How do you heat a Victorian hole (UK traditional central heating)?

[BedtimeTales]

These might sound daft questions but I've lived in newish build flats my whole adult life, with underfloor or electric heaters. We have just moved into a Victorian house with radiators and I simply do not get how the heating works! Can someone explain please?

We have a thermostat which you are supposed to be able to programme so that heating comes on and goes off at different times of the day. However there are 5 settings available per day which doesn't seem to make sense to me.... sure there should be an even number so you're going On/Off On/Off etc etc?

Aside from that, some of the radiators have a knob with a temperature dial and some don't. Does this mean you can't control the ones without?

If you switch the radiator dials down to zero will you still be paying for the heating if the main thermostat is on?

Finally when do people set the heating to come on and off (if I can work out how it works)?! My old home I used to keep the under floor heating on low all the time but it feels cold in here! Im at home with a baby.

Thank you!

Not an expert but you will always have one radiator that you can't turn off. This is the control one that will always stay on unless the heating is turned off.
Different thermostats have different settings so hard to help with that. Google the model and you should be able to find out.
If you turn the dial on a radiator to zero the water won't go to that radiator and it won't heat the room its in. So generally less heating being used.

I usually set my central heating for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the day.

During the winter I just leave the heating on all the time and control when it comes on by setting the temperature on the thermostat. What you set the thermostat to is a personal choice depending on how warm you like it and how much you’re prepared to pay for heating. We go with 20 during the day and 16 at night. Radiator dials I keep all the way up. Simple is best IMO!

Not an expert but you will always have one radiator that you can't turn off. This is the control one that will always stay on unless the heating is turned off

I've never heard that before - we can turn all our rads off.

OP - you can either control radiators that have temp sensor valves individually, or you can control all the radiators at the same time (or all the other radiators if you turn those with sensors off).

Does that help?

5 settings sounds like 5 time periods

Morning
Day
Early evening
Nighttime

And perhaps a holiday setting

If you are out at work, one would set the timer to be on in the morning, go off during the day, and then come on again in the evening.
If the boiler has the name and make on it, then download the instructions from the internet.

@Justkeeppedaling

Not an expert but you will always have one radiator that you can't turn off. This is the control one that will always stay on unless the heating is turned off

I've never heard that before - we can turn all our rads off.

OP - you can either control radiators that have temp sensor valves individually, or you can control all the radiators at the same time (or all the other radiators if you turn those with sensors off).

Does that help?

It's usually the bathroom radiator. Perhaps you've never tried turning this one off.

You will pay according to how much energy is needed to get the house to the current temperature of the thermostat

If you turn off some radiators and close the doors to those rooms you will pay less than if they were all on//the doors open

So p1 you might want at 19 whereas p4 might be better at 16 - but you will either need to find instructions for your thermostat controller or experiment

Don't turn the radiators all the way off even in the summer! Put them on frost setting (the little snowflake) otherwise it does weird things to them and it can take days to get them warm again when you finally want them. Bitter experience...

Get Hive and youll be able to control it all via an app, timings, temperatures, turn it off if you aren't at home and it's scheduled to turn on. Onenofnrhe best bits of tech we've invested in

It's usually the bathroom radiator. Perhaps you've never tried turning this one off.
Nope, and Yep.

OP - we also have the ability to set the timings differently for weekends and week days.

Yes we have the weekday and weekend options, but on each day you can have up to 5 settings which I don't get. I've read the instructions and it's nonsensical!

Yes get a hive or nest.old old houses need different temperatures set for different times of day. E.g I set a night minimum of 16 degrees