Author Topic: When do you turn your central heating on?  (Read 58016 times)

shelivesthedream

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When do you turn your central heating on?
« on: October 19, 2017, 02:23:23 PM »
We've been trying to avoid turning ours on for as long as possible but I just decided I am bloody freezing and whacked it on. I don't know what the indoor temperature was, but I was not comfortable. Have we done well or have we copped out early?

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2017, 02:30:26 PM »
Our boiler keeps the house on the warm side when the heating is off - I was opening windows to cool down until a few weeks ago. I'm trying to hold out until mid-November (after our holiday), I think it was mid-late November last year. My body runs warm though. [Cambridgeshire]

marielle

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2017, 02:37:52 PM »
Am I missing something or is this the wrong section?

I live in the southern US so I turn my heat on almost never I feel like. I use an electric blanket to compensate. I do have cats though so I can't keep it TOO cold, but it usually stays above 60-65 F (15-18 C) during the day. Being in an apartment helps of course.

Someone posted this awhile back which is pretty interesting:
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/heating-people-not-spaces.html

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2017, 02:42:31 PM »
Am I missing something or is this the wrong section?

I live in the southern US so I turn my heat on almost never I feel like. I use an electric blanket to compensate. I do have cats though so I can't keep it TOO cold, but it usually stays above 60-65 F (15-18 C) during the day. Being in an apartment helps of course.

Someone posted this awhile back which is pretty interesting:
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/heating-people-not-spaces.html

Nope - I wanted UK answers because of course Alaska and Texas are going to be so different there's no comparison!

Chuck Ditallin

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2017, 03:55:10 PM »
Today, coincidentally!

As our house was a complete renovation, we took the chance to install underfloor heating downstairs. It's cheaper to run as the water temperature is lower than in radiators, so we tend to put it on earlier in the Autumn and just leave it burbling away til Spring. Each room has a thermostat and is individually controlled.

Mmm, warm floors!

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2017, 04:31:52 PM »
We usually try to hold out until October.

TartanTallulah

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2017, 04:45:13 PM »
Ours was on for a few days a couple of weeks ago, but is off again. It hasn't been cold.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2017, 05:19:02 PM »
Our current flat is well insulated and I've not been cold yet this year and I don't think I was ever cold last year. It was a different story entirely in our previous (drafty, damp) flat in the exact same city.

That said, we've started using the heating to dry clothes on the radiator gradually over the last couple of months as its reached the point that we otherwise find everything takes too long to dry, so our heating has generally been on for at least a couple of hours a week since the beginning of September.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2017, 05:42:30 PM »
I haven't turned it on yet, but I don't think it's gotten below 0 yet and my apartment has been comfortable. Luckily I live above a bakery so I think that warms up my place (and makes delicious smells!)
I did pull out an extra blanket, so the heat will probably be on in the next couple weeks.

Lake161

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2017, 08:03:30 PM »
When we get our first night of freezing temps. We live in a mountain town, and it may be quite pleasant during the day, but not risking frozen pipes to save money on gas.

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2017, 02:09:57 AM »
Seems like we've done kind of average? The problem with this house is it's very dark compared to our last place. It's much less draughty but the old place could get away with it because it got sun through big windows literally from dawn til dusk. We were warm til about Christmas then started getting hot again around Candlemas. The orientation of the windows and the shadows cast by other buildings here mean we get proper sun at the front from mid-late afternoon and that's about it. So it never passively heats up the way our old flat did.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2017, 05:03:47 AM »
Mine has been on in kitchen, sitting room and wetroom for the last week, but not in the study (big south facing windows) or bedroom (no heating, just hot water bottles).  My excuse for having it on this early is mainly my elderly arthritic dog, who loves the underfloor heating in the kitchen and the radiator to cuddle up to in the sitting room.  The wetroom heating dries the floor after a shower when the temperature is such that having the skylight open no longer works.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2017, 05:35:45 AM »
No heating until the clocks go back! We use the woodburner mostly.

londonstache

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2017, 05:49:08 AM »
I like to keep Mrs londonstache cold as long as possible, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before she starts vocally complaining. Planning to hold out until November at least.
The bonus is that she doesn't know how the thermostat works so hoping to be able to maintain it at a cost-effective 10C this year :)

dreams_and_discoveries

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2017, 07:45:28 AM »
Not until November, unless it gets to freezing outside.

I may be considered cheating as I have an aga....

I was brought up with the put another jumper on approach!

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #15 on: October 20, 2017, 08:22:44 AM »
Still not sure how the resolve the stupid humidity here in the UK, running the dehumidifier every night seems like a silly thing (but needs doing).

Really? Do you live near water or are you used to a drier climate? I've only rarely had issues with humidity in the UK. Is it definitely the humidity rather than damp?

RWD

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #16 on: October 20, 2017, 08:25:39 AM »
We're still using our A/C, thermostat set at 79 degrees... (The UK sounds cold)

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2017, 08:46:39 AM »
I'm never cold during the day (I just put on a jumper if I am), but I know it's time to turn it on when I wake up with a cough in the morning.

Turned the storage heater on almost a month ago (gradually increasing from 3 to now 5 out of 10) and I haven't turned on the bedroom heater yet.
(ground floor flat, lots and lots of windows, flat orientation is as you'd want it, but I have a few bushes/trees in front of my bedroom window so can't rely on the sun keeping me warm)

Still not sure how the resolve the stupid humidity here in the UK, running the dehumidifier every night seems like a silly thing (but needs doing).

We resolve humidity by opening the windows.  Specifically, air out your bedroom in the mornings by opening the windows for 5 or 10 minutes (need only be the small top window if you have one - that's what they are for), air out the kitchen after cooking (unless you have and use an efficient cooker hood), air out the bathroom after a bath or shower, and so on.

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2017, 09:29:55 AM »
I'm never cold during the day (I just put on a jumper if I am), but I know it's time to turn it on when I wake up with a cough in the morning.

Turned the storage heater on almost a month ago (gradually increasing from 3 to now 5 out of 10) and I haven't turned on the bedroom heater yet.
(ground floor flat, lots and lots of windows, flat orientation is as you'd want it, but I have a few bushes/trees in front of my bedroom window so can't rely on the sun keeping me warm)

Still not sure how the resolve the stupid humidity here in the UK, running the dehumidifier every night seems like a silly thing (but needs doing).

We resolve humidity by opening the windows.  Specifically, air out your bedroom in the mornings by opening the windows for 5 or 10 minutes (need only be the small top window if you have one - that's what they are for), air out the kitchen after cooking (unless you have and use an efficient cooker hood), air out the bathroom after a bath or shower, and so on.

It is so frustrating that the bathroom in our new house doesn't have a window. It has a little extractor fan in the ceiling and, to be fair, zero mould so far. Funnily enough the old bathroom with the window had chronic mould (like the bedroom which was also on the non-sunny side of the flat) but I *felt* better if I could open a window :)

+1 that I'm surprised you're complaining about the humidity unless you live in a river valley or peat bog. Running a dehumidifier every day seems excessive.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2017, 09:53:04 AM »
I ran a dehumidifier in a rental a long time ago - the issue was a gas cooker with inadequate ventilation, a housemate who would open the bathroom door rather than window after a shower and a crap damp course. Happy days.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2017, 11:48:33 AM »
I turned the storage heaters on two days ago - so far only two of them, and to only the lowest setting (1 / 5). But I'm in a flat on the top floor, you can feel the temperature gradient as you climb up the stairs... I've been in the ground floor flats and they are pretty chilly.

GuitarStv

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #21 on: October 20, 2017, 11:53:36 AM »
Rather than turn off the heat, why not keep it on but set the thermostat really low?  This way you don't run the risk of freezing pipes from an overnight cold snap.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #22 on: October 20, 2017, 12:02:01 PM »
My answer is not UK specific:

I never understood setting a date. It makes way more sense to me to set a temperature, if you don't trust yourself.

I do pile on the clothes before reaching for the thermostat. I also use an electric blanket to heat the bed long before reaching for the thermostat. It makes all the difference in the world to me to be able to crawl into a warm bed when all else is cold and/or damp.

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #23 on: October 20, 2017, 04:50:43 PM »
Rather than turn off the heat, why not keep it on but set the thermostat really low?  This way you don't run the risk of freezing pipes from an overnight cold snap.

I am confronting this problem now because I've never lived anywhere before where: a) I had total control over the heating; b) My boiler has settings to just eat water for radiators, just heat water for taps, or both. That's what I've really now turned on. I'm not having the boiler heat up water I don't want!

CrabbitDutchie

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2017, 06:16:00 AM »
In our all electric flat in Scotland the storage heaters are still off.
I have had the wee electric heater in the bathroom on to make getting out of the morning shower bearable, but I'm not sure that really counts.

Neither of us are in the flat much and we don't really need to worry about frozen pipes thanks to the neighours.
The storage heater in the living room will be turned on when I'm wandering around with thick socks, slippers, a couple of jumpers, blanket, hot water bottle and pretty much constant cups of tea. I run pretty cold so this corresponds to an inside temperature of about 13-14C. Hoping to be able to hold off till at least mid november, but it wouldn't be unusual to have a cold snap before then and turn on the heater for a couple of days.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #25 on: October 21, 2017, 05:00:14 PM »
When my parents come over!

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2017, 07:26:11 AM »
I set the thermostat permanently to 17 degrees this morning and all the radiators instantly came on. Clearly I wasn't making it up about being cold before! Frustratingly, it's an old dial thermostat so we have no idea how cold it was so I'm Freegling for a room thermometer.

Laserjet3051

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2017, 10:39:54 AM »
With temps predicted to hit 106°F today (yes, its late October), the thought of turning on central heating is nothing more than a distant dream. We will be struggling over the next week to NOT turn on our A/C. 106°F in the shade feels A LOT HOTTER when one is in the sun.

Might be one or two super cold nights next year in January where I might consider turning on the heat for a few hours............or maybe not.

dreams_and_discoveries

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2017, 12:41:07 PM »
Ah, I'm so glad we don't have to bother with aircon here in the UK.

I'm going to hold out until Nov to put the heating on; it's not been that cold yet and has been unseasonably hot in my opinion.

AnswerIs42

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #29 on: October 22, 2017, 12:48:52 PM »
I haven't turned mine on yet. I have been doing a little Ethereum mining to keep me warm, though :)

itimjim

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #30 on: October 22, 2017, 12:50:49 PM »
From about 0 mins to 60 mins a day at the moment. House was built in 1826, so not very effecient, despite dot/dabbing exterior walls, insulating the loft, triple and double glazing!

Started last week. Using Nest, but I think it's negligible if it pays for itself.

cerat0n1a

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #31 on: October 23, 2017, 07:50:51 AM »
I haven't turned mine on yet. I have been doing a little Ethereum mining to keep me warm, though :)

Youngest son's ethereum (& bitcoin in the past) mining is a useful heat source for some of my not-so-hardy plants through winter.

I don't think there's a single month of the year when my wife has not had the heating on. There have certainly been days in June, July & August at some point in the last decade when she's decided she was too cold. I spent several years of my childhood in a house with no heating (we sat in the living room with blankets wrapped round us) so I'm not a good judge of such things.

We have not had anything close to a frost yet - last year we had first frost in September. I'm still picking tomatoes and strawberries from the garden. So I think it's been a relatively warm autumn in the sense of no cold nights so far.

poppydog

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #32 on: October 29, 2017, 02:39:11 AM »
We’re in Glasgow, having endured a pretty rotten summer - as Billy Connolly once said, we have two seasons, June and winter!

Our heating has never been fully off.  It’s timed to be available during waking hours and if a room thermometer asks for heat, it will get it.  I do tweak the thermometers down in summer though, and as we are empty nesters we’ve got a couple of rooms closed down completely. Should really move to something smaller I guess.

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #33 on: October 29, 2017, 02:43:15 AM »
I've been tweaking the thermostat around and 16 is a wee bit too cold and 17 is a wee bit too warm. I miss our old programmable thermostat. Anyone have any idea what the ballpark payback time is for installing one?

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #34 on: October 31, 2017, 04:08:08 AM »
I've been tweaking the thermostat around and 16 is a wee bit too cold and 17 is a wee bit too warm. I miss our old programmable thermostat. Anyone have any idea what the ballpark payback time is for installing one?

Not what you asked but: we have programmable thermostat valves  on every radiator. Bought them on offer for £2 each (out of the discount bin - we were lucky). Easy to install, they just replace the radiator valve. Reduced our gas bill by around £30 per month the first month (but IMO the house was crazy warm before this). You can set different temperatures for different times of the day and on different days in different rooms, and over ride if you want to change the temperature in one room. It does make it more difficult to say the house feels cold, let's turn the heating on in every room (you'd need to change each radiator). And you can set the temperature in 0.5º increments!

They are similar to this one https://www.screwfix.com/p/pegler-terrier-i-temp-i30-white-programmable-thermostatic-radiator-valve-x/71054

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #35 on: October 31, 2017, 04:45:30 AM »
I've been tweaking the thermostat around and 16 is a wee bit too cold and 17 is a wee bit too warm. I miss our old programmable thermostat. Anyone have any idea what the ballpark payback time is for installing one?

Not what you asked but: we have programmable thermostat valves  on every radiator. Bought them on offer for £2 each (out of the discount bin - we were lucky). Easy to install, they just replace the radiator valve. Reduced our gas bill by around £30 per month the first month (but IMO the house was crazy warm before this). You can set different temperatures for different times of the day and on different days in different rooms, and over ride if you want to change the temperature in one room. It does make it more difficult to say the house feels cold, let's turn the heating on in every room (you'd need to change each radiator). And you can set the temperature in 0.5º increments!

They are similar to this one https://www.screwfix.com/p/pegler-terrier-i-temp-i30-white-programmable-thermostatic-radiator-valve-x/71054

What witchcraft is this?! I have questions...

1. I have never significantly interacted with a radiator before. Do radiators have sizes? Do you just screw the cap off and screw this on? Is there any danger of boiling water spurting everywhere?
2. How does this interact with the main thermostat? Presumably you have your main thermostat set on the highest setting that your radiator ones are on, otherwise the radiator would be pumping cold water around?
3. We don't actually have controls on our current radiators, just a plain white cap. Is this likely to be a problem?
4. What if I just buy one? The main thing is that I don't want to be heating the bedroom all day, so could I just buy one to shut the heating off in there except in the morning and at night?
5. Is there a temporary manual override? In our old flat, if we felt cold we could whack the temperature up on the thermostat but then whenever it entered the next programmed period it would go back to whatever the programming was, so we could turn it up a few degrees of an evening without then needing to remember to change it back again.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #36 on: October 31, 2017, 05:28:55 AM »
1. We just unscrewed and screwed. It was straightforward, there was no boiling water, but we had an old towel underneath and a bucket near by out of an abundance of caution. These were new style radiators (rather than the old cast iron ones), I believe that there is a single valve size.
2. Yes
3. This might be a deal breaker. I think the term to google is a "slave" radiator, I've seen them in houses that also have some radiators with individual controls, so it seems possible to add the control valve, but it could be a job that involves draining the system. This is beyond my knowledge sphere.
4. Yes, you can do this. It probably makes sense to buy one first to see if you get on with it.
5. Yes, there is a manual control that defaults back to the next programmed temperature, just as you describe (it is possible that this isn't on every model though, but that is how ours work).

shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #37 on: October 31, 2017, 05:42:55 AM »
1. We just unscrewed and screwed. It was straightforward, there was no boiling water, but we had an old towel underneath and a bucket near by out of an abundance of caution. These were new style radiators (rather than the old cast iron ones), I believe that there is a single valve size.
2. Yes
3. This might be a deal breaker. I think the term to google is a "slave" radiator, I've seen them in houses that also have some radiators with individual controls, so it seems possible to add the control valve, but it could be a job that involves draining the system. This is beyond my knowledge sphere.
4. Yes, you can do this. It probably makes sense to buy one first to see if you get on with it.
5. Yes, there is a manual control that defaults back to the next programmed temperature, just as you describe (it is possible that this isn't on every model though, but that is how ours work).

This is very exciting. I will look into #3 further.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #38 on: October 20, 2018, 02:57:12 AM »
I see the anniversary of this thread by SLTD was yesterday. How are people doing this year? It is getting cold at night and first thing in the morning now where I live , but I’m still holding out so far.

former player

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #39 on: October 20, 2018, 04:10:39 AM »
I would still be fine on my own account but I have an elderly dog with arthritis and I noticed him yesterday evening lying along the (cold) night storage heater in my living room - the first time he's done that since last winter - so the heating went on for him last night. 170 for the underfloor heating in the kitchen where his bed is, and the night storage in the sitting room on 2 out of 6.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #40 on: October 20, 2018, 04:17:31 AM »
That’s such a lovely image former player. When I had a dog as a kid, he used to love to stretch out by the fire in the winter, he looked as peaceful as anything could ever be. Underfloor heating sounds like absolute heaven for a dog!
« Last Edit: October 20, 2018, 04:34:20 AM by never give up »

SupersavingMMM

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #41 on: October 20, 2018, 04:32:57 AM »
An embarrassingly unmustachian couple of weeks here.  Only in occasional little bursts though, still a fan of snuggly blankets. 

Possibly, I need to look at being more mobile and active at home, in order to generate my own heat.


shelivesthedream

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #42 on: October 20, 2018, 08:20:44 AM »
Were having a terrible time with our heating at the moment! BabySLTD sleeps best in a warmer room, around 21 degrees. His room gets lots of sun during the day and heats up a lot, but then the temperature plummets during the night. We're trying to find a setting on our hall thermostat that will make his room a comfortable temperature. I know we should get round to installing those individual radiator thermostats...

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #43 on: October 20, 2018, 08:48:04 AM »
Fired up the woodstove last night!

PhilB

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #44 on: October 20, 2018, 03:50:28 PM »
Fired up the woodstove last night!
We've needed to use ours a few times over the last couple of weeks.  Do you have a fan on yours to blow the warm air about?  If not then I thoroughly recommend them.  Trying to hold out until November for the central heating, but we only use that for the bedrooms as the stove heats our main open plane living area.

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #45 on: October 21, 2018, 04:51:45 AM »
I caved probably around mid-September, but only in so far as telling the thermostat robot that it's allowed to turn the heating on in these particular time periods if it gets below X degrees, so in my defence it's been not coming on as much as it has been coming on in the past week or so.  This is largely due to our house being insulated with absolutely bugger all, which will be getting fixed when we get a new roof in December [insert praise hands emoji].

Re: the discussion further up around dehumidifiers - we have to have one running constantly in our cellar to make it usable as a storage room, otherwise it gets to 90%+ humidity. Could probably do with one in the laundry-drying-room, too, tbh, but can't justify the initial outlay or the running costs (they're expensive buggers in both senses).

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #46 on: October 21, 2018, 11:50:13 AM »
I wanted to hold out until November but my parents are coming around tonight and it really is very cold. Although I’m happy enough in my three layers I’ve reluctantly switched on the central heating for the first time. I would have felt just too guilty if they had sat there huddled together for warmth! The trials and tribulations of being a host. I’m still debating whether to charge them 50p on entry :-)

ExitViaTheCashRamp

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #47 on: October 21, 2018, 12:00:19 PM »
Call me Mr Spendypants.... it's never off. If the house is ever (all year around) below 20 degrees, then on switches the heating automatically. Well more accurately the kids room as that is where the sensor is.

 Whats worse is that my house was built in 1899, so insulation is not exactly world class.

never give up

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #48 on: October 21, 2018, 12:16:38 PM »
Well we can certainly call you Mr Warmpants :-) I did this one year. I had it turned down to about 9 degrees at night and 14 during the day and was sure it would never come on for 7 months of the year. As far as I knew it didn’t. I found though that my bill was a lot higher in this year. Since then I have fully turned the boiler off from March/April through to Ocober and my bill fell again. I never looked into the reason why but assumed keeping it on was working the boiler harder in some way and costing me money somehow. Not sure if there are any plumbing experts able to confirm the correct procedure for central heating settings in the summer but it may be worth experimenting with ExitViaTheCashRamp.

Squelchy

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Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #49 on: October 22, 2018, 02:56:57 PM »
We recently came to the conclusion that it's a false economy to hold out, as once the walls cooled we started getting a damp issue, which would only heat loss. As autumn is the worst time for humidity, we have shifted to putting the house on a thermostat (18 degrees upstairs, which so far has triggered only once this autumn). SLTD, if you do go for thermostatic valves on the radiators, be aware that one rad must always be left without one, usually the bathroom if you have one there. I can't remember the exact reason, but it has to do with the main thermostat telling the boiler to heat, but the radiator ones telling them not to heat, and the tank therefore overheating or something like that. Also, whilst I can in no way predict the behaviour of baby SLTD, I have spent the past three winters re-adjusting the valves after mini Squelchy has gone through and changed them to whatever number is his current favourite. This, at least, is better than the time we called the plumber out because we had no hot water only to find that this too was controlled by a tempting little dial at toddler height that we hadn't known he'd spotted.