Do I need to leave central heating on when you away in Dec?

toshsam

diywhynot wrote: »

What minimum temp. does your buildings insurance require?

Do building insurance usually say about min temp require?

I only remember it ask me if I will be away over 30 days. May be I need to have a look when back home

Biggles

toshsam wrote: »

BTW, I am at west midlands. I don't expect -20 degree here.

England's lowest ever temperature, -26º, was in the West Midlands......

macman

sillygoose wrote: »

I always thought the frost stat was to protect the boiler rather than the house by watching the temperature in the area the boiler is in (mine is in the garage and the frost stat is right next to it)

But where the boiler is may not be the coldest part of the house, as other have said I leave the heating on with around 10 degrees on the house thermostat.

Also remember other areas, one year I lost an expensive steam generator iron due to it freezing and bursting. It had been left in the conservatory and I had switched off the heating out there whilst away.

It's usually measured from the CH flow pipe if you have one built in. Obviously with a boiler in a garage, it's much more likely to kick in.
However in most circumstances your cold water supply pipes are far more likely to freeze before your CH circuit does.

macman

toshsam wrote: »

Thanks all.
I will leave it on 24/7 at low temp


BTW, I am at west midlands. I don't expect -20 degree here.

If there is a frost 'stat already fitted, why?
And what is your definition of 'low temp'?

Ectophile

diywhynot wrote: »

What minimum temp. does your buildings insurance require?

Do any buildings insurance policies actually say what temperature you must heat your house to? I've never seen such a clause.

diywhynot

Ectophile wrote: »

Do any buildings insurance policies actually say what temperature you must heat your house to? I've never seen such a clause.

Direct Line
Hiscox


Good idea to check folks, winter will be with us soon.

Biggles

diywhynot wrote: »

Direct Line
Hiscox

Good idea to check folks, winter will be with us soon.

Well, to be exact, they both say they don't cover loss/damage caused by water escape when the home is unoccupied unless the heating is maintained at a minimum of 10º or the water is shut off.

Shutting the water off was recommended above in any event.

sooty&sweep

Hi
A few years ago we went away over xmas and thought we would save money and turn the heating off.
When we came back the house was so cold we had to have the heating & fire on max.
What we'd not thought about was the house itself absorbs heat & helps maintain an even temperature. We'd lost that and so the house was freezing cold.
We always leave the heating on as normal but just turn it down a little.

Jen

evoke

Just leave the thermostat at 14-16 degrees Celsius.

Biggles

10-12ºC is adequate for frost protection.

As regards the house being cold when you get home, if you have a seven-day programmer, and you know you get home on, say, the Sunday night, you can set Sunday (if necessary, each Sunday) to your normal temperature to ensure the house is reasonably warm by the time you arrive.