Heating your home question, esp. for SAHPs of school-age children

[jetlagdZebra]

We are in/out of the house at irregular times, so we have the heating on constant & just set the thermostat to minimal when we go out, up to 15 when we are in. I'm sure that this saves us lots of money, as we only heat the house when we are in it (I've also compared to other MNers & our bill seems a lot lower than average).

Problem is that the boiler sometimes goes off completely when we turn down the thermostat while the boiler is running. Boiler man can't find the fault. It's a pain to always have to reset the boiler.

DH suggested we set the timer to twice/day heating (max. timer allows), but we need at least 3 periods/day (first thing, middle of day (maybe, if I'm home!) afterschool, maybe a separate evening session.

So what do other people do? Have the heating on all day & night & never touch the thermostat? How do you choose what two times/day to set heating on if you're a SAHP who needs to come & go frequently/erratically for the school run, playdates, etc?

Or should we get another timer system installed...?

We have an Allday setting on ours which means it comes on in the morning at the first "On" timer setting and then off at the last "Off "setting so it is effectively on all day and off at night with our thermostat at around 20 degrees. When the weather becomes warmer during the day I'll reduce the thermostat and reset the controls so it has a period on in the morning and evening only. We have different timings for weekends and weekdays and our water timings can be set independently so have am and evening periods atm.

We have very efficient underfloor heating and a very well insulated house. Last winter I had heating timed for am & pm and house was warm enough even though I was at home all day. However I was advised that with underfloor heating it is more efficient/economical to have it on all day with thermostat (ie. underfloor takes longer to heat up) so that it what I am doing this winter. I'll let you know the result when I get the bill! Water is on am & pm.

We don't have the heating on at all - we rely on our 2 multi fuel stoves!

Not really relevant to me right now as we do not have central heating but when we did, I used to find that having it on first thing in the morning and then again in the afternoon/evening was sufficient unless it was very cold out in which case I had it on continuously. Yes it does get a bit colder in the middle of the day, but usually I was moving around a lot and kept warm that way.

I have mine on all day (not night) and just alter the thermostat.

We have ours set to come on for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple in the evening. In additon our system has a button called "extra hour" which we just hit if we need a bit extra at any point in the day.

Most central heating systems don't allow for more than 2 settings in a 24 hour period.

By far the most effective method of heating your home is to have the heating set to continuous and leave the thermostat on about 19 degrees (lower at night). Good insulation helps too as does pulling doors to, rather than leaving them wide open, as this helps to contain the heat in each room. You could set the individual temperature on each radiator to meet the needs of each room too.

Or you could wear six jumpers!

we have ours on continuously.It is usually set at about 14-16

we have had our cavity walls insulated which has made a huge difference.We used to have the thermostat at 19-20 before,

mine has a timer with 10 times on.I have it set for am/lunch/bed and switch it on all day at w/e or use the gas fire.

Ours is on morning and evening and I hit the 'one hour' button if I need it during the day (usually several times if I'm at home) ... aside from that our thermostat is set at about 24 or 26 degrees but the house never gets that hot - the children's rooms are usually around 19-20.

heating on day and night, on individual thermostats on radiators. so can switch off whole rooms and keep heating on in ones we use in the day mainly.

think it is a bit energy inefficient to have radiators constantly on and off - you use up more energy heating up a cold rad than you do keeping one ticking along warm for x hours. A bit like it is more energy efficient to keep a light on rather than switching it off and on again within 3 hours.