When are you putting the heating on this year and what temperature and general heating advice

Ultrasonic

griffb said:

Woke up this morning to find the CH had switched on. I know we have the thermostat set high (18 overnight, 24 daytime) but still a bit of a surprise. Think I might try dialing it down to 23 to see if anyone (ie wife) notices

I'd switch it OFF until anyone notices. 23 still seems very high, although you may have health issues that dictate this. Do you have warm clothes on at this temperature? 

gfunkuk

Our apartment is very insulated and probably not need to heat. EPC B. If it gets too hot the HVAC will need to come on. Last year the neighbour went to London for a few days and left his window open. Ended up using 70kwh of HVAC heat in a few days it was so cold. As long as he doesn't leave his window open I'll have the opposite problem to everyone else!

Mstty

mark_cycling00 said:

just to point out that:
- hot water temp less than 60 degrees creates a risk of getting legionnaires disease
- room temperature less than 14 degrees risks mould

True if you have a water tank in the loft but not with more modern systems where you can legionella burn once a week or less. Less than 250 cases a year I believe and most of those are from foreign travel. It really has been blown out of all proportion.

You should also caveat it doesn't apply to combi boiler a as well if you are going to advise people what to do?

MWT

Ultrasonic said:

...In part I suspect this is because what room temperature I'll be comfortable at will vary with activity levels.

That is true, and it is what drives out heating controls as we preset them to match our typical activity levels and then only adjust if something changes in our daily routine.

We also have them running in 'Eco' mode so they anticipate changes in the set temperature to avoid heating when the set point is due to drop soon, or avoid trying to raise it too quickly when the set point goes up and the temperature normally rises due to cooking for example.

jimjames

No point turning it on for a specific date. It'll go on when the temperature outside requires it. Generally set to 19.5C using Hive but can adjust for time of day so lower overnight

Mstty

Happy_Sloth said:

we arn't putting the heating on this year, we simply can't afford it.  So lots of jumpers and blankets for us.  

When someone says they won't be turning the heating on this winter I automatically think this must be to do with another force affecting expenditure and not the energy issues we as a country are in.

Stay with me. You will have budgeted for last winter and potentially had a direct debit set. For us our direct debit last winter was £120 and we use 75% of all our energy usage October to April so last winters budget was effectively £1080. This year we all get an additional £400 so even going by last winters cost we have £1480 to spend this winter without our budget changing from last year.

I just realised I've been overly eager with the amounts and forgot to take off standing charge.

Does this help you see that you could set yourself a budget for energy over winter even at last year's rates for a baseline of heat etc?

victor2

CH has been off since May. Will probably switch it back on (with thermostat control) when the outside temperature drops into single digits overnight.

We have a log burner, but only use it for the nice effect it has, as buying the logs (have nowhere to store much) costs more than running the central heating. TRVs on just about all the radiators, but small grandchildren do stay with us weekly, so can't really deprive them of the warmth they are used to.

Will experiment with saving gas a bit more this winter though!

The_Hawk

ps2mint said:

We have a combi boiler - currently got the heating set to 55 degrees and the water to 49 degrees. 

Not sure that 55 degrees for the central heating will be enough to heat the rooms up?

We will be setting our room thermostat at 17 degrees and we plan to put the heating on beginning of November.

I have a gas combi boiler as well. Last winter, in anticipation of possibly getting a heat pump, I trialled heating at 55 degrees and water at 50 degrees.

I found the water temperature to be fine, but the heating temperature was too low for my house, so I have upped that to 60 degrees for the coming winter.

I'll be aiming for an evening temperature of 20 degrees in my main living room.

AlexMac

I keep ours really low from about late May- late Sep, then dial it up to about 19; with the timer set on "twice" to provide bursts in the morning and evening until it gets nippy, when I change it to "once"  - heat all day.  (yes I know that a well insulated house is supposed to  be constantly heated as that's cheaper than ups and downs?)  I will probably dial it down this year and put on a fleece to see if I can beat Martin's energy calculator in today's MSE  newsletter; that shows that my annual dual fuel bills (£950 in 2019, £1,150 in 2020, getting closer to two grand now...) will be £4.4k p.a. post October 2022 based on my recorded usage in kWH!

But compare this with conditions in our Council Flat in the 1950s, where "central heating" meant the one coal fire in the living room, and ice on the inside of the bedroom windows? ( the coalman had to deliver to a bunker in the lobby, inside our top floor flat, up 60 stairs without a lift; that kept him warm!)

However my grand daughter must have inherited my mid 20th century hardiness?  She now also lives in a Council flat, very similar to the one I grew up in, and she keeps the thermostat right down; occasionally racheting it up to 16 or 17;  and she works from home, wrapped up in a fleece blanket at her computer.  She's behaved like that ever since she skint herself to move into the flat, desperate to live independently, albeit with a lodger.  Luckily the lodger also likes it cool!

PennyForThem_2

14 degrees last winter.  I have a log burner stovein my main sitting room.  If it got really cold then 18 degrees.  My home has boarded loft + loft insulation + wall cavity insulation + double glazing.  4 Bed 1920's ish house.  Not complacent - could do more i.e. triple+ glazing, replace front door (but it is really nice wood door so bit reluctant to do it).