What's the cheapest way to run my heating?

London_Town

Looking ahead to the autumn, I wonder if someone could please give me advice on how best to manage my new central heating to keep my bills as low as possible?

I've had a new condenser boiler, all new radiators with TRV's, all new pipe work and a remote control thermostat that I can move around.

I live alone and am out at work all day. Would it be best to put my thermostat at 15 degrees to keep a background heat all the time, then just increase it if I need it in the evening? I had planned to not have it on at all when I'm not there and just fire it up when I get home but I've been told a constant background heat is cheaper to run. I really struggle to get my head round that one!

Also, if I keep the heat on low when I'm not there, which room would be best to place the thermostat in, does it make a difference when I'm not at home?

Finally, the TRV's, what the best setting to run the radiators economically? I really can't afford to pay a penny more for my heating than I have to, so I need to plan ahead.

Thanks to anyone that can provide constructive advice on these issue.

Jaynne

Would you keep a pan on your hob on low so it was quicker to heat up when you came to cooking?

Ultimately everything wants to return its temperature to the level of its surroundings so if its colder than 15C and thats what you set your thermostat to your heat is just going to go straight outside.

TRVs you should set to the lowest temperature that you want for that room, so if its a spare room you don't use close the door and set it to 1 or anti frost. Watch out for any condensation build up and if so ventilate the room or turn the thermostat up.

southcoastrgi

Jaynne wrote: »

Would you keep a pan on your hob on low so it was quicker to heat up when you came to cooking?

Ultimately everything wants to return its temperature to the level of its surroundings so if its colder than 15C and thats what you set your thermostat to your heat is just going to go straight outside

No I don't agree, providing your house has a certain amount of insulation then it is far better to leave the heating on low ie 12-15, if you let the fabric of the building cool down too much then not only will it take longer to heat the rooms but it will cost more, you shouldn't keep moving your stat around it should be in the room that doesn't have a trv (normally the hall) the trv's are fitted to do a job ie control the heat from the rad they are fitted to & they can't do that if your stat is constantly turning off the heating, fit the stat to the wall & leave it there & use the trv's to control the temp in the individual rooms that's what they are there for.

Take the pan thing, if the water is already warm/hot how long & how much less gas does it take to boil ? much less than if the water was cold, a cold house will take hrs to heat up so by the time you get in from work & you have finally got it to where you want it then it's time for bed, so as you may have gathered my advice is to leave it on low.

sk240

When you first start using the heating, close all of the doors and set all of the trv's.I would say probably about 18 in bedrooms, 21 in dining/living room, kitchen and bathrooms.
Turn them right down in rooms you don't use.
That way they cannot heat up too much and will shut themselves off, you may need a thermometer to set them.
Also apparently the boiler runs most efficient at its highest temp settings for the heating, set the hot water to around 60-65 degrees C.
As for how you run your heating depends totally on your house, if its well insulated you could turn it off and it should heat up again fairly quickly (as it should have kept most of the heat)
If not very well insulated (you can usually get this for free these days) then you will need to keep the heating low all the time.
My place is really poor at holding the temps (mobile home) so i installed an automatic main thermostat that changes the temps on its own (you need to set it at what temps and when) so that i cannot forget.


Sean

London_Town

Thank you all for the replies.

I recently had cavity wall insulation and extra loft insulation so the fabric of the house should be pretty good at keeping heat in.

Keith - thanks your theory does explain what I've been told before but perhaps struggled to understand. I can see that the fabric of the building will take much longer to heat up if it has got very cold with no heating.

However, I don't understand your comment about putting my stat in the hallway. Yes, there's no TRV on that radiator, but it can still seem cold due to the poorly insulated old front door.

I thought by having the stat in the lounge then the heating will click off sooner as that room must get warmer more quickly? What am I missing here?

southcoastrgi

The room stat should be controlled by a rad without a trv it's called a boiler interlock, if you have the stat set at say 25 in a room with a trv set at 20 then the room will never get hot enough to switch off the stat so there is no point in having the stat in the first place (although a stat is req under building regs), the room stat should be positioned away from any drafts, NOT on an outside wall & 1.5m from the floor, take another situation you go to bed & take the stat with you, you like a cool bedroom so you set the stat at 12 when the bedroom reaches that temp the heating will switch off but everyone else in the lounge wants the temp at 22 so they are freezing cold, I know this may not apply to you I'm just using it as an example, the rad without the trv should control the temp of the room stat not the other way around & just let the trv's do their job. I hope that's abit clearer I know it can get confusing.

foxwales

Turn your heating off, put more clothes on. :T

StuC75

London_Town wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies.

I recently had cavity wall insulation and extra loft insulation so the fabric of the house should be pretty good at keeping heat in.

Keith - thanks your theory does explain what I've been told before but perhaps struggled to understand. I can see that the fabric of the building will take much longer to heat up if it has got very cold with no heating.

However, I don't understand your comment about putting my stat in the hallway. Yes, there's no TRV on that radiator, but it can still seem cold due to the poorly insulated old front door.

I thought by having the stat in the lounge then the heating will click off sooner as that room must get warmer more quickly? What am I missing here?

If you want to put the stat in the living room; then dont use the TRV in that room (set that to Max); instead use the Thermostat to set the temperature that you want in the room..

As earlier poster put, if the stat is 22, and the radiator is 20.. then it never gets warm enough to shut off - so will keep working..

Think of it this way the Thermostat controls the whole system on/off, and the individual trvs control the rooms.. so put the thermostat where you want to control the most..and set the other rooms accordingly (+/- from this)..

southcoastrgi

StuC75 wrote: »

If you want to put the stat in the living room; then dont use the TRV in that room (set that to Max); instead use the Thermostat to set the temperature that you want in the room..

As earlier poster put, if the stat is 22, and the radiator is 20.. then it never gets warm enough to shut off - so will keep working..

Think of it this way the Thermostat controls the whole system on/off, and the individual trvs control the rooms.. so put the thermostat where you want to control the most..and set the other rooms accordingly (+/- from this)..

That's all well & good but what about the hall rad blasting away with no control ? & what's the point of having two stats (trv & room stat doing the same thing ?) that's not how a correctly installed heating system is designed to work, there are plenty of threads on here asking "should there be a trv on the rad where my room stat is" & the answer from everyone is a resounding no, I rest my case.

fwor

keithgillyon wrote: »

it is far better to leave the heating on low ie 12-15, if you let the fabric of the building cool down too much then not only will it take longer to heat the rooms but it will cost more

Sorry, but this part is simply not true.

If you want the ~cheapest~ method of running your heating, it never makes sense to have the heating on low when you aren't there. Averaged over time, it will always cost more to maintain heat in a building than it will to re-heat it from cold.

As Jaynne says, all the time you keep the house above the temperature outside you will be paying for heat that simply leaves the building. Insulation will slow the process, but cannot stop it - and windows, for example, are poor insulators, even when double glazed.

Turn it off when you're not there. If you are concerned about how quickly it will warm up when you get in, set the timer for it to fire up 20 minutes before you normally get in.

[Edit: I should add that the one situation where it ~does~ make sense to have the heating on low is when it's sub-zero outside for long periods, to prevent pipes in the house from freezing up!]

cyclonebri1

As a householder everyone tells me it's more economic to keep the heat level at "low" at all times then up it when you are in.

I tried it once and got burnt, ok, not scientific but I don't get heating a house when you aren't in, unless it's coal fired, in which case everything is 3 hours behind. IE, warming up and cooling down,

And yes, in answer to the poster who mentioned clothing.

When my missus says "It'a cold in here", the answer is simple, "put another jumper on then"



Sod fashion.