Which is the best way

[Deleted User]

OH and I were having a discussion tonight.......is it cheaper to leave the central heating on a low setting all day, or have it on during the morning, then have it come on again in the late afternoon on a higher setting?

I do sometimes light the sitting room fire, the thermostat on the radiator in the sitting room does not seem to turn off when the fire is lit, so I turn it down manually, then I have to remember to turn it back on before we go to bed.

Our overflow rad is in the hall, so it's always warm, I do turn the bedroom thermostat down during the day, I do not see the point of having heat in the bedroom, when it's empty. The same with the wet room.

I am interested in opinions...........

just_trying

I switch mine off when not needed, why have it on when not needed seems a waste.

My radiator which is connected to the thermostat is in the lobby to, I just turn it on as needed. The whole system.

Only my opinion, though I hardly use my heating.

VfM4meplse

This has been debated to the nth degree on another thread, either on OS or "in my home", have a search. On all day at a low setting won the argument I think, although it is counterintuitive.

JIL

I have a wireless thermostat that we use, it's kept low at night so kicks in if it gets too cold. We do put it up a little if we are a little chilly.
I did read somewhere it was best not to turn the heating off as the pump then has to work harder and longer to get the temperature up to the required heat.
I am not sure about what is cheaper, we have just had a new boiler and I am really happy at how efficient this boiler is compared to the last one and they are both condensing boilers.

jackyann

Yes, every winter there is a great long debate somewhere on the forum, and during which someone always says "well of course it's cheapest to have it on as little as possible" which is unhelpful!
I think you are really asking what is the cheapest that is compatible with the comfort you need / want ie: the best value for you.

I have lived in all kinds of dwellings, with all kinds of heating and needing to consider the health and comfort of all kinds of people from new born to the elderly frail, and all sorts of permutations of working hours as well.

So much depends on your insulation, room layout, size of rooms (including height) drafts, times you need warmth etc.etc. that there is no definitive answer. And of course the actual cost of your fuel.

My advice: insulate to the max, test out your thermostats so you know their quirks, work out the best use of rooms (if that's an issue) then use trial and error - keep careful records and you will find out what suits you.

In a couple of houses I have lived in, one with no central heating and one when it broke down, I found the cheapest and most effective was to have the fire in all day & night (using slow burning coke) - but at those times I had either shift workers or vulnerable people to warm.

LameWolf

Ours is on the whole time; less wear-and-tear on the boiler, as it's not heating up and cooling down a couple of times a day.

Also, I'm at home 99% of the time, and have a debilitating illness, so I do need to stay warm.

Pop_Up_Pirate

Ours is on all day but I turn it off when we go to bed because I don;t like heat on when I'm sleeping or waking up to a warm house.

I've found that works out cheaper for us rather than turning it on and off.

firebubble

I used to have mine on (at 25 degrees) in the morning and evening for a couple of hours, but what I found was that my flat never actually got warm, so I never felt the benefit of the heating, and was always cold.

Now I have it set low (anything up to 14 degrees) all the time, and then turn it up to about 18 degrees (20 if it's really cold) for when I want it really toasty.

The first year I did this I was terrified of getting an enormous bill, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference, the difference has been in what I feel, in that the flat is a comfortable temperature to inhabit all the time.

I still wait as long as possible to switch it on (usually around end of November), and switch it off as soon as possible (usually sometime in February), and usually wear two jumpers, but it being continuously on works for me. My boiler man reckons it's better for the boiler too...who knows?!

NewShadow

I've been playing around with mine this year - landlord replaced the boiler but the new one doesn't have a thermostat!

Old bungalow with thick walls and excellent windows - I've found, if I have it on low throughout the house all day, I can turn it off every other day during the week and the house retains enough heat for me to be comfortable.

If I don't have it on every other day, it takes a good couple of days to chase the cold out of the house.

I wap it up at the weekend and wander about in pyjamas, but never have a huge bill (atm c.£40 a month for both gas and electric, £25ish over the summer)

Given I'm out of the house 6.30 - 6 most days, I come home - cook (which heats the kitchen) and curl up with a DVD or the internet (and a cat) until bedtime at 10 - it works for me.

jackyann

I have no doubt that insulation makes the biggest difference of all, not just for cost, but for comfort. In a poorly insulated house, you have a big differential temperature at the wall and that causes discomfort, even if the central room temperature is warm.

I also think that people don't test their thermostats. I have lived in a house where the mid-day sun hit the thermostat (bright, cold days it would turn off the heating!) and where the thermostat was in a chilly hall (quite common this) so always thought the heating needed to be on.

I'm also pleased to see a decent debate here, sharing people's experiences.
In such a debate, on other parts of the forum, people can be quite rude. One poster told me that if I didn't realise that every joule of energy expended in the house ended up outside, then I was stupid. I pointed out to him(?) that we were debating how long that joule of energy took to get outside and what benefit we derived from it on its way - that is experimental physics!

There is no definitive answer - even the same size / layout house in the same street can be slightly different, depending on how the sun hits it,and how the wind blows. The amount & type of cooking you do makes a difference as well.

[Deleted User]

We have a thick layer of insulation in the roof, but because the old Prefab is inside the walls we cannot have wall insulation, although we have all double glazed windows and doors. All our curtains have thermal linings and we have a curtain over the front door.

The hall thermostat is set at 18, the room thermostats vary. The heating is switched off in my sewing room unless I am working in there and I do turn the rad down in the wet room and our bedroom.

We have an electric blanket with dual controls, we can put it on 6 and the bed is warm within 5 minutes, we can also use lower temperatures for 9 hours during the night. No 2 is favourite, it keeps the chill off the bed so if you roll over you are not landing in a cold bit of the bed. WE only use it when the weather is really bad and very cold. I have a heart condition so do feel the cold more than most, but I wear fleece jackets and two pairs of socks. If my feet get cold I am miserable.

We have only changed to central heating since October, we had uncontrollable storage heaters before. I kept the open fire against us getting power cuts in bad weather, we live in a very small village, the power can go off at any time, at least I can boil a kettle for hot water bottles and also heat soup or one pot stew on the poratable gas stove we have.