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…….

I've started doing this as well. Leaving the Nest on 20 all the time. Previously it would be set at different times to come on at 22, go off at 18 etc. What I've noticed is that it's hardly ever on (goes orange) but the house is normally pretty comfortable. We used to have the heating off all night then have to have it on full blast for an hour in the morning or it was freezing. House is definitely more comfortable and heating doesn't seem to be on that much. My bed is next to the radiator and I get hot at night so it's not kicking in much overnight either.

Op I'm trying similar.
Are you putting it on overnight at all?

No, because my pipes creak too much and I’m a light sleeper plus I don’t like being too warm at night. This morning house was at 14.5 and I was very toasty under the covers

I run my heating off the thermostat. I have it on 18 as a minimum all the time and up to it to 21 for a couple of hours in the evening. 18 isn't cold but can feel a bit chilly in the evenings when sitting around. I also do all my washing when the hearings on and use the radiator and not the tumble dryer.

I haven't noticed any colossal bills but that could be because I have a new boiler (18 month old) and new radiator and pipes (house is 1939 build).

Heating is the last luxury I'll be cut back on. It's broken in the office and it really is depressing and hard to concentrate when it's 13°.

That was a really useful link @Hallmark1234, thank you. I changed the flow rate for hot water last year after reading an article online but haven't checked the heating flow rate before.

Just looked now and it was on 75 when 60 or under is recommended so I've turned it down - will be interesting to see if it makes much difference!

I've turned my flow down to 60.
I'm guessing the combination of that and having the thermostat on at 17 will make some sort of financial sense.

I've also turned my hot water temp down.
There is an argument for listeria but I believe that's if you have water in a tank, like my old system boiler did.

I have a new combi boiler so the water is on demand and 60 seems fine.

I do miss my old boiler and hot water tank tho. I had loads of lovely hot copper pipes in my boiler cupboard.
I'd stick all the washing in there and it took hardly any time to dry.

It probably would cost a fortune nowadays to run tho.

I've turned down the flow for hot water and heating, have to say I havent noticed any difference..... well apart from not needing to add so much cold water to the washing up bowl so yeah it makes a difference!

Ours were ridiculously creaky when our boiler was set at 75C but they are barely audible since we turned the flow temperature down to 60C. It's honestly so easy to do if you look online.

We are running at 17 in the daytime with 18.5 morning and evening (measured in the warmest room), and with the occasional boost above that.

I am not going to argue running it all day saves money, I think that's a myth, but if you are not blasting up to 20 and shivering in between it is so much more comfortable. I think the key is your body getting used to a "new normal" lower temp, which takes days, if not weeks. If you had it at 21 for 3 hours yesterday, 17 is going to feel cold, but it's fine when your body is used to it. I think it's physiological not psychological.

Just checked yesterday's costs and after leaving it on all day at lower temp. Needed a small 30 min boost in evening. The lower temp all day worked out the same as on-off program.

Going to go with this for a week and see what it looks like with a week's worth of normal use.

It is going to be Baltic this week though, I suspect it's not going to be a fair test OnlyaTheBravest.

Great to hear it! This week will definitely be a bit more challenging as temperatures going down below zero. I may have to experiment again but we shall see how it’s looking each day

I’m not sure if this is the flow temp under max heater supply?? I will probably just wait to ask the engineer next month

LMAO. It should not be this complicated.

No it shouldn't but it's helpful to know how to save money and keep warm 🙂

That’s why I created the post. As much as it sucks we’re in it for the foreseeable future so sharing tips and info can be a saving grace for some

I’m doing a version of this in a way. Recently built 4-bed detached with Hive multizone heating control, with 2 zones of underfloor heating downstairs, and a third thermostat which controls the upstairs, which has radiators.

We are retired, so home quite a lot of the day. I discovered last year that the underfloor heating takes an awfully long time to raise the temperature of the room, but doesn’t use much to keep it at temperature. So we now have the lounge set at 19 most of the time, dropping back to 18 overnight, and the kitchen at 17.5 during the day and 16 overnight. The lounge hardly ever needs heating during the day, as the combination of solar gain (large south facing windows) and bodies in the room seem to add enough heat once the UFH has got it up to temperature.

I recently swapped the manual TRV’s on the bedroom radiators for Hive ones, so I can now schedule and control each bedroom separately. There is a massive difference between heat retention in the rooms at the front (south) and back (north, and partly in the loft).

I’m experimenting with temperatures between 15 and 16.5 as setback temperatures (for when a room isn’t being used) and heat to 19 when they are in use. Our guest room was last heated nearly 2 weeks ago when we had visitors. It was after they went that I put the Hive TRV’s on, and I’ve set that room at a constant 12. At the moment it’s 13.8 in there. Wondering if I should give it a blast up to 16 or so once a week.

Also experimenting with different boiler flow temperatures. I did have it as low as 40 in the early Autumn, but have had to increase it by degrees, now back to 60 as it is flipping freezing outside!

I'm glad you started the thread. It's interesting and useful.

I absolutely hear you on this.

Not quite the same, but another thing I’ve found useful:

Ive been avoiding having baths but sometimes it’s the cheapest way of keeping one person warm.

I got home from work quite late the other night - about 7ish - and the house was freezing because the heating had been off all day. I knew it would take 2-3 hours to properly heat up the house by which time I’d be going to bed, so I had a bath instead. It got me really warm and it was a lot cheaper than putting the heating on.

I think I am lucky as my house only takes about 10/15 minutes to get warm in the morning.
It is a 10 year old house.

@Tadpoll I know what you mean. A bath is so good when I’m cold to the bone.

We switch our heating off by 7 most evenings as by that time we’ve all had our tea, walked the dog and had our evening showers . Once we’re in our pjs and bathrobes I don’t mind if the house is cold as we’re lovely and toasty. For some reason a morning shower doesn’t have the same effect 🤷‍♀️

I tried this but our house is 80s open plan and it hasn’t got the right insulation to make this worth doing I don’t think. It just doesn’t seem to retain heat. It’s roasting here in the summer too as you might have guessed. Sigh.

A couple of posters have mentioned they have a Hive. Can anyone shed any light of this mystery?
First picture shows gas usage
Second shows gas cost (same dates last mon-today)

How on earth did last Monday cost £9.66 ? Used slightly less than Tuesday.
kWh rate is 9.76p

Generally our CH costs seems high p/h compared to others. This is the most we've had it on so far this year. I'm going to join the experiment tomorrow and have it set to 18° (previously set @ 18 few hrs, 17° rest of day but house feels very cold by the afternoon)

GCH/combi boiler (turned down to 60°)
Gas hob and that's it. No gas fires or anything.

Does anyone know how this all works with an on demand boiler with a water tank? This is our boiler. The red line, is that temperature or pressure?