To ask a house maintenance question (that I should probably know the answer to)

[Bhgsa]

For a bit of context I am a single parent and haven’t been away with ds since he was born. He’s now 5 and this week we are going away for a week in the uk. I feel really stressed! Random things keep coming into my head and one of them is should I turn off the hot water settings?! At the moment the water comes on automatically twice a day for half an hour each time. I don’t really want to meddle with it as I’m not good with that sort of stuff but then I started wondering what will happen if it keeps heating up twice a day and not being used? Will something explode? Is it dangerous etc. Hoping for some mumsnet help!

There is a property section and their are lots of knowledgeable people on there who might be able to help. I think there is a plumber who is always good to answering questions

It will be fine. If it reaches temperature it will automatically shut off, just like the heating. Bit of a waste of money to keep it hot all week though, it’s better to get familiar with the controls if you can.

It will be fine. There is no risk to water heating up and not being used, but there is a risk if your house gets too cold and your pipes freeze (unlikely with the current forecast in the uk for the next week tbh). Frozen pipes might burst and cause a flood. Leaving water and heating on for half an hour twice a day sounds like a good idea to keep everything working smoothly while you're away.

I would not turn off hot water personally for just a week. It will heat up to the temperature you set it to, it won’t go past that temperature so if it hasn’t cooled naturally or been used, the boiler simply won’t heat it up any further.

Leave your central heating/ normal heating on “low” for a few hours at night around 16 degrees to stop any pipes freezing or home getting damp.

@VioletIndigoBlueGreen thank you. does this mean I should leave the heating on too?

It won't explode lol. If that was a thing houses would blow up every time anybody was out all day and the government would have had to step in due to all the unran baths destroying the place! Provided you aren't trying to save money it's fine just to leave it. I would probably do the same thing if I didn't understand the controls well.

@MonopolyQueen thanks. It’s a nest system so I could set it for 16 all the time and then it would click on if it ever went below that. But I was planning on just leaving it off, would that be a mistake? Temperature sometimes goes down to 15 if I have heating off but not yet seen it go lower

@Anotherparkingthread thanks. Would you leave the heating off?

Turn the hive to manual and down to frost (7.5 I think), to protect your pipes, then just remember to turn it back onto your usual schedule before you get home, so the house is warm.

You don't need to leave it as high as 16 - ours goes on 7 when we're away.

I would personally but the pipes at my house don't freeze, and I'm tighter than a ducks arse so I wouldn't want to pay for heating when I wouldn't be there.

It's fine if you want to leave it on I know lots of people who do. What property type is it? That can make a difference. My grandparents leave theirs on when they're away.

Leave heating on low so that it comes on to protect pipes if needed. Then set it to come on a few hours before you're due back, so the house isn't stone cold when you get in (horrible!).

@Anotherparkingthread @SapphireOpal ideally I would like to switch it off. It hasn’t been horrendously cold yet. The house is detached but the hall thermostat hasn’t gone below 15 so far this winter while it’s been off. Is it too risky to keep it off?

Does your system have a “holiday mode”? Mine allows me to stop heating the water and set a min temp for the house to stop freezing. I didn’t have a clue how to do this either but googled the controls. It’s had quite an impact on my bills as I use it every time we’re away now.

Before I’d figured it out my empty house just had warm rooms and hot water. Nothing bad happens!

I would turn off the hot water as there's no point wasting gas just to heat a cylinder that wont get used.

I presume it is an old style system with tanks in the loft? Or is a modern system, pressurised?

If its old style I would leave the heating on something like 8 degrees so it probably wont ever kick in, and leave the loft hatch open.

If its a modern system under pressure with no water in the loft I'd switch it off. The house isn't going to freeze up.

If it's set to 7 it won't come on unless it drops below 7, so why would you not just leave it on that?

It probably won't go that low, but if it does it'll stop your pipes freezing and save you a huge plumber bill.

Do you have a lofty/ if so, open the hatch before you go away so that some warmer air gets up there. Otherwise the pipes might freeze and burst when you come back

If you put the Nest on 9 degrees then you are effectively "switching it off". The heating will not come on unless it goes down to 9 degrees, which you've said is very unlikely. So that is all you need to do, it will be "off" the whole time.

This. Look on the controller for a manufacturer/number and then google that. You'll get an instruction book explaining what you can do.

You're unlikely to have any problems unless your house has unheated outbuildings with a water supply. A normal square-ish house should stay above freezing in normal UK temperatures for a week.

Don't ever switch the heating off completely in winter. My friend's pipes all burst over Christmas and I'll never forget the state of his house afterwards. Water running down the light fittings, into the microwave etc. Took 6 months to get it all back to normal and all because he was too tight to leave the heating on low. It might be mild when you go away but the temp can unexpectedly plummet in just a few hours.

It won’t explode ! But as others say you will be paying your heat hot water you don’t need to heat.

heating : either turn it way down (to like 7, 8, whatever I’d you’re worried about pipes freezing, which is a legitimate concern depending where you live), or just turn it off if you’re confident it won’t get that cold.

Personally I wouldn’t take the risk of turning heating off altogether in winter though. Pipes bursting is a big deal big mess
and expensive.

Is it your house or do you rent? If you rent, there's probably something in your contract about leaving the heating on low if you go away.

If you own, and you can afford to replace everything when the pipes burst, go ahead and switch it off!

Seriously, it's winter, the temperature can plummet suddenly. Only turn the heating off if you also totally drain the system. I had the water pipes burst in the loft in a flat when I was living in it (no heating other than a gas fire), I'd never want to go through that again.

Hot water - this won't be a problem, but as others have said it is a bit of a waste of money. But it won't break anything if you leave it on.

Heating - leave this on, but set to somewhere between 8-10 degrees. Sixteen is too high, but 8-10 will take the edge off a frost.

Also, when you get back, another thing to learn would be how to turn your water/stop cock off, you do need to know this. But not right now.

Enjoy your week away

Leave it on. Although it is unlikely. If it gets cold enough for pipes to freeze while you are away and then there is a burst your insurance may not cover you if you have turned it all off.