Calculating Heating for one hour

[Deleted User]

cmbrookes said:

So is it a good idea to set my the timer on my thermostat to say 0600 until 1200 to 22 degrees then when the room reaches 22 degrees the thermostat will turn off but the boiler will still be on? Wouldn’t this cost me a lot due to the boiler still working it’s magic even though the the thermostat would be off?

The thermostat doesn't turn itself off.  The thermostat turns the boiler off.

cmbrookes

[Deleted User] said:

cmbrookes said:

So is it a good idea to set my the timer on my thermostat to say 0600 until 1200 to 22 degrees then when the room reaches 22 degrees the thermostat will turn off but the boiler will still be on? Wouldn’t this cost me a lot due to the boiler still working it’s magic even though the the thermostat would be off?

The thermostat doesn't turn itself off.  The thermostat turns the boiler off.

As you can tell I’m new this haha. Thanks for the correction.

macman

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

cmbrookes

macman said:

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

Great advice thank you. So my thermostat has a timer if I set it to come on at 0300 until 2300 with a target temperature of 21C, would you say this should be ok? Is this efficient? Wouldn’t the boiler need to start up again every time the rooms drops below 21C therefore being inefficient?

InvertedVee

cmbrookes said:

macman said:

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

Great advice thank you. So my thermostat has a timer if I set it to come on at 0300 until 2300 with a target temperature of 21C, would you say this should be ok? Is this efficient? Wouldn’t the boiler need to start up again every time the rooms drops below 21C therefore being inefficient?

Yes, the boiler will burn gas when the thermostat signals that the room has fallen below the set temperature.

Unless you need to be up before 0400, setting the heating to bring the house up to temperature at 0300 seems a bit early.

Assuming you're out of bed at 7am and are at home all day, try setting your programmer/thermostat to 0600: 19.5C; 2300: 18C. If you feel cold during the day, just nudge the thermostat up by half a degree. Most people find a cooler temperature is fine during the mornings and need the temperature raising a little when they settle down in the evening.

In this way, keeping the 'setback temperature' fairly close to the set temperature, you won't be asking the boiler to work excessively hard in the first heating hours. Gentle heating cycles are more efficient than sudden large changes.

cmbrookes

M0KBJ said:

cmbrookes said:

macman said:

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

Great advice thank you. So my thermostat has a timer if I set it to come on at 0300 until 2300 with a target temperature of 21C, would you say this should be ok? Is this efficient? Wouldn’t the boiler need to start up again every time the rooms drops below 21C therefore being inefficient?

Yes, the boiler will burn gas when the thermostat signals that the room has fallen below the set temperature.

Unless you need to be up before 0400, setting the heating to bring the house up to temperature at 0300 seems a bit early.

Assuming you're out of bed at 7am and are at home all day, try setting your programmer/thermostat to 0600: 19.5C; 2300: 18C. If you feel cold during the day, just nudge the thermostat up by half a degree. Most people find a cooler temperature is fine during the mornings and need the temperature raising a little when they settle down in the evening.

In this way, keeping the 'setback temperature' fairly close to the set temperature, you won't be asking the boiler to work excessively hard in the first heating hours. Gentle heating cycles are more efficient than sudden large changes.

The reason I set it to 0300 was just because I have children in the house so if the temp drops below 21C at 0300 it will just top up the room temp back to 21C keeping the kids all snug and warm

Spoonie_Turtle

cmbrookes said:

M0KBJ said:

cmbrookes said:

macman said:

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

Great advice thank you. So my thermostat has a timer if I set it to come on at 0300 until 2300 with a target temperature of 21C, would you say this should be ok? Is this efficient? Wouldn’t the boiler need to start up again every time the rooms drops below 21C therefore being inefficient?

Yes, the boiler will burn gas when the thermostat signals that the room has fallen below the set temperature.

Unless you need to be up before 0400, setting the heating to bring the house up to temperature at 0300 seems a bit early.

Assuming you're out of bed at 7am and are at home all day, try setting your programmer/thermostat to 0600: 19.5C; 2300: 18C. If you feel cold during the day, just nudge the thermostat up by half a degree. Most people find a cooler temperature is fine during the mornings and need the temperature raising a little when they settle down in the evening.

In this way, keeping the 'setback temperature' fairly close to the set temperature, you won't be asking the boiler to work excessively hard in the first heating hours. Gentle heating cycles are more efficient than sudden large changes.

The reason I set it to 0300 was just because I have children in the house so if the temp drops below 21C at 0300 it will just top up the room temp back to 21C keeping the kids all snug and warm

Respectfully, aren't they warm in bed already?

If your children are reasonably healthy and active then I'm not sure they need the house to be kept at 21/22°C.  They can wear a vest and/or a jumper if they need it at 18/19°C.  When I worked in a school it was clear the children ran a lot warmer than the staff!

cmbrookes

Spoonie_Turtle said:

cmbrookes said:

M0KBJ said:

cmbrookes said:

macman said:

If the room is at the target temp on the 'stat then the boiler isn't firing. it's only 'on' in the sense that it's using a trivial amount of electricity to power the circuitry while in standby. No gas is being used at all.
But, if you're looking for economy, then I wouldn't be starting with the 'stat at 22C. Most people find 19C to 21C quite adequate. Dropping it just 1 degree to 21C should reduce your heating bills by about 10%.

Great advice thank you. So my thermostat has a timer if I set it to come on at 0300 until 2300 with a target temperature of 21C, would you say this should be ok? Is this efficient? Wouldn’t the boiler need to start up again every time the rooms drops below 21C therefore being inefficient?

Yes, the boiler will burn gas when the thermostat signals that the room has fallen below the set temperature.

Unless you need to be up before 0400, setting the heating to bring the house up to temperature at 0300 seems a bit early.

Assuming you're out of bed at 7am and are at home all day, try setting your programmer/thermostat to 0600: 19.5C; 2300: 18C. If you feel cold during the day, just nudge the thermostat up by half a degree. Most people find a cooler temperature is fine during the mornings and need the temperature raising a little when they settle down in the evening.

In this way, keeping the 'setback temperature' fairly close to the set temperature, you won't be asking the boiler to work excessively hard in the first heating hours. Gentle heating cycles are more efficient than sudden large changes.

The reason I set it to 0300 was just because I have children in the house so if the temp drops below 21C at 0300 it will just top up the room temp back to 21C keeping the kids all snug and warm

Respectfully, aren't they warm in bed already?

If your children are reasonably healthy and active then I'm not sure they need the house to be kept at 21/22°C.  They can wear a vest and/or a jumper if they need it at 18/19°C.  When I worked in a school it was clear the children ran a lot warmer than the staff!

Oh they’re active alright haha

Alnat1

Try 21C at first, then every few days take it down 1C, see how low you can manage. A few throws are snuggly for evenings and might stop you upping the thermostat.

Do you radiators have TRVs to adjust the temperature in each room? If so and the bedrooms are only for sleeping in, keep them at around 2.5 on the TRV and keep the doors closed. This can be done for any rooms you're not constantly using, halls, dining room, bathroom etc.

Max68

Olly_J said:

cmbrookes said:

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to calculate how much it’s costing me to set my central heating to be on constantly for one hour. I’ve set it on the thermostat at a certain time to come on for one hour.

thanks

The first hour or two is always going to be the most costly, after which it will level off to equal the heat loss from the property, like below, so running it for a single hour is not an efficient way to run, as you are paying all the money, but for little benefit, whereas once heated up you can run for longer for a little more

This is the thing that really intrigues me, as we see these questions re "is it cheaper to leave the heating on all day or only when you need it?"  The consensus seems to be only when you need it - BUT.  If you are happy with a temperature of say 18c would it be cheaper to turn the heating on in the morning when the house is at 14c until it gets to 18, which can take a good couple of hours, maybe more in this weather, and do the same come evening time?  OR is it cheaper to just leave the thermostat at 18c thus meaning the boiler won't have to work to get from 14c to 18c a couple of times a day and will only fire up when it gets below 18?  ****Wrote this before M0KBJ comments above.