Combi Boiler advice needed

stephaniebuddie

Hello everyone, we moved into a rented house a month ago. The Landlord has put in a whole need heating system including radiators and combi boiler. It is a pre paid meter and its costing the earth!

We only have it on in the morning and a few hours in the evening and its costing around £4 - £5 a day! We are in the process of changing supplier to EDF just so we can then change to a monthly payment.

My question is what settings should I set the combi boiler to to make it more cost effective? We can set the temperature of the water which flows through the radiators and the temperature of the water.

Mr.Generous

Heating on "only a few hours" will cost £4 or £5 a day at the coldest time of the year on a payment meter.

Set the boiler on Eco mode (or whatever it is called on your boiler where it stops pre heating hot water)

Set the hot water to the lowest heat you are happy to bathe in.

Turn up rad stats in rooms you want warm and lower them in others, set them to frost protection if you have unused rooms.

If you have any draughts cheap draught excluder from ebay will save you money and make it more comfortable.

boliston

I have a combi bolier and the only temperature control on the boiler is the one that controls the temperature of the radiator water - it does not seem to affect tap hot water. I would not see any benefit of reducing tap water temperature as if you have a shower the shower thermostat controls the water temperature rather than the boiler and if you have a bath you just run in less hot water if it is hotter so would not affect cost.

stephaniebuddie

Thank you for your replies - Yes I have it set to the Eco setting

What setting do you have the radiators set to? I have it set to 60 degrees at the moment.

Ah I never looked at it that way Boliston - did not realise the shower controls the water temperature rather than the boiler

matelodave

Dont forget that everytime you turn on the hot tap the boiler will run flat out to heat the water, so short draw-offs, say just to rinse hands and stuff use a lot of energy to get the boiler going. So try using cold water where possible.

Dont let hot water run down the sink whilst washing - use a bowl or basin. Using a dishwasher can work out cheaper than doing lots of multiple washings up - make sure it's full though. They cost the same to run when half empty or fully loaded.

Turn rads down in rooms that arent in use and adjust the room thermostat/timer to optimise your use of hetaing. Turn it on for half an hour before you want the palce warm to allow it to heat up amd shut it down half to an hour before you go out or go to bed so you get the benefit of residual heat.

It takes a bit of time to get it right but dont forget that this is the coldest time of the year and heating is working harder than at other times, so it will cost more.

Make sure you are on the the chaepest tariff to help minimise costs.

Al_Ross

Have you it set on a timer or is on constantly ?

Norman_Castle

My boiler is at 77 degrees. Hot water on maximum. Thermostat at 68 degrees. Do you have trv's on the radiators? Set these halfway which is about 70 degrees and adjust in small amounts over time to avoid overheating rooms.
Leave space above and below the radiators to allow the heat to circulate.

boliston

matelodave wrote: »

Dont forget that everytime you turn on the hot tap the boiler will run flat out to heat the water, so short draw-offs, say just to rinse hands and stuff use a lot of energy to get the boiler going. So try using cold water where possible.....

I find the trick here is to just run the hot tap slowly as this will avoid firing up the boiler and just use up the heated water already in the pipework.