Turning heating/boiler completely off during the night?

MysteryMe

It is a really good point made earlier about knowing what the temperature of the property is going to settle at naturally without any heating. I had new central heating and double glazing installed this year so the house is reasonably well insulated and efficiently heated.

Although I set my overnight temperature to kick in at 10 degree, the house temperature does not get that low overnight for the heating to come on anyway. I have my bedroom window open overnight to cool the room down!

Yesterday I was out all day, leaving before the heating would come "on" so turned the heating "off" by lowering the thermostat down to 10 degrees and it was just over 16 degrees when I came home despite it being really cold outside and the heating not being "on" since 9.30pm the previous evening

moneysaver1978

ThisIsWeird said:

moneysaver1978 said:

koalakoala said:

As a matter of interest what temperature do folk set during the night?

We have only had 1 winter in this house so we are still experimenting and I have today installed Hive hub (as the hive thermostat & receiver came with the house). Here's our current schedule (which we had just set up in the app a few moments ago!):
21 degrees: 06:30 - 08:30
19 degrees: 08:30 - 12:30
21 degrees: 12:30 - 14:00
19 degrees: 14:00 - 18:30
20 degrees: 18:30 - 21:30
18 degrees: 21:30 - 06:30
We did learn in last winter that anything lower than 16 or 17 during the day is just too cold despite wearing layers and/or the house taking too long to warm up - one of the pitfalls of a 1930s solid wall house despite adding new insulation in the loft!
We will see what happens next few days and adjust accordingly.

Every house, and every user, will be different. 

These figures are perfectly normal for a cosy home, and I think it's only since the energy costs soared that folk are suddenly deciding that '21' is too warm! Certainly applies to me - I have made '18' the default 'living' temp, but I'm happy to turn it up to 18.5 or 19 if we want. Before the energy cost hike, I'd have thought little about having it at 20oC. Now, I quite enjoy the thick blanket over us in t'eve'.

The only obvious figure that may be worth experimenting with on your settings - should you wish to make energy savings - is the overnight temp of 18oC; I think that can be considered highish.

Is there any reason why you want it at this level overnight? Unless, say, you have a baby or toddler who needs that sort of temp, one of the first tweaks I'd make would be to try '17' overnight temps for a few days, and seeing that it still comes up to the required 21oC at 6.30. If it does, if you don't think the house is warm enough at wake-up time, then try an earlier switch-on to 21 to compensate.

If your boiler is coming on and off regularly overnight to maintain 18oC, that will be a lot of 'wasted' gas. By 'wasted', I mean 'if it ain't actually needed'.

Excellent point! My OH sets the temperature but I will adjust to 17 degrees via the app "on the sly" and see if she noticed next few days.

ThisIsWeird

moneysaver1978 said:

Excellent point! My OH sets the temperature but I will adjust to 17 degrees via the app "on the sly" and see if she noticed next few days.

I hope you won't be resorting to this other forum as a result: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/marriage-relationships-families :-(

FreeBear

moneysaver1978 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

moneysaver1978 said:

koalakoala said:

As a matter of interest what temperature do folk set during the night?

We have only had 1 winter in this house so we are still experimenting and I have today installed Hive hub (as the hive thermostat & receiver came with the house). Here's our current schedule (which we had just set up in the app a few moments ago!):
21 degrees: 06:30 - 08:30
19 degrees: 08:30 - 12:30
21 degrees: 12:30 - 14:00
19 degrees: 14:00 - 18:30
20 degrees: 18:30 - 21:30
18 degrees: 21:30 - 06:30
We did learn in last winter that anything lower than 16 or 17 during the day is just too cold despite wearing layers and/or the house taking too long to warm up - one of the pitfalls of a 1930s solid wall house despite adding new insulation in the loft!
We will see what happens next few days and adjust accordingly.

Every house, and every user, will be different. 

These figures are perfectly normal for a cosy home, and I think it's only since the energy costs soared that folk are suddenly deciding that '21' is too warm! Certainly applies to me - I have made '18' the default 'living' temp, but I'm happy to turn it up to 18.5 or 19 if we want. Before the energy cost hike, I'd have thought little about having it at 20oC. Now, I quite enjoy the thick blanket over us in t'eve'.

The only obvious figure that may be worth experimenting with on your settings - should you wish to make energy savings - is the overnight temp of 18oC; I think that can be considered highish.

Is there any reason why you want it at this level overnight? Unless, say, you have a baby or toddler who needs that sort of temp, one of the first tweaks I'd make would be to try '17' overnight temps for a few days, and seeing that it still comes up to the required 21oC at 6.30. If it does, if you don't think the house is warm enough at wake-up time, then try an earlier switch-on to 21 to compensate.

If your boiler is coming on and off regularly overnight to maintain 18oC, that will be a lot of 'wasted' gas. By 'wasted', I mean 'if it ain't actually needed'.

Excellent point! My OH sets the temperature but I will adjust to 17 degrees via the app "on the sly" and see if she noticed next few days.

I left the old thermostat in place when I had my new boiler installed. If a lodger or visitor wants to play with it, they can.

moneysaver1978

ThisIsWeird said:

moneysaver1978 said:

Excellent point! My OH sets the temperature but I will adjust to 17 degrees via the app "on the sly" and see if she noticed next few days.

I hope you won't be resorting to this other forum as a result: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/marriage-relationships-families :-(

Haha, I hope not before our wedding next year! She knows about the adjustment so will see what the situation is like next few evenings.

ThisIsWeird

moneysaver1978 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

moneysaver1978 said:

Excellent point! My OH sets the temperature but I will adjust to 17 degrees via the app "on the sly" and see if she noticed next few days.

I hope you won't be resorting to this other forum as a result: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/marriage-relationships-families :-(

Haha, I hope not before our wedding next year! She knows about the adjustment so will see what the situation is like next few evenings.

Fab! All the best :-)

jennifernil

Ours was always off at night, but now we have smart TRVs we need to set a minimum in every room.      We have decided on 12-14, depending on which room it is 

moneysaver1978

This article just came up that might be of interest: https://apple.news/A52-NbSAIQtSF2lMuJ5wdtg

Albermarle

moneysaver1978 said:

This article just came up that might be of interest: https://apple.news/A52-NbSAIQtSF2lMuJ5wdtg

Not sure how she spends £120 a month on electricity in a flat, if she does not switch the electric heating on .

ThisIsWeird

Albermarle said:

moneysaver1978 said:

This article just came up that might be of interest: https://apple.news/A52-NbSAIQtSF2lMuJ5wdtg

Not sure how she spends £120 a month on electricity in a flat, if she does not switch the electric heating on .

Yup - these figures are nuts. Makes a bit of a mockery of what could be an interesting article.