@Fairygirl you said "It was also handy if the boiler was in a bedroom because you didn't need the rads on in that room - the boiler did the work." Maybe that doesn't work with modern boilers. In OH's cottage the boiler is in the kitchen but it doesn't give out any heat. Maybe it is too well insulated.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
No - it doesn't work with the new ones @Busy-Lizzie, in my experience. I had to put a new one in here about a year or two after we moved in - and in the middle of January, which was fun. I'd hoped to be able to do it all at the same time as the new extension, but the thing was knackered. Up until then, the bedroom was well warmed, because the water tank was in a cupboard in there too. There's no discernible heat from the new one - condensing boiler, and of course - no tank. Perhaps they vary too. I'm not sure.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@steveTu I think a lot might depend on the individual home, and the amount of insulation etc. I'd imagine it comes down to temperature lift i.e. how much heat the house losses while the heating is off and so what temperature you're trying to raise it back up from when the heating comes back on again. If you have a home that only drops a couple of degrees in the time there's no heat input then you'd be in a better place to reheat than one that loses say 10 degrees in the same time.
A friend of mine has a new build house only 2 years old and they hardly have the heating on at all and still manage to somehow keep it at almost 17C - sunnier aspect than ours too, and maybe less exposed (?) certainly in a more built up area, plus they'll have more modern glazing, insulation etc. It's a very different style of house as well. Our house is 45 years old and seems to lose the heat much more quickly. So I can imagine what works in one home may not necessarily work in another. But would be interested to know what you find if you're trying it out.
Obviously it all depends on outside temps, but we lose a couple of degrees overnight. The place is a 1930's semi detached , three bedroom, converted bungalow (so little loft space - but what there is is poorly insulated) with double glazing.
Yesterday/last night was freezing to about -3 I think and the house dropped from 19 at 10pm to 16 at 6am. But those outside temps are relatively extreme for down here on the south coast. Typically, the indoor 6am temp is >=17. The heating normally raises the temp by about >1 degree an hour.
Morning Steve, the app on my phone says sun all day today, it's AccuWeather. You and I have just had our first frost,-2.2, we have an in/out digital thermometer. You need to insulate. We're detached,so obviously all outer walls. Cavity wall insulation, replaced all doors and windows while we were working,to double or triple A rated. New gas boiler a few years ago. Very thick loft insulation,is now boarded, because gas boiler,2batteries,and solar inverter in situ.Takes about 10 minutes to raise temp 1c. Tests have proven,you heat,use boiler when required. Urban myth, cheaper to keep it on. Hubby would kill me if I put washing on the rads, making them rust. I have dehumidifier with drying setting. Decent washing machine 1400 spin,my daughter double spins. Treated myself to an electric airer this year.spare room rad is off, door closed. Grandkids coming later,it will go on. Thermostat valves on all the rads. I get up in the morning,if it feels cold,turn the thermostat in the hall,it went on at 13c today, have it on a max of 18c. I turn it down, when I go out,I don't heat an empty house. Thick winter curtains. Opening window won't work on really cold days in the UK, the relative humidity is too high.yes, thats on the hubby has just called me out to look at neighbours rooves,ours is thick white frost. Theirs at least 50% defrosted. (One is a "highly qualified electrical engineer, the other was in maintenance!!
Interesting that you say that @raisingirl, because all the current info I've seen says it definitely isn't cheaper to keep heating on, but to switch on and off as necessary. I certainly wouldn't have it on at a low temp as described earlier - mine would be constantly switching on, and that means you're using more leccy - gas boilers need that to switch on , and for most people it's the leccy that's dearer.
The theory is that condensing boilers reclaim lost heat from the flue gases, so if you are running the boiler at a low setting over a long period, you are reclaiming more heat than if the boiler roars into action to raise the house temperature by ten degrees or so. I think the leccy used by the ignition and heating pump is fairly negligible. However - I still think it works out cheaper to turn the heating off when you don't need it, even if your boiler loses a bit of potential efficiency.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
Met office says cloud today - I tend to use them even though the BBC went Meteox
because of price. I tend not to use phne apps.
What's of more concern to me is the temp rise difference though. My stat is in a hall (not a large area, but not small) and away from outside 'influences' (like sunlight). The hall also then has a smaller rad. Excluding the hall, but including the conservatory, we have 8 rooms (3 beds, kitchen, B/room.dining room,living room, conservatory). Not a large place 10mx10m?
The insulation in the loft is a pain for me, as space in this place is at a premium, so the loft space is all used. I need to get all the stuff out - but can't afford to lose space by raising the loose boards that had been put down. BUT probably 75% of the loft is rooms (fully insulated) anyway.
I get lost by all this! - you say your heating went on at 13 degrees? Doesn't that means you lost more heat than me? (ie assuming you hit 18 last night, then 18-13=5 degree drop) - and isn't that what the insulation is supposed to stop?
I don't think I've ever seen the benefit of rad stats here. I don't recall any rad having turned off because the rad stat setting had been reached. But again, that is more likely because the main stat setting (19) is close to the rad stats (set on 3 for most).
Where I first worked (a family builders merchants in Portland Road in Hove) - we had a specialist who job was to sort all this. Air flow, heat input/output...I should have picked his brains more!
We were told to leave our heat pump on all the time - but I do think insulation is the key to that. We'd just had 4" of external insulation fitted (70s bungalow, solid concrete block walls) and a foot of loft insulation, which enabled us to get a government grant for the heat pump. It seeems to work for us - 19C in the living room at the mo, minus 5 outside.
However, all this isn't any use for those with no spare cash living in leaky houses. I do realise how lucky we are...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
@steveTu - qualified to say 'to achieve the same level of comfort', it's more efficient to leave the heating ticking over at a low temp than to turn it on and off. The way that you perceive temperature is a complex mixture of the air temperature, the relative humidity, the radiative temperature and the air speed. When you let the house cool down and then heat it up again, you end up needing the air temperature to be warmer - because that's the only one of those factors that is changed by a heater - for you to 'feel' warmer. If you keep the house at a reasonably constant temperature, you affect the radiative temperature as well as the air temperature (basically you warm the walls to the same temp as the air) and therefore you will feel warmer and you can let the heating turn off for longer before it needs to come on again. 'Keeping it on constantly' doesn't mean it stays on constantly, which is the point - if your controls work properly, it will only come on when the thermostat drops below the set point. Ours runs maybe an hour or two a day but the house stays at a constant temperature. You won't see this effect in a day, because it takes longer than that to get the fabric warm and dry. Our heating is never off - summer or winter. As we come into the 'shoulder seasons' the heating keeps nudging the temperature, maybe only once or twice a week initially, just enough to keep the equilibrium from the summer from leaking away.
Draughts are the enemy.
15C is a good minimum to work to to avoid condensation and mould. Mould is a killer (as recent news showed).
It is desperately sad - and unnecessary - that so many people are facing this crisis. The Government are hiding behind their 'it's the war' excuse. It is actually political failure that has got us here and it makes me very angry.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We replaced all doors and windows with high spec energy efficient ones in 2020. The originals were 25 years old and, although they were double glazed, there were many cold spots near the windows and doors. The house has been noticeabley warmer and draught free the last couple of winters and also remains cool in summer (a blessing this year!). The attic is many degrees colder / hotter than the house so the insulation up there must be doing a good job.
The heating (oil fired) is on from 7am to 10pm but set at a relatively low background heat (17C) - which means that it is usually off. We (very occasionally) notch it up a couple of degrees for an hour if we're cold (OH point blank refuses to don outdoor wear in the house). Upstairs radiators (good TRV's) are at a very low setting but not actually switched off. Cold rooms just means a draughty house IME.
In short, a much better insulated house has meant significantly reduced heating input. We really should be doing so much more to increase the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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I had to put a new one in here about a year or two after we moved in - and in the middle of January, which was fun.
I'd hoped to be able to do it all at the same time as the new extension, but the thing was knackered. Up until then, the bedroom was well warmed, because the water tank was in a cupboard in there too. There's no discernible heat from the new one - condensing boiler, and of course - no tank.
Perhaps they vary too. I'm not sure.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
A friend of mine has a new build house only 2 years old and they hardly have the heating on at all and still manage to somehow keep it at almost 17C - sunnier aspect than ours too, and maybe less exposed (?) certainly in a more built up area, plus they'll have more modern glazing, insulation etc. It's a very different style of house as well. Our house is 45 years old and seems to lose the heat much more quickly. So I can imagine what works in one home may not necessarily work in another. But would be interested to know what you find if you're trying it out.
What do the numbers on a thermostatic radiator valve mean?
However, all this isn't any use for those with no spare cash living in leaky houses. I do realise how lucky we are...
The way that you perceive temperature is a complex mixture of the air temperature, the relative humidity, the radiative temperature and the air speed. When you let the house cool down and then heat it up again, you end up needing the air temperature to be warmer - because that's the only one of those factors that is changed by a heater - for you to 'feel' warmer. If you keep the house at a reasonably constant temperature, you affect the radiative temperature as well as the air temperature (basically you warm the walls to the same temp as the air) and therefore you will feel warmer and you can let the heating turn off for longer before it needs to come on again. 'Keeping it on constantly' doesn't mean it stays on constantly, which is the point - if your controls work properly, it will only come on when the thermostat drops below the set point. Ours runs maybe an hour or two a day but the house stays at a constant temperature. You won't see this effect in a day, because it takes longer than that to get the fabric warm and dry. Our heating is never off - summer or winter. As we come into the 'shoulder seasons' the heating keeps nudging the temperature, maybe only once or twice a week initially, just enough to keep the equilibrium from the summer from leaking away.
Draughts are the enemy.
15C is a good minimum to work to to avoid condensation and mould. Mould is a killer (as recent news showed).
It is desperately sad - and unnecessary - that so many people are facing this crisis. The Government are hiding behind their 'it's the war' excuse. It is actually political failure that has got us here and it makes me very angry.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The heating (oil fired) is on from 7am to 10pm but set at a relatively low background heat (17C) - which means that it is usually off. We (very occasionally) notch it up a couple of degrees for an hour if we're cold (OH point blank refuses to don outdoor wear in the house). Upstairs radiators (good TRV's) are at a very low setting but not actually switched off. Cold rooms just means a draughty house IME.
In short, a much better insulated house has meant significantly reduced heating input. We really should be doing so much more to increase the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock.