Turn boiler off when going away?

TeeAy

From Christmas Eve I'll be abroad for 7 weeks where the house will be unoccupied.

I have an electric shower so the boiler is for central heating and heating water for 1 hour a day to keep things ticking over to wash dishes. 

I'm in London and so far have only needed the heating on 6-7 times since October.
When I have the heating on I only heat the living room where I spend the most time.  

While I'm away I'm wondering if it's ok/safe to switch the boiler off as I won't be using any heating and no need to heat water for the kitchen. 
In my mind I'm thinking it would be safer to turn it off but are there other things to consider eg will the water in the tank "go off" as its not being used/ replaced regularly?

I'd welcome any thoughts and ideas  

WIAWSNB

Almost certainly you will 'get away' with just turning it off.

But, it's obviously a risk.

If, when you are away, you look up t'forecast and find a sudden spell of sub-zero weather, you will not be a relaxed bunny.

Personally, I'd set every radiator TRV to 1 or 2, turn the boiler down to provide around a 50oC supply temp, set your room 'stat to, ooh, 10 or 12oC, and leave it like that. 

Your energy cost should be absolutely minimal; bear in mind that the vast majority of it will be an unavoidable 'standing charge', and the gas usage above this next-to-now't. So, so you'll save very little by turning off the heating, and you'll carry a risk by doing so. 

Finally, possibly counter-intuitively, leave at least some diagonally-room-opposed windows set to vent, and the internal doors open. 

subjecttocontract

If the property will be unoccupied for 7 weeks i.e. 49 days it's likely your insurance won't cover you OR they will require regular checks. I suggest you check the situation with your insurers asap.

TeeAy

subjecttocontract said:

If the property will be unoccupied for 7 weeks i.e. 49 days it's likely your insurance won't cover you OR they will require regular checks. I suggest you check the situation with your insurers asap.

thanks, will look into this

TeeAy

WIAWSNB said:

Almost certainly you will 'get away' with just turning it off.

But, it's obviously a risk.

If, when you are away, you look up t'forecast and find a sudden spell of sub-zero weather, you will not be a relaxed bunny.

Personally, I'd set every radiator TRV to 1 or 2, turn the boiler down to provide around a 50oC supply temp, set your room 'stat to, ooh, 10 or 12oC, and leave it like that. 

Your energy cost should be absolutely minimal; bear in mind that the vast majority of it will be an unavoidable 'standing charge', and the gas usage above this next-to-now't. So, so you'll save very little by turning off the heating, and you'll carry a risk by doing so. 

Finally, possibly counter-intuitively, leave at least some diagonally-room-opposed windows set to vent, and the internal doors open. 

I was thinking to switch off the boiler not to save on energy costs but more due to some apprehension of 'having the gas on' when I'm not there to keep an eye on.   There's something about gas that makes me nervous as I'm ok with the fridge being left on.  It probably isn't rational but just how I feel. 

Unfortunately I can't see any way to turn the boiler down as there's no numbers on the dials and nothing in the settings on the wall controller.   The heating isn't on a timer, I just put it on for a few hours if it particularly cold. Last time was 2 weeks ago.   Maybe will just leave the water on and hope for the best!

WIAWSNB

TeeAy said:

WIAWSNB said:

Almost certainly you will 'get away' with just turning it off.

But, it's obviously a risk.

If, when you are away, you look up t'forecast and find a sudden spell of sub-zero weather, you will not be a relaxed bunny.

Personally, I'd set every radiator TRV to 1 or 2, turn the boiler down to provide around a 50oC supply temp, set your room 'stat to, ooh, 10 or 12oC, and leave it like that. 

Your energy cost should be absolutely minimal; bear in mind that the vast majority of it will be an unavoidable 'standing charge', and the gas usage above this next-to-now't. So, so you'll save very little by turning off the heating, and you'll carry a risk by doing so. 

Finally, possibly counter-intuitively, leave at least some diagonally-room-opposed windows set to vent, and the internal doors open. 

I was thinking to switch off the boiler not to save on energy costs but more due to some apprehension of 'having the gas on' when I'm not there to keep an eye on.   There's something about gas that makes me nervous as I'm ok with the fridge being left on.  It probably isn't rational but just how I feel. 

Unfortunately I can't see any way to turn the boiler down as there's no numbers on the dials and nothing in the settings on the wall controller.   The heating isn't on a timer, I just put it on for a few hours if it particularly cold. Last time was 2 weeks ago.   Maybe will just leave the water on and hope for the best!

'Gas' isn't an issue. That is infinitesimally unlikely to be a problem. The only houses that blow up are ones where folk have tried to fiddle the meter...
Photo of boiler? 
Photo of room stat?
Bear in mind what you've been told about insurance cover. Is there anyone who can call into the house at least once a week? Will you be leaving a contact number with a neighbour?
If you are not going to run the boiler, then shut off the mains stopcock - that will at least limit the amount of water that could flood your home...

vacheron

Your biggest risk is a burst water pipe if we have a really cold spell and the radiator pipes or boiler feed pipes freeze, your boiler may have a frost stat or setting for this purpose which will run the temperature gets down to near freezing. This may still work if the boiler is "off" but definitely not if it is turned off at the mains.

Second biggest risk is leaving your house unattended for so long, as mentioned above as most insurance companies don't allow this (you will probably have answered "no" to the question" is yout house left unattended for more than 28 days" last time you renewed your home insurance). 

Compared to these, the "gas" risk is way down the list. 

Albermarle

I'm in London and so far have only needed the heating on 6-7 times since October.
When I have the heating on I only heat the living room where I spend the most time. 

The weather is set to to get colder over the next couple of weeks and normally January and February are the coldest months.
Even if it is not cold enough to freeze the pipes, the house will feel very cold and maybe a bit damp if it is unheated in Winter for 7 weeks .
In any case as said your insurance will probably insist on keeping it at a minimum temperature, and not just in one room either.

littlemoney

Check your house insurance. Different companies have different durations you can leave the property empty. Mine is 60 days.

silvercar

I’m near to London, I’ve just been away for 2 weeks and set the boiler temp on low and put the heating on a constant 13 degrees.

The heating came on on 4 of the days I was away. The most usage in any one day was 1.5 hours. So, even though we haven’t had that low temperatures, the heating did kick in. 

Mutton_Geoff

My insurance says the house must be kept at 15 degrees whilst away. I set my room stats to 16C and leave the heating on 24/7.