Turn your boilers down to 60C to cut energy bills, households to be told

Sterlingtimes

This is a headline from today's Daily Telegraph (behind a paywall).

Would this advice hold good for a heat-only (non-combi) condensing boiler?

[Deleted User]

It might help with the 'condensing' bit.

Lorian

There are a few other things to consider if you have a tank - firstly avoiding wastage/boiler cycling if the flow is 60c and the tank stat is set to 60c if you have older s/y plan setups. There are two ways to avoid this one involves changes to the system to use hot water priority (£££) or lowering the tank stat temp to say 50c and managing the theoretical extra risk from legionella, there are some ways to do this.

macman

It applies to condensing combi's.

kuratowski

My boiler is a heating only combi (hot water is supplied centrally in our block, so the hot water part isn't connected) and as far as I know this advice does apply, and  I've turned my flow temp down to 55℃. (I may have to turn it back up a bit, if it ever gets really cold).

grn99

Sterlingtimes said:

This is a headline from today's Daily Telegraph (behind a paywall).

Would this advice hold good for a heat-only (non-combi) condensing boiler?

We’ve got that problem on our heat only condensing boiler. It’s one thing to have a lower flow temp for the radiators but the same temp is used to heat the hot water cylinder.

I’ve found unless it’s at least 10 degrees hotter than the target cylinder thermostat it takes an eternity to heat it fully. So we compromise, with about 58 on the cyl and 68 on the boiler flow.

Reducing cyl temp is another option we tried, but then we used more of the cylinder water (less cold mixed at bath/shower)…. So if we do that then more water is used and the cylinder needs more water reheating sooner.

webjaved

I've set my combi-boiler and parents to 60 for the central heating. 👍

Auti

I am just getting more and more confused! Everything is turn down but then we get into realms of conflicting advice - hot water must be heated to 60 to kill legionella. Wash clothes in lowest temp but then not kill bacteria/viruses. Wash up dishes in cold temps but not kill bacteria/viruses. I have an Ideal Icos installed April 2006 with separate water tank (no immersion) in airing cupboard. Because of legionella I have turned up tank heating up to 60 degrees but am at a loss to understand what the markings on the dials mean on the boiler -photo below. The controls boxes are all from the previous boiler as are the trv‘s (that are now yellow with age). Do not understand the box under the boiler as no instructions on programming and so I use the hall thermostat to control boiler and the one hour boost hot water button (once a week as kettle used). Heat the house to 16/17 degrees - north facing rooms drop to 12/13 degrees overnight at moment but that will get worse  .   Any help gratefully received as to understanding controls as house takes ages to heat up and then it is time for school! 

QrizB

Auti said:

I am just getting more and more confused! Everything is turn down but then we get into realms of conflicting advice - hot water must be heated to 60 to kill legionella. Wash clothes in lowest temp but then not kill bacteria/viruses. Wash up dishes in cold temps but not kill bacteria/viruses.

Legionella is killed at 50C.

Soaps and detergents kill viruses effectively, even in cold water.

Chrysalis

Some sense now, but are they acting too late? European countries already doing this.

grn99

To clarify the legionella and temperature control: "The bacteria multiply where temperatures are between 20-45°C and nutrients are available. The bacteria are dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C."A two-hour period where the water is maintained at 50 degrees Celsius will get rid of 90% of the bacteria. If the temperature of the water is raised to 60 degrees Celsius, the same percentage of bacteria will die in just two minutes. Raise that temperature again to hit 70 degrees Celsius and all the Legionella bacteria present will die straightaway."