optimal central heating timings

[twoboots]

just back from visiting family who can all afford to run the central heating all day!

I seem to have lost the ability to run the heating on the timer, we dont have a thermostat so we can only control the timer-its timed to come on 3 times a day
currently: 0500-730; 1200-1430; 2200-0030. We will put it on manually on and off through the day too

its either freezing or too fricking hot.

even in ths weather i want to avoid having it running all day, though i suppose that may be less efficient to let things cool down and heat up as well.

what is the consensus on timings?

ours is on 7-8.30am and 4-8pm. although it has been on pretty much all day today.

Ours is 6.15 until 7.45 (we leave at 8.15) and 4.30 until about 8. This is week days.

Like lucykate, ours has been on quite a bit today though.

twoboots - what is your working day? 5 am is very early to come on if you don't get up until after 6. Heating should only take 15 mins or so to warm a house up.

Also, why on so late?

I have a thermostat now (thank god! makes life so much easier - and avoids the too fricking hot thing as it goes off before you realise it's still on and needs switching off).

When we didn't have a thermostat we endured a couple of days of writing down what time we switched it on, and roughly when it was switched off. Then adjusted the times to try and fit.

I've noticed that the period around 4/5pn (just as it's getting dark) tends to suddenly get really cold.

15 minutes to warm a house up?

Surely that depends on how low the temp dropped during the night and how efficient your heating is.

dp and dd are in and out all day.
i get up at 530 and get home around 730 (thankfully only 4 days a week) i agree that it is a bit ridiculous to have it on so late.

ours is on 6am till 10am and 5pm till 10pm but if I am in the house during the day and feel cold I will boost it then too. We do have a thermostat though so once the house heats up to the right temperature it goes back off again.

of course the time it goes off at night will probably correlate in some way to when you go to bed.

A chartered surveyor I worked with told me to have the central heating on at 15 degrees all the time.

A chartered surveyor I worked with told me to have the central heating on at 15 degrees all the time.

Ours takes about an hour to warm up the house but then we live in an old house with draughty floorboards. Ours is on 6.40 until 8am and then from 3.00 until we go to bed! House just too cold without it. We do have thermostatic radiator valves though and turn it off in rooms we are not using. DH works at home but just has a portable oil filled heater in the room he works in, poor thing, he just scuttles out to make the occasional cup of tea or whatever!

weekdays ours in 6.30 - 8

(we are up at 7 and leave by 8.30)

4.15 - 7 (we come in about 4.40)
8 - 9.45 (normally in bed by 10.15)

however last night, by this morning the temp had dropped to 14c at 7am (when heating had been on 1/2 hour) so for extream nights we may put it on between 2 -3 am so id doesnt get quite so cold

at weekends we just over ride to have it on when we need it

07.15 till 9am (it only takes 15 mins to warm the whole house up and we live in a Victorian house)

if im in for the day then 11 - 12pm, or otherwise its off all day

4pm - 8pm as the house stays warm for hours. we live in a solid brick house that got 9cm width bricks in.

We've just discovered that ours seems to work best if we put it on in half hour bursts - half hour on half hour off - we don't have a thermostat either so it was getting too hot when it was on for 2 hours continuously. Don't know if that would work, guess it depends on the house etc...