Winter heating, whats the most efficient way to set it up?

[Marcos]

I have a timed gas heating system on a big old (student) house, its eating through gas credit, about £2 a day

Is it better to have it on more hours of the day, and it has to keep the temperature up in the system.

Or instead having it only a few hours a day where it has to heat the whole system up again?

right now i have it on 7am - 9:30am and 4pm - 11:30pm and the temperature on the dial is quite low

just seems ridiculous that its going through so much credit

 

[Marcos]

The best thing to do is minimise drafts(sp) first of all. Close doors, hell get those little draft excluder snake things and put them by the gaps if they are still drafty... make the house keep it's warmth when it does get it, and work from there.

With regards to the actual heating setup, little and often is normally better, and cheaper, than it being on all the time, or only at a couple of points. However, without thermostatic control, this can get a little problematic to be constantly adjusting it.

We used to have all kinds of problems heating our old house (that was a big draughty townhouse too), but you can make it better by trying to make the best of what you have.

Our new house is so much easier to heat, because it's very well insulated and draft free

about the "little and often" thing, my timer only lets me set the heat on twice every 24 hours. right now its 2.5 hours in the morning, 7 hours in the evening

wish i had more control points so i could have it on every other hour instead

 

[Marcos]

I got the same problem mate, exactly the same price aswell £2, are you with NPower by any chance? they seem expensive to me...not sure though tbh

I have one of those Credit Card type top-up systems so its pretty easy to keep track of spending but it does seem to go fast, dont know how it compares in cost to monthly bill system

 

[Marcos]

Does it have any form of thermostatic control on it, or is it simply on/off at given times?

If it's the latter, then the cheapest way of using it is as little as possible, because it won't take into account the heat of the house or the system, it'll simply fire the boiler and the pump up and pump heat out.

You might actually be better off getting a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator powered by electricity instead in all honesty, as once set they maintain a temperature with the least amount of energy possible.

I have a temperature dial thing, like a volume knob on hi-fis but for temperature.

which do you reckon is best, having it on for a short amount of time on high heat or turning it low and having it on most of the day?

i cant afford to buy another way to heat the house, just a student trying to make the current system more efficient

 

[Marcos]

£2 a day..that's nothing! We have a gas meter as well and use £20 every 6 days during the cold periods, and that's with only half the radiators in the house on! It's still bloody cold in here most the time as well.

It is a big terraced house with high ceilings so most the heat goes straight up and we don't feel it's benefit.

Andy

yeah thats it, we have high ceilings aswell, 4 empty rooms (i've tried turning off the radiators, not sure if i've done it right), and a drafty front and back door

the house is fine when it has 6-7 people in it putting out heat and cooking etc but over the xmas break theres just me and another guy

 

[Marcos]

Wear a jumper?

done, but its well chilly here

 

[Marcos]

That's good, makes things easier.



If you can stem some of the draughts, on low for most of the day is likely to be better. With the empty rooms, either keep the radiators turned on, or close the doors and put something at the bottom to prevent draughts for starters. (a rolled up jumper or towel works quite well). Also make sure you keep doors/windows closed where possible and again, try and stem any obvious draughts with something to keep the heat in.



I remember it well, it's especially difficult when it's not your house so you can't do anything permanant.

yeah our front door is shocking, very tempted to get that insulation tape and seal it up

 

[Marcos]

Silly question, on the boiler or on a wall somwhere? (just to avoid any confusion).

Assuming it is a seperate thermostat/roomstat, I would set the heating to come on only when you are likely to be in if possible - if you're at uni during the day have it set to come on for the morning (say 6-8am), then again for when you get back (say 4pm-9 or 10?).

there is no point in heating the house when no one is in it

Dolph's advice is pretty much spot on imo (although if it's a simple thermostat with one setting you are almost certainly better with it off when you are out)..

well i dont really know the names of these things

we have a massive water tank type thing with thick solid insulation - boiler?
and then we have a square white heater type thing that seems to heat water on-the-go as it passes through it, dont know what this is or which does what

 

[Marcos]

(probably close to 50cm by 80cm by about 30cm) hidden somewhere?

yeah thats about the size of it, its not one of the small single tap ones, i use to have one of those at another place and this one is much bigger

they are side by side in the airing cupboard, but i dont really get why there is two of them, i always thought a house had one or the other.

like at home i dont have the water tank, i just have the large white box that comes on every now and again and blasts some hot water around the system