Property Unoccupied Over Winter Months > Central Heating Question

scoot65

Hello,

I have a property which will be unoccupied during winter the months. I intend to have the gas central heating times to come on for a short period of time each day to ensure the pipes don't freeze up and there's no dampness.

I'm thinking of setting the central heating timer to be on for an hour or an hour and a half each morning and evening. (Although thinking about it, it may take longer than an hour to reach full temperature, I'll have to check) Would this be enough to the pipes don't freeze and risk of damp is reduced? 

I'd rather not have the heating on for hours each day if I can avoid it, especially with the costs being talked about at the moment.

 

Bendy_House

Two approaches, if what you wish to avoid is frozen pipes.

One is to drain them

The other is to prevent them from freezing by using enough heat.

As for preventing damp in your house, all you actually need to do is to ventilate the place. Leave every window locked on 'vent' position, leave all the internal doors open to allow air to pass through from one side to the other, and you 'shouldn't' have any damp, mould or musty issues at all. I mean, is your garage damp and musty? No. Because it is draughty. (If you answered 'yes' to that, then you best find out where the leaks are )

If you go for the 'heat' method, then I think you may need some more 'on' hours than you suggest, but the temp doesn't have to be warm, just above freezing. And TRVs have such a setting. And/or, leave your room stat on 'frost' setting too, ie at around 6oC. With this option, I'd still vent the house, but not so extensively, as you want this min heat to be contained. I 'think' that last bit makes sense, but I'm not sure...

nofoollikeold

Check your insurance policy.  Most stipulate that if empty for more than 30 days, water should be drained and the main incoming stopcock closed.  Either that or regular inspection.

Apodemus

I think we would need to know more about the type of house, where you are in the country and how easily you can get to the property at short notice.

You really need an extended period of below-zero temperatures or unusually low temperatures before pipes will freeze. In the south-west of the country, these deep cold conditions are very rare, but less so in the East or North East.  

In the west, having open windows and no heating will mean an ambient humidity in the house up in the 90% range for a lot of the winter, which might be a bit damp for the fabric of the house.  Much drier in the east, and more days with lower humidity inthe South.

If the house is well-insulated, it will stay warmer longer during a cold snap, than a drafty, poorly insulated building and will need more hours of heating to keep it above freezing.

If you live next door to the property and can nip-in to turn the heating on (or up), then the solution is different than if you live eight hours away at the other end of the country - a remote system like Hive can help, but is not fool-proof.

The insurers of one property that I am involved with, stipulate that the heating be left on, 24hours, with the thermostat at 16C, while another only stipulate visit-once-a-week, so it is best to check with your own insurers.

Also, if the property is empty and you are having the heating timed to come on, you need to change the mind-set from human need to property need.  It is so deeply ingrained that we think of morning and evening for heating comfort, whereas it is probably best to heat an unoccupied property during the times of lowest temperatures - probably 03.00 - 07.00.  Less need for heating during the day when the temperature rises to a balmy 3C!

Section62

scoot65 said:

I have a property which will be unoccupied during winter the months. I intend to have the gas central heating times to come on for a short period of time each day to ensure the pipes don't freeze up and there's no dampness.

What kind of boiler do you have?

Bendy_House

Hive or similar, as Apod suggests, is a good idea. Set it to 'frost', which means in practice it'll hardly ever come on in, but monitor it and tweak it up remotely if you feel it's of benefit.

scoot65

Many thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated!

Regarding more information:-

The property is 1950's built detached house located in the North East of England, so we can have lots of cold, damp days in the winter months.

I beleive well insulated in loft

The boiler is a 4 years old Intergas ECO RF Combi Compact which is serviced annually. I seem to remember the engineer stating that the boiler has an anti frost system built within it which keeps the internal boiler temp at 5°.

A neighbour will be able to visit the property regularly / as and when required.

As for insurance, due to the length of time the property will be unoccupied, I'm going to have to have specialist insurers.

 

FreeBear

Bendy_House said: I mean, is your garage damp and musty? No. Because it is draughty. (If you answered 'yes' to that, then you best find out where the leaks are )

Although my garage isn't musty, during the winter months, it gets very damp out there. Condensation is the main reason along with water getting in under the up & over door when it rains heavily.

Section62

scoot65 said:

The boiler is a 4 years old Intergas ECO RF Combi Compact which is serviced annually. I seem to remember the engineer stating that the boiler has an anti frost system built within it which keeps the internal boiler temp at 5°.

 

Personally I wouldn't leave the mains water turned on when leaving the property for an exteded period of time, even with frost protection, there are other failure modes which could allow large volumes of mains pressure water to leak/escape.  Turning the mains off (externally) is the only way to eliminate that risk.

I wouldn't leave a combi boiler switched on if the mains water supply is turned off.

Which would only leave the option (for me) of draining down the water systems.

Another option might be to use a dedicated electrical frost protection heater - but get professional advice about doing that rather than DIYing something.  Some people will gasp in horror at the thought of using electric heating rather than gas, but if it is possible to only heat the vulnerable areas when absolutely needed, rather than the whole house on a precautionary basis, then the cost of electric may work out less than gas.

But if you will need to go with a specialist insurer it would probably be best to seek their advice on what state you need to leave the property in.

Apodemus

FreeBear said:

Bendy_House said: I mean, is your garage damp and musty? No. Because it is draughty. (If you answered 'yes' to that, then you best find out where the leaks are )

Although my garage isn't musty, during the winter months, it gets very damp out there. Condensation is the main reason along with water getting in under the up & over door when it rains heavily.

Yes, mine is similar.  While the garage itself doesn't get damp, any clothes left in it get very musty and tools rust quickly.  Concrete garages seem worse in this respect (at least in my climate) than wooden ones, which tend to stay much drier

chris_n

I left my home in the North East unoccupied for many winters. Mains water was turned off. For heating I had a system I could see / control via internet. I left a minimum base temperature of 10 C and regularly checked the temp and gave it a boost as required which was actually very infrequent.