central heating turned on!!

[warrenpenalver]

Ive finally turned on my boiler so i got central heating and have been trying to boil the water in the system but with no luck!! This is as hot as it will go guage

 

Now im sure most of you here have central heating in one form or another. I know often people have central heating on during phases of day and night rather than continuously.

 

Does anyone know what the typical phases are?? The boiler has a timing thingy i can program to turn on at the right times automatically so i want to program it for a good compromise between staying warm and energy efficiency.

[pookie170]

Um.....it looks pretty hot, to me!! (I may be reading it wrong, it has been known to occur!)

You do not want your hot water to emerge from the pipes at boiling point though, it can be very dangerous and painful- we've just had ours turned down because it was, literally, boiling! Not good when you have smallsters using the facilities!

 

These timers can vary hugely, but with us, we programme it to come on in the morning to heat the house before we get up and go out (say from 6.30- 8.00 am) and to come on in the evening when it gets chilly. Length of the latter depends on the weather- in the dead of winter its on longer, IYSWIM.

There's also a button you can choose, 'ONCE', so the heating kicks on again whenever the house cools to a certain temp. In a good boiler, you can set the desired temp, therefore being both comfy and eco friendly. As we have local authority cheapy boiler, we can't do this so I try not to use it.

 

I think it's better to use this option when it gets very cold, as you expend more energy (and money!!) if you're trying to heat a cold house several times a day.....

 

I hasten to add, we can't use our GCH at the mo because our luvly little doggie has eaten the payment card!!!

Ah well, think of the pennies I'll save!! (Brrrr!!)

 

Esther x

 

You could try emailing this lot- they'll be able to help!!

 

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/help_and_support

Edited September 7, 2008 by pookie170

[chris54]

We have ours to come on at 7AM and go off at 9PM with the thermostat turn down lowish most of the time. That way the house never seems to cold, ( "IF YOU COLD PUT A SWEATSHIRT ON" that's what I tell um).

The young today, they don't know how lucky theyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy areeeeeeeeeeeeee. In my day we never had c ---- No don't get me started.

 

That's it, I'm off to put anther log on the fire.

 

Bye bye Chris.

[Mumble]

It'll be different for everyone dependent on preference, times they get up, go to work etc. - I know when I shared a house, it was a major point of contention. If you're not out during the day you will need it differently from someone who works 9-5 who needs a warm house in the morning and to come home to.

 

You should have it set to go off/cool down 30 minutes before you usually go to bed as the cooling will trick your body into sleeping - you should also individually adjust the radiators so that they are lower in the bedroom(s).

 

You should also check with your energy supplier about the tariff you are on - with some (Economy 7????) it's (much) cheaper to heat up water over night.

 

You could always do what my mum does if you are at all unsure - the heating comes on on the 1st October and goes off on the 31st March regardless of what the outside temperature is....

 

Just be thankful you don't have solid fuel heating - I had that in my house (for heating and hot water) - it was fun at first chopping wood and laying a fire - it quickly became not fun when the wind was blowing in the wrong direction to make the fire easy to light, it was minus something cold outside, I was running late for work and couldn't get the fire lit to have any hot water... I guess that's Northerners for you though... :whistle:

[pearl]

We put ours on for the first time yesterday - terribly early for us!

Ours comes on for an hour or so in the morning, then goes off till 5 then on again till 11. I'm thinking of tweaking these settings though to save a bit.

And we have a thermostat in the hall so its v easy to turn it down to zero so we keep our hot water but all the rads go off once we are warmed up.

[warrenpenalver]

The young today, they don't know how lucky theyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy areeeeeeeeeeeeee. In my day we never had c ---- No don't get me started.

i never had central heating at home either!! Coal fire until i was 11 then those overnight electric storage brick radiators that used cheap night electricity.

 

Coal was useless I remember waking up often in winter to find ice crystals on the INSIDE of our single glazed windows

 

You could always do what my mum does if you are at all unsure - the heating comes on on the 1st October and goes off on the 31st March regardless of what the outside temperature is....

Thats what the navy did UNfortunately quite often in Scotland we had heavy snow in april on a few occasions!! and that was in the days of old accomodation with single glazing.

 

Pearl i like your settings. seems to cover most situations. I dont have a thermostat on mine but you can set the temperature on the bioler itself in the kitchen (although you can add proper room thermostats its just not been done on my system yet).

[TheNeil]

I guess that's Northerners for you though... :whistle:

When the end of civilisation comes (which it will) who'll be able to chop wood and get a fire going?

 

While you southern types are bemoaning the fact that you have to eat your wild boar raw (and in the cold, pitch dark), us northerners will be dining on finely roasted pork and gaily laughing beside the roaring camp fire. See, there are advantages to being uncivilised barbarians

[warrenpenalver]

Ha ha ha us southeners know how to make fire tooo!!! Wood chopping device

 

All you need then is matches, wood and vaseline (yes vaseline!!!)

 

 

So who knows why youd want vaseline in firemaking??

[pearl]

Erm, to rub on your hands to soothe the blisters?

[warrenpenalver]

noooooooo

 

put loads on the outside of WET wood then light the fire and the burning vaseline drys out the wood meaning you can use wet wood to start a fire!!

[Flora]

Vaseline..... You can make a candle out of vaseline. All you need is a bit of linen, a saucer, a tub of vaseline and a button (NOT a plastic one!). Would be very useful in some situations I think!

 

Flo'

[warrenpenalver]

Thats why proper survival kits always have a large tub of vaseline in them!!! A multitude of uses!

[pearl]

See, I'd be using it as lipgloss!

[warrenpenalver]

At least your lips would be shiney as you freeze

[pearl]

*nods* glamour at all times, Warren!

[Tally]

It depends if you have a thermostat or just an adjustable temperature. A thermostat is much more energy efficient because it only comes on if it needs to.

 

Mine comes on on a timer, but I have to adjust the temperature. The past few days I have been finding it feels cold when I get out of bed, so now I have set it to come on low for 15 minutes before I get up and to stay on for 15 minutes after. So at the moment it is only coming on for half an hour a day. As the weather cools I will adjust that and also have it coming on so the house has warmed up when I get in from work and stays warm until I get into bed.

 

So far I have not had to turn the temperature to full power, which is reassuring. Sometimes I get caught out if the weather suddenly changes.

 

If your boiler is gas-fired, it won't be any cheaper to use it overnight because the Economy 7 tariff only applies to electricity.

[warrenpenalver]

yes its gas fired!! IM on lowest temperature setting for heating anyway. I turn it on at moment just in the evenings for 2 hours at same time i do my washing up.

 

I might invest in a thermostat but the problem is my sense of temperature changes regularly