The heating is on !

[Cuchilo]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I like my house warm so for now have the heating on very low but all the time .
Tonight I wondered if it would be cheaper to keep it that way or turn it up and put it on a timer so its warm when I want it .
Heating the whole system for a couple of hours must take more energy than blasting it on twice a day for a few hours right ?
Or wrong ................ ?

 

[IncoherentJeff]

So far I haven't turned mine on yet, but I much prefer being cooler than hot.
Apparently the gritters were out last night! So may have to admit defeat and turn it on incase the pipes freeze and also make it slightly more appealing to get out of a warm bed into a cold room in the mornings.

As for keeping a low heat continuously or two blasts of heat when you need it, I guess it depends how hot & for how long you have it on twice for.

 

[Cuchilo]

I'm not sure the level of heat would matter that much as you still need to heat the whole system .
I'm not that fussed to be honest as I just turn it up to what I want but talking to two friends tonight , one can afford to do what he wants and keeps it off and the other is very careful as he cant afford to keep the house warm .

 

[summerdays]

In my old house it wouldn't go on before 1st Nov, and I came pretty close to that in my current house which is far more leaky! Went to my parents at half term where it was really warm and whilst I wouldn't want it that hot I did wonder why I make myself suffer.

As for leaving it on the while time I think that only becomes worthwhile if you have a really insulated house on the passive house scale, and then you are likely to have low heating requirements anyway.

Are you in all day? I don't see the point in heating it when nobody is in, and I like it cool whilst I'm sleeping.

 

[Cuchilo]

I can kind of understand by not heating it all day if you are not in but heating the fabric of the building and keeping it that way is my thinking . Maybe I think too much
My own needs are cold as I go to bed as I love jumping under the covers and getting warm but warm in the morning when I get out of bed . I also have an open fire that gets put on just because I have one and I'm male
Just interested in opinions to be honest no real worry about it .

 

[coffeejo]

I can kind of understand by not heating it all day if you are not in but heating the fabric of the building and keeping it that way is my thinking . Maybe I think too much
My own needs are cold as I go to bed as I love jumping under the covers and getting warm but warm in the morning when I get out of bed . I also have an open fire that gets put on just because I have one and I'm male
Just interested in opinions to be honest no real worry about it .

Set the timer to come on before you get up in the morning and then again for the evening?

I've got a one bed flat and during the winter have it on for half an hour in the late afternoon/early evening and then again for another half an hour later on. If it's really cold, it might go on for an hour in the early evening. If there's ice on the inside of the windows when I wake up, it goes on for half an hour in the morning.

I have all the top light windows open at night as I found this cuts almost all the condensation which is the bane of my life during the winter.

(Reasons I'm single #356)

 

[ScotiaLass]

My heating went on a couple of days ago.
It's on the timer; 7- 8am, 12-1pm and 4-7pm. Currently that seems enough.

...
I have all the top light windows open at night as I found this cuts almost all the condensation which is the bane of my life during the winter...

I leave a bedroom window open all year round as I prefer the room I sleep in to be cool.

 

[gavroche]

I was told by a heating engineer that it is more efficient to keep it on all the time but when you are out, turn the thermostat down by 3 degrees so that the boiler doesn't come on full again when you bring it up to normal temperature. It is all to do with keeping the walls warm apparently.

 

[raleighnut]

^^^+1 but it depends on the level of insulation in the building.

 

[Phil Fouracre]

Loads of variables! Insulation most important. How much do you want to spend on controls to save money? Got to be cost effective. Best are stepped/set back controls, weather compensation etc. turning stat down doesn't 'stop boiler coming on full again'! Simply delays this happening until temperature drops to new setting. Programmable stats are simplest option, allowing timed periods at different temperatures. You can set lower temperatures when you are out, ramping up to higher, in anticipation of occupation periods.

 

[BrumJim]

Been thinking about this for a number of years.
Certainly better to turn off the heating when you aren't in the house. Doing a simple heat balance equation, heat loss is proportional to the difference in temperature between outside and inside, and heat is a function of energy used. Hence bringing the house up to temperature before you get home uses less heat than keeping it at the same temperature. Can't explain it well, but I think I have a grasp of it.

However if you are in the house it gets a bit more difficult. My theory is that if the house gets cold and so do you, the body reduces blood flow to the outer parts, concentrating on inner organs. When it all gets a bit too cold and the heating has to go on, the body can't make use of this heat as there is little flow to the skin to pick it up. Hence the house has to get a lot warmer than it would have been otherwise for you to feel it. As per above, the hotter the house gets, the more it looses, and so you end up with a hotter house, colder you, and more energy burnt than having it at a steady temperature.

However I need an experiment to test this, and don't have the funds for a double-blind test in identical houses with a couple of willing families. So it will have to remain a hypothesis.

 

[BrumJim]

However you are lucky to have the choice. Boiler broke down on Tuesday. Fitter came out on Wednesday but couldn't get the part until Thursday. Fitted it on Thursday but broke another part, and wasn't in stock, so having it replaced Friday (today). Hopefully.

 

[Drago]

Mines gone on, but only because the youngest of the Drago clan has a bad cold.

 

[raleighnut]

Put a feckin jumper on!

 

[jayonabike]

Still haven't put the heating on yet. The digital temperature reader thingy said it was 18 degrees in the house last night.