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Heating on when cold V 's leaving it on all the time, what's more economical??

6 replies

shinyshoes · 29/10/2008 09:34

Last winter we only put our heating on when we were cold, it would be probably in the morning then afternoon then evening. This would normally be on at 20 on the thermostat.

Last night I had it on low and left it on ALL night, it was set at 17 on the thermostat.

Which is more economical?

You hear that leaving it on low all the time as apposed to keep turning it on then waiting for it to reach temperature, is more economical.

But I still need convincing, I'm not sure what to do, this will be the first time I've left it on constantly, but I'm scared I will get a GIGANTIC bill come March.

What do you all do??

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Ripeberry · 29/10/2008 09:41

When it's really cold like today we leave the heating on all day from 6am until 11pm but it is off at night.
I leave it on because i'm at home anyway with the kids and i'm going to have to leave it on regularly as when i start childminding the house should be at least 21C.
We use calor gas cylinders for the central heating (out in the sticks), so we know EXACTLY how much we are using and just pay for it as we go along...this year it may get up to £800 if we have to change the cylinder banks more than 6 times.
But when it gets really cold, we put the log fire on as well and burn all the bits of wood we've collected over the summer.
Our pond is all iced over this morning and it got down to -3.7c last night...Brrrr!

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 29/10/2008 09:48

I have it on when needed - its an urban myth that keeping it on low is more efficient - good link

Basically energy loss to outside is proportional to the temp difference between outside and inside so by having heating on all the time you are losing energy all the time.

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 29/10/2008 09:53

You can try it for yourself if you like

Turn your heating on when its nice and cold - take meter readings for each hour. You'll see a peak reading for the first hour or two and then when temp settles you'll probably get a steadyish reading. You can quickly do the sums to see if its more efficient to keep on all time or not.

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WhereWolfTheWildThingsWere · 29/10/2008 10:03

Thanks for the link OhYouBadBadKitten, very useful.

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shinyshoes · 29/10/2008 11:15

Excellent link, thanks

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 29/10/2008 20:09

You are welcome

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