lackofgrip Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to run my central heating i have been told that leaving it on constantly is the cheapest way ive no idea myself, much help is appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 I was told the other day that if you use more gas, you get the gas cheaper. That's probably what they mean, although the overall bill will be more expensive. I think you get it cheaper per unit the more you use. Whatever, it's about time the price of gas & electric was lowered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhimmi Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to run my central heating i have been told that leaving it on constantly is the cheapest way ive no idea myself, much help is appreciated Oh dear, that old fable again! Obviously, the less time you have your heating turned on for, the cheaper it will be! It's a no-brainer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jl-heating Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 if you drop it 1 degree it will save you 50 pound a year , so they say. a new boiler will heat the house in 1/2 hr so i just set mine for when i am in .. seems silly to heat a house when your not in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHY TED Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to run my central heating i have been told that leaving it on constantly is the cheapest way ive no idea myself, much help is appreciated Just apply logic and common sense. The warmer the house compared to outside temperature the more heat it looses. So if you set the timer to only provide heat when you need it the heat loss will be less. You simply top up the warmth when the heating cuts back in. Similarly reducing the thermostat by one degree cuts down the temperature gradient and thus heat loss. If you don't use some rooms all the time. Turn off the radiators and shut the doors. I also find a dehumidifier provides an amazing amount of heat in a house. I work from home and currently am using nothing else to heat the house. I also work upstairs which is far warmer than it is downstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiphany Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Oh dear, that old fable again! Obviously, the less time you have your heating turned on for, the cheaper it will be! It's a no-brainer! Yes, but... If the boiler is on, after about an hour the house should be heated up and the thermostat will gauge that. The boiler now surely won't have to work that hard as it is just maintaining the set temperature. However, if you turn it off for a couple of hours, the house will lose its heat and you'll start to feel cold again, so you'll turn the boiler back on and it will have to work full-time to get the mean temp back up to the desired level. Therefore, I think it's better to just leave it on standby for the evening. Maintaining temperature is more energy efficient than letting the house lose most of its heat and having to heat it back up again from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darbees Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 A heater will use the same amount of gas to keep the house at the same average temperature over a given time. So if you turn it off and house goes down to the outside temperature it will use a lot at first to get it back up to comfortable temp but you will have saved gas when it wasn't heated at all. The average would then be somewhat less than comfortable but that wouldn't matter because presuambly you wouldn't have been there. Setting thermostats properly is best way of doing it and turning them off in rooms you don't use will help. If you spend all evening in living room for example and no one is in rest of house you would be best to use a fixed heater in there. Most money is wasted on heat when and where it isn't needed. You should set at about 21 degrees unless you're a woman then just turn it up to max and down to min all the time like in the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 It takes less energy to heat a place up and keep it near that temperature than to let it constantly get cold and having to completely reheat a house again. It does help if you have a good combi boiler and a proper thermostatically controlled setup. Plus use the timer so the heating is only on when you're in the house. Everything works together and with double-glazing, good insulation etc it'll cost bugger all to heat your house Unlike where I live in where I can feel the cold draft coming through the doors, keyholes etc and one of the landladies decided to save a tenner by not putting any underlay in the living room which is above a nice freezing cold cellar. So the bottom 12" of the room above the floor is always ice cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrence Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 It takes less energy to heat a place up and keep it near that temperature than to let it constantly get cold and having to completely reheat a house again. I would have thought that the opposite is true. It's easiest to think in terms of the amount of heat that is lost to the outside world, which is basically the same as the cost of heating. The greater the difference between internal and external temperatures, the greater the rate of heat loss - a cool house will lose less heat than a hot house. So, when heated up, the house is losing money at the greatest rate. Once it's cooled a bit then the rate of money loss is lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhimmi Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Yes, but... If the boiler is on, after about an hour the house should be heated up and the thermostat will gauge that. The boiler now surely won't have to work that hard as it is just maintaining the set temperature. However, if you turn it off for a couple of hours, the house will lose its heat and you'll start to feel cold again, so you'll turn the boiler back on and it will have to work full-time to get the mean temp back up to the desired level. Therefore, I think it's better to just leave it on standby for the evening. Maintaining temperature is more energy efficient than letting the house lose most of its heat and having to heat it back up again from scratch. Dear God!!!! Can you really not grasp it? Read shy Ted's excellent explanation: post #5, or garrence's: post #9, or better still, both of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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