Central Heating - on yet?

[Tenkaykev]

I still have to insulate the loft with the rolls I purchased recently. I have it planned out in my headand will crack on when we get back from Edinburgh. Plan to switch on the heating on 1st October, set the temperature to 21degrees during the day and about 18/19 overnight and then let it run " low and slow " continuously until next spring.

 

[Exlaser2]

I still don’t understand the concept of turning the heating completely off , isn’t that what room thermostat is for ?
In the summer mine is set at 14C and doesn’t come on at all.
At the moment it’s set at 16C in the morning and 18C in the evening and was on about 15 mins this morning and about 25 mins this evening.
In mid winter it will be set at 18C in the morning and 20C in the evening and will be on for three hours in the morning and four hours in the evening . This is enough to keep the house comfortable unless the weather turns Baltic/Arctic . 😀

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I got a new ( used ) car to replace the old lump recently… it has a heated steering wheel.

I think I’m in love.

 

[Drago]

I still don’t understand the concept of turning the heating completely off , isn’t that what room thermostat is for ?
In the summer mine is set at 14C and doesn’t come on at all.
At the moment it’s set at 16C in the morning and 18C in the evening and was on about 15 mins this morning and about 25 mins this evening.
In mid winter it will be set at 18C in the morning and 20C in the evening and will be on for three hours in the morning and four hours in the evening . This is enough to keep the house comfortable unless the weather turns Baltic/Arctic . 😀

Thing is, if you're out and it falls below the meeting then trips on to hest an empty house.

Was an article in  Pravda the Guardian redently over which was the more efficient for heating, and the techno bods reckoned ASHP are most efficient long term if left running, but gas boilers more cost effective if only flicked on when someone is home and they adtually feel chilly.

 

[Exlaser2]

Thing is, if you're out and it falls below the meeting then trips on to hest an empty house.

Was an article in  Pravda the Guardian redently over which was the more efficient for heating, and the techno bods reckoned ASHP are most efficient long term if left running, but gas boilers more cost effective if only flicked on when someone is home and they adtually feel chilly.

Very true totally agree . That’s why we have a timing controls as well that mean the heating is on from 7am to 10am and then 3.30pm to 8.30 pm . Times when we are generally in. If we are out at these time we turn the thermostat down and if we want heat outside of these times , we either override the controls or most times just put the gas fire on in the lounge .
Totally understand why heat pumps need to be on all the time but the idea that anyone would have their gas central heating on 24/7 seems very strange to me .😀

 

[cyberknight]

I still don’t understand the concept of turning the heating completely off , isn’t that what room thermostat is for ?
In the summer mine is set at 14C and doesn’t come on at all.
At the moment it’s set at 16C in the morning and 18C in the evening and was on about 15 mins this morning and about 25 mins this evening.
In mid winter it will be set at 18C in the morning and 20C in the evening and will be on for three hours in the morning and four hours in the evening . This is enough to keep the house comfortable unless the weather turns Baltic/Arctic . 😀

Mine is set for the same temp all year around , if its cold enough it comes on
So far its hovering 2-3 c above pretty constantly .

 

[Dan Lotus]

Heating might be off but I have broken out the heated clothes maiden and dehumidifier, no wind yesterday and little sun so washing didnt really dry at all outside. I use it in the porch with one of those covers over it, gets quite toasty

Agreed, drying clothes at this time of year is quite the challenge - my parents who were living in Spain at the time (And are back in Spain now but in a different part), where you would think drying clothes would be super easy, also had this issue - thick walls, no central heating, and in the winter a decent challenge - they bought a Dry Buddy, and we bought one too. It's effectively a small tent with a warm air blower at the base, and a kind of branch/arm arrangement at the top that you can hang clothes off, and or socks etc - it's an absolutely perfect way to dry bib shorts and the thick pads - it has a timer dial thing, so you can safely let it do it's thing and walk away. I also tend to pop some light items on top though not obscuring the ventilation holes.
Relatively cheap to run as well, certainly cheaper than cranking the heating up anyway.

I've optimistically put a sports wash out on the airer today, the sun is attempting to break through, and allegedly it might hit the heady heights of 16 later - I suspect I'll have to finish the shorts off in the dry buddy though, can't stand the idea of putting shorts away with a pad that's not properly dry.

On the negative side, if you overload it, like my partner does, parts of clothing that are touching other parts do not dry, you have to go pretty light on what you put in, and rota stuff through it if that makes sense.

This isn't it, but a similar version, but shows you the layout inside, plus when it has the cover on:

Mine is set for the same temp all year around , if its cold enough it comes on
So far its hovering 2-3 c above pretty constantly .

Likewise, mine has kicked in maybe 4 times so far this month.

However as mentioned further up the thread, some people have other systems such as storage heaters, which operate in a very different manner.

As an aside, for those who keep the heating down, and feel the cold like me.

I work from home a lot, and decided to invest in a couple of pairs of lightly insulated trousers - they are really good at keeping the cold at bay, as I don't have much insulation on my legs (all around my tummy sadly :-( ) so used to really struggle in the winter months, though obviously not an issue when I worked in an office most days a week.
I did buy a really thick pair of jogging bottoms, but they were crazy warm, and I think only suitable if your house was approaching 5c or less.
These ones are just about right, and look like normal trousers to be fair, I'd deffo recommend them if you feel the cold leg wise.
Top half is easy eh, bung on a jumper/hoodie/scarf what have you.

 

[Drago]

Not only is the heating still not on, im sat here with the French doors open into the garden.

 

[mjr]

Was an article in  Pravda the Guardian redently over which was the more efficient for heating, and the techno bods reckoned ASHP are most efficient long term if left running, but [...]

That's true but misleading. Mainly it's just techno bods who care how efficient it is. Most people care more about the cost. And that's why the so-called "spark gap" of more-taxed electricity and less-taxed mains gas really hurts the UK.

It's generally more efficient to shut off an ASHP when sunshine and so on are heating the house enough that the ASHP controller would have to choose between overheating the house or flirting with its minimum output.

 

[Drago]

How would one heat ones water with ASHP turned off?

 

[mjr]

Dry Buddy [...] On the negative side, if you overload it, like my partner does, parts of clothing that are touching other parts do not dry,

Oh it's worse than that: those hollow semicircular legs buckle and the top arms crack at the hinge and fall off. Ours is somewhat shorter than it used to be, with fewer arms!

I work from home a lot, and decided to invest in a couple of pairs of lightly insulated trousers

I wonder what you have. Rohan "Stronghold Winter" are not lightly insulated and have to be changed for ordinary trousers pretty soon on entering a heated building!

 

[mjr]

How would one heat ones water with ASHP turned off?

Solar, but why would you turn the ASHP off instead of leaving it on with a controller deciding what's best?

Edit to add: oh I think I see. The ASHP may shut off, but the domestic hot water is generally heated when it's most efficient (early afternoon where I live) and stored in an insulated tank.

 

[Exlaser2]

Not only is the heating still not on, im sat here with the French doors open into the garden.

I always thought Northampton was in the Caribbean 😀.
Though I have based this view purely on the fact that the town centre permanently smells of cannabis 😂😀

 

[Drago]

Most town centres smell of cannabis. The local epicentre is somewhat unique, in that it smells of both cannabis and piss.

 

[briantrumpet]

Most town centres smell of cannabis. The local epicentre is somewhat unique, in that it smells of both cannabis and piss.

Cannapiss?

Or is that what Scottish people say if they've got a blockage in the plumbing department?