Hello all - boring question about hot water & anyone who has a Nest thermostat!
I was heating my hot water previously for 4 hours a day (2 hours AM & 2 hours late PM as set by my heating engineer last year) however I live alone and people I work with were horrified! So have reduced to 30 mins AM and 30 mins late PM which appears to be giving enough hot water for 1-2 short showers a day, or sometimes an evening bath.
My smart meter however showed my boiler firing up at random times outside of this schedule and having just spoken to Google about the Nest, they have said it’s because the thermostat has built in bacteria prevention protection so if you haven’t heated your hot water continuously for 2 hours in a 48 hour period, this kicks in to prevent possible legionnaires. The person I spoke with however told me to turn it off which I have done and will see if it continues doing it going forward.
So really just wondering if anyone else has turned this off on their Nest, and whether 1 hour a day in total for heating my water is sufficient to prevent bacteria? There seems to be mixed advice online - from you must leave it on, legionnaires can be fatal to its very rare in domestic heating systems and is an unnecessary add-on. I obviously don’t want to get unwell but also do not want to heat my water unnecessarily now with the energy price rises.