What temperature will you leave your heating on if going away on holidays?

[OneCup]

So pipes don't freeze and you don't break the bank. I have tried looking online but I have seen all sorts of suggestions.

I'd probably say 16.5

We went away for 5 days last week and turned it off completely it felt like the ice age when we got home

We’ve previously left it for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, with the thermostat set super low key he rest of the time.

My hive’s frost setting is 7 degrees, so that’s what it will be on while we’re away. Just need to remember to turn it back on in time to warm the house up a bit before we get home!

Our heating has a holiday setting which is at 5 degrees so we use that if we go away

Ours is set up to come on for an hour in the evenings (timed as we are due back in the evening)

If I were you I’d just turn it off. Our neighbours appear to be away and something has burst as there is water spraying out of the house periodically.

I’d imagine that’s happened precisely because they’ve turned the heating off.

We’re away at the moment and have left our heating on 16 - yesterday it was on for 7 hours!!

We’ve turned it down to 7 now.

10 degrees throughout.
thermostat on radiators on low.

I live abroad but the heating on my home in Reading is set to 10C.

What I'm finding from my Hive app is that downstairs is on about half the time as the thermostat is in the kitchen which has a flat roof so is a cold room, and it's been below 0C outside all week. But upstairs doesn't come on at all, it's around 14C because the heat from downstairs rises.

But the week before, I had problems with my boiler and watched the temperature sink to about 4C, very scared that the pipes would freeze before the heating engineer came out.

I definitely would not switch the heating off at the moment, with sub-zero temperatures especially at night. I wonder if your insurance would cover the cost of repair and damage if you left the heating off in these conditions, it's basically reckless.

I suggest you turn off the water at the stop cock -usually under the sink and then drain some water from the taps. This way 8f the temp drops you won't get any ill effects from burst pipes.
Most radiators thermostat valves have a frost(snowflake setting) and your boiler will too. Many have built in frost stats which start the boiler at low temps to avoid internal damage. Any temp above freezing will be fine to avoid freezing pipes internally.

Open cupboard doors under sinks, so that the heat gets to the pipes. And make sure taps aren't dripping, as drips freeze easily.

Our Tado frost protection setting is 7 degrees.

So 7+ I would say. Not 16.5 as that’s just a waste if you aren’t home.

7-10 degrees should be fine.

I’m hoping you’ve either let them or someone who can contact them know??

Ours would be on about 15. Our lovely neighbour will come in a few hours before we arrive back to put it higher. He's much better than a Hive app, he will check the house, pick up the post and top up the bird feeders.

I’ve no way of contacting them, if they are away, which they appear to be.

It wouldn’t be periodically squirting out if the systems was off 🙄

You could knock on a few houses either side / opposite as someone may have their contact details. That’s what people on our road would do.

Sounds a nightmare for them, pp suggestion to check with their neighbours is a good one

But I agree with pp more likely to happen if they turned heating off

Omg I honestly can't believe you've written this! Not sure where to start😳

Ours is left at 12.

Returned from a 2 week holiday 10 days ago.

We left ours on 12 x 24 hrs per day. Didn't cost much at all but our central heating is proving fantastically efficient at present as we had a complete service and power flush during the summer which, to date, is proving to be worth every penny.

I usually set ours to holiday setting and 10 degrees. Thought it had to be set to 10 for the house insurance to be valid.

Thank you everyone! This is very helpful!

I'm away for Christmas and I'm planning on turning my stop-clock off as I have garden office pipes which regularly freeze & burst (including last week) and I also had a burst pipe this year inside the house. I feel I've had a crash course plumbing!

So the heating is staying on and the water is getting switched off!