Heating...

[Bibs]

How do you have yours?

It's been said that leaving it on 24/7 is best as you're never warming up a freezing house but I'm not sure the sense in warming an empty house no matter what. That being said, I do work from home so have given this a try and the boiler certainly is working little & often rather than a huge effort to get some warmth into the house twice a day.

Do you have yours on the time and control it's use with the thermostat or set a timer to warm up before getting up them before coming home for the evening? What's best?

[Black Sport 160]

Nothing more miserable than being cold

No gas where I live. Electric CEILING heating. Individual thermostats in each room, but no timers.

I tend to turn it down if i'm going to out of the house for more than a few hours, but not off. Returning to a freezing house is ghastly.

It would take several hours to heat the house from stone cold in winter with everything on MAX.

Oh, and electric heating costs a goddam fortune to run

[B1 RMA]

This is the source of much argument in my household but there are two women here. I go to great lengths running the heating 24 hours having installed thermostatic valves on all radiators to ensure about a constant 20.C, as the house is well insulated and I specified a 25mm gap in the double glazing there is very little heat loss. This all goes tits up when one of the other two members of the household just turn the radiator valve up to max instead of about 3 then forget about it. As I work outside (when I can be bothered to between cars and Skyrim) I find it way too hot then find out the valves are at max I have seriously considered super gluing them in place at 3 then perhaps the other two will perhaps put on a jumper when they feel a bit chilly, no thinking about that its too bloody obvious isn't it?

[nigeninja]

leave heating on 24/7,just turn the stat down when you go out and when you go to bed.

[Boots]

We turned the heating off back in April. Now having tried to turn it back on we discovered a blockage in the pipes so the hot water was not circulating.

Not sure whether blockage was in pipes or boiler (which is nearly older than me!) we discovered that to flush the pipes is around £600 and may not cure the problem so we are in the process of getting a new boiler installed as the system flushing is included in the price.

Needless to say our heating will be on constantly and just turned down I the summer.

[red vtec]

Do you not have a solution such as Fernox in the system to stop build up of gunk etc?

Regarding heating closing the doors can help a lot. As the draughts if they go over the thermostat will cause the boiler to blow all the time. Also shut rads down in rooms you do not use, fit radiator thermostats etc.

Keep the house at a stable temp but you do not need it on 24/7 unless its really, really cold. Ours is on a timer and thermostat set at about 21

Or alternativly get a high backed chair and sit near the open fire like in a Dickinson Novel

[molemot]

I'm all electric..so I have a heatpump system. Heating in the winter, aircon in the summer, constant comfort. I only turn it on when needed... Years back, a colleague was talking on the phone to the central heating service engineer.."Oh, by the way, the thermostat's in the cupboard under the stairs...inside what looks like a fuse box. The one in the hall is a dummy for the wife to play about with...she turns it up and feels warmer!"

Edited November 28, 2011 by molemot

[MPx]

Its hard to be difinitive because the ambient temperature constantly varies and so much depends on how efficient your insulation and draft proofing are. However, I think it will cost more to run the system permanently rather than twice a day but it will also be more comfortable. We have ours timed to come on for two hours in the morning and six hours at night. So thats only a third of a day. Thats enough to keep the house reasonably comfortable most of the time. When it gets very cold - long periods below 0 - we leave it on constantly. So on the occasions we have it on constantly its typically got to heat a bigger differential to reach 21degrees so would be working harder and is therefore not a straight comparator. On the other hand, it costs more than twice as much to run constantly than it does on the twice a day timer. I know this for a fact because I currently have a poxy LPG system running off 4x 47kg bottles with a very fast turnover so its not all hidden in quarterly bills. In normal coldish winter weather we run at 1 bottle per week on the twice a day programme - which are actually swapped out two at a time each fortnight. With the current higher ambient temperatures two bottles can last three weeks. However, in the very cold snap earlier in the year when we left the heating on all the time we were using 2 bottles each week. Indeed it got down to about two bottles in 5 or 6 days at one point...

Edited November 28, 2011 by MPx

[cjtpb13]

Though I do not get to use my heating systems as often as most I actually use 7 day programmers. So I can set the unit to lower temperature when I am not there, maintain temperature while I am there for the weekend. This allows me the ability to then have the unit to increase the heat prior to my arrival. I use the Insteon system to control my house and the heating systems. One is a oil burner forced air system, the others are boiler and non adjustable radiators.

Now in the summer with the aircon it is much easier to leave on 24/7 at desired temperature as it takes too much to get the 98%+ humidity out.

[fitz]

This winter i've just had a programmable thermostat 7 day timer. so I run the old 24hr timer on constant and the thermostat controls temperature via a set back, 21C when i'm in, 16C when i'm out. It certainly seems to keep a much even temperature than the old mechanical one that was probably broken. Not had a bill back yet but its much more comfortable than the old setup, boiler does not seem to be on as much as before.

[B1 RMA]

Its hard to be difinitive because the ambient temperature constantly varies and so much depends on how efficient your insulation and draft proofing are. However, I think it will cost more to run the system permanently rather than twice a day but it will also be more comfortable. We have ours timed to come on for two hours in the morning and six hours at night. So thats only a third of a day. Thats enough to keep the house reasonably comfortable most of the time. When it gets very cold - long periods below 0 - we leave it on constantly. So on the occasions we have it on constantly its typically got to heat a bigger differential to reach 21degrees so would be working harder and is therefore not a straight comparator. On the other hand, it costs more than twice as much to run constantly than it does on the twice a day timer. I know this for a fact because I currently have a poxy LPG system running off 4x 47kg bottles with a very fast turnover so its not all hidden in quarterly bills. In normal coldish winter weather we run at 1 bottle per week on the twice a day programme - which are actually swapped out two at a time each fortnight. With the current higher ambient temperatures two bottles can last three weeks. However, in the very cold snap earlier in the year when we left the heating on all the time we were using 2 bottles each week. Indeed it got down to about two bottles in 5 or 6 days at one point...

Thats an interesting observation you've made there because I've always thought that if you run it 24/7 and the house is well insulated the very fabric of the house absorbes the heat and retains it over a long period which in turn should reduce the effort to heat it. Well at least thats the theory I've worked on for the past 10 odd years.

[IanQ]

Try going into a cold Church to practice especially this time of year which as you can imagine is getting a bit busy for me. So cold sometimes I cannot feel my fingers, let alone play the Organ. Now I know how les Dawson managed to make bad playing into an art form! So we had heating installed in a building which is nearly 1000 years old last summer and it really is fantastic. We leave it on 15 degrees c so it keeps the place dry (ish) and then time it to get warm an hour or so before a service.

And at home the temp is constantly 21 degrees and it is good to come home on damp November evenings to a warm house.

[slewthy]

It was so cold last year that I bought my children electric blankets for their beds.

If its as cold this year, I might let them turn them on.

[stevem]

We have a good aircon/heating system in the offices at work. if I set it to 21C it stays +/- 1C of that all year round, but here's the funny bit. In winter all the staff complain that it's too cold and in summer they complain that it's too hot. I have a big thermometer on the wall and point out the actual temperature is the same to them, but it make no difference. it's all relative to what the weather is outside and how they think it should be inside.

[Iconic Ride]

20 quid says I ain't the only bloke what deals with "thermostat wars" with their significant other. Even with all three thermostats programed for max efficiency (daytime comfort, nighttime "setback") the roaming spouse patrol is on an unending mission to defeat the electronic wizardry we paid for. Things were going swimmingly until she figured out how easy it was to override the programed settings. Somewhere in the upper reaches of northern Minnesota, their must be an elf working hard on developing a "spouse proof" thermostat controller, and I will be the first in line to make my purchase.

Oh, and what gene is it in the female mind that tells them that selecting a temperature well above or below the final intended desired result will somehow cause things to happen faster? Arrggghhhh!

[rogerch]

A winters day in Coffs Harbour.

[Laura]

Wow Roger, do you live in Australia? How come you've never mentioned it before, perhaps in a previous weather related post?

[IanQ]

He used to live in St. Neots not far from me ( bet he never mentions that!). I am tempted to post pictures of the town in mid winter. Not a pretty sight....at any time of year.

[MikieP]

Something that might be pertinent to those with wood furniture in their house, swings may cause cracking or warping, esp when dry heating is used... Personally, I use a heat pump and keep it at 67F for summers due to high humidity and 73F in winter with an in-plenum humidifier during heating season. Cheaper than most other electric methods and depends on the efficiency of the outdoor unit.

MikieP

[rogerch]

Wow Roger, do you live in Australia? How come you've never mentioned it before, perhaps in a previous weather related post?

Did I mention the sea food ?

[DanR]

Oh it does rain in Coffs

http://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=coffs+harbour+floods&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=79vZToLYLKOkiAfX6tCJDw&biw=1270&bih=652&sei=-NvZTrWdOMiyiQfyhezwDQ

[markjonesx]

[MPx]

Sorry Mark...I see that as wrong on so many levels. Starts with a wrong premise - I would dream of leaving a light on in a room I'm not using. Its cheap (1% they say) and I find it much more aesthetic and much more convenient. I even liked lights on in the garden in the evening in our old house and we never went out there over night. Then, while I accept the ecohome system is clever it would be like the very worse system of Storage heating. You've got to decide which rooms you use at which point in the day and great sections of your house would be very unwelcoming to use on a whim. We have a 3 bed house, so several rooms but nothing exceptional, and only two of us in it most of the time. But the only room we rarely use is the dining room - and we even pop in there at some point most days for a bottle of wine. The idea that I can programme in advance for when I will want to use any room is just fanciful, and the idea that if I could say for today, that I would want to do the same at a known time every day is just daft. So what's actually going to happen with such a system is that assumptions will be made. Unplanned forrays into rooms will be unpleasant dashes into the cold - which will mitigate against using that room so gradually you start to live in a fraction of the space you're paying for. The idea that if you change your mind you just switch on a rad suggests that their customer base has no notion of how long it will take the rad to heat up the room.

Of course it will be cheaper to only heat (and live in) part of your house. But I dont get the rationale. If you dont want to spend so much on heating, just buy a smaller space - and save the huge capital cost not just the marginal heating element. Its like buying a new Esprit (if only!) and only driving it on roads at a constant 56mph to maximise fuel economy. Kind of misses the point of having the thing in the first place....

[Roger 912]

I think people in the U.K. today are a bunch of pansies. When I think of my childhood way back in the 40's, we relied on a coal fire in the lounge and freezing our butts off everywhere else. It was so cold that we used to scratch drawings in the frost on the inside of the bedroom windows. If we wanted to get warm in bed, we got a hot water bottle. I can also remember trekking to junior school in freezing conditions in short trousers with blue knees. We were made of stronger stuff in those days.

Where we are now living, we do not need airconditioning in the summer nor heating in the Winter. Bit like Coff's Harbour. Can also use the Classics virtually every day of the year.

[markjonesx]

Sorry Mark...I see that as wrong on so many levels. Starts with a wrong premise - I would dream of leaving a light on in a room I'm not using. Its cheap (1% they say) and I find it much more aesthetic and much more convenient. I even liked lights on in the garden in the evening in our old house and we never went out there over night. Then, while I accept the ecohome system is clever it would be like the very worse system of Storage heating. You've got to decide which rooms you use at which point in the day and great sections of your house would be very unwelcoming to use on a whim. We have a 3 bed house, so several rooms but nothing exceptional, and only two of us in it most of the time. But the only room we rarely use is the dining room - and we even pop in there at some point most days for a bottle of wine. The idea that I can programme in advance for when I will want to use any room is just fanciful, and the idea that if I could say for today, that I would want to do the same at a known time every day is just daft. So what's actually going to happen with such a system is that assumptions will be made. Unplanned forrays into rooms will be unpleasant dashes into the cold - which will mitigate against using that room so gradually you start to live in a fraction of the space you're paying for. The idea that if you change your mind you just switch on a rad suggests that their customer base has no notion of how long it will take the rad to heat up the room.

Of course it will be cheaper to only heat (and live in) part of your house. But I dont get the rationale. If you dont want to spend so much on heating, just buy a smaller space - and save the huge capital cost not just the marginal heating element. Its like buying a new Esprit (if only!) and only driving it on roads at a constant 56mph to maximise fuel economy. Kind of misses the point of having the thing in the first place....

It's a dynamic way to heat your house, you decide what's heated, if your in the house you just overide the settings to what you want or allow it to decide.

The simplest way to save money is to 2 zone your house, upstairs and downstairs. How often do you use your bedroom once you've got up in the morning?

Also, you set a min temp for all the rooms, an OFF room in my house is 17 degC, an ON room is 21 degC.

You should never let your house go fully cold in the winter, the start up to warm uses masses of energy.

I save £450 a year using this system, 8 zones.

Edited December 3, 2011 by markjonesx