To still not understand the best way to use central heating?

[CherryCake54]

Can someone please settle the yearly debate about gas central heating once and for all?

Is it better to leave the heating on low majority of the day?

OR

Is it better to put it on at regular intervals throughout the day as and when needed?

I try to figure this out every year in various ways but I'm still none the wiser.

Please help!

Following as I'd like to know also 😁

Depends on your house, size, insulation and how long you spend in/out of it.

You need to experiment. If you have a smart meter, try both ways for two different weeks. Then use the figures to compare.

On all day but use the thermostat

If you live in an old, damp property that takes ages to heat up, there's some sense in not letting it get too cold. In a normal house - put it on when you're cold.

I use a timer and thermostat. Timer is set for a few hours am and pm. Thermostat currently at 16⁰C which will go up to about 19⁰C as it gets colder.

It's supposed to be a myth that leaving it on low is cheaper than using a timer but it depends on the house and how well its insulated.

i tried this out last year in that really cold week before Xmas, I have a nest thermostat so it clicks to away when no one is in the house and I just kept it at 16 when we’re here at the weekend and it worked out about the same

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/energy-saving-myths/

I don't live in an old, damp property. Just a standard 3-bed terrace with adequate insulation.

If I follow the rule of 'just put it on when you're cold', it ends up being on for an hour (lovely), so then switch off for an hour (doesn't stay warm - cold again), so heating back on again. And I'm kind of doing this all day. The insulation isn't terrible it's fine.

For those that say they switch it on for an hour in the morning for the house to heat up, once the heating goes off it doesn't stay warm though?? Same for the evening. It only really stays warm for that hour you switch it on, then back to cold again shortly after it's off.

Is it better to just leave on (only talking about periods whilst at home)?

It's best to have a proper thermostat in the correct location that controls the temperature throughout the day and turns heating on as needed to keep it at a moreover less constant temp.

A thermostat where you can set different temperatures at different times so you aren't heating the house to same level when you aren't there/asleep but also not letting it drop so far that it takes forever to heat back up.

If your thermostat can't be programmed like that just turn it down (from say 20 to 17 degrees) when you fo to bed/go out.

If you don't have a central thermostat (ours currently awaiting replacement) I find it best to leave heating on through the day and at the moment I turn it off at night. BUT I have adjusted both the boiler temp downwards, and have thermostvalves on the radiators themselves, which are set quite low, so we don't get too hot, don't need to turn it off, it's just maintaining a comfortable temp.

There's nothing standard about a 3 bed terrace and what do you mean by adequate insulation. When was it built? Is it double glazed? What loft insulation does it have? Is there a cellar?

There is no one answer that covers every 3-bed terraced house.

Previous energy efficiency adviser here.

Timed is the cheapest way.

I have mine come on for an hour before we get up, half an hour when back from school/work and an hour around 9pm

Switched completely off in summer.

When I lived in that type of house I found it a lot better to heat at high in the morning before we got up so the house was nice and toasty, and then keep it on low throughout the day so it stayed at a comfortable temp. On very cold days I would heat on high again for an hour or so after dinner so the children would be comfortable getting undressed and going to bed.

If you have a thermostat set it to a temp you're happy with and the heating should kick on and off to maintain it.

If you're wondering which approach would potentially save you money you would need to experiment and use your meter readings to compare.

For those that say they switch it on for an hour in the morning for the house to heat up, once the heating goes off it doesn't stay warm though?? Same for the evening. It only really stays warm for that hour you switch it on, then back to cold again shortly after it's off.

Our house stays relatively warm. It was 15 degrees when I woke up this morning - the heating went on for 90 minutes, warmed up to 18.5 and went off three hours ago - it's still 18 degrees inside.

If your house gets cold after an hour of it being off (during the day) then your insulation isn't fine. It really isn't. Especially if you are a mid terrace.

Martin Lewis did a piece, maybe last year, and I think he said just put your heating on when you need it rather than low all the time.

Thank you! So turning it on and off all the time is actually best/cheaper?

A lot of advice would suggest leaving it on 'lower' from when you get in to when you go to bed and maintain a warm temp.

But you're saying hour intervals is cheaper, even though it's firing the boiler up again and heating everywhere from scratch again?

It is cheaper to heat it only when you need the heat, if you're out all day there is no benefit to keeping the house warm while you're out financially, yes it will not need to be bright to temperature when you want it warm but it isn't cheaper to do that.
As people say in a badly insulated house you might do that to stop it getting too cold, or if you're home all day you might need heat all day.
But in a reasonably insulated house, keeping the heating on when you don't need it is the costlier choice.

To clarify I don't mean periods when we are out all day. I would turn it off then.

This makes no sense
If you set the thermostat 16 the heating will only come on when the temperature drops below this., which shouldn't be often but at times you will be sat shivering wondering why the house is cold.

As it gets colder the heating will come on more often.

If you increase the thermostat in cooler months you will be heating the house more than you need to. The house will be warmer than it is now.

If 19 is the temp you like set it at that now and year round.

Re Martin Lewis' advice. But what about the whole thing about it's more expensive to fire up the boiler again to get it to a warm/high temperature than just leaving it on resulting in 'less work/energy' for the boiler?

Thanks for everyone's comments, I really would like to understand this so I can make the best financial choices whilst having a warm home (whilst we are in it).

Imo the best way is to have it on the possible low always and adjust accordingly to the situation. So we are going out now so we will lower the temperature on the thermostat, we do the same last time before bed. We will put it up when we are back if it feels cold or before bath-time if necessary, the first person in the morning put it up for a bit before we all are up and going if necessary.

Ours is manual atm needs to be replaced but it’s in the middle of the house so easy to reach.

Cheapest doesn't necessarily mean best or even most efficient.
Cheapest is off completely, and uses no energy, but you will be cold.
Timed (without a thermostat) can mean you are heating house when not there if your schedule changes and the big differences in temp can make you feel colder when it's cold, and cause condensation.

I just have a boiler and thermostatic valves on each radiator. I don't have a separate thermostat on the wall anywhere like I see in some people's houses. Does the boiler container the thermostat to regulate the entire house?

When people are saying 'the heating clicks on when the house falls below X degrees' is that because you have a thermostat located somewhere?

Or should my boiler know when the house falls below X degrees?

Use it as you think best, I set mine at 17 deg and let the thermostat do what it’s there for. If I’m going to be out for most of the day I will turn thermostat down.

It depends what you mean by better? If it's only cheaper, then on the whole it's usually better to only kick it on when you want it to be on.

However, in my home the difference between those two positions, because somebody is home most of the time anyway and it is relatively well insulated, isn't a huge amount of money and I'm happy to pay the difference because it is exponentially much more comfortable to live in a home that is kept at a steady level of warm and not have to think about it.