Author Topic: When do you turn your central heating on?  (Read 58015 times)

Manchester

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 405
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #100 on: October 15, 2020, 04:20:59 AM »
We have ours set to come on when the temperature drops below a certain point.  Doesn't matter what the date is IMO, if it's cold it's cold.  We tend to have radiators turned down in rooms we aren't sat in though.

Chuck Ditallin

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 67
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #101 on: October 16, 2020, 04:31:15 AM »
Us too.

We bought an absolute wreck of a house in 2004 (think rammed earth floors and round-pin sockets) and so put in underfloor heating on the ground floor when we dug up the rammed earth.

Each downstairs room has a timer/stat so the heating comes on when the air temperature is low enough to trip the stat.

It's on at the moment and I have warm feet!

shackleford

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 23
  • Location: Scotland
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #102 on: December 08, 2020, 03:22:29 PM »
Heating isn't going on until November.  I've busted out the hot water bottle tonight for the first time.  WFH life ain't all it's cracked up to be....

Update (and a bit of a boast!) from me - I made it to November easily enough.  Now I have the heating set to come on for an hour in the morning to make it a bit easier to haul myself out of bed and to my PC.  That's it though - no heating in the evenings, which has involved quite a lot of layers.  Meh, if I ever get visitors (not allowed right now!) maybe I'll treat us to some GCH. 

I live in a flat on the top floor and it's only 20 or so years old so it has reasonable insulation.  Still happy with myself though. 

vand

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2300
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #103 on: June 21, 2021, 02:16:26 PM »
Midsummer... as it turns out
Brrr!
:(

cerat0n1a

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2319
  • Location: England
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #104 on: June 21, 2021, 03:32:20 PM »
Possibility of frost in some towns in Wales tonight!

MisterA

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #105 on: October 01, 2021, 01:04:15 PM »
Came home from work tonight, and the heating was on! Bit early in my opinion, but then, I'm not the fairer sex.

pasadenafr

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 320
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Upper Left Corner, USA
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #106 on: October 01, 2021, 01:14:12 PM »
Made it to October... I'm a little chilly right now lol, so I'll start with a fireplace fire (got unlimited free firewood thanks to my awesome neighbor). Not sure how much longer that'll be enough, though - my fireplace isn't very good at heating the house but it'll take the chill away.

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #107 on: October 03, 2021, 03:54:48 AM »
How I love that this thread keeps coming round every year! We were just talking about the heating this morning as we're really feeling the cold, but I think it's because it turned so sudden like that we haven't acclimatised - and Mr SLTD's still getting over hand foot and mouth (thanks, nursery). We're going to wait a week and see how we feel. Children don't seem remotely bothered, but that's mainly because they are old enough to spend the whole day scampering round after each other working up a sweat, while we grown ups lie indolently around reading our books.

never give up

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7844
  • Location: UK
  • Kindness is free to give and priceless to receive
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #108 on: October 03, 2021, 04:06:15 AM »
Anyone else plotting their annual switch on dates on a line graph? No, just me then. It has got a lot colder awfully quickly. I’d be ok but my mum is visiting today. I have a bet with myself that within ten minutes of arrival I will be asked to switch the heating on. I’m happy to oblige because I’ll win a chocolate bar if I’m right!

former player

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8821
  • Location: Avalon
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #109 on: October 03, 2021, 04:10:46 AM »
My heating's not on yet but I'll confess I've started with a hot water bottle.

PhilB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5700
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #110 on: October 03, 2021, 04:34:49 AM »
No heating yet, but we did have the fire going for most of yesterday.  No need today as the sun is back!

ExitViaTheCashRamp

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 280
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #111 on: October 05, 2021, 02:40:59 AM »
Ours came on over saturday I think. Our bedroom radiator was barely warm and all the rest were blazing hot (thermostat is in our bedroom). Dug out my radiator key and an enormous amount of air blasted out, it started to heat up fine

 Open the other rads on the 2nd floor, let more air out... but then no water came out of the opened rad. Checked the boiler... 0 bar pressure !!! Let some water into the system and all seems well. Had small pressure loss before - never to zero though !
 

MarcherLady

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6020
  • Age: 10
  • Location: North of the Wall, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #112 on: October 09, 2021, 02:53:18 AM »
This time of year is challenging. Yesterday it was warmer in the garden than in the kitchen!

PhilB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5700
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #113 on: October 09, 2021, 04:21:16 AM »
For me the worst thing about this time of year is towels not drying.  In the summer, no worries.  Once the central heating is on, again no problem as they dry on the ladder radiator where they hang.  There is just this really annoying gap in the spring and the autumn where they don't quite dry between showers :(

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #114 on: October 09, 2021, 05:59:31 AM »
The weather's perked right up, so we're toasty with plenty of sunshine streaming in. The condensation has started in earnest, though, and our laundry doesn't quite fully dry overnight. Similar to PhilB, we'll be fine once the kitchen radiator is on, but it's an awkward gap.

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #115 on: October 15, 2021, 04:40:03 AM »
We've turned the heating on at the boiler. Geronima's room is freezing and Mr SLTD has really been feeling the cold this year. However, the plan is to use the hall thermostat to just have it on overnight at the moment. We have programmable radiator thermostats but I am convinced that turning it "off" during the day by by turning the hall thermostat to ten degrees will save us money vs keeping it at 15 degrees 24/7 because it will stop the boiler firing up for random fifteen minuteses during the day which we won't notice but our bills will. Solar gain and keeping the right doors closed should mean we don't need the heating during the day for a little while longer. The boiler has a timer, but we DO want hot water during the day, so we're not setting it.

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 23128
  • Age: 42
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #116 on: October 15, 2021, 07:06:36 AM »
We haven't had a cool day yet this whole October, which is pretty unusual.

MudPuppy

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1468
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #117 on: October 15, 2021, 07:58:25 AM »
Expected to be 39F in the morning so it might kick on tonight/tomorrow. We have it set to turn on at 68 for the sake of the pets (including birds) but in the deep part of winter when everyone is acclimated, we sometimes do 65.

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #118 on: October 15, 2021, 10:58:46 AM »
FYI, this is in the UK section of the forum and aimed at UK residents.

MudPuppy

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1468
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #119 on: October 15, 2021, 11:32:53 AM »
I suppose that’s what I get for reading title and thread pages, but not the forum subsection. I apologize for my offense.

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 23128
  • Age: 42
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #120 on: October 15, 2021, 12:00:26 PM »
I suppose that’s what I get for reading title and thread pages, but not the forum subsection. I apologize for my offense.

To be fair, it's filed away under 'UK Tax Discussion' . . .

MudPuppy

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1468
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #121 on: October 15, 2021, 12:06:15 PM »
I didn’t read the subforum. When you sort by unread, it shows the unread from every forum.  Taxes, heating, exotic locales…

former player

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8821
  • Location: Avalon
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #122 on: October 15, 2021, 12:14:39 PM »
We don't often get called an exotic locale, so all is forgiven.

Still far too warm here to be thinking about heating but towards the end of next week the forecast is for colder weather.

force majeure

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 193
  • Age: 48
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #123 on: October 22, 2021, 05:43:30 AM »
Answer : when you can see your breath in the room!

Back in 2012, I went the whole winter without any heating on, as an experiment in resiliency.
I am based in the UK.
Also managed total yearly expenses of 2500.
I reckon this must be a record, even beating people on welfare.

I have a wood stove, and acres of forestry.
I like the outdoors, and have good warm clothing. Icebreaker base layers, wax jacket, military surplus clothing.
No mortgage or debt.

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #124 on: October 22, 2021, 08:39:22 AM »
We've turned ours off again, as the weather turned back and we were baking!

Sugaree

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1665
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #125 on: October 25, 2021, 04:32:18 AM »
I'm still waiting for a day where the AC doesn't kick on at least once and for the mosquitos to go back to Hell where they came from.

Manchester

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 405
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #126 on: October 28, 2021, 04:38:49 AM »
We bought the hive radiator valves and installed them this week.  Fortunately, the weather has been a bit warmer so we haven't had to use them yet.  But means we can heat individual rooms rather than the entire house. 

Don't think we'll see a return on investment for a good few years, but I feel slightly more eco-friendly at least.

MisterA

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #127 on: November 01, 2021, 07:31:21 AM »
Our house has 2 zones on the central heating, ie upstairs and downstairs. We now have the downstairs heating on (on a timer + thermostat), but not the upstairs yet.

We also have thermostatic valves on each radiator, but not the hive type valves. Ours is complicated enough as it is!

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #128 on: November 01, 2021, 10:21:51 AM »
We're back to having them on for (part of) the night, and set to stay this way for a while, I reckon.

PhilB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5700
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #129 on: November 03, 2021, 02:30:03 AM »
The time has come.  Yesterday morning there was a hard frost and I needed to give the butter a quick zap in the microwave to make it spreadable, both of which I took as signs.  I've set the central heating to come on upstairs for 50 minutes before bedtime and another 50 in the morning . 

I also now need to get up a few minutes earlier every weekday to allow time to light the fire before I cook #1 son's breakfast :(

never give up

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7844
  • Location: UK
  • Kindness is free to give and priceless to receive
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #130 on: November 03, 2021, 02:50:22 AM »
Brrrr. I’m now officially in central heating on low, long johns on and three layers on top mode!

former player

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8821
  • Location: Avalon
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #131 on: November 03, 2021, 03:23:23 AM »
Not quite there yet, but the hot water bottle came out last night again and I'll probably light a fire later on.  Definitely moved over to the winter wardrobe with short sleeve shirts relegated to the back of the drawer (must remember to get a short sleeved one back out whenever booster day arrives).

SpreadsheetMan

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 428
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #132 on: November 03, 2021, 03:44:21 AM »
I have C/H on year-round from 6-9am and 5-10pm timed with 18degC on the thermostat. It isn't on or doing much for spring-autumn, but has started working a bit in the last fortnight or so. The next step is hitting the advance button to bring it back on again when it goes off, but I have only needed to do that once so far when we were home all day.

The woodburner will be taking some of the strain when it gets colder and the hot water bottles will be out to take the edge off at bed time. (DW and I don't like a warm bedroom so never have the heating on overnight)

cerat0n1a

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2319
  • Location: England
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #133 on: November 03, 2021, 12:43:04 PM »
FWIW, I usually keep track of first frost (usually means about 4C overnight) and it's always late September or early October. Never before have we gone all the way through to November without any frost.

former player

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8821
  • Location: Avalon
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #134 on: November 03, 2021, 02:06:03 PM »
Given up, and put the heating on in the kitchen when it got down to 13.5C.  Woodstove in the library makes it a now toasty 19C and climbing.

TeddyK301

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 35
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #135 on: November 05, 2021, 08:37:02 AM »
Made it until this week easily enough. Although, my partner has been griping about the cold a little for a couple of weeks, until I pointed out we're both still wearing t-shirts. Have had to layer up and start using hot water bottles in the evening on the sofa. However, the turn has come this week. Single-glazed flat doesn't help matters. Started with an hour in the morning. Will hold out a little while longer before it goes on at night. Not bad going. Elec and gas bills have been around £30 a month since April.

dcheesi

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1309
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #136 on: November 05, 2021, 09:33:20 AM »
Fiancée bought a fancy Nest thermostat before we met, so it's theoretically "on"as needed. But in the past week or so, we've been actively fighting with the "intuitive" automatic settings to get a warmer temperature in the house. Seems like only a few weeks ago that we were fighting it in the opposite direction...

MisterA

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #137 on: November 09, 2021, 05:33:37 AM »
FWIW, I usually keep track of first frost (usually means about 4C overnight) and it's always late September or early October. Never before have we gone all the way through to November without any frost.
Might be a bit different, when you're living in North Yorkshire!

cerat0n1a

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2319
  • Location: England
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #138 on: November 09, 2021, 06:00:51 AM »
Might be a bit different, when you're living in North Yorkshire!

Indeed, although I suppose it will depend a lot on where. I could imagine Whitby or Scarborough being frost-free year round whereas buttertubs pass had snow in July.

BookLoverL

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 431
  • Location: England
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #139 on: November 11, 2021, 11:52:59 AM »
I put it on a small amount back in early October, and added an extra amount a couple of weeks ago I think. (We have one of those boilers that works with a timer.) In general, my alarm clock has a temperature gauge and I think I want to keep it at at least 17C to avoid accidentally getting mold issues. So it's been varying between about 17 and 20 depending on how recently the heating has been on, and if it gets colder as we go into December I might add a bit more. Initially I had an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, and now it's at 2 hours in the morning, 1 in the middle of the day, and 2 and a half in the evening.

The house we're in has quite high ceilings and this is the first winter we've been in it, so I'm waiting to see how terrible it is in terms of heat loss as we go on. I think in the future we might replace the boiler with something more efficient, since it's quite an old one anyway.

Affable Bear

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 101
  • Location: UK
  • Only if you run
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #140 on: November 18, 2021, 09:12:59 AM »
Considering our house is detached and only has a EPC rating of D, 56 (or something) I find that our insulation is reasonably good, particularly upstairs it is often too hot when we go to bed even though the radiators are switched off.

We set our timer on a little over a week ago, me and the OH have big blankets which we use on the couch and there is something comfy when you are wrapped up warm but its nippy outside, unfortunately the cold has become too much to bare! So the heating is currently on for an hour when we wake up and 2 hours in the evening, will aim to keep it this way as long as possible but we always up it during the coldest points.

We used to rent a new build flat before we bought our house and that had a really high EPC rating, pretty sure it was an A. It was amazing as we were a mid level flat (3 stories) and taking advantage of other people switching the heating on, I am pretty sure we only turned the heating on half as much as we do now!

PhilB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5700
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #141 on: November 18, 2021, 11:16:27 AM »
unfortunately the cold has become too much to bare!

Well put some clothes on then!

Affable Bear

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 101
  • Location: UK
  • Only if you run
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #142 on: November 22, 2021, 01:55:06 AM »
unfortunately the cold has become too much to bare!

Well put some clothes on then!

Haha I am weak, but I have knocked it down to an hour in the evening out of guilt.. Luckily I am still on a cheap tariff until the end of Feb so I feel like I should enjoy it before I'm hit by mega bills. I will certainly be investing in a bigger blanket though!!
« Last Edit: November 22, 2021, 01:56:37 AM by Chilli468 »

Jacinle

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 147
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #143 on: November 25, 2021, 01:15:10 AM »
What is the temperature for the heating to be on to prevent pipe bursting?

I googled and it said
Leave your heating on
Set your thermostat at 12-15C when you're away from the property. This keeps the air inside warm to help stop internal pipes from freezing.


But isn't that water freeze at 0c, so I can leave the heater say at like 5c ???

I have drained my garden water pipes.  There are 2-3 feet of water pipe for the washer and continue into the house in conservatory, which is significantly cooler and no heating.  I am thinking about getting a draught stopper in the conservatory door.

Affable Bear

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 101
  • Location: UK
  • Only if you run
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #144 on: November 25, 2021, 02:49:52 AM »
What is the temperature for the heating to be on to prevent pipe bursting?

I googled and it said

Leave your heating on
Set your thermostat at 12-15C when you're away from the property. This keeps the air inside warm to help stop internal pipes from freezing.


But isn't that water freeze at 0c, so I can leave the heater say at like 5c ???

I suppose it depends on a number of factors based on your individual household set up so a safe guess for them to ensure almost anyone wont have burst pipes is probably 12-15c no matter what.

You also have to be mindful where your thermostat is as ours is in the downstairs hallway, which is next to the front door and staircase but is only serviced by a tiny radiator. It doesn’t really get warm there and because of this I can set my thermostat to 15 degrees and the heating stays on regardless of being a sauna in other areas of the house. I am planning to switch to an air source heat pump and smart thermostat controls at some point in the short/medium future so will eventually sort this issue out.

I guess you will need to figure out what temperature to set that ensures the coldest point of your house doesn’t cause your pipes to freeze. Even if its warm enough to stop your pipes freezing if your house is really cold you could have other issues develop such as mould or condensation but this is probably more relevant in older or less efficient/insulated/ventilated properties.




cerat0n1a

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2319
  • Location: England
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #145 on: November 25, 2021, 06:14:23 AM »
Some modern heating systems have a built-in 'frost-free' setting of 5C, which is the temperature that causes them to turn themselves on to avoid problems. But obviously it does depend on the temperature difference between the pipe and the sensor.

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6744
  • Location: London, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #146 on: November 27, 2021, 01:37:44 PM »
Had a baby on Thursday, so we boomeranged immediately to 24/7 tropical temperatures! Mr SLTD has noted that the baby could be wearing more clothes and the rest of us could be sweating less, so we are going to drop it by a degree a day until we think it's too cold for the baby. The issue is mainly that I need it to be hot enough in the big bedroom at night that I can have her in bed with me with the duvet round my waist and not be tempted to smother her with it draw it up any higher.

MisterA

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #147 on: November 29, 2021, 06:30:39 AM »
Had a baby on Thursday
That's the best news, fantastic!

Don't even think about what you're spending on heating, there's plenty of time to consider that later. Is it your first? kids are life enhancing, and you'll be happier than you were before, for ever.

You know all the stuff about not getting them too hot, and not rolling onto them if you fall asleep and they're in bed with you.

Well done, and enjoy the moment.

Nickyd£g

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 172
  • Location: Scotland, UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #148 on: January 20, 2022, 09:20:37 AM »
I'm in Scotland so some form of heating goes on around October til end of March. I HATE being cold! I do only heat 1 room and only sporadically - I turn the heating on for a few hours, then off, then on again later. My favourite thing though is my electric blanket. I will never part with it!

Manchester

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 405
  • Location: UK
Re: When do you turn your central heating on?
« Reply #149 on: January 26, 2022, 07:38:26 AM »
We might need to change the name of this thread to 'When do you turn your central heating off?'....

It's been f*****g freezing for ages now. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!