To heat or not to heat, that is the question

Katykat

OK, my conservatory is the standard, double glazed, Perspex roof. There is a radiator that runs from the main combi boiler. The conservatory is freezing in winter so it doesn't get used much. We have tended to leave the radiator on and it runs on a timer along with the rest of the radiators, usually from early morning until around 9.30 pm in winter. My reasoning is that the conservatory radiator is unnecessarily firing the boiler, which to my mind is a waste as we hardly use it in winter. However, many years ago, a gas engineer told my OH to keep radiators in unused rooms ticking over to avoid the rooms becoming damp. So which theory is right? We have a halogen electric heater that we could use if we really need to use the conservatory, so does it make more sense to turn that radiator off?

Cardew

IMO you shouldn't need to heat a room to prevent dampness, you should eliminate the reason for the ingress of moisture.

Heating a room just means that the warmer air can hold more moisture, but it will still condense of the windows - even if they are double glazed.

I have an annex that is left completely unheated(it has gas CH) in winter, and the heating is only on when there is a danger of pipes freezing; and there is no dampness.

If you do have a problem with ingress of moisture, it is better to buy a small dehumidifier.

dogshome

Unless you have your Thermostat actually in the conservatory, the Rad in the conservatory won't directly fire up the boiler, but indirectly the water return to the boiler will be much colder than that from the rest of the house, causing the boiler more work to bring it back up to temperauture.

If the conservatory is little used in the winter, why heat it at all? - It's a fair bet that the gas Engineers comment was based on rooms within the main structiure of the house.

Katykat

Very clearly explained Doggshome, Thank you. I wonder if you could answer another query, or if someone else could. We have radiators in every room which have individual thermo valves on them. We also have a gas fire in the living room which we have rarely used. The room thermostat is in the living room and in winter its usually set at 22 degrees or thereabouts in the mornings and evenings. I generally turn it down during the day when I'm in and out. We need to try and reduce our gas usage and I wondered if it would be more economic to use the gas fire in the living room which would keep the temperature in there ticking over and so the boiler wouldn't be firing as much. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. We have double glazing, wall insulation and good roof insulation.

jamesperrett

Katykat wrote: »

The room thermostat is in the living room and in winter its usually set at 22 degrees or thereabouts in the mornings and evenings.

22 degrees is pretty warm. I'd suggest turning it down a couple of degrees or maybe more.