Energy bills

[Asian Boss]

My direct debit has gone down to £46. That's lower than its ever been. It feels like it was worth the northern poor Brexiting Iccy's retirement cottage* away after all.


*the one he did all that grafting for, in the sand.

[demographic]

Might be worth mentioning to be careful how much people lower the temperatures in their hot water boiler/immersion heater cos less than about 50 degrees and legionnaires can become an issue.

[Mussels]

I only have one main thermostat, TRVs are on the cards for the radiators but not a priority. I've been able to balance them fairly well without TRVs.
If the house gets a bit chilly then someone will turn the thermostat up so turning it down won't help, it already has something built in to switch the heat off earlier but the radiators held too much heat for that so hopefully now they don't get as hot that will be fixed. I don't like the really cheap controller the plumber chose so I might look around at options with other thermostats but I'm not keen on the trendy new systems with loads of expensive parts to go wrong. Time to see if any of them can control the boiler modulation remotely.
Legionnaires won't be a problem for me as it's a sealed system with no tank.

[demographic]

I only have one main thermostat, TRVs are on the cards for the radiators but not a priority. I've been able to balance them fairly well without TRVs.
If the house gets a bit chilly then someone will turn the thermostat up so turning it down won't help, it already has something built in to switch the heat off earlier but the radiators held too much heat for that so hopefully now they don't get as hot that will be fixed. I don't like the really cheap controller the plumber chose so I might look around at options with other thermostats but I'm not keen on the trendy new systems with loads of expensive parts to go wrong. Time to see if any of them can control the boiler modulation remotely.
Legionnaires won't be a problem for me as it's a sealed system with no tank.

Yeah, thats why I said hot water boiler/immersion heater and not central heating boiler. Or even central heating circuit of the combi boiler.

[Horse]

I also found the house continues getting hotter when the heating switches off because the radiators are still hot, this results in a cycle of people opening windows because it's too hot and the heating coming on again. I've turned down the temp of water in the heating system hoping to stop this happening, now waiting for complaints the house takes too long to warm up.

As said, turn the stat down so it switches off sooner.

You need to be wary of turning the temperature of the water in the rads down too low as it will mean the system has to be on more to compensate.

Also, if you use individual room stats turned down, make sure the main thermostat is in a room with the rad on full, otherwise the system will be constantly trying to get the room up to temperature.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Might be worth mentioning to be careful how much people lower the temperatures in their hot water boiler/immersion heater cos less than about 50 degrees and legionnaires can become an issue.

That's part of the reason I have at least one day a week where the tank gets properly hot.

For the most part it doesn't make sense to me to heat water really hot and then 'cut' it with cold water in the shower. But I take the point in legionnaires.

[Mussels]

I think legionnella needs sunlight but there are plenty of other bugs available.
If I turn the thermostat down then the heating won't come on at the right time, if I turn the radiator temps down then yes the system will be running for longer but is that a problem?
I would have thought it is better to gently maintain a lower temperature than have swings where it goes too high.
The other answer may be a thermostat with a smaller differential between switching the heat on and switching it off but that would result in more on and off, is that less damaging than staying in for longer at a lower burn?

[Hoonercat]

There's an expat in my village who has always insisted that keeping the heating on low all day is more cost-effective than turning it on when you need it. We both use pellet burners, rather than gas, so maybe not relevant to the UK, but I decided to go a bit leftfield and consult my user manual, which stated the opposite.
She uses 3.5 - 4 tons of pellets per year, I use 1 ton. In fairness, I do have a wood burner which I use in the evenings, we have different lifestyles, and she is older than me so probably feels the cold more. But the space she is heating is approx 1/4 the space that I'm heating and fully insulated (mine's part-insulated). But she still insists she's right

Anyways, according to the Energy Saving Trust

According to experts at the Energy Saving Trust, the idea it's cheaper to leave the heating on low all day is a myth. They're clear that having the heating on only when you need it is, in the long run, the best way to save energy, and therefore money.

Other opinions are available

[Horse]

Anyways, according to the Energy Saving Trust

According to experts at the Energy Saving Trust, the idea it's cheaper to leave the heating on low all day is a myth. They're clear that having the heating on only when you need it is, in the long run, the best way to save energy, and therefore money.

Other opinions are available

Not a different opinion, but a different consideration.

The heating heats the air, that heats everything else. If you have heating on all the time, then your 'stuff' (such as furniture) will gradually heat up.

If you only have heating on for just a short time, your stuff will stay cold.

So the consideration is the degree of comfort that you want. Or 'need'.

Compromise? On for longer, but at a lower temperature?

[Yorick]

Might be worth mentioning to be careful how much people lower the temperatures in their hot water boiler/immersion heater cos less than about 50 degrees and legionnaires can become an issue.

Will a hot jobby once a week keep it safe?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Anyways, according to the Energy Saving Trust

According to experts at the Energy Saving Trust, the idea it's cheaper to leave the heating on low all day is a myth. They're clear that having the heating on only when you need it is, in the long run, the best way to save energy, and therefore money.

Other opinions are available

Not a different opinion, but a different consideration.

The heating heats the air, that heats everything else. If you have heating on all the time, then your 'stuff' (such as furniture) will gradually heat up.

If you only have heating on for just a short time, your stuff will stay cold.

So the consideration is the degree of comfort that you want. Or 'need'.

Compromise? On for longer, but at a lower temperature?

Heated sofa FTW.

No I don't know where you'd buy one either.

[Horse]

Anyways, according to the Energy Saving Trust


Other opinions are available

Not a different opinion, but a different consideration.

The heating heats the air, that heats everything else. If you have heating on all the time, then your 'stuff' (such as furniture) will gradually heat up.

If you only have heating on for just a short time, your stuff will stay cold.

So the consideration is the degree of comfort that you want. Or 'need'.

Compromise? On for longer, but at a lower temperature?

Heated sofa FTW.

No I don't know where you'd buy one either.

But heated blankets are a thing. Same principle.

[Mussels]

I found a good explanation about radiator water temperature but only for condenser boilers. Because the condensing part works best with lower return temperatures then lower radiator temperatures are more efficient, it suggests running them at the lowest temperature that adequately heats your home.
https://www.trustedreviews.com/explaine ... et-3649148

[Mr. Dazzle]

Or having radiators which are sufficiently large so that hot water which enters them leaves them cold?

[Mussels]

I have that bit sorted, the woman that lived here before had an extra 2m type 22 radiator installed in the lounge and could explain the overheating.

[Horse]

I have that bit sorted, the woman that lived here before had an extra 2m type 22 radiator installed in the lounge and could explain the overheating.

Get a roomstat fitted?

[demographic]

If you turn radiators down too much you might need bigger diameter rad pipes.
This becomes more of an issue if yer using a heat pump that requires higher flow to maximise heat transfer from lower temperature water.
Then as the rad usually makes use of convection currents to move the air about there are some rads* that have fans to move the air instead of the convection currents.
*Not seen em personally but my engineer climbing mate has fitted some and to be fair to him, he's pretty sharp.

[Mussels]

If you turn radiators down too much you might need bigger diameter rad pipes.
This becomes more of an issue if yer using a heat pump that requires higher flow to maximise heat transfer from lower temperature water.
Then as the rad usually makes use of convection currents to move the air about there are some rads* that have fans to move the air instead of the convection currents.
*Not seen em personally but my engineer climbing mate has fitted some and to be fair to him, he's pretty sharp.

I read about those and I'm thankful that I can just turn the boiler temp back up rather than faffing around with radiator fans.
Thankfully there are plenty of things I can try, too hot is a better starting point than too cold.

[demographic]

If you turn radiators down too much you might need bigger diameter rad pipes.
This becomes more of an issue if yer using a heat pump that requires higher flow to maximise heat transfer from lower temperature water.
Then as the rad usually makes use of convection currents to move the air about there are some rads* that have fans to move the air instead of the convection currents.
*Not seen em personally but my engineer climbing mate has fitted some and to be fair to him, he's pretty sharp.

I read about those and I'm thankful that I can just turn the boiler temp back up rather than faffing around with radiator fans.
Thankfully there are plenty of things I can try, too hot is a better starting point than too cold.

He was replacing his system anyway so wasn't really a faff.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It definitely feels like the sort of thing whcih should be a planning requirement on new builds, as part of a well thought out comprehensive energy strategy.

But, nah, fuck it. Let's just do fracking.

My energy bill isn't even that much of my income, but dammit it's the principle of the thing!