Keeping pipes from freezing when away

Mtm

What is the best setting and time of day or night to have central heating and or water immersion heater on when away for a week in winter?

Andy_WSM

Just leave the central heating on with the thermostat set at a low temperature (10C?). It will take a prolonged cold spell for the inside temperature to get that low and won't take the heating long to get the temperature back up above it, so minimal, if any, energy costs.

Setting it much lower leaves pipes in unheated areas at greater risk.

PasturesNew

3am to 5am overnight tend to be the coldest points, if you want to pin a time to it.

Andy_WSM

PasturesNew wrote: »

3am to 5am overnight tend to be the coldest points, if you want to pin a time to it.

That's pointless. Who says it won't snow & / or remain icy all day long?

edit - also, evidence suggests the coldest time is at Dawn: http://www.westonweather.co.uk/trends.php

Cardew

Most CH systems have a Froststat that is typically set between 2C and 6C. That fires up the boiler to prevent frost damage.


As you are only away for a week, it would take an extremely cold spell to drop the internal temperature down to a level where there is a risk of damage.


As suggested above leave the CH on timed and turn the wall thermostat down to 10C - there is no need to have hot water/immersion heating - and it will cost very little to run.

Swipe

Also worth checking the forecast for the week you'll be away. No point having the heating coming on if overnight temps are going to be above freezing

Andy_WSM

Swipe wrote: »

Also worth checking the forecast for the week you'll be away. No point having the heating coming on if overnight temps are going to be above freezing

That's the point of a thermostat. i.e If it's warm, the heating won't come on.

giraffe69

Also worth checking the forecast for the week you'll be away. No point having the heating coming on if overnight temps are going to be above freezing

And we all know the success rate of forecasts don't we? Leaving the thermostat on a frost setting or the equivalent seems a no brainer to me.

Swipe

giraffe69 wrote: »

And we all know the success rate of forecasts don't we? Leaving the thermostat on a frost setting or the equivalent seems a no brainer to me.

What if you don't have a thermostat? if there's a hint of a possible severe cold snap it will be picked up by most of the weather models well before 7 days. The more models that agree, the greater the probability of the forecast being accurate.

daveyjp

Frost setting and I always take 5 minutes to turn off the water and drain the mains water system from the lowest tap.

captainhindsight_2

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Just leave the central heating on with the thermostat set at a low temperature (10C?). It will take a prolonged cold spell for the inside temperature to get that low and won't take the heating long to get the temperature back up above it, so minimal, if any, energy costs.

Setting it much lower leaves pipes in unheated areas at greater risk.

lol. You are right, leave the heating on 24/7 with the thermostat set to about 10