Can someone please explain how heating actually works?

[xxcatcatcatxx]

Please be kind.

We have a gas boiler but an electric hob so I’m guessing that the gas does the hot water and radiators? Trying to get my head round it to try and cut down this winter as last year we just bunged it on some random settings and hoped for the best and we were if anything, boiling.

How do the settings work and what do people generally have them on? Do people usually have it on between certain times in the morning and evening generally?

Would it be more efficient to have it on three times a day for shorter amounts to maintain a general temperature? How does the water stay in the radiators? Does it circulate round?

Also … How does the thermostat relate to any of this? Does it mean the heating doesn’t actually kick in until it goes under that level?

I’m just so confused. Thanks in advance

Our boiler will heat a tank of hot water for showers and a closed circuit for the radiators. It can be set to different times for each.

The thermostat is for the radiators- ours is set at 19 on a timer so if the temperature goes below that between the hours of 6.30 and 8.00 am the radiators heat up. (And in the evening too). I can't have the heating on when I'm in bed, I get too hot!

It doesn't make sense to me to have the heating on all day when at work, but it will be timed to come on 30 mins before we get home so the house is warm (ish - I make the kids wear thick jumpers around the house in winter!)

If it helps here's what we do:

Gas central Heating is set on the timer to come on at 5:30 am and off by 6:30 am (we're normally out of the house by 7:15) it then comes on again at 4:30 and goes off at 10:30. Our thermostat is set to 21 degrees but that will be lower this year.

Water comes on at 5;30 am and off at 6:30 am then on again 5:30 pm and off by 7. This gives us enough water for showers, washing up etc, none of us are having baths this year!

Family of 3 in our house but out during the day so we don't heat the home when we're not in.

Thank goodness someone is similarly confused! Great tips thanks, DH is of the 'thermostat at 23 with a t-shirt and no socks' brigade so I have no clue about this either and need to skill up before winter! I do have another question...am I correct in thinking that the price hike is lower for electricity than for gas, so using, e.g electric powered oil radiators and an electric oven is going to be cheaper than using the heating and hob this year? Thanks

OP why not get a Gas Engineer to come and service your ch boiler (which should be done every year anyway). He will set the central controls to be as economic as possible for ch and hot water, and will check every radiator to ensure all working to max efficiency.

He will also advise you hiw vest to manage your energy use depending on what system you have.

Ours was serviced an hour ago. We pay £7.99 pm which covers the annual service, parts and labour. Having an annual service also means our boiler is guaranteed for 25 years. Installed 2014.

Worth every penny. He made an adjustment to ours which he calculated will cut electric used on firing up by 8%.

"How do the settings work and what do people generally have them on? Do people usually have it on between certain times in the morning and evening generally"?

It depends on the neds of you and your household ultimately. We put ours on for an hour in the morning starting from about an our before we get up. Takes the morning chill out the air. only once it's actually getting cold though so we haven't had it on since Feb/March.

"Would it be more efficient to have it on three times a day for shorter amounts to maintain a general temperature"?

See above re needs of the household. I wouldn't bother putting it on if nobody is in. I can't see any benefit in that.

How does the water stay in the radiators? Does it circulate round"?

Most systems are closed circuit. The water is circulated around the radiators and back to the boiler by a pump. If you turn an individual radiator off the water simply bypasses it.

"Also … How does the thermostat relate to any of this? Does it mean the heating doesn’t actually kick in until it goes under that level"?

The thermostat turns the heating on if the air temperature is below the minimum set on the thermostat and turns it off if/when the room temperature goes over the max setting. The thermostat only matters generally when the heating is timed to come on though some systems can be set to maintain a minimum temperature regardless of the timer settings. Consider where your thermostat is because that can sometimes through a spanner in the works. For example, suppose your main thermostat is in a hall and you've turned the hall radiator off to save money. The hall will always be cold so the thermostat won't turn the heating off even if you're all sweating in a hot living room.

Something else crossed my mind earlier that is relevant to this discussion. We are in for a very hard time with the rising energy prices and a lot of people will have to seriously consider turning their heating off and relying on lots of warm clothes. I suspect we will see a lot of burst pipes in winter as a result. Bear that in mind when deciding what your own strategy is going to be. Damage from a burst pipe will easily knock out any savings from conserving energy use. Now would also be a good time to check insulation and pipe lagging.

Our heating is set to come on 15 minutes before we get up in the morning and it's on for 30 minutes. That's plenty to take the chill off while we're all getting ready. It's not set on the timer after that so we'll only put it on if and when we need it, and even then 30 minutes is generally long enough to get radiators completely hot. We set the thermostat on each radiator according to how warm we want each room. We turned the kitchen one right down last year as it tends to warm up from cooking, kettle boiling etc.

We put foil behind radiators before last winter and found it made a big difference. We close the curtains and blinds before the putting heating on in the evening.

The boiler will pump hot water round at a set ( adjustable) temperarature which is then switched on or off by your timer and if you have a room stat that once it reaches a set temperature will stop the boiler firing
The heating pump will continue to circulate the water until the room stat asks the boiler to reheat the water in the rads to bring the air temperature back up

If you have Thermostatic rad valves ( TRV ) you can control the temparature of each individual radiator so if you have a room that you dont use you can turn it down or off

Make sure you dont have anything in front of radiators if you can help it as they work on convection , drawing cool air from floor passing through radiators and upwards and then back round
Radiator covers will make things very inefficient for eg

Get you boiler serviced and get the plumber to set temperatures for you

Replacing old rads for newer ones will help and should be around £2-400 depending on size etc

Increasing insulation will be your best way to make the system more efficient , think of it as putting a jumper on the house

Combi boiler or boiler + hw tank?
If it’s a combi then set the flow rate temp to 60-65 so it’s condensing efficiently and you aren’t losing heat ( when it returns to the boiler from the radiators, too hot and it just goes straight out the flue as steam). Don’t have combi boiler on comfort mode, another waste of energy.

Thermostat should be in living room, not cold hallway. If you don’t have trvs on radiators, you can still turn them off / down with pliers.

Could I jump on and ask ...
If the heating is say set at 19, why are the dials on the radiator numbered 1 to 5?

am I correct in thinking that the price hike is lower for electricity than for gas, so using, e.g electric powered oil radiators and an electric oven is going to be cheaper than using the heating and hob this year?

The new capped rates are…

Electricity
£0.52 per kWh
Daily standing charge: £0.46

Gas:
£0.15 per kWh
Daily standing charge: £0.28

Electricity is still over three times the price of gas per unit of energy. However, if you are using a 2kW electric heater to heat one room, it is likely to cost significantly less than using a 30kW gas boiler to heat the whole house.

I know how my heating works but I have no idea how the damned timer works, Its absurdly complex.

also please note if you turn the temperature of water down too much ( below 55 though normal is 60-65) it becomes a legionnnaires risk
also if too cold inside with no ventilation and drying clothes inside you risk mould and damp which will be more costly to solve than using a bit of heat and ventilation

Thank you!

We are in an all electric house and even though the price hasn't gone up as much, it is still more expensive to heat a house on electricity than gas.

My brand new super insulated all electric house costs me more to heat than my draughty old victorian terrace on gas ever did.

Does anyone know whether turning the radiators to 0 in the spare bedroom (2nd floor of house) will cut down the overall heating bill? Or does a cold room make everything else cooler?

Just because normal thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) are cheap and cheerful, and therefore not calibrated properly to degrees C. Hence 1 to 5 for hot to cold. Adjust to taste.

You can buy fancier TRVs which are set in C. Quick google for digital TRV.

The 19 will be measured in the room where the thermostat is, and if the temperature goes above or below that, the system will turn off or boost up. Individual radiator controls then allow you to modify the temperature in different rooms. I keep my bedroom radiator on 1 because I prefer to sleep in a colder room.