Advice for using system boiler

sondheimsoc

We’re just coming to the end of renovating a 1950s house. We’ve added lots of insulation and have underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. We’ve also got a system boiler and Heatmiser thermostats, both of which are totally new to us. So far we haven’t switched the gas on, just managing with hot water from the immersion but we’re eventually going to have to switch on the heating!
I’m struggling with setting the Heatmiser system which is one problem.
 But I wondered whether anyone has a similar setup and could advise on the most economical way to use/set up the timings on a system boiler.
There are 4 underfloor zones: living room , kitchen (which is a living dining kitchen so quite large), hall and utility room. 

There are 5 Heatmiser controllers linked to the Neohub: living room, utility, hallway, kitchen and one which controls both the hot water and the upstairs radiators.
Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Hope that’s enough information.
Thanks

Reed_Richards

Surely the hot water and the upstairs radiators are controlled independently?  Otherwise when you heat your hot water in summer you will be liable to overheat the upstairs.

jbuchanangb

Maybe start from here

nadsat

The boiler heats both the hot water in the tank and the rads. You can have both or either on at certain times of the day. I wouldn't waste any more money on an electric immersion heater for heating hot water. 

A simple Honeywell controller manages this for us - sounds like you have some reading to do about your controls. 

macman

It's insane to heat the hot tank using electricity when you have mains gas, it's about 350% more expensive. The immersion is intended to be used only as a backup if your boiler fails.

Astria

macman said:

It's insane to heat the hot tank using electricity when you have mains gas, it's about 350% more expensive. The immersion is intended to be used only as a backup if your boiler fails.

I wouldn't even use it then unless you need a lot of hot water - if it's for something like washing dishes then just use the kettle as it'll most likely work out cheaper!

Even with gas I don't bother with hot water unless I need to use a lot of it - since my shower is electric and I have instant hot water, it works out slightly cheaper to ignore it. If I changed my shower to tank fed it would most likely be worth it then.

sondheimsoc

Many thanks for all the responses. I donlt think I phrased it correctly, what I'd like advice on is the most economical way to run the underfloor heating etc. I was hoping that some of you with that experience might advise timings/lengths.

Reed_Richards

Underfloor heating responds very slowly to changes in water temperature so you need to leave it on for long periods, if not all the time.  The most economical way to run it is to reduce the output water temperature of your boiler when only the UFH is on and hotter water for the radiators is not required.  I don't know if your particular boiler/controller combination will be able to achieve this or not.