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

Derry_Rhumba

In the all day/timed debate, someone mentioned thermal mass. This is really important. Think of it like this - masonry take ages to heat up but keeps the heat for a relatively long time. So, if you have external insulation, it takes relatively longer to heat your home than if you have internal insulation, but the heat lasts for a while. Anyone who has returned to an old unheated stone-built house in winter will know it can literally takes days to get it up to a comfortable ambient temperature.

Most insulted homes these days have a cavity fill of some type, which lies somewhere between pure external and pure internal.

So there is some wisdom in keeping the heating in most homes on constantly (or intermittently) to retain the ambient heat. Unless of course you have purely internal insulation or live in an attic flat, where the thermal mass is minimal and the heat comes and goes almost as quick as it is delivered.

On the doors closed in unheated rooms debate I also disagree with the advice. I work in property management and see tenants complaining of 'dampness' constantly, when in fact they have unused rooms lying cold and any moisture in the property just hits the cold walls. The answer is pay to keep the room moderately heated and if you can't afford it move to a smaller home!

wantanswers

grahamc2003 wrote: »

I'm not really sure of your question. But anyhow, I think I'd advise jumping into an extremely hot bath, and making a seasonal yet funky turkey and pea soup.

Na Graham, that's using excessive energy, 'free' prescription stuff is much cheaper.

Anyway whats with this 1W idea is it worthwhile trying?

wantanswers

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

According to the title "all day" which i assume means day approx 7am ish until 10pm ish, both Cardew and myself keep it on all day so it appears to have advantages ie cheaper.

So has the myth been busted?

Cardew

wantanswers wrote: »

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

According to the title "all day" which i assume means day approx 7am ish until 10pm ish, both Cardew and myself keep it on all day so it appears to have advantages ie cheaper.

So has the myth been busted?

I am assuming you are joking!

wantanswers

Just an update on Possible Energy savings.

Normally I’ve been running the heating system on timed set up between 7am – 9pm. However, recently with the cold spell the house (living area – not bedroom) temperature has been dropping to around 15C even on one occasion to 13C after 9pm until 7am. During the day the furnace modulates ok and maintains the set temp of 20C sometimes reduced to 19C or even 18C depending on outside conditions, sunny, warmer etc or if we are out for some length of time.

Whilst we are having this cold spell I noted the internal temperature drops significantly after 9pm until 7am and the warm up time next morning is considerable and uses substantial gas in raising the temperature from its lowest to 20C. I then decided, as an experiment, to set the programmer to 24 hour setting with a night set-back of 17C (living area). At 17C I found that around 4am the boiler fired and maintained ignition for 10 minutes keeping the room temperature at 17C then igniting a further twice at 10 minutes until 7am when the stat was increased to 20C. During the night the outside temperature fell below zero and even after 7am remaining at zero.

By maintaining a temperature of 17C I found the furnace lit for a total of 30 minutes during the night time setting, in my case using approx 6kwhr @ cost approx 4p (inc vat) Kwhr = 24p or £1.68 per week or over a winter period of say 4 months £201.80. However the warm up time (from 7am) is considerably reduced thus the overall effect is I save money. Apart from the savings in gas I get frost protection in severe conditions and generally keep the rooms at a set temperature.

Has anyone tried something similar and achieving savings or alternatively is it costing more?

jackyann

I want to thank all of those who have debated this sensibly, as last year, when I made a similar point to Cardew's I was ridiculed.
I have over many years lived in different kinds of dwellings, with different kinds of heating. Sometimes, the occupants have been fit adults out at work 12 hours a day, sometimes with vulnerable people (elderly, ill, small children) and sometimes shift workers.
I have found that in terms of comfort level per £, probably the biggest factor is insulation, followed by the responsiveness / efficiency of the heating system, as this determines how long the rooms take to get up to heat. If you get in at 7pm and only just get comfortable by 10pm then, whatever the physics, you are wasting money (and might be cheaper down the pub!). Room "flow" is also a big factor, if you are not heating all of the rooms.
If you are keeping the heating on 24 hours a day, then you really need very good, properly positioned thermostats.
However, once, in a very poorly insulated flat (we were not allowed to do any major work) with no central heating, we found our cheapest way of upping the comfort was to buy an expensive slow-burning coke and keep the fire in all the time, at a slow a level as we could.
I am about to spend my first winter in our self-build, insulated to a high standard (we got an A!) with underfloor central heating and a mechanical heat recovery pump. We are keeping the heating on permanently (as advised for underfloor) - waiting to see how much it costs!

knightrider_2

hubb wrote: »

I was bought up in a house with just a coal fire. No heating in my bedroom as a child. I survived.

I grew up in a house with no broadband and I managed fine too. Was in the 70s mind

wantanswers

knightrider wrote: »

I grew up in a house with no broadband and I managed fine too. Was in the 70s mind

My two young children grew up in a house where windows would ice over during winter nights. Before dawn I would lay and light the coal fire just to try and get some warmth into the house before they awoke. Later in 1974 if not for the goodwill of parents and friends and having to creep out in the middle of the night to scrounge coal from local slag heaps, whom Heath told the Police to guard and prosecute anyone caught (scrounging) doing so, I dread to think of their health to this day!

Later in 84, oh that Thatcher year, Green Goddesses arriving full to the brim with ‘met thugs’, billeted in comfort, fed with the best, porno films for their entertainment during there breaks from picket line duty, whilst wives and children were manning soup kitchens for striking husbands and sons…..Happy days!

Boxman

wantanswers wrote: »

Later in 1974 if not for the goodwill of parents and friends and having to creep out in the middle of the night to scrounge coal from local slag heaps, whom Heath told the Police to guard and prosecute anyone caught (scrounging) doing so, I dread to think of their health to this day!

Later in 84, oh that Thatcher year, Green Goddesses arriving full to the brim with ‘met thugs’, billeted in comfort, fed with the best, porno films for their entertainment during there breaks from picket line duty, whilst wives and children were manning soup kitchens for striking husbands and sons…..Happy days!

Lets keep the political stuff out of here - the miners took on the democratically elected government in 1984 and lost. Get over it and stop trying to be a martyr.

wantanswers

Boxman wrote: »

Lets keep the political stuff out of here - the miners took on the democratically elected government in 1984 and lost. Get over it and stop trying to be a martyr.

Oh, i'm well over it and thankfully so - I hated having to clean the fire out and re-lay it, managed to set the chimney alight a few times though but memories of scavenging coal to keep children warm is something you never forget nor watching big butch coppers waving fivers in kids faces whilst they (kids) huddled over open wood burning stoves.

BTW I wasn't a miner at the time (just sat in the middle of the coppers) but know lots who were.

Anyway I agree about keeping Politcal Stuff out of here, now whats your thoughts on saving money with all day heating or are you one of those who is paid expenses as part of a remuneration package ....so really don't have an opinion?