Going away for 4 weeks - heating on or off?

[grendel]

We are in the happy position of buggering off to NZ for 4 weeks, just before Christmas for our trip of a lifetime.

I've never been away for so long before and I'm slightly worried about leaving the house unheated for that length of time in the middle of winter.

I'm thinking of leaving the heating on for the minimum time (0.5 hour morning and evening) but with the thermostat set really low so that it'll only come on if the house gets really cold. (We live in a modern fairly well insulated house in East Anglia.)

Is this mad or a good idea? And if it is a good idea, any suggestions as to what temperature? I'm thinking maybe 12 degrees?

Thanks for any advice.

Temporary inconvenience for you goes a long way for the environment

Mrsruffalo - being a cold house for days can be a problem for children that have chest problems - none of mine are actually asthmatic, but do suffer from chest issues in the cold - being in the cold would be recipe for 3 DS's with chest infections.

1930's is not modern though is it?
I am no expert,maybe op should ask her neighbours what they have done in the past- I just think being cold when you come in isn't really an excuse for wasting energy

and also I know for my dad (who is asthmatic) while the cold badly affects him, having the heating on for long periods of time has an equally bad effect on him.

well it is modern compared to my parents house which is victorian

but not a new house I agree

but seriously the effect of burst pipes is not one I would wish on anyone

esp if you ahve the ceinling of top floor to loft insulated and water tank in loft open the trap door to let some warm in

I am asthmatic and never have the heating on anyway, it doesn't agree with me at all
Can't your children just wrap up warm for a day?
I really don't remember the cold effecting me as a severely asthmatic child- it was more the heat or hay fever in spring
But of course you know your children best, and I wouldn't expect you to compromise their health
Where the only issue is warmth though I think we do need to make changes for the environments sake

MrsRuffalo - sorry I had to laugh at the slightly ironic nature of your posts.

You expect the OP to have the heating on all day for a couple of days to reheat the house - but don't use the heating yourself as it doesn't agree with you

No, i don't expect the OP to have the heating on all day everyday upon return, I wasn't the one who suggested that

oooops sorry

My posts do sound ironic, you are quite right.
I need to develop a new posting style

Wow! Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

We are generally very environmentally (and financially) conscious which is why I'm unsure about leaving the heating on even for the minimum time.

However, I've never left a house empty for 4 weeks over the winter and I'm concerned about the possibility of burst pipes if we have a run of really cold weather, and failing that, whether the house will feel damp, smelly and sad when we get back.

We did go away for 3 weeks many years ago. It was June, but when we got back the house felt cold, musty and slightly damp. This was in an old house though.

Don't want to return from our dream holiday to find a house that's gone all horrid!

grendel - we went away for 3 weeks in August 2yrs ago - was (apparently) a nice sunny, hot August but our house (Victorian) felt/smelled really horrible and funny for days

Is it worse for the environment to have the heating on low to prevent freezing pipes or to throw away (land fill) and replace the ruined items should the pipes burst?

I think my plan is going to be to set the thermostat to 10 degrees (if it goes that low) and have the heating on 'constant'. That doesn't mean it is ON constantly, it means it will come on, at any time of day, if the temperature drops below that which the thermostat is set to. Which probably won't happen anyway.

The last house I lived in had very ancient heatin though, no thermostat control, so that wouldn't have been an option.

Grendel - what sort of heating control do you have? IF it's newish you should be able to stop the house getting too cold, while not wasting money (or our planet's limited resources, etc) because it will only come on when it's absolutely needed.

What does your household Insurers say / recommend?

Make sure no clauses re unoccupancy over X days otherwise in the event of a flood (commonly caused by frozen/thawing pipes) you could be placed with one hell of a bill!

Tinsel: Fairly basic combined hot water/central heating timer. Can turn hot water off though. Only one thermostat for whole house. No thermostatic valves on radiators.

(When I said the house was 'modern' I guess I was thinking in comparison to our previous house which was 16th century. Current house is 1980s so double glazed and insulated but heating is quite basic. Oil fired by the way.)

kd73 - Oooh - good point. I'd better go and check.

When we bought ourhouse in February, it had been vacant since September with no heating on. We had no problems at all, although it probably did take a little longer for the place to really warm through properly again.