Settle A Heating Debate Lol!

[Smowball]

Ok, 3 storey house, lots of radiators. I turn the ones off in the rooms that aren’t really used much. As for the rest of the house, I turn the heating dial on till it just clicks on and heating comes on, then when house it warm enough I turn it down/off. Then hours later if I think it’s a bit chilly I might turn it up again. Mr smow says it’s more economical to keep it on low all the time in the day. i.e. turn the dial so it clicks and heating just comes on, then keep it like that all day. Which is best?? Or does it make no difference?

[pixie374]

I'd be interested to see too, smow. All our heating is off upstairs, but as downstairs is controlled by a thermostat, I suspect it just takes longer as the heat rises upstairs?
We also have a lot of clients who turn off thermostats at night and then on maximum in morning, to heat up "quicker". I'm not sure whether it would warm up faster, or just hotter though. And whether it would be better to just turn down a bit at night and then back to normal....
Never been sure enough to be able to advise anyone.

[Smowball]

What sort of building are you in pixie? You mentioned clients.

[pixie374]

Ah, mine is just a two-storey house, but I do homecare, so those are individual clients' own houses.
Also, hot water- heat it fully twice a day, or leave on?

[davebro]

If you are manually turning it on & off you are just doing the job the thermostat was designed for. Set it to whatever temp makes you feel comfortable & leave it alone. Turn it down when you go out or go to bed. I use about 22 in the day / 15 at night.

[ladybirder]

The flat where I live was newly built when I bought it and the heating company advised us to NOT keep changing it. Mine is set at 18º and never falls below that. But if I'm cooking it can go up to 23º but mostly during the day it's 21-22º. The flat is very well insulated.

[Atheist]

Pixie and smow...
If you turn a room thermostat up to say 20 degrees, then the boiler will be told to send hot water through the rariators until the thermostat is 'satisfied' at 20 degrees and turns the boiler off again. Turning the thermostat up to 25 degrees will not speed up the heating process, it just means the boiler will work for a longer time until 25 degrees is reached (unless you have remembered to turn the thermostat back down to 20. Never turn the thermostat higher than the room temperature you want to achieve.
I agree with your husband and dave.

[ladybirder]

But not me?

[davebro]

Oh - and keep the doors closed of the rooms you aren't heating!

[Atheist]

ladybirder; of course I agree with you! Sorry. :-)

[Smowball]

Ok, to elaborate, say today I turn the thermostat up so it just clicks on, in other words the heating has come on, and the temp on the dial is 19/20, well the radiators heat up, but never turn off. In other words the house doesn’t heat up and when it gets to a set temp they switch off till temp drops and then come on again. - they just stay on so the house just gets hotter and hotter hotter. Hence why I keep turning it off via the dial lol

[ladybirder]

Phew!!

[pixie374]

Thanks atheist.... I suspected, but wanted to check before I misadvised anyone.... :-)

[Atheist]

Smow; the dial (I presume you mean a little box on the wall with a temperature dial) is designed to turn off the boiler when the room reaches the set temperature, and it seems to be working if turning it down makes the heating go off. Do you have a thermostatic valve on the radiator in the room with the thermostat?

[Ryzen]

Sounds like you need some decent TRV's fitting....or re position the room stat.

[pat2604]

I think Mr Smow is right. And keeping radiators on low heat in unused rooms will mean the fabric of the house will be kept warmer which ultimately makes heating more efficient.

[pastafreak]

I'd like to know what the cost difference is between leaving it on, and turning on as needed.

[Smowball]

Atheist - yes that’s the dial I mean, and yes each radiator also has an adjustable thermostat valve on the right (or whatever it’s called lol)

[pixie374]

Me too, pasta, plus with water.

[Smowball]

Ok, each thermostat on the radiators can be set from 0 - 5. Dial is in hallway , near front door, and that radiator is set to 3.

[AB Editor]

Atheist's post about how a higher temperature doesn't speed up the process reminds me of this (warning, there's a couple of F words in it):