Leaving empty house in winter - what to turn off (merged threads)

jackieblack

Will be away for 16 nights over Christmas/New Year.
Have never left the house in winter before and not 100% sure what should be left on/off.
Am planning to leave the CH to come on am & pm, will an hour each time be enough?
Should I turn off the water in case of a burst pipe? Or if we're leaving the CH on should the water be left on? (Radiators)
Will have to leave the gas switched on, for the boiler, and the electric for the fridge/freezer.
Am I missing anything?

Also not sure what to do about curtains, open? Closed? Or half-way?

System

i would probably tend to leave it on constant at a low temperature, im not sure 2 hours a day would be enough to stop pipes freezing if theres a very cold snap.

ariba10

When we go away for a month in winter.

We set the C H to come on for an hour at 2.00 am. (Normaly the coldest time of the day)

Never had a problem."

Biggles

Yes, turn the water off at the mains and leave the heating on 24/7 at a setting of around 10-12°C. It will then cut in when needed and should keep any part of your house from freezing.

If your hot water is heated via a loft tank, you could also leave the loft hatch open to prevent the pipework up there from freezing.

Curtains open as usual unless you really want to advertise the fact that you're away.

Ebe_Scrooge

Most boilers should have a frost stat on them - meaning the boiler will kick in if the temperature drops too low, irrespective of the timer settings. As long as this is working correctly, then you shouldn't actually need to "manually" set the heating to come on.

jackieblack

CHRISSYG wrote: »

i would probably tend to leave it on constant at a low temperature, im not sure 2 hours a day would be enough to stop pipes freezing if theres a very cold snap.

Blimey!
We don't have it on that much when we're at home!

We do have relatives/neighbours who could pop in and 'boost' the heating for a couple of hours if it got really cold :think:
(They'll be popping in to check things and pick up post anyway.)

We have had two occasions when the boiler has broken down during very cold weather (deep snow on the ground both times) and we were without any heating at all for about 10 days. Pipes were ok then so I'm pretty confident that they're fairly well insulated)

jackieblack

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Most boilers should have a frost stat on them - meaning the boiler will kick in if the temperature drops too low, irrespective of the timer settings. As long as this is working correctly, then you shouldn't actually need to "manually" set the heating to come on.

I know a lot do, ours doesn't though (at least not as far as I know, if it has it's never 'kicked in')

jackieblack

Biggles wrote: »

Yes, turn the water off at the mains and leave the heating on 24/7 at a setting of around 10-12°C. It will then cut in when needed and should keep any part of your house from freezing.

We have thermostatic radiator valves, numbered 1-5, I have no idea what 10-12°C would be.

Biggles wrote: »

If your hot water is heated via a loft tank, you could also leave the loft hatch open to prevent the pipework up there from freezing.

Hot water tank in airing cupboard on landing, but fed from a cold water tank in the loft. Would leaving the airing cupboard door open help?

Biggles wrote: »

Curtains open as usual unless you really want to advertise the fact that you're away.

Wouldn't open curtains during darkness (from about 3pm here) advertise that just as much?

jimbo_the_jetset

Timer switch for a lamp or christmas lights to come on at a set time. I think you can get digital ones now which even have a random setting.

Otherwise a friend or neighbour to open/close curtains and keep an eye out.

jackieblack

jimbo_the_jetset wrote: »

Timer switch for a lamp or christmas lights to come on at a set time. I think you can get digital ones now which even have a random setting.

Otherwise a friend or neighbour to open/close curtains and keep an eye out.

No Christmas lights (we aren't going to be here) and not keen on a timer switch as an acquaintance has recently had a house fire caused by a timer switch getting hot :eek:

Will have someone popping in, but don't feel I can ask them to do so twice a day to open/close curtains, particularly over the festive period.

jackieblack

Thanks for all your advice
Sorry if I appear difficult - conflicting advice always makes my head, indecisive at the best of times, go all 'swirly' :(