Ant

May seem a daft question but here it goes.

Me and mrs Ant work in the day so we put the thermostat to the lowest setting so the boiler doesn't come on whilst at work.

Then we set the house temp to 20 for 4 o'clock.

I was told it would save us more money keeping the temp 20 throughout the day ?

boxst

That is supposed to be an urban myth.

Ant

I get the theory but would your boiler use more gas , getting the house upti temp then just short bursts to maintain it.

Snazy

Im with Dave.
Or get one of those funky thermostats that you can control with your iPhone !
Not because its better, but because you can

Snazy

http://www.nest.com/

I want one !

Ant

I don't bother me but it does for my 1 year old, I'll give it a try and see how it goes

Coffin Dodger

Set ours for 16 degrees during the day just so the house never gets to Arctic levels of coldness but it does mean that most of the time it never kicks in. Set for 19 degrees in the evening, completely off overnight, and a short burst at 19 degrees in the morning to take the edge off and so that my towel is warm / dry when I get out of the shower

Seems to do the job for us.

(Programmable thermostat BTW, very useful)

Ste RB5138

I would guess its false economy to keep the home at a constant temperature while it is empty. I would stick with what you currently do.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

For god sake are people still using click on click off bi-metallic thermostats?! What is this? 1950's net?

Get a digital proportional one that is programmable. Set it up, then never touch it again! Our Honeywell does winter/summer time automatically so don't need to bother with putting the hour forwards/backwards, sets itself to different temps for different times of the day for each day of the week, has a party mode, holiday mode and its wireless. Next job for me is to dual zone it, so upstairs is independant to downstairs, as there is no point in heating the bedrooms during the day (iphone thingy looks snazzy).



Anyhoo good rule of thumb - think of your house as a giant radiator....it radiates heat, the hotter it is inside and the cooler outside, the more heat it radiates. The cooler it is inside the house, the less heat it loses to its surroundings.

Now we could go into heat transfer coefficients based on the house's construction and insulation, and thermal mass, but regardless it will always lose heat to the outside.

There is a few exceptions and that being if the house has a inefficient/underrrated heating system that is unable to bring the house up to temperature (boiler/radiators too small/badly installed etc) and houses with a large thermal mass (i.e tower blocks etc).

Also if you live in a semi, terraced or flat, and your house is cooler than your neighbour's house then you'll gain free heat from them, it won't be much, but its better than giving them your heat

Ant

It is programmable digital one you pleb !

speedking

Have been thnking of getting a programmable thermostat for some time. One which monitors the temperature and turns the heating on to achieve a particular temperature at a particular time.

ALi-B / Ant what make / model would you recommend? Are they compatible with existing wiring, i.e. straight swap?

Ant

Don't know mine came with the house it's wireless and keep it in the bedroom as the living room gets warm from the av equipment anyways so we was going to bed and it was freezing because it was reading 20degrees in the living room so cut off.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Despite what many will tell you, I've both seen, and carried out, experiments to see which works best.

Undoubtedly, a well insulated house uses LESS energy keeping it warm all day, than one allowed to heat/cool/heat/cool.

Plus the house is much nicer to come home to.........

ChefDude

we don't have a thermostat - our heating is on constantly and we just adjust each radiator.

This is moot really as i'm not precisely sure how much our fuel bills are

i would add that we are middle terrace and have at least double insulation in the loft - to put flooring down in there, they had to add 4" beams. We do have a warm and dry house

Snazy

My house is a frickin nightmare trying to keep warm, something to do with all the cracks in the walls and ill fitting doors lol.

But that said I like to keep it a nice cool 17-18 degrees. My single basic thermo seems to do the trick.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I have a Honeywell CM927. Good unit, marred by somewhat vague instructions. Plus there's a small oddity in regards of boiler cycle rates and minimum burner firing times (default is one minute, max five). So on occasions it'll fire up the boiler for a few minutes then shut off again (this is something to do with its proportional control). Which is a little wastefull IMO, as in our system all that will do is heat the spare room (thats the first room on the pipe run), ideally the minimum 'on time' needs to be more adjustable. Despite this one minute of gas wasteage, its miles better than our previous digital non-proportional thermomostat.

This is wireless, so there is a reciever unit that can be sited by the boiler or wiring junction box. This allows the room unit to be situated anywhere in the house. They also do a wired version which negates the need for a reciever, but needs the correct wires in the room its installed in (switching supply/feed).

It won't do hot water though, so if the heating system also heats a hot water tank, you'll need a seperate timer (or use the existing one).

I can't reccomend any others as the only other previous 'clever' stat/programmer I've used was a AQ6000 which was a self-compensating controller (and was a master at confusing plumbers ).

But I also looked at Worcester Bosch's programmers, one of which features outside temperature compensation and also proportional burner control (i.e high demand, full flame, low demand, low flame, whereas the Honeywell CM927 does this by cycling the boiler on and off). Unfortunately it wasn't compatible with my boiler.

chet123

iTrader: (7)

I have to agree with Dave here. There are a number of reasons to consider when setting the thermostat. At the end of the day it is upto the setting you feel most comfortable with. If its too cold, turn it up a degree or two, vise versa.

To add to Daves message thermostat settings can also depend on whether you have cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, solid walls, bay windows, draft proofed doors/windows/seals, curtains (to prevent lose of any heat through windows), double glaze windows etc.

Personally, me and my wife have ours set to 22 after 4.30 but during early hours of the monring 20. This keeps the house warm and regulated thus not putting a great demand of the boiler. With a 4 month baby its even more imperative that the house stays warm in winter.

I could probably feel nice and confortable at 21.5 if the themostat had the option so therefore use 22 but on many occasions turn that down to 21 becuase sometimes that temperature keeps the house very warm indeed.

I suppose settings can vary as can conditions. We have a solild walls where alot of heat can escape. Plus our 3 bed semi has the living room facing the outside of the house, meaning heat escapes into the cold walls. If the room was adjacent to the neighbours then there would less heat lose. Anyway hope this helps..

Coffin Dodger

Got a wireless Drayton programmable thermostat. Does the job nicely. They do both wired and wireless versions.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Lol my thermostat is set to 20 degrees for a couple hours in the morning and night. It's about 20 degrees round the rad but rest of the room is about 10 degrees Next year.... New boiler and already got rads and TRV's waiting!! Oober cosy and carry around thermostat from a reputable source

The Zohan

we have a bi-metal one fitted to the house (new) some 13 years ago. thinking of replacing it with this - thoughts please http://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-RT500-.../dp/B003EQCTFQ

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'd look for one that has either proportional and integral control (TPI or PID ) or one that has an adjustable hysteresis (the temperature swing between on and off), to prevent or adjust for under/overheating and excessive temp fluctations.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Sod you lot. Bunch of tight *****!
Ours is set at between 22-25 degrees depending on how we feel!
I don't like being cold and with a brand new house, our combined gas and leccy bills are only £90 a month!

jonc

I have the temperature set to around 20 and use the timer to turn on the CH at set times during day. It's off after kids have gone to school and the house is empty, then back on for when the kids are back home and then off when everyone is asleep. This works well, but it was a PITA to balance the system, it can be really cold downstairs and really hot upstairs.

The Zohan

in English? - what would you reccommend

Saint AAI

Mine is on all the time and left at 18. The girlfriend is in most of the day and I have seven pets so never bother with the timer. She's always moaning it's too cold, but I moan when it's higher saying it's too hot. It's a pretty new boiler, but a basic one. Seven day programmable timer and a thermostat. She seems to think turning the thermostat up to 30 warms the house quicker lol.

davegtt

And here I am with the heating off sat in shorts and T shirt. The only warmth in the house is the heat from my laptop Still waiting for winter here.

Chip

Just get a Honeywell CM 927 and be done with it.

Luan Pra bang

I use a very simple system when cold I turn the heating on full blast , then when I am hot I switch it off. I just use the timer to warm the house up in the morning.

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

ours is set on 19 and is 19 in every room thanks to the nu air air circulator . even the dining room and kitchen which have no rads are 19 , best thing you can buy , they cost £200 quid but you soon get your money back .