Quick Dumb Central Heating Question

wrkactjob

Never had central heating that I could control before.

The 'controller' is programmed to come on and off twice a day for HW and CH.

With regards to the CH, if the two thermostats in the house are both turned off/to minimum setting and the radiators (all of which have individual controls are turned off) is it still costing me money when the boiler fires up at the programmed times?

Also its a new build with everything new...so does the HW have to fire up twice a day? (two people each of who shower once a day and washing up is our hot water use)...how long does hot water in the tank stay 'hot'?

Thanks for any help!

Head_The_Ball

The CH should not fire up if the radiator thermostats are not demanding heat so there should be no cost there.

The HW will fire up at the programmed times if the water in the tank is below the set temp level.

Experiment with having the hot water on only once a day or for shorter periods. You should soon learn what settings and for how long best suits your household.

A new build house should have a well insulated hot water tank that loses heat very slowly. I've been away for 4 or 5 days and found the hot water still quite warm.

Better to have a bit too much hot water that run out half way through a shower, especially as heat losses are fairly negligible.

You could also lower the max temp of your hot water. That might save a bit of money but beware of having it too low (below 55C I think but check), as that risks bacteria building up.

PS: As far as I am aware, although I am no expert, at least one of your radiators should not have a thermostatic control on it, and that should be in the same area as the thermostat. That prevents a situation where the thermostat is demanding heat but all radiators are shut off and the hot water from the boiler has nowhere to go.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on a two thermostat system.

wrkactjob

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

The CH should not fire up if the radiator thermostats are not demanding heat so there should be no cost there.


PS: As far as I am aware, although I am no expert, at least one of your radiators should not have a thermostatic control on it, and that should be in the same area as the thermostat. That prevents a situation where the thermostat is demanding heat but all radiators are shut off and the hot water from the boiler has nowhere to go.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on a two thermostat system.

Thanks! yes one radiator doesn't have the thermostatic control on it...its a town house style so there is a thermostat on the ground floor and another on the top floor in the main bedroom where the radiator with the control is.

I noticed this evening that although both thermostats were set at minimum ie off the main control for CH still came on, presumably because it is programmed to turn on at that time even though no radiators were actually producing heat. That's what got me thinking "God is this costing me money still!?"...

I have reduced the program time 'window' for CH so will see if this has any effect.

EssexExile

wrkactjob wrote: »

I noticed this evening that although both thermostats were set at minimum ie off the main control for CH still came on, presumably because it is programmed to turn on at that time even though no radiators were actually producing heat. That's what got me thinking "God is this costing me money still!?"...

The light will still come on at the controller but the boiler won't fire up unless one of the thermostats tells it to or you need more hot water.

wrkactjob

EssexExile wrote: »

The light will still come on at the controller but the boiler won't fire up unless one of the thermostats tells it to or you need more hot water.

OK...the fact that the HW is set to turn on at the same time as the CH is what may have confused me...

So in effect you could program the boiler control to be on all the time but it will not actually turn on or cost you money unless the wall thermostat is turned on?...is that correct?

wealdroam

wrkactjob wrote: »

OK...the fact that the HW is set to turn on at the same time as the CH is what may have confused me...

So in effect you could program the boiler control to be on all the time but it will not actually turn on or cost you money unless the wall thermostat is turned on?...is that correct?

That's correct.