Putting the heating on but how long for.

[pastabakeonaplate]

I'm going to have to put the heating on. The washing won't dry without it for a start. How many more times expensive is it than last year roughly? If I put it on for like 1 hour when I would have had it on for 3 will it still cost about the same as last year?

I’ve experimented on a couple of occasions and have found the first hour is the most expensive as the boiler is working hard to heat up the house to the temp on the thermostat (I set the boost to 19, house temp was 16) After the first hour though the boiler didn’t work as hard to keep the house at that temperature so the cost wasn’t as much. I experimented by reading the meter every hour the heating was on and recording the temperature on the thermostat (as sad as it sounds I needed to know how often I can afford the heating on!)
So now if I’m going to be home a few hours I think it’s worth the cost of that first hour. If I’m not going to be in long enough to benefit I don’t bother (so mornings are cold - but once everyone is dressed we are pretty much out the house)

@Catsinahat Thank you. I was thinking in the evening to warm the house a little bit. I think I will conduct a similar experiment. Our smart meter installation should help but they keep cancelling it.

Thank you very much.

Really I need to find the unit price for last year and compare it to this year and then how many units it uses roughly.

Might need a spreadsheet

As @Catsinahat said, it drops after the first hour - this is what my gas usage looks like when my heating goes on in the evening.

Oh that looks so shocking like that!

so probably like that 1 hour uses about 6 hours worth so you might as well have it on for 6 hours rather than 2 lots of 1 hour spread throughout the night

I can't answer your question, but I do know that it costs to run a boiler during the initial power up, ie coming up to temperature. I previously worked it out that our bills were estimated by our energy company to be around 2.25x more expensive.

Really noticed the cold since yesterday (I'm home more) and agreed with DH this afternoon to set and have it run from tomorrow. Accidentally, set it too soon and it's come on😊and cat is sat and arm of chair nearest radiator - and does he look happy!! Putting that aside our compromise is the temperature it's set out, was 18.5c before, now it's between 18 and 18.5c. If not on a smart meter, our energy company like monthly readings, so am going to see what next month's bill looks like.

I think I'll go with the slowly slowly approach until I get smart meter/monthly bill. Thanks all

I will see what happens to my readings if I turn it off for a bit and on again tonight!

Oh please don't embark on a costly experiment for my sake.

This is really useful, thanks for asking and thanks to everyone for sharing. I've been thinking exactly the same - the laundry from Monday afternoon is still feeling a bit damp on the indoor airer, not helped by the rainy/damp weather.

I'm thinking of turning off the radiators upstairs and only heating downstairs for now, or does that not make much of a difference overall?

If you post your meter readings before and after using it on one night (and the units) people will be able to estimate for you what the cost will be at the current price caps. Its not too difficult.

I'm still managing to dry washing with the aid of a dehumidifier. I've been doing two loads a day on 'good drying days' and none when it's raining. So, far, everything has dried or come in damp. If it goes over the airer, and the dehumidifier goes on for an hour or two, it's dry in the morning.

Our energy price was fixed last year, so I reckon it is about 3x more expensive this winter. I am hoping to last another couple weeks before putting on the heating. I'm going to try and hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening, and see how much it costs. Hoping not this week though.

How powerful is your dehumidifier? We have a tiny little one I could try but it would use electricity

It's a Delonghi D10, I think. Not particularly powerful because it barely registers on the smart meter display unless on full. It only takes a couple of hours to get the room humidity back to 50-60%. That said, I'm not using it with an airer full of washing straight from the machine. So far, I've managed to line dry. Looking at Metcheck, it'll be Friday before I do any more washing. by which time I'll have two full loads to go out.

Yes I'm doing the same as soon as there's dry weather out it goes! But this last week I've had to do some straight from the machine after 2 extra spins

We have a MeacoDry Arete one 20 litre dehumidifier. Its very energy efficient & dries clothes well, plus we've not needed to put the heating on at all yet.

My timer has always been set from 3.30 till 8.00. We've never had heating on in the mornings before work . Now I'm at home all the time, I'm still trying to stick to the same timer settings. I've managed so far but not sure about when it gets really cold.

I had to put my heating on yesterday as the house was so damp, washings won’t dry after 3 days. So I had it on 1 hour in the morning and 1.5 hour in the evening, I also did two loads of washings and dishwasher was on as well, my smart metre says it cost me £7 in total, before the heating it was less than £4.

Does anyone know roughly how much an hours heating is?I know everyone's circumstances are different ,I've got a 3 bed terrace.I haven't got a smart meter and to do readings frequently the meters a bit of a pita to get to,so just give them when I receive an email monthly.Thanks.

I stick the nearly dry from the airer washing in the tumble dryer just to finish it off for ten minutes or so. It gets the creases out as well

It’s impossible to say because it depends on how well insulated your house is and how efficient your boiler is.

If your house isn’t well insulated and lots of heat is lost, the cost will be much higher than if you are in a well insulated property. The only way to tell is to take meter readings unfortunately.

I've had the same problem with washing not drying despite running a dehumidifier and I had to wash the cloakroom walls at the weekend as mould was forming on all 4 walls! So I'm using the heating as I think it will cause more expensive problems not to . It's off during the day when dd is at school but on morning and evening. I'd rather just never eat out or buy new clothes instead

Is it cheaper to buy a new top from primark to wear every day than wash them and heat the house just so a top would dry?

This weekend is going to be colder and wet/damp. I have at least three loads of washing to deal with. We've just had the boiler serviced and radiators flushed.

I'm tempted to put washing over airer tomorrow, and then turn dehumidifier on. After dinner, I may treat us to an hour or two of heating if it's feeling cold. Going to read gas meter before and after if I do.

Or, maybe, the weather will be better than forecast, and I'll be able to line dry and manage with dehumidifier.

My completely scientific research into having the heating on constantly vs in timed chunks was... not a massive difference