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Hot water settings

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  • QrizB
    QrizB Posts: 18,309 Forumite
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    lohr500 said:
    Firstly you need to establish if your gas boiler is a combi boiler (which provides hot water on demand) or a traditional type boiler which heats up water in a storage cylinder (immersion tank). Do you know which type you have?

    This will help forum members to suggest what settings to go for.

    Boiler-wise, Its a traditional boiler, not a combi. With this in mind, I am mainly looking for opinions on how long to have the water heating up for,morning & evening.
    With a gas boiler, energy is the same price all day.
    Personally, with my conventional boiler and HW tank setup, I find 30 minutes in the morning is enough to cover hot water demands through the day, plus another hour in the evening for washing-up and one shower or a shallow bath. We are however a household of three (four during uni holidays) and often need an evening top-up if there's demand for additional bathing/showering.
    The 30-minute morning burn uses less than 2kWh of gas, per my smart meter, which would be no more than 15p on the standard variable tariff.
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  • matt_drummer
    matt_drummer Posts: 2,013 Forumite
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    edited 26 August 2023 at 6:24PM
     Its a traditional boiler, not a combi. With this in mind, I am mainly looking for opinions on how long to have the water heating up for,morning & evening.
    Why don't you experiment until you find something that meets your needs and doesn't cost more than you are prepared to pay.

    Nobody on the internet will ever know because it's your boiler, your pipes and your tank.

    None of us can predict how your boiler works or how well insulated your tank is.

    Just set it to heat the water for half an hour or and hour and see how you get on.

    Or get a friend or relative to come round and help you.

    The internet is not going to give you what you are looking for.
  • lohr500
    lohr500 Posts: 1,350 Forumite
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    Sorry all. I hadn't spotted the reference to a tank in the original post.
  • Slinky
    Slinky Posts: 11,030 Forumite
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    We have a Nest system controlling hot water and it works on 30 minute increments, so our hot water is on for an hour in the morning 5 days a week, and 30 minutes the other 2 days. There's also a bit of gas cooking involved; according to my stats on Octopus the last 5 days we've used about 30-35p per day in gas, 3 days at one hour heating hot water, 2 days at 30 minutes.
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  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 18,259 Forumite
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    edited 26 August 2023 at 6:33PM
    lohr500 said:
    Firstly you need to establish if your gas boiler is a combi boiler (which provides hot water on demand) or a traditional type boiler which heats up water in a storage cylinder (immersion tank). Do you know which type you have?

    This will help forum members to suggest what settings to go for.

    Boiler-wise, Its a traditional boiler, not a combi. With this in mind, I am mainly looking for opinions on how long to have the water heating up for,morning & evening.
    If you have a thermostat on the tank, set the timer for an hour, and the boiler should shut off once the water is up to temperature - If you don't have a tank thermostat, get one fitted.
    With my old heating system (Baxi back boiler plus hot water tank), it would take 30-40 minutes to get the water hot. Just for a bit of washing up and hand/face washing, it just wasn't economical - Boil a kettle, and leave the tank for bath nights. Was down to ~3500KWh of gas per year doing that.
    Another thing that will save a good chunk of money - If your boiler is old and has a permanently on pilot light, turn it off when not in use. The pilot light will account for 1500-2000KWh per year (£110-150 @ 7.4p per KWh)

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  • Scot_39
    Scot_39 Posts: 3,537 Forumite
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    Thanks - forgot the pilot light warning.

    Still suspect wise that the OP should heat thoroughly and flush initially.
    Many businesses would certainly are advised to if not obliged to - in some instances after only a week of no use - e.g. shower heads etc.


  • Qyburn
    Qyburn Posts: 3,625 Forumite
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    I repeat my comment about a cylinder stat. This will stop the boiler/pump running once the cylinder is up to temperature so it makes less difference how long you program it to run. But you should turn the stat down so the water is no hotter than you need. And don't time it for late in the day or evening. 
  • lohr500 said:
    We still need the OP to advise if they have a hot water cylinder or a combi boiler.
    Suspect based on the original question of what settings to use, there is a hot water cylinder.
    But if there isn't a cylinder then the advice needs to be focussed on best operation of the combi boiler. 
    Hi !  You may have missed my previous message - I don't have a combi!
    Thanks!
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