Heating Advice on Leaving the House for a Winter Holiday

Leodogger

We are going on an extended holiday in December when the weather will be quite cold.    We were told by the plumber that our Worcester boiler has a Frost Protection Stat on it set at 5c, but what do we need to leave our central heating thermostat on to stop the pipes freezing and the house getting damp,  taking into account how high the energy bills are going to be this winter?   What is the safest temperature to use?

BUFF

Your insurer may require you to have the house heated to a certain level, possibly 12C.
For the rooms other than where the thermostat is, & if you wanted to heat to a lower level than that, then if you have TRVs these will also have a frost setting (usually ~7C) or the 1 setting is usually ~10C.

Londoner_1

We done this last winter but went away for more than 3 weeks in late Feb (winter over) heating was set off on thermostat but frost stat is active at 5c. Throughout the whole period the temp only went down to 14c in house.

GingerTim

Make sure Harry and Marv aren't loitering around the corner in their van.

chris_n

I worked abroad for many winters. Turn the stop tap off and leave the heating at 12 as required by many insurers.  Also check your policy for how long the property can be empty.

Leodogger

chris_n said:

I worked abroad for many winters. Turn the stop tap off and leave the heating at 12 as required by many insurers.  Also check your policy for how long the property can be empty.

I am just about to renew my home insurance and had to notify them of our extended holiday, they are checking with their actuaries to see if it can be added to the existing policy.     When you say stop tap, do you mean the one inside the house as we cannot access the one in the street?

chris_n

Yes the one inside the house.

Leodogger

OK,thanks.

Leodogger

chris_n said:

I worked abroad for many winters. Turn the stop tap off and leave the heating at 12 as required by many insurers.  Also check your policy for how long the property can be empty.

By the way, does turning the water off at the stop tap in the house affect the water circulating in the radiators if you turn your heating down to say 12c?    Also there are no TRV's on two of the radiators (the bathroom ladder radiator and the hall which is the first offf the system), will these areas still be OK  or should I just leave all the doors open as we live in a bungalow?

chris_n

Leodogger said:

chris_n said:

I worked abroad for many winters. Turn the stop tap off and leave the heating at 12 as required by many insurers.  Also check your policy for how long the property can be empty.

By the way, does turning the water off at the stop tap in the house affect the water circulating in the radiators if you turn your heating down to say 12c?    Also there are no TRV's on two of the radiators (the bathroom ladder radiator and the hall which is the first offf the system), will these areas still be OK  or should I just leave all the doors open as we live in a bungalow?

Turning the stop tap off has no effect on the water circulating in the radiators. The radiators without TRVs will be fine, you need to have at least one without TRVs anyway to make sure you always have flow.

Leodogger

chris_n said:

Leodogger said:

chris_n said:

I worked abroad for many winters. Turn the stop tap off and leave the heating at 12 as required by many insurers.  Also check your policy for how long the property can be empty.

By the way, does turning the water off at the stop tap in the house affect the water circulating in the radiators if you turn your heating down to say 12c?    Also there are no TRV's on two of the radiators (the bathroom ladder radiator and the hall which is the first offf the system), will these areas still be OK  or should I just leave all the doors open as we live in a bungalow?

Turning the stop tap off has no effect on the water circulating in the radiators. The radiators without TRVs will be fine, you need to have at least one without TRVs anyway to make sure you always have flow.

That's good to know.