
Heating on all day on low???
OR Set on a timer for few hours in the morning and few at night??

Although a little confused from all what people have said...

We have combi boiler new last year and think im right in saying to keep to original ways of the timer morning and night?
Our thermostat is in the hallway which is quite cold from the front door so what temp would be best to set it at??

Thank u for any help and advice
Kate

Mark_Hewitt

We had a damp expert person around our house recently and he said we didn't have any particular problems but to take into account moisture in the winter. i.e. Just having your heating on for a few hours in the evening is not sufficient to drive all the condensation out of the house, and much of the heating is actually going to get rid of that first, before it actually heats up the house properly.

He recommended keeping the heating on all day, but at a low setting, and increasing it in the evening, rather than just having it on in the evening and completely off during the day.

He didn't claim this was the most cost effective way, however.

However last winter we used our timer termostat to just turn the heating on at 4pm so when we arrive home just after 5 the house is nice and warm, then again to turn it off at 9pm before we go to bed. Likewise turn it on for an hour in the morning when we get up. And entirely different settings for the weekend!