Boiler and room stat settings?

neil_9999

Hi there,

We've recently moved in to a house and for the first time have had prepayment utility meters.

To give some background, both this, and our last house are almost identical 3 bed terrace houses.

In our previous property (on credit meters) we were paying £135 per month, £75 gas, £60 electric. This house seems to be £140 gas and £40 electric - a staggering increase for similar houses.

We have had a brand new Baxi Duo Tech boiler condensing boiler installed and for the first time in my life, a room thermostat. There are no TRVs. In the past I've always put the heating on when its cold and turned it off when its hot. But having this room thermostat raises a few questions...

What should the CH temp on the boiler be set at?

And is it more cost effective to leave the heating on constant and set the room stat to say 19 and never touch it again? Leaving the boiler to click in and out as needed.

If not, what is?


There seems to be lots of theories out there but nothing that gives a simple answer.


Thanks

SuzieSue

Why have you got prepayment meters? They are the most expensive way to pay for energy.

neil_9999

They were already in the house when we moved in. In the process of getting them changed, but another month to wait. Is at least free though...

southcoastrgi

if it's a brand new boiler then you should have had trv's fitted to comply with the building regs, it's not an option

neil_9999

Hmm...don't think we have. They are just standard taps to turn the rads off.

southcoastrgi

so unless you turn the rads off then you are wasting gas heating up rooms you either don't need or to a higher temp than you want

Biggles

southcoastrgi wrote: »

so unless you turn the rads off then you are wasting gas heating up rooms you either don't need or to a higher temp than you want

No, you adjust the lockshield valve (at the other end from the tap) so each room is at the temperature you want it.

robatwork

From memory of previous discussions the consensus is:

Boiler on about 3/4 of max
HW tank on about 55 if you have one
Turn heating off when you don't need it rather than leave on all day keeping an empty house at 19

I keep my tank at 60, just extra cautious about killing off bugs and I don't have anyone "vulnerable" in the house.

cattie

The question regarding cost of having heating on low constantly versus putting it on at a higher temperature only when needed has been asked many times on this board. The answer has always been it is more cost effective to only put the heating on when it is needed.

ohreally

Biggles wrote: »

No, you adjust the lockshield valve (at the other end from the tap) so each room is at the temperature you want it.

Isn't that the purpose of the trv?

I though the lockshield valve facilitated radiator balancing.

Biggles

ohreally wrote: »

Isn't that the purpose of the trv?

It would be if there were any. Do keep up ;-)