Bad idea not to keep heating on low during Winter..?

ShadyCharacter

Hello everyone,

I have a house over in Wales in the valleys which is going to be unoccupied until next year. I wonder if anybody out there knows whether it would be all right to leave the heating off during the Winter? As I've heard that that could potentially cause the pipes to freeze, which would result in a more expensive problem to fix than the cost of keeping the heating on low.

Any thoughts?

Thanks! :beer: :j

Gloomendoom

We keep the heating set at 12 degrees minimum in our local church (built 1300 and something) year round. Apparently, this will significantly help prevent deterioration of the fabric of the building due to damp and insects etc. Gas bill is around £2k a year.

Cheap compared to restoration costs.

When we are away, our house heating is set to come on if temperature drops below 7 degrees.

welshbookworm

Prince Charles advised Camilla to stop wasting energy during the winter by heating her swimming pool at Ray Mill, her house near the picturesque Wiltshire village of Lacock.
She did as he suggested — even though she’d been advised by professionals to keep the heating on in order to avoid the pipes freezing and bursting and causing damage to the pump.
And as they’d predicted, that’s precisely what happened — resulting in a repair bill for thousands of pounds.
Would have been cheaper to keep the heating on

getmore4less

I have ours set to 5c with the water tank set to 10c

When away last winter house went under 10 but stayed above 5 a sunny day it gets a bit of heat gain.

You could install a connected themostat with Internet access and control remotely.

Apodemus

If the house really is unoccupied you have the option to drain down the system and leave it unheated, which is possibly the most MSE answer!

LadyDee

I left my home empty for 3 months during the winter, and a plumber advised me to set the thermostat to 5degrees (frost setting). Insurance company actually asked me about this when I rang to tell them the house would be empty.

EachPenny

welshbookworm wrote: »

She did as he suggested — even though she’d been advised by professionals to keep the heating on in order to avoid the pipes freezing and bursting and causing damage to the pump.
And as they’d predicted, that’s precisely what happened — resulting in a repair bill for thousands of pounds.

I'm surprised the professionals didn't point out the possibility of draining down the pipework and pump, possibly even disconnecting vulnerable components and moving them to warm storage. Which would have been cheaper than heating the pool or carrying out repairs.

d0nkeyk0ng

As others have pointed out, you may have a frost setting on your thermostat. Ours is set at 5*C whether the thermostat is in holiday mode or normal mode. Draining down would be a better solution.

Slinky

Word of warning if you go into your house when it's been on a very low theromostat and whack the heating straight back onto a normal temperature. We had condensation pouring down the wooden rafters in the loft when OH did this for 3 weeks when he was away one winter.

Fire_Fox

It would be worth also consulting your insurance companies: they may well have rules or guidelines for just such a situation.

ShadyCharacter

Wow, so many great replies! It seems the general consensus is to keep the thermostat on a frost setting/minimum 5 degrees or to drain the pipework. Draining the pipework would obviously be cheaper, but is this something I would have to get a plumber for, or is it something that anybody with a quarter of a braincell can do (i.e. me)? :rotfl: