Heating on low all day- experiment

[User129867588]

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…….

We do something similar here to keep the temperature consistent for Ddog who really feels the cold and because DH and I work majority at home, and I found that our usage wasn’t all that different compared to having two “windows” of heating per day. We can afford it and it does make the place more generally comfortable. For others, mileage may vary of course. We have a 1970s terrace, has central heating, 2 year old combi boiler, older double glazing and doors.

That should say “GAS central heating” at the end there

It doubles the price for me! Three floor terrace.

I mean, it doubles the usage. The standing charge is so high that the actual price difference is much less

We live in a 2 bed Victorian terrace. Throughout November we had the CH on from 7am to 11pm set at 19. Down to 15 overnight.

Have just got the bill for actual useage - £87.90. I think that's not bad at all and affordable for us. TBH I was expecting way more, so pleasantly surprised.

Heating service engineer reduced our flow rate to 60 and did something to the electricity so it uses less to fire up when he did the September service.

Insulation is the key.

I moved from a 1930s bungalow with solid walls, & the footings were literally a foot with wood floorboards.

The new place is slightly smaller, but built to a higher standard & the bills are about 1/3 of the older property.

Lots of tips & tricks online. Who'd have thought that clingfilm on windows could reduce bills ?

@FourTeaFallOut ww have similar setup, how long are you finding it’s on for per day at present at 19.5 (assuming off over night), and how olds your house?

I have been experimenting with keeping on during the day rather than once in morning and once in evening and screenshot is how my boiler is being used. Boiler at full blast to get temp up to 19 this morning. Then went off and put it back on again and maintained heat at 19 all afternoon and have just turned it up to 20 for this evening. The dark grey shows when boiler is on max. I haven't worked out cost as I forgot to take meter readings but will do this tomorrow and then compare to during the week when it's on am and late afternoon only. We don't have a smart meter.

I put my hearing on at 17 in the morning and then up to 18, 17 feels warm compared with off.

About 4 hours but that's not the whole story because I reduced the flow on my combi boiler, so it does take longer to reach temperature than it would do at full noise but is more efficient.

House is 4bed detached, mid-ninties.

I’m looking forward to hearing reports back about how you’re all getting on!! My app hasn’t updated yet for today

@HairyKitty I reduced the temp to 18 yesterday as we find that to be warm enough for us. the temperature is constant throughout the day and the boiler only fires up when the thermostat gets below 18. Before at 18.5 in short bursts it meant the boiler was on constantly to try and reach that temperature and was using a lot of energy - in the morning it didn’t even make it to 18.5 before I switched it off but it did in the evening as had it on longer. I hope that makes sense. I think it all depends on the age of the boiler as someone already said in this thread.

A house will leak heat proportional to the difference on temperature between the inside and out. How much exactly depends on how well its insulated. So if you only heat twice a day the average temperature will be lower than keeping it on all day, and cost less. But for well insulated houses this won't be a vast difference. For poorly insulated houses it could be quite a large difference. No denying though it feels a lot nicer!

I should add for fairness that I live in a 4th/5th floor double glazed maisonette, so I have other houses above, below, and either side of me. That makes a HUGE difference. The only way heat can escape is through the front door! Having spent most of my life in single glazed standard houses, I remember how miserable it is feeling permanently cold.
This is a ridiculous tip, but it's something I do - open up the door to your airing cupboard/boiler when it's on. There's heat in those pipes! Plus hanging a towel over your front door from the inside makes a huge difference.

I also do this @sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea My cupboard with the boiler is in my bathroom. I hang my socktopus in there and also my over the door hooks from the inside for our three body towels. It’s a tight squeeze but keeps my towels dry. My bathroom is always so warm!

I'd love an airing cupboard.
My boiler is next to my kitchen window.

Kept at 18 again today - it’s colder and we had also some rain. Plus daughter wanted a soak in the bath so that was the extra between 7-8pm . Next week will be interesting as going to get really cold - not much above zero😦

@NewBootsAndRanty I don't actually have an airing cupboard either! Just a cupboard with the boiler in the hallway.
The main thing I've learnt from years of not having much money, is try not to get cold to begin with. Some of that is really obvious, but just tiny things like not having curtains covering your radiators or pipes, or leaving the over door ajar after you've cooked do make a difference. As @User129867588 said, maintaining a temperature is so much more comfortable than waiting for the heating to kick in.

Really useful thread, thanks @User129867588

I'm coming round to thinking of having the heating on for longer, but on a lower temperature.

www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature

This link was posted on another thread. Not sure if you've seen it, but it explains why we should all run our combi boilers on a lower temperature. It certainly makes the house more comfortable to have it on low, but for longer.

Contact your energy supplier about the smart meter. We had exactly this and DP spoke to them, they did something at their end and hey presto we can see both gas and electricity now.

Thank you for the link. Very interesting! I have my service early next month so will ask then. I don’t like changing settings myself

I did the same experiment as you and got the same outcome. I wfh and having the heating off most of the day was miserable. I was huddled under a heated throw, no motivation to do anything. Now it’s on 18 all the time it’s really quite comfortable. I find if I’m a little chilly in the day I just get up and do something for 10 minutes and it warms me back up. I have the heated throw for any chillier evenings. Cost of the gas is the same as when I was just putting it on a couple of times a day. The house isn’t “toasty’ at 18, but it’s never freezing now either.

The best thing we did was to get hive. It means that you can be much more tailored re timings if the heating in different rooms. One of my children’s bedrooms is north facing and cold. That room does need a bit more heating than the other upstairs to be warm enough but equally we have rooms that don’t need heating. Looks like year on year it has saved us quite a lot so far. Just waiting to see how the winter months compare but from November readings it’s looking good.

Anecdotally, I started doing this a couple of winters ago and our bills have massively dropped as a result.