Have you turned your heating on yet?

silverharp

Was checking the tempreture in my house, is around 18C in the morning the last couple of days, but curious to see how long I can leave the heating off. Still comfortable enough if wearing a jumper. According to the little SEI gismo, 18C is being economical and they rate 20C as ideal. A bit generous if you are a healthy adult but I guess there are people out there that heat to 24/26C

mike65

I put it on for 3 periods of 30 mins between 7 pm until 10 pm this week. I'm doing my darnedest to keep the boilers thermostat as low as possible, its 'just warm enough'

Mike.

Avns1s

I'm running for about 30 mins per night in the bedrooms only. Rest of the house is fine. Have a small fire most evenings too, more for effect than heat.

bonkey

We don't have central heating. We have a wood-fired stove. Haven't lit it yet, although herself has pulled out the quilt in the last few evenings to keep her warm while we've watched the goggle box.

BendiBus

I turned on the heat for 30 minutes once this week. Just to take the chill out of the living room.

Timely thread as I've been debating for the last half hour whether or not to turn it on now. My SEI thingy says it's 20 degrees but I honestly don't think so. I'm about to put on a DVD and I'd like a little comfort while I watch it.

dame

I've had our heat set on timer for 30 mins every evening this week. The place does need it, and maybe more. They don't have the heat on in work yet and the place is freezing! My hands were blue by lunchtime on thursday! They find it hard to get it right in that place. They had the heat pumping out last april/may when the weather was lovely.

prospect

How do you guys heat water?

I have my heating coming on all summer, 3 times a day for 15 mins (morning late afternoon and night) just to have hot water in the tank for washing etc.

mike65

I use the immersion heater, 15 min the morning. In the evening it'll be warm water due to central heating on or a kettle!

Mike.

Musha

Just gotten Oil in the tank since it ran out in May, €400 should do me throughout the winter Approx March as per last years usage, thats a total of €700 for the year. Which is not bad for a 2500 sq ft house. Have the heat on for 40 min in the morning and 40 min in the evening to take the chill out of the rooms. Wood burning stove just about to be installed in the living room just waiting on the new granite
Solar kept the water hot all summer averaging about 52 degrees for 300 litre system only turned the immersion on 3 time when we needed a shower
if we keep this current weather up will turn heating off again

probe

A related issue - on my travels, one tends to notice a massive waste of energy on water heating in Ireland with people keeping immersion heaters or boilers going to have hot water on demand at the tap all day - at home and in business premises. The needless extra 5 to 20C temperature of the water consumes a large quantity of energy. The ESB traditionally peddled immersion heaters which had fixed thermostats set at a high level presumably to maximise the electricity consumption - and there is probably a huge installed base of this rubbish still in Ireland.

Visit a public toilet in a hotel or elsewhere, and the water often gushes out of the tap (wasting water and energy to heat same) splashing all over the place from badly designed taps and washbasins - one doesn't need very hot water or high pressure delivery to wash one's hands properly. (Not to mention urinals that keep flushing themselves every 5 minutes even if nobody is using them).

The temperature of the water in my apartment building is controlled by time of day. It is somewhat hotter in the morning when there is a high demand for showers and baths, and to make sure that Legionaires' disease doesn't develop in the system, and less hot during the day when high temperatures are not required.

.probe

arctictree

We got a small wood stove installed in our little cottage a few years ago. Now we only fill the oil tank once every 2 years. Once the wood stove is on, it keeps the whole house lovely and warm. We also have a big kettle on the stove which provides free hot water for the sink. We also cook on top of it as it has two cooking plates.



The stove is run on left over wood from the building trade and also any fallen wood in the forests around here which I cut up with the chain saw. Its a bit of work but worth it.

During the winter we have the central heating timed for an hour before we get up so the house is warm and we have hot water for showers etc.

A

probe

With a wood burning stove, a south facing conservatory with its doors open to heat the rest of the house during the daytime, good insulation, and solar water heating, one only needs a tiny squirt of carbon based energy for cooking and hot water. That squirt of carbon based energy could be replaced by wind and other green energy, backed up by grid connections to the rest of the EU. If the EU was a “Union” focused on the democratic global benefit of its “citizens”. Sadly it is not.

.probe

Musha

Update, The heating is now turned off again, Averaging 20 degrees in the house all day long
Still waiting on the granite for the stove

mike65

Quite mild again alright. Good, every nice day is a cheaper day.

Mike.

Cabaal

Havn't turned on my heating yet and am unlikely to do so all this year, my flat stays nice and warm all year round

prospect

I have a big double sided stove installed in one of the rooms in the house.

It is not connected to heating or water tanks. What would it take to get it to heat the water in the tank?

probe wrote:

one only needs a tiny squirt of carbon based energy for cooking and hot water

Is a wood burning stove not carbon based energy?

silverharp

our heating is still off, didnt think i'd make it til november, although looks like its getting colder next week

Archeron

I work with a serious bunch of frozenholes in my office, and as a result, they have the heating on since about a month ago, 8 hours a day, full blast. To counter that, I have have a flipping fan on my desk to stop me from imploding from the heat, so the amount of wastage here is actually ridiculous.

If Predator ever lands in Dublin, the thermal image of my office could quite possibly blind him for life.