Heating off /on in summer?

[Verbena17]

Can you clear something up for me?
So I turned off our central heating last week because the outside temp is much warmer than it has been.

Today DH moaning saying ‘it’s turned colder you’ve turned off the heating’.
I said yes - it’s nearly May and most days are warmer and we don’t need heating on.

He says if we keep the heating on and set at 20 degrees, it won’t cost us anything all summer unless it clicks on.

Is this right?
If yes, why do the majority of people turn off their heating spring & summer?
Surely it’s because for the majority of spring & summer, the outside temp is much closer to the inside temp and therefore we don’t feel as cold?

I reckon having it on will still mean we are paying to keep it kept at 20 degrees - because surely it will click on at night if it drops below that?

This is probs a really stupid question 😬

Do you mean turned your boiler off? Or turned the thermostat down? 20 is high to have at night time

Can you not set it to 20 during day and then much lower at night?

I've never set my thermostat to 20. And in spring/summer, then heating (via thermostat) is off. I can manually advance if i want but it won't come on automatically

I just turn the thermostat down and never turn the boiler off. In summer we turn it to 14⁰C or so and then it doesn't click on. If there's a cold day you can just turn it up again. It's off overnight here anyway

If your thermostat is set at 20 all the time, yes, it will come on whenever it falls below that.

Many people have different temps at different times of the day. Or have it on a timer.

Ours is set at 18, so for a few days last week it didn't click on. It did this morning though....gale force winds and a hailstorm. We're able to have the boiler come on to heat water only which is what usually happens when it's warmer. Surely if the house is cold you can just put the heat on for an hour or 2?

Set to 20 when we are home and 16 when out and overnight. Never switch it off. Barely comes on in summer

I'd wake up dehydrated and with a headache with heating on overnight. Ours is set to 18 in the day if it's chilly but it's been 21 in the house over the weekend with no heating so it's been off.

It's set to come on when it's off if it hits 5° to prevent pipes freezing. I couldn't have it at 20°

Depends what type of thermostat you have. If it doesn't have a timer then it will click on to reach whatever temperature you set, regardless of time of day/night.

If you can set a timer, you can have one (or more) temperatures during the day and a lower temperature at night.

If you set them all low, then your husband is right and it won't click on during warm weather. But 20 degrees at this time of year is likely to need some heating, unless you're in a well insulated home?

Yes he's right, it'll only come on if the room temp is below 20. Even that is so hot, I can't believe people have their thermostats on that high. Ours is rarely above 16, that's plenty warm enough. Definitely just turn it off in the summer.

20 seems very high, we have ours set at 18 and the heating hasn’t clicked on for a few weeks. Usually in the summer we set it to 14 or so but it never clicks on. I like to leave it like that in case we are away and it starts snowing in August or something.

20 seems really high for the summer. Ours is set to 15, the actual house is at 17 degrees right now and feels plenty warm enough.

Ours is always set so if it's a cool day it'll click on. We set it to much lower overnight so it only clicks back on in the morning. I don't see how that would cost more money.

Ours has always been set lower at night (10°, I think?), and lower during the day Monday to Friday because we're at work. I usually turn it off at some point late spring, but it's just a psychological thing, it wouldn't actually come on unless it got really cold!

We just have it on a thermostat. So if the house gets less than 15 degrees it comes on, summer or winter. Never heard of turning it off. With the vagaries of the UK climate it seems a bit hasty. It was 16 degrees outside here at the weekend, today it's 6.

Our heating is either on or off. No thermostat. We turn it on if we want to heat the house and turn it off once it's warm enough. I can't remember the last time we turned it on, a couple weeks ago, but no it's off completely during the summer.

You don't have to set it to 20 for the whole 24 hours of a day - on the timer you could set overnight at say 16, which is what i do although it has never kicked in overnight.

If house is feeling cold put the heating on!

I put the heating on if I feel chilly, I don’t comprehend doing it strictly by the calander. If it’s a financial constraint limit how long it’s on.

Basically he is right - if you have a thermostat your heating only comes on when the indoor temperature is below the level set so you wouldn't need to turn it off as it does it itself

As others have said 20 is quite high if you are worried about the cost, and you don't need it that high overnight or when people are not around

Most heating systems let you set multiple temperature limits through the day - eg 14 overnight ( yes if you have asthma you may well NEED the heating to come on overnight ) 18 during the day ( or 5-10 if you are out - 10 may be required by house insurance policies,5 should be enough to avoid frost damage pipes ) and 20 in the evening

Ours is set at 18c, sometimes bump it up to 18.5c. It's just left on timed in the summer, never comes on - in fact, it didn't come on 2-3 mornings last week and rarely comes on at teatime.

It's certainly colder outside here and we're in the southern half of the country, currently 10c and very breezy, so if you're used to it being 20c, I can understand why it's probably a bit cold for him. Unless money is really tight (and I suspect it's not if you can afford to have it on 20c), then a compromise would be putting it on for an hour now and setting it so it comes on for an hour in the morning to take chill off if cold.

I use a timer
So overnight it will only come on if it drops below 5c
Most of the day is the same but for an hour in the morning and 2 hours evening it will come on if it drops below 17c

I turned the heating off on April 1st.

If it's a bit chilly now in the evenings I use the log burner to give us a bit of extra warmth in the sitting room (free wood).

Or I use a tiny convector heater in my office that raises the temp of one room by a few degrees.

The main heating will be off now until late October or November.

He says if we keep the heating on and set at 20 degrees, it won’t cost us anything all summer unless it clicks on

Correct

If yes, why do the majority of people turn off their heating spring & summer

Either they don't have a working thermostat or if they do, they don't understand how it works.

I reckon having it on will still mean we are paying to keep it kept at 20 degrees - because surely it will click on at night if it drops below that

Well it would if you had your heating set at 20 C at night, but surely no-one does that because you would boil in your beds and it would cost a fortune.

Feels like -1 here tomorrow..

I don’t turn my heating off according to season. It will be on tomorrow and today as it’s 4 degrees. We never ever have it on at night unless it’s below-7 or 8

It was 4c here this morning, I don't feel inclined to kick the heating off just yet.