Central heating - on low all the time or on/off throughout the day?

[viccat]

What's best - keeping the heating on low-ish all the time (for example thermostat at 18C or 19C), or shorter bursts of higher heat and then off in between.

What do you do?
Does anyone know what's actually best for energy efficiency?

If it matters, my house is a Victorian mid-terrace with double glazed windows but probably not the best insulation otherwise (can't do anything about that at the moment). If heating is off, the temperature is dipping to about 16.5C at the moment and down to 15C or so throughout winter overnight.

[dementedpixie]

I've read its a myth that its cheaper to keep it on low all the time but it depends how well insulated your house is too. Mine is on a timer and is on twice a day 6-10am and 5-10pm. The thermostat is around 18/19⁰C

[dementedpixie]

And our heating is off overnight even in winter

[Natsku]

I keep my heating on around 20/21 all the time. Life's too short to be cold in my home.

[Thelnebriati]

It depends on your boiler and insulation; our old boiler was cheaper to run on low, our new one is cheaper to run in bursts but we have more loft insulation.

[PleasantVille]

There's no one answer, depends entirely on the specific house/heating etc

If you Google there are reams of pages debating this, I think I remember quite a good summary on the Martin Lewis site.

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

I depends on the type of heating. We used to have a boiler and ran the heating twice each day.

We replaced the boiler with an ASHP 3 years ago and now run the heating on low all the time.

[kowari]

I open windows to air the house once I'm up and dressed on the weekend, then shut them when we want to sit and read or watch something and it's a bit cold. I often leave my bedroom window open when I'm at work in the week too so I wouldn't leave the heating on, it would surely cost more.

[kowari]

Mine's on 5:00 to 7:00 so it's warm to get up and dressed, then 17:30 to 21:00, set to 17 degrees.

[Harp1977]

Our heating is usually on at 4. 30 am until 6.30 am and then from 7 pm until 9pm, if the stove is lightning then only the upstairs heating will click in.
We are an end terraced hse and tbh our neighbour has her heating going 24/7 with an open fire, I have yet to light my stove or turn on my heating because of this, but will admit the mornings can be a bit chilly so will be running the heating from tue after a boiler check

[ittooshallpass]

I have mine on low all the time and just turn it up if I'm cold. This is a very well insulated house so it very rarely needs to be turned up.

I tried the turn it off/on one year to see how it effected the bills. It didn't, but I was cold! The house was cold and took ages to warm up. I like to walk into a semi-warm home - I turn the heat up and it's toasty really quick.

[LemonBarley1234]

I turn ours on for an hour when it needs it, even the only in the living room and bathroom - can't cope with heating in the bedroom (haven't been close to putting it on at the moment).

[Suckmuckduck]

Our house is cold so I’ve got the heating on all the time during the day. If I let the house get cold it takes days to warm it up.

[wendz86]

Mines on a timer , comes on 6-8 am and then 6-10 pm. Thermostat at 18. Turn it on manually at weekends when cold during day .

[OhLookHeKickedTheBall]

My df was a plumber back in the day and has drilled it in to me to keep heating on all the time to a certain point. He was also a complete miserly so and so who kept the thermostat low in the day time and never assumed leaving it on would save money so took that for what it was worth.

Our thermostat allows several time modes so overnight it's down to 8, has some hot bursts of 20 for times we're up and about in the house (pre covid wfh for DH at least), then is 16 most other times. Whether df is right and that's why we've never had a burst pipe I can't really guarantee.

[Chloemol]

Mines on all the time but controlled by the thermostat, so in the summer it’s right down, in winter I have it to come on at 16 or 17, then switch it up as required

[DramaAlpaca]

Mine's on three times a day on a timer, and never on at night unless it's seriously cold. For some reason I don't have a thermostat so I haven't a clue as to the actual temperature, but it's comfortable.

[Polly2345]

Test it - take a meter reading, leave it on low all the time for a week. Take another meter reading. Then programme it (only on when you need it) for a week. Then take a third meter reading. See which week you use more energy in.

This article is good: www.google.com/amp/s/www.uswitch.com/energy-saving/guides/heating-on-all-the-time/amp/

[Polly2345]

It really doesn't need to be as high as 15 overnight. Mine automatically kicks in if it drops below 5degree c!

[kowari]

Testing it would only work if it was the same temperature outside both weeks though.

[PerfidiousAlbion]

Mine’s off from May to September.

On from September to April/May with the thermostat set to 19.