Energy myth-busting: Is it cheaper to have heating on all day?

richardc1983

waqasahmed said:

Ultrasonic said:

waqasahmed said:

Ultrasonic said:

richardc1983 said:
Look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGs_biFA87Q 

Having watched that video it was actually more balanced than I was expecting, and doesn't present a 'low and slow is best for everyone' line that many may think.

I've read that keeping the heating on at a certain temp is recommended ONLY if you have decent insulation?

I'd suggest you watch the video.

(Keeping the same temperature 24/7 makes sense for pretty much nobody though, since at a minimum a lower temperature at night makes sense.) 

Thanks. I've watched that, and now even more confused In my parents house, they use gas where they only put heating on when needed

So you should perhaps leave it on x amount, but based on a timer? Or always leave it on, at least 16C? ALso, I personally get v warm at night anyway

If the video confused you then maybe the written article will be better for you…

https://www.heatgeek.com/should-your-heating-be-left-on-all-the-time-or-not/

anon_ymous

richardc1983 said:

waqasahmed said:

Ultrasonic said:

waqasahmed said:

Ultrasonic said:

richardc1983 said:
Look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGs_biFA87Q 

Having watched that video it was actually more balanced than I was expecting, and doesn't present a 'low and slow is best for everyone' line that many may think.

I've read that keeping the heating on at a certain temp is recommended ONLY if you have decent insulation?

I'd suggest you watch the video.

(Keeping the same temperature 24/7 makes sense for pretty much nobody though, since at a minimum a lower temperature at night makes sense.) 

Thanks. I've watched that, and now even more confused In my parents house, they use gas where they only put heating on when needed

So you should perhaps leave it on x amount, but based on a timer? Or always leave it on, at least 16C? ALso, I personally get v warm at night anyway

If the video confused you then maybe the written article will be better for you…

https://www.heatgeek.com/should-your-heating-be-left-on-all-the-time-or-not/

Thanks for that. My take from that as a tl;dr = put the setback temp as pretty much "room temperature" but lower it at night?

richardc1983

Lower it at night or when you are out. Lower the flow temp on the boiler though as well as the two go together.

Spies

Annoyingly it's quite a bit warmer today outside, so any adjustments I've made are really hard to assess. 

House does feel more comfortable today though. 

Astria

I accidentally left the heating on last night, woke up this morning a bit hot! But the surprising thing was that the boiler was on for the exact same amount of time as it normally takes for the house to warm up in the morning, so I guess it wasn't wasted. Probably used up more slightly energy as it was coming on approx each hour instead of on solid for an hour.

JohnSwift10

Astria said:

I accidentally left the heating on last night, woke up this morning a bit hot! But the surprising thing was that the boiler was on for the exact same amount of time as it normally takes for the house to warm up in the morning, so I guess it wasn't wasted. Probably used up more slightly energy as it was coming on approx each hour instead of on solid for an hour.

I've noticed that as well. 

When I turned the heating off when I went out for a few hours in the evening the total gas used for these hours was the same as if I hadn't turned it off.

Now the only time my heating is turned off is if I go out in the morning for the whole day.

richardc1983

Drip feeding heat in is better than asking it to run full tilt and not condensing. 

Ultrasonic

richardc1983 said:

Drip feeding heat in is better than asking it to run full tilt and not condensing. 

Unless more energy can be saved by having a longer period at lower temperature by not drip-feeding. This isn't black or white.

Northern_Wanderer

I set my boiler temp to 55C, the next morning it took 2 hours to warm to 19.5C in the house. That doesn't please me so I tried 60C and it was 1.5 hours to get to temperature. I've set it to 65C but the weather has warmed up now both in the day and overnight so I can't really compare may daily gas readings at this point to see what savings there might be. I may try again in the autumn if I dare use my heating at all by that point.

I would say that whilst my upstairs temps are fine with lower flow temp, my downstairs is struggling meaning I'd have to up the room thermostat which would seem to be counterproductive.

I guess the low boiler temperature 55C might work if you do have your heating all day and all night but not for me. Like others, I don't want to be continuously woken up by the boiler firing up. I also can't be assed fannying around with the thermostat before I go to bed and want it warm when I get up. I suspect you would need a clever (not a fan of the word smart with these things) programmable thermostat if you really wanted to use a set back temperature at night.

In any case, the manual for my boiler says that the condensing mode should kick in if the boiler output temp is set to 70C or below.

JohnSwift10

Northern_Wanderer said:

I set my boiler temp to 55C, the next morning it took 2 hours to warm to 19.5C in the house. That doesn't please me so I tried 60C and it was 1.5 hours to get to temperature. I've set it to 65C but the weather has warmed up now both in the day and overnight so I can't really compare may daily gas readings at this point to see what savings there might be. I may try again in the autumn if I dare use my heating at all by that point.

I would say that whilst my upstairs temps are fine with lower flow temp, my downstairs is struggling meaning I'd have to up the room thermostat which would seem to be counterproductive.

I guess the low boiler temperature 55C might work if you do have your heating all day and all night but not for me. Like others, I don't want to be continuously woken up by the boiler firing up. I also can't be assed fannying around with the thermostat before I go to bed and want it warm when I get up. I suspect you would need a clever (not a fan of the word smart with these things) programmable thermostat if you really wanted to use a set back temperature at night.

In any case, the manual for my boiler says that the condensing mode should kick in if the boiler output temp is set to 70C or below.

I had exactly the same result when I turned mine down as well.
I also, according to my smart meter, used the same amount of gas as the previous day when the boiler temp was higher.

My conclusion, if it takes 50 kWh of gas to heat your house to a certain temperature and maintain it at that temperature for 15 and 3/4 hours a day it will use that amount  regardless of the temperature of the water in the radiators.

I would rather the house heated up quicker and also the house feels more comfortable with a higher boiler temperature.