Leave heating on low or on timer - My experience

matelodave

Get a programmable thermostat and all the switching up & down of temperatures at different times is done for you automatically. Most of them will allow you to programme five or six different temperatures/times during the day. Most will allow a different programme for every day or a 5/2 regime for those who work during the week but are at home during the weekend.
They also have the advantage that you can give your temperatures a boost, or add an hour or two to your heating times (say if you want to stay up late to watch a film) and the thermostat will revert to it's normal settings at the next timing point so there's no danger of forgetting to reset it if you've had a tweak.
You can get a wireless one for less than £50

amtrakuk

Just had a thought I thought I'd share. While looking online I saw PIR/Movement sensors that you can set the ON delay for anything up to an hour, a bit like the movement sensors you have on flood lights in your garden.

I wonder if there is a way to integrate that into the heating system so it scenes if someone is home. Maybe one in the hallway and one in the lounge so basically it can sense there is someone in the house and keep the heating on but if the sensors don't detect movement within the set time it switches the heating off?

Just an idea

snoman

pstuart wrote: »

lee111s wrote: »

"If you reduce the room temperature by more than 5degrees, you do not save any additional energy, because increased heating capacities would then be required for the next full heating period".

This is a good point. The fabric of a building acts like a storage heater, so that when the heating is turned off the walls will gradually give up their stored energy so the building doesn't suddenly become cold. Conversely, when the heating is switched on, this lost energy will then be replaced. My policy is to leave the boiler on 24 hrs, but to adjust temperatures according to day/night and occupancy.

amtrakuk

snoman wrote: »

pstuart wrote: »

This is a good point. The fabric of a building acts like a storage heater, so that when the heating is turned off the walls will gradually give up their stored energy so the building doesn't suddenly become cold. Conversely, when the heating is switched on, this lost energy will then be replaced. My policy is to leave the boiler on 24 hrs, but to adjust temperatures according to day/night and occupancy.

Yeah thats what dimplex's attitude is with alot of their heaters. They have a daytime/regular thermostat and a fallback/night time economy mode which I believe sets the thermostat back 5 degrees or an off mode.

amtrakuk

I replaced the timer with a 16 amp PIR and it seems to work great along with a 2kW convection heater.. Although cool when you first enter the room it soon warms up all automatically. I have set the delay for 10 minutes. Preliminary meter readings don't show much difference - which is what I am looking for - Hassle free and automatic heating

roxy28

lee111s wrote: »

I have my heating on constant and work it off the thermostat in the hall. About 9:30, an hour or so before bed I turn the thermostat down to about 13 (the hall for some reason is much colder than the rest of the house even with a radiator and a new composite front door) then ensures the heating doesn't come on through the night. When I get up in the morning and set it to 16 degrees which then heats the house to about 20. The heating then comes on and off throughout the day to maintain that temperature.

When I go out I turn the stat down to 12 so that the heating isn't on when I'm out.

I work from home so slightly different than most people's usage but this keeps the house comfortable all day. My monthly bill is around £100 for gas and electricity. It's a 3 bed new build semi with a combi boiler and there's 3 of us living here. Not bad considering I'm in all day!

Wish i could do the same but afraid it would get out of control, Have a suprima 50 boiler which one gas engineer described as a real lu lu, seems very inefficient and soon as its switched on the gas meter numbers fly round.

amtrakuk

Hmmm more or less than the old boiler?

Cant say Im a specialist but if its over rated it will use more gas as well as cycle on and off very frequently.

roxy28

amtrakuk wrote: »

Hmmm more or less than the old boiler?

Cant say Im a specialist but if its over rated it will use more gas as well as cycle on and off very frequently.

More than the old boiler, but its also not my best subject and yes it seems to cycle on and off for fun.

ic

I fitted a weather compensating programmer to my boiler before winter. The programmer has three levels - frost, eco and comfort. These are set for various times of day. However, rather than rely entirely on the measured internal temperature, the boiler also tracks the external temperature too. This means if the temperature drops fast, the boiler kicks in and boosts the heat going into the house so that inside we don't even know its happened. This means on mild days the boiler will only run gently. In theory there should be less wasted heat - certainly we're not inclined to keep making small adjustments to the temperature any more. As part of this constant automatic tuning of the boiler, it should also be running in condensing mode (and therefore more efficiently) as the unit not only decides when to fire the boiler, but also the temperature of the water flow.