Have you put your heating on yet?

SleeplessinSuffolk

Of course we all want to pay as low a price for our energy as we can... but the other side of the coin is that we should strive to use as little energy as possible - but without our efforts impinging on our health and comfort.
But apart from the tired (but important) advice to insulate, turn down 'THE THERMOSTAT' and renew ageing boilers, there is little advice encouraging people to save money by installing 21st century heating controllers. This lack of advice is reflected in the many comments here about turning down 'THE THERMOSTAT' (singular).
Last year we installed a home automation system. Yes - compared to a thermostat it was expensive. But we've had it a year now and our gas bill year on year is 58% lower (that's kWhr not £). I think the system will pay for itself in about 45 months.
Yet these systems are often seen as the preserve of geeks and spendthrifts. To be avoided by the technophobes. I had to buy and install it myself - all the local plumbers and electricians advised against it: "too expensive" ..."too complicated"... "too unreliable" etc.. euphemisms for "we don't really know how to install this and most of our customers are happy with a little dial they can turn".
Traditional thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) are yesterday's news. Most people have them in bedrooms, studies, and other non-main living areas. These folk use 'THE THERMOSTAT' to control the temperature of their living room and twiddle the TRVs to get some heat in other areas. But it's far from ideal. For example it means wasting energy heating your bedrooms all day, though they're still a bit chilly when getting ready for bed. Often "THE THERMOSTAT" is used in conjunction with "THE TIMER". People set "THE TIMER" to switch on the heating at, say, 4:30pm. The boiler comes on and switches off when the thermostat reaches the set temperature. But just WHEN the room reaches the desired temperature depends on outside temperature and heat demand from other parts of the house.
Here's how my system works:
The main living areas and bedrooms have valves fitted to the radiators that are wirelessly controlled from a little touch screen panel similar in looks to a small tablet pc. It's not cost effective to fit these valves in bathrooms or other infrequently used rooms - retain your old manually operated valves here.
You can set the room temperature of any room with a wireless valve from the controller - and you can also set individual rads to come on and off when required.
You need to be aware that when, for example, you set the living room for 18.5 at 4:30pm, you're telling the system to have the room at 18.5 AT 4:30. The system LEARNS how long it takes to heat up the living room and will switch on the heating at an appropriate time BEFORE 4:30 so that the desired temperature is reached at 4:30. The heating up is real quick, because, unlike a traditional heating system all the wirelessly controlled rads in the bedrooms are OFF so the boiler's output is going to the living room ONLY (except for a little to the infrequently used rooms that still have traditional thermostatic valves fitted.
Bedrooms can be programmed to switch on at suitable times for their occupants (children, shift workers etc). For example during normal work weekdays we have the living room go off at 10:00pm and the our bedroom ON from 10p.m. until 11p.m. (at 18C.) So we are getting ready for bed in a snug room that is only heated for an hour per day, rather than a cool room that's been getting a little heat for as long as the boiler has been on.
The programmer has, in addition to its normal 7 day program (independent for each room), the option for several additional programs. For example, we have one for 'half term' and another for 'Xmas', when additional bedrooms might need heating, and we might be in the house in weekdays.
In answer to the question 'when did you switch your heating on?' - well we never switch ours off!! The system will Never allow any room to fall below 14 while the house is occupied. If we go for a winter break, we can set it to frost protect, and nowhere ever falls below 5. Before we go, we tell the system when we'll be back, and arrive home to a toasty house.
The system also allows fine, daily control of the hot water from the control panel.
So if the comfort in every room and large fuel savings are the plusses - are there any down sides?
Well the wireless valves make a little whirring noise for several seconds from time to time as they make small adjustments to the flow rate of hot water.
The system can only maintain temperature differentials between different rooms if the doors are kept shut.
You'll have difficulty finding an electrician with any enthusiasm to install this system.
The radiator valves and wireless hot water cylinder thermostat run on AA batteries. They send a 'battery low' signal to the controller, but I've decided to replace all batteries each October when the boiler is serviced.
To get full benefit from the system, you need to make the effort to learn how to use all the features on the controller - but for the increase in comfort and the money saving it's well worth the effort.

GlynD

SleeplessinSuffolk your post is virtually unreadable because you haven't split it into paragraphs. I see you're new and that means you haven't yet adjusted to the needs of this particular site. Text just doesn't work here in a huge continuous lump.

Would you ever be so kind as to press the edit button and split it up or would you prefer I reproduce it for you and do the editing on your behalf?

mrjoet

As I'm a geek and people could save money:

Heat transfer is directly proportional to the temperature gradient meaning if you maintain your house constantly at a high temperature (keep your heating on all the time) more heat energy (which you pay for) will be lost from your home.

Therefore to save money heat your house only when you need it!

GlynD

mrjoet wrote: »

As I'm a geek and people could save money:

Heat transfer is directly proportional to the temperature gradient meaning if you maintain your house constantly at a high temperature (keep your heating on all the time) more heat energy (which you pay for) will be lost from your home.

Therefore to save money heat your house only when you need it!

I would wholeheartedly agree with this. I'm no expert but I'm sure I've seen this mentioned in other forums on this site and on independent sites too. I comply with this and I'm never cold.

stevemcol

Sleeplessinsuffolk

Interesting post. I didn't notice the lack of paragraphs and it certainly didn't inhibit my ability to read ;-)
Which system have you got? How does your gas usage compare before and after? What payback period do you anticipate?

LimeLight

February 2012 was the last time I had my heating on

stevemcol

LimeLight wrote: »

February 2012 was the last time I had my heating on

What's your secret? Or do you just have no choice?

GlynD

Ours isn't on today. We just don't feel we need it as it feels quite warm.

stevemcol wrote: »

Sleeplessinsuffolk

Interesting post. I didn't notice the lack of paragraphs and it certainly didn't inhibit my ability to read ;-)
Which system have you got? How does your gas usage compare before and after? What payback period do you anticipate?

I respectfully ask you to note that my advice to Sleepless was intended to help him/her and everyone else who reads this thread. Most posters, in my fairly comprehensive experience on this site, will simply not read a post which is just a jumble of words. This has been commented on time and time again by others and the general consensus is to be polite and ask the poster to break it up for those who are having difficulty. Remember we have lots of silver surfers using this site so we, the membership, try to make it as friendly as possible.

stevemcol

Glyn, Grammar on the internet has gone to pot, I agree. But if all we did was comment eveytime we thought a post wasn't up to scratch, we'd never read anything.
I notice you're quite new to the forum yourself. I guess your first couple of posts weren't pulled apart for their grammar or phrasing, otherwise you might have taken yourself off elsewhere.

GlynD

stevemcol wrote: »

Glyn, Grammar on the internet has gone to pot, I agree. But if all we did was comment eveytime we thought a post wasn't up to scratch, we'd never read anything.
I notice you're quite new to the forum yourself. I guess your first couple of posts weren't pulled apart for their grammar or phrasing, otherwise you might have taken yourself off elsewhere.

Steve I don't want this to become a long drawn out argument between us. The ethos of my post was to be helpful and to pass on a tip to a very new poster. It wasn't pedantry.

I never criticise for spelling or grammar because that isn't helpful.

If it's of any help to you I'd like to cut and paste the first item from the forum etiquette which you can find above and to the left of centre:

Please be nice to all MoneySavers : There's no such thing as a stupid question and, even if you disagree, courtesy helps.

Now if you don't mind I think that explains my actions very well and my respectful suggestion is that we discontinue further discussion on the issue because we're taking the thread off topic.

Is that ok with you?