What is the most cost-effective way to run central heating?

[Jem2124]

It’s probably been done to the death but bear with me and please try to give me some answers!

We live in a newish house (less than 10 yrs old), built to meet all the required building control/insulation requirements. Double glazed, oil fired condenser boiler. Oil fired Aga. Heating is on two zones - upstairs and downstairs. One thermostat in each area.

Our oil bills are enormous and the house is permanently cold. We have heat on upstairs twice daily for 20/30 mins at a time. Same downstairs but they are on at different times iyswim. And it’s bloody freezing.

So, my questions:

1. Would it be more economical to run the boiler only twice daily with both zones heating at the same time, rather than it firing up four times for short periods?

1. Should we be keeping it on for longer periods with thermostat lower so that it cuts out?

The Aga drinks oil and is turned off for 5-6 months but has just gone on and I know our bills will soar.

Any advice welcome.

I want to know the answer to this question too.

Get shot of the Aga. Put the CH on for longer.

If you only have the heating on for 20 minutes, I'd be surprised if the radiators even got warm, never mind the house.

Why is the hearing on for such a short time? As a PP said the radiators would have just started to heat up before you turn them off.

I've heard it's better ro run the heating for longer periods on a low temperature than shorter periods on a higher temperature, but happy to be corrected.

wehave heating to come on about 6.30 we get up at 7-7.15 normally it goes off about 8,30 and I leave about 9..30 it comes on again about 3 ready for when DD home from school and stays on till 10pm we go to bed about 11
we live in Scotland it was frosty this morning
I only use my Aga for cooking it heats hot water at the same time
when I'm working from home in the winter and at the weekends the heating stays on most of the day depending on outside temperature
if it is below freezing we may turn heating down and leave on over night
we have open fires in most rooms

20/30 mins twice a day is simply not long enough is the aga powering the boiler if not I would only use it for cooking and let boiler do the heating
it is not more economical to have heating on 24/7 if you are out large chunks of the day but generally it needs to come on 30 minutes before you get up and 30 minutes before you get in the evenings and can go off about an hour before bed / leave for work as enough residual heat to keep it warm for another hour, if it has only been on 20 minutes there will not be enough heat to keep it warm for the next few hours

You might find this interesting; www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/energy-saving-myths/

But honestly I've never heard of heating being on for 20 minutes. Has that worked for you somewhere else? How long are you wanting the house to stay warm from the 20 mins of heating? Are you somewhere without gas, hence the oil burning? Does the Aga have a backbolier or is it just for heating the air/cooking? My MIL has oil system and FIL is heating engineer so I can ask how they do it!

I'd say heating the upstairs in the mornings if you're up and away pretty quick, and downstairs in the evenings (leaving all doors open to upstairs so heat rises) might help keep your costs down. But you probably need to be running the heating for at an hour before you feel a noticeable difference in temperature.

Have you also check moisture levels? A dehumidifier could be a good investment, wet air is harder to heat than dry.

If you have an Aga I'm surprised you are cold. Ours went on last week - 4 oven oil fired, and it's 22c in my large kitchen. Yes it single handedly sustains the Saudi economy but I love it and means we don't need to put the downstairs heating on yet. I really don't think 20min stints of heating are going to be effective. You will be burning oil but not feeling the benefit. If you want to be warm you need to have it on for longer.

i think you need to actually run it a bit. to warm up the house. we have it on not a lot, but not that little

Have you googled, there are hundreds of articles on this subject and, from what I've found, no one definitive answer, no one can tell you for sure

Make sure your loft insulation is at least 12 inches deep.

Get yourself a 'Nest' heating control in place of the the downstairs thermostat. The Nest will make sure the house is warm when you want it to be warm and will make the heating work at its most effecient level.

Get rid of the aga

I have googled... and turned to the wisdom of Mumsnet!

Okay, to answer questions. The heating is on for so short a period of time because when the Aga is on, we go through 1000 litres of oil every 7 weeks. It adds up. No option of gas. And definitely not getting rid of the Aga.

When the Aga is on, the kitchen and areas off it are toasty but elsewhere remains chilly. We don’t really need the downstairs heat as we live within the Aga area but the other rooms need heated and aired so it does need to be on a bit ... maybe longer than 20 mins! Upstairs, I definitely need to turn heating on for much longer.

@TeacupDrama, is your Aga oil-fired? If so, do you turn it down when not cooking? Ours sits on a constant 4.5 on the dial but I am thinking of turning it back unless I need it for cooking and then increasing c heating on timer. We don’t use it to heat the water.

I’d love to know whether it’s more economical to run my upstairs and downstairs timers on the same schedule but can’t really get an answer, even with the help of google. Have asked plumber but didn’t get a straight answer so must ask again.

Thanks for all the replies.

I don't bother with upstairs heat unless there is a prolonged exceptionally cold snap.keep all doors shut and curtains closed as soon as sun goes down if possible.

I’d love to know whether it’s more economical to run my upstairs and downstairs timers on the same schedule but can’t really get an answer, even with the help of google. Have asked plumber but didn’t get a straight answer so must ask again

If you did, the boiler would be burning for half the time...

1000 litres every 7 weeks? Wow. I put 1000 litres in our tank twice a year and thought that was a lot. Our heating is on for 2 hours in the morning then from 4.30pm until 10.30 pm in the evening. Thermostat set at 20c. When the weather gets really cold I will put it on in the day as extra to keep the house warm if we are at home.

Well your Aga is on all the time and uses huge amounts of oil - why would a boiler be any different?

That 1000 litres of oil is 3 tonnes of CO2. Every 7 weeks for what, 28 weeks of the year? 12 tonnes of CO2 just for the aga. Current guess is our kids’ lifetime carbon allowance should be no more than 150 tonnes each - for everything, for their whole lives. At this rate you’ll have used it up for them before they leave home.

If it's heating water too, the aga will be using around 60 litres a week, so 420 litres in 7.

The 1000 litres every 7 weeks is aga and boiler use combined..

No, it isn’t heating water but is using a heck of a lot more oil than the Aga sales literature states it would!

No, it isn’t heating water but is using a heck of a lot more oil than the Aga sales literature states it would

They use about 40 litres a week. The trouble is that the aga and the boiler probably drawing from the same oil tank so it will be tricky to measure what each is using without turning one off.

@ConFusion360, yes, exactly, same tank. I see a huge difference in the summer months when a fill of oil lasts around 18 weeks.

What kind of house is it and where is the boiler?

Ours is an old house with an old boiler housed in an outbuilding. We don't use it at all in the summer and use the immersion heater for hot water. It's cheaper.

My aga is oil fired I use it for cooking and heating hot water, mine has never used 1000 litres in such a short time I order 500l about 3 times a year
Personally it might be more economical to use an electric or oil filled radiator in your bedroom a new well insulated house should not be using more oil than an old Victorian house

When I have it on for a couple of hours in evening it takes 45 minutes to get to mark 6 the water in tank stays hot enough till next morning you need a heating engineer as something is wrong but I would think number 1 on aga would keep the room warm enough and off completely an hour before bed you can still feel some heat off my aga 2-3 hours later

My aga is oil fired I use it for cooking and heating hot water, mine has never used 1000 litres in such a short time

The OP's hasn't either.