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Original poster

Heating on low all day- experiment

262 replies

User129867588 · 03/12/2022 09:38

Not sure anyone will find this useful as I know we all have different houses and boilers etc, but I trialled having my heating on all day yesterday, reduced my thermostat to 18 degrees and I spent the same on gas as previous day when the heating was on 18.5 but only on for just over an hour in morning and then for 3 hours in evening! Both days the temp on my thermostat after boiler being off all night was 14.5 degrees 🥶

House is a 2 bed semi, mid 1980’s build. Double glazing that’s over 10 years old and some getting replaced soon. House had insulation added but again that was about 15 years ago.

As seen on pictures the main expense on the gas was when heating first came on and then around tea time. I cooked on my gas hob and then all 3 of us had showers and we use a mixer shower connected to boiler for hot water. I’m with EDF on the variable rate.

I’m doing it again today and if it stays around the same I don’t see any reason for me to work in a cold house in the daytime when it costs the same (or just a tiny bit more) to heat most of the day! I can manage with 18 degrees too and still wear a jumper and extra thermals. Last years 20 degree heat is but a distant memory…….

Heating on low all day- experiment
Heating on low all day- experiment
Heating on low all day- experiment
OP posts:
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16
RhubarbStrawberry · 03/12/2022 09:44

Thanks. I was wondering about this. I have heating on for an hour in the morning, then off until 3.30 when dd comes home til 10pm. It drops to 14 during the day and seems to spends hours trying to get it up again in the evening. Overnight it doesn't drop as much as the bathroom window hasn't been open to air it

thecatsthecats · 03/12/2022 09:51

According to official experiments, this is wrong.

But the official experiments didn't use my house or my boiler, for which this is the most effective way to heat the house.

Until the CoL issues, we always got huge rebates when we heated like this. Plus the house is more comfortable - because the floors and walls have time to absorb the heat, it's just nicer.

Plus there's other benefits - we have elderly cats. One of them was prone to respiratory issues. A little more heating was more cost effective than a vet trip, even though it is actually cheaper for us.

Original poster
User129867588 · 03/12/2022 09:51

I thinks that’s the issue in my house, the temp drops pretty quickly after the morning heat switches off and gets down to 16 degrees. It then takes ages to reach 18 again.

I forgot to mention we have a combi boiler that’s 5 years old and A rated

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Home improvement
gianfrancogorgonzola · 03/12/2022 09:53

Another old three storey house here. With two bouts of heating per day we can’t get the whole house up to over 18 but the benefit of waiting till much later in the year is that 18 feels very warm! 17-17.5 is fine for us.

Original poster
User129867588 · 03/12/2022 09:56

@thecatsthecats you’re right, the official experiments are not always good for comparing this is why I’m glad to have the smart meter app now so I can track it myself each day. Definitely still at experiment stage but hoping it continues as it started and I don’t have to be freezing during the day.

OP posts:
RestingMurderousFace · 03/12/2022 10:04

Really helpful, thank you for sharing this.

Noseylittlemoo · 03/12/2022 10:07

I'm interested in this too - altho a bit scared to try it. I just received the gas bill for the 22-23rd Nov which was £10.40 for 2 days. (They gave me the bill for such a small amount of time as it was between my usual meter reading and getting a new gas/smart meter.) Since then we have put the heating on 5.20am-7.50am and 5.30-9.30pm set at 19.5°. However it never reaches that temp in the morning and drops quite alot in the day but my calculations are that this is costing around £10 per day! Wondering whether to risk turning down to 18° but for longer....just worried that I don't want it to go over £10!
Annoyingly my smart meter only shows electricity so I have to keep going outside to look at the meter and then do sums to work it out!

OneFrenchEgg · 03/12/2022 10:09

We've had to go up to 19 for the time we heat the house as it's just so cold otherwise. Wonder if we should try always 18.

Manasprey · 03/12/2022 10:27

We tried this the other day. It cost more.
We have a 4 bed detached, 1970s house. Previous owners never had it insulated and the windows are shit. We can afford neither to insulate or put new windows in. We were going to save for that, before the world went to shit.

We moved from a tiny, insulated, 3 bed that was always warm, to this a year ago. Needed a bigger house, but new builds were out of price range. I grew up in a tiny, cold house. My main motivators for doing well in school were that I could be warm whenever I wanted and that I could have a house with space in it. I am beyond gutted that I have the house, but will now be cold again.

DialsMavis · 03/12/2022 10:34

I tried this last week and it cost about 30p more and was so much less miserable. I have been away or a few days so will try again today and see the difference now it is colder outside

NoelNoNoel · 03/12/2022 10:45

I keep mine on at 18 all day and 19 in the evening, then turn It off an hour before going to bed. For me this is the perfect temperature.

crussont · 03/12/2022 10:47

Thank you very much for sharing your experience

Original poster
User129867588 · 03/12/2022 11:02

DialsMavis · 03/12/2022 10:34

I tried this last week and it cost about 30p more and was so much less miserable. I have been away or a few days so will try again today and see the difference now it is colder outside

Totally worth it!! Hope it continues to be economical for you. Yesterday was so cold here!!

OP posts:
Original poster
User129867588 · 03/12/2022 11:03

Manasprey · 03/12/2022 10:27

We tried this the other day. It cost more.
We have a 4 bed detached, 1970s house. Previous owners never had it insulated and the windows are shit. We can afford neither to insulate or put new windows in. We were going to save for that, before the world went to shit.

We moved from a tiny, insulated, 3 bed that was always warm, to this a year ago. Needed a bigger house, but new builds were out of price range. I grew up in a tiny, cold house. My main motivators for doing well in school were that I could be warm whenever I wanted and that I could have a house with space in it. I am beyond gutted that I have the house, but will now be cold again.

I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you 😞 let’s hope the winter is not too harsh for us this year 🤞

OP posts:
Original poster
User129867588 · 03/12/2022 11:54

NoelNoNoel · 03/12/2022 10:45

I keep mine on at 18 all day and 19 in the evening, then turn It off an hour before going to bed. For me this is the perfect temperature.

I might try that when it gets super cold - especially for when having showers . I hate coming out of a hot shower, into a cold bathroom!

OP posts:
Nikki305 · 03/12/2022 12:14

Interesting experiment, thanks for the info!

Howmanysleepsnow · 03/12/2022 12:48

Really interesting. Is there anyone in a draughty 1850s semi with very old double glazing that could replicate the experiment for me? I can’t have a smart meter because there isn’t enough space around the existing meter so have to rely on MN parallels! My house has been dropping to 10-13 degrees in the daytime and overnight, have been heating to 16/17 for 2 hours in the evening.

bigbluebus · 03/12/2022 12:54

Interesting experiment - not one we're able to carry out as we are on oil heating.

I have only been putting my heating on from 6.30am - 8.30am then 4.30pm - 10pm so far this year instead of leaving it on all day and controlling it with the thermostat. I've also turned it down to 18°c instead of the usual 20°. It does get a bit chilly by about 4pm. I'm about to order some room thermometers to check what it's actually dropping to.

We're in a 1990's double glazed house with fairly good insulation. I find that upstairs is much warmer than downstairs in the day - sitting downstairs is a bit colder after lunch but OK if moving around.
In the evening we light the log burner if we're cold (we're in a rural area so won't be getting rid of the burner any time soon even though they're much maligned on Mumsnet - it was a life saver last year when Storm Arwen left us with no power for 4 days)

NoelNoNoel · 03/12/2022 12:59

OP you could try 17 and 27.5 as well as part of your experiment. Plus try some turning radiators off or down if you are able to do this?

NoelNoNoel · 03/12/2022 13:00

Sorry 17 and 17.5

SkylightSkylight · 03/12/2022 13:09

Manasprey · 03/12/2022 10:27

We tried this the other day. It cost more.
We have a 4 bed detached, 1970s house. Previous owners never had it insulated and the windows are shit. We can afford neither to insulate or put new windows in. We were going to save for that, before the world went to shit.

We moved from a tiny, insulated, 3 bed that was always warm, to this a year ago. Needed a bigger house, but new builds were out of price range. I grew up in a tiny, cold house. My main motivators for doing well in school were that I could be warm whenever I wanted and that I could have a house with space in it. I am beyond gutted that I have the house, but will now be cold again.

I only got as far as your post, so other may have posted since(sorry)

try some window insulation stuff, it's like a roll that you cut to size and it clings onto the window, it's apparently very good! Also some clear sealant around the openings of windows you don't open, just pull it off for the summer. Can you improve or add curtains? Charity shops often have loads or if you have a bit of spare money dunelm & places like that hve thermal backed curtains or you can easily see cheap thermal throws onto the back of exuding curtains.

there are a ton of cheap large rugs to add another layer of warmth to rooms. Carpet shops sell off cuts pretty cheaply too, it all helps to keep it warm.

The insulation depends on what your lift/access is like, if it's boarded etc. anything you can lay up there will help. DIY insulation, even carpet/boxes etc

i do find getting the house warmed up properly really helps, the first few days the heating it on, I keep it on & quite high to let the heat get into the fabric of the house, then it heats up faster & stays warmer.

Ilikewinter · 03/12/2022 13:12

We've done similar. Ours is on from on at 5.30am and is sat at 18 all day and goes off at 7pm....a few days I have turned it upto 19 early evening. The lowest temperature its dropped overnight so far is 15., 25 days cost us £137. Were in a 3 bed detached, built in the 1990's

HandbagsnGladrags · 03/12/2022 13:16

I've been thinking of trying this and this thread has made me think of definitely need to. Fed up of freezing to death in between heating blasts.

darkhorse2016 · 03/12/2022 13:21

I trialled doing that this week too after getting fed up with being cold all the time and the house taking ages to heat up. Set thermostat to 18 on all day and it’s kept the house at a nice temperature. Worked out it’s cost no more than 50p more a day and we’re comfortable so figure it’s worth it. House is 3 bed semi cottage with thick walls but ancient double glazing. Hopefully this won’t cost too much more once the weather gets really cold.

CharlottePerrens · 03/12/2022 13:27

We do this - very large, very old but v well insulated house. Heating on 18' all the time, no radiators in the upper floor bedrooms. Have tried setting timer and keeping it on all day and it costs less to keep at 18 than to heat up a big space over a couple of hours. I wonder if insulation makes a big difference here - once optimum temperature is reached, it needs v little additional heating.