Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Am I being unreasonable to only have the heating on twice a day?

69 replies

SantasHat · 07/12/2011 15:36

I only have the heating on twice a day: 6.30am to 9am then 4.30 to 10.30.
Friends now tell me it is cheaper to run it all day as it costs more to heat the system up once it gets cold.
What do you all do?

OP posts:

SarkySpanner · 07/12/2011 15:39

your friends are wrong.

pollywollyhadadollycalledmolly · 07/12/2011 15:40

Are you home all day?

I have been running mine recently all day at 10c and makes a difference to my gas bill but I am home most of the day.

pollywollyhadadollycalledmolly · 07/12/2011 15:41

Should clarify it has made a good difference to my gas bill lol

MrsTerryPratchett · 07/12/2011 15:42

Unless your friends live in thermos flasks, they are wrong.

Hardgoing · 07/12/2011 15:42

I once believed this story and ended up with huge bills that winter. I think how much you have the heating on depends how much you are in the house (all day? in the office?) and how hot you like/can afford to have it. At 10c polly, you may as well sit in the garden!

I have the heating on twice a day, like you, and use an oil-fired radiator just to heat the room I'm using if I am working from home.

valiumredhead · 07/12/2011 15:43

I think they mean it is cheaper to have a thermostat and have the heating set so it doesn't dip below a certain temp. Obviously if that temp is seta t 25 it is going to cost much more than if it is set at 16.

grumplestilskin · 07/12/2011 15:44

if I set the thermostat to any temp, 16 or whatever the "all day" temp is, the boiler fires on and off all day to keep it at that temp, thus negating the arguement that turning it on a couple of times a day takes more energy because of the firing on cost IYKWIM

WilsonFrickett · 07/12/2011 15:46

Not cheaper at all. Mine is set for an hour in the morning, an hour at midday (because otherwise I would be frozen to my keyboard) and then it comes on now till the end of the evening.

My oil-filled radiator is in storage, it was a God-send last winter and I wish I had it now. This flat is freezing! Don't believe anything they tell you about modern flats being all insulated and toasty, it's a north facing draught bucket...

ditavonteesed · 07/12/2011 15:46

I am struggling with this at the monent, the timer on my heeating doesnt work, so we have kept the thermostat at 10 at night, in the day I out it up to 14 and then up to 18 when I am cold, I am worried the bills are going to be huge.

Indith · 07/12/2011 15:47

I think it depends on your system and on if oyu have thermostats on your radiators, room thermostats and so on. I think it is cheaper with a really modern system where you can create temperature zones, different temps at different times and so on because the thermostats will still be clicking the system off sometimes they just won't let it get too cold and therefore need lots of heating up again. If your system just turns off or on then it would be more expensive, and probably insufferably hot, to have it on all the time.

My system is solid fuel so not quite the same and of course you can't really have it on a timer! I do know though that I use the same amount of fuel having the fire damped down during the night and day and just turning the oxygen up for a bit morning and evening for a boost as I do just lighting the fire in the evening and having a more fierce burn and of course the former keeps the house at a nice, even temperature.

valiumredhead · 07/12/2011 15:48

I have mine down to 5 at night, then whoever gets up first ds flicks it up to 16 and I leave it til he's gone to school, then unless it's freezing I don't have it on again until about 4pm - 9. I HATE central heating with a passion!

Catsmamma · 07/12/2011 15:48

We have always had the hot water on the 24hrs setting, but atm we have the heating on twice 6.40-7.30, and 7.30-9.00 but we also have a woodburner in the sitting room which is lit as and when really, plus the children are older so no one is really upstairs til later, so I am not heating up empty rooms.

valiumredhead · 07/12/2011 15:49

Ooooooooooo I covet a wood burner...

SmellslikeSANTAScatspee · 07/12/2011 15:50

I followed the last thread on this and changed from twice a day to a 16 degree all day temp.

I do monthly online meter readings and in the last 3 months my useage has gone down.

(bear in mind that neither OH or I like an overheated house, and it was warmer in Sept than last month)

So from my experience all day on a low is better

Oh and grumplestilskin I'd get my thermostat checked if I was you, we had a similar issue in previous flat and there was a loose wire in the thermostat.

Pendeen · 07/12/2011 15:50

All depends on many different yet interrelated factors such as insulation, thermal capacity, air changes (i.e. quality of draftproofing), type and efficiency of heating system, and so on.

Not a simple question. It can be answered theoretically by undertaking very complex calculations which are so convoluted that even the experts need specialist software programmes.

The only practical way of proving which method is more economical is to keep detailed records.

Original poster

SantasHat · 07/12/2011 15:52

Thanks for replies. I am going to stick with my original plan.

OP posts:

Yankeecandlequeen · 07/12/2011 15:54

I'm yet to switch on the heating in the mornings! It gets switched on at 2:45 before I go to pick the kids from school then goes off about 7pm. Kids change into warm PJ & go to bed to warmp up with a hot water bottle.

valiumredhead · 07/12/2011 15:56

We have warm jamas and hot water bottle too!

pollywollyhadadollycalledmolly · 07/12/2011 15:56

10c heats the radiators up pretty nicely hardgoing :) my garden is about 1c just now lol with three massive 6ft snowmen in it! Lol I used to put the heating on about four times a day and blast it for half an hour each time at 30c. Gas bill used to be £100 a quarter and is now £60 a quarter, including the recent price hike! I'm pleased with that.

Plus my house needs to be warm as I'm a cm :)

blondie80 · 07/12/2011 16:00

lucky you, my dh has a weird scroogeness about the heating being on and regularly changes the timers to suit whatever the weather forecast has predicted!

Kladdkaka · 07/12/2011 16:04

When it's freezing temperatures you should leave it on all the time at a low level to prevent burst pipes.

Bunbaker · 07/12/2011 16:20

"I HATE central heating with a passion!"

Why?

Do you live somewhere warm, or like being cold?

I hate being cold. I am utterly miserable and can't function when I'm cold. I loathe winter. OH works from home and I work part time, so when it is chilly the heating goes on if we are cold, regardless of the time of day. I would rather go without some of the luxuries in life than scrimp on heating the house.

Our house isn't hot BTW, just not cold, and I don't consider our gas bill extortionate at £58 a month (we cook on gas as well).

In answer to the OP. If it is extremely cold, ie several degrees below freezing we keep the heating on low because I don't want a burst pipe, and to heat the house from those kind of temperatures does use up a lot of energy.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 07/12/2011 16:20

It is cheaper to have it running low all day long than for it to keep going off and on.

valiumredhead · 07/12/2011 16:23

I like being warm just CH is such a dry heat, I hate it. I love open fires and wood burners. I prefer to be on the chilly side than over warm with CH.

Indith · 07/12/2011 16:28

Valium I'm with you. I particularly hate heating on overnight, I wake up with a huge headache and all dry and horrible. I have to make sure I damp our fire right down so there is minimal heating coming on at night (system automatically clicks heating on and off to avoid water tank overheating). My MIL has a very warm house and fancy heating system. Their heating is always on at night and I absolutely hate staying there,I sleep so badly.

Flip

1 2 3