Central Heating on a controller

[SpacePuppy]

Landlord just installed new controller for the boiler which means we can set it to heat the water and switch the central heating on at different times. Do you have one? And what sort of time do you set it to switch on and for how long? Utterly confused as up to now we did it with the thermostat.

[dustystar]

I set the heating to come on about 1/2 an hour before we get up. The water needs about an hour to heat up properly for us. We leave the thermostat on about 18-20 degrees.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

yes, we set it to come on at 6am - 9.30 and off until 5pm-10.30pm (in winter)

[MaryAnnSingleton]

yes,thermostat at 20

[bellavita]

Ours is set to come on at 5.40am (DH gets up at about 6.00am), so it is nice and warm when he goes downstairs and he knows when he comes back up for his shower there will be plenty of hot water. It goes off at 9.00am. If I am not at work I will usually put it back on again.

In the afternoon, it comes on at 3.45pm and goes off at about 8.30pm. It usually stays warm in the sitting room, but if not we will then put the fire on.

[SpacePuppy]

Thanks, so if you have an old cottage like ours where on half the windows are double glazing I would probably need to have it on longer in the day, we're at home during the afternoons. Does it take more energy to heat your water only when you need it or to keep it at a set temp?

[lizziemun]

Your will probaly find that the timer has a allday setting.

I have ours set to all day and just turn the thermostat up (normally set to 20) if it gets to cold.

As a general thing if you have the timer set to 30mins to an hour before your come home to give the house time to warms up.