Query on central heating usage query

ks652

Im living in rented accomadation belonging to my parents. There are 3 tennants after moving in since September. We have central heating in the house. Since the weather has gotten colder the other people seem to like toasty bums.....alot.

It is a house with matyre sudents in it.

So basicly....the heat is on from 7.30 - 9.00 am

Then for an hour during the day.

Then for up to 4 hours between 6-11 pm.

Is this excessive as I genuinely dont know?? :rolleyes:

I do find the house warm always but thats because I am always in and out but the lads are constantly here so they dont realise the high tempeture as much.

but.....it is very difficulyt to tell somebody to turn off the heat (they may actually be cold!!)

What do you advise.....

Thanks

JohnnieK

Unfortunatly it's all down to personal prefrence. If you find the house too warm they might think it's very nice. There is no written law in regards heating usage. You will have to try and reason with them, remind them that there will be a bill to pay at some stage.
Dose the heating really need to be on for the hour in the day?

I have a customer who only has her heating on for 2 hours a day. She has nearly every window open but she is fine, she literally can not feel the cold.

Sparkpea

^^^^^^^^^^^^


OP as you've said if they are in the house most of the day then they don't feel the temp and if they aren't doing physical stuff then they won't have their body producing as much heat either.

What about putting TRVs on the radiators so you can control the temps better, like they can have their rooms warm and you can have yours at a cooler temp? No point in opening the window if ur too hot cos ur just wasting heat. Do they need it on during the day? What about sneekingly turning the boiler thermostat down a bit? like if its at 65 turn it to 60.. they might not notice

ks652

These lads havnt a care in the world. Ive asked them to close their curtains to keep the heat in.... One of them wont do it it seems!! :mad:

Heat waste really bothers me as il be the one footing the most of the bill at the end of it!!

Tell me more about the thermostat. If i can il turn it right down. Granted the houses needs to be warm first thing bit what are the best ways of controlling it.

Is it normal to have the heat on for 6 hours of the day?

Is it better to have it on timer and having it come on every second hour when your there in the evening? Is that too much?

How much does 1 hour of home heating work out at do you reckon??

Sparkpea

its cheaper to have your heating running 24/7 than it is to have it on 1 hour, off 2, on one hour etc.

once the house is warm it holds the heat if well insulated

if its on then off then the system cools down and has to reheat water etc using more oil

Dempo1

The OP's question depends on the size of the House, age of the house (is it well insulated etc). I have a very old cottage with various extensions, the original cottage (about a third of the house now has stone walls exposed so not insulated. I have three bedrooms two on ground level and a loft bedroom. Last winter i decided to do a rough cost analysis and the central heating was on for approx 7 hours a day. Based on an half tank fill of 500 liters which cost €275 last January (currently €340) for the same amount i was able to work out by weekly measurements my Net cost per week was €26 Which i was astonished by. It is really very difficult to compare this with other houses because of numerous factors but central oil heating can be very cost affective.

Simple things like turning down radiators in rooms not being used.
Keeping internal doors closed
Draft excluder's for external porches etc.

I also believe it is better to keep the thermostat lower, say 60 degrees and leave the heating on for longer periods.

This year i have installed a stove in my largest room, i am leaving doors open on ground floor and once the stove reaches temperature its sufficient to heat up the entire house. Its too early to cost fuel etc but I suspect wood, coal etc would not be as cost effective as oil, my plan is to have the stove compliment the central heating system.

ks652

Thats a very interestimng post Dempo. My house is averagely insulated in my opinion. So if it costs you €26 per week to have a "fridge" kept heated then it is surely only costing at most half that to heat my home. That makes me feel somewhat better lol!

Ya, we topped up last month, €340 for 500 litres!

So you all reckon its a better idea to have the heating on constant rather than on/off/on/off yes?

I think I have turned the thermostat down as low as possible. So if the rads are turned down, will the boiler use as much oil? Sorry if this seems like a silly question.....

Sparkpea

I have my heating on 24/7 and over the past 6wks ive been monitoring costs at the gas meter. house is new and well insulated, good heating controls, 4 rads downstairs, 4 up. costs me about £12 a week to run CH & HW 24/7. We leave the roomstat at about 18 during the night or day time if no one is in and when we are about boost it to 22.

Dempo1

Sparkpea wrote: »

I have my heating on 24/7 and over the past 6wks ive been monitoring costs at the gas meter. house is new and well insulated, good heating controls, 4 rads downstairs, 4 up. costs me about £12 a week to run CH & HW 24/7. We leave the roomstat at about 18 during the night or day time if no one is in and when we are about boost it to 22.

Jezz thats remarkable @ €12 per week with 24/7 usage. I always believed Gas was more expensive? unfortunately my location does not permit gas as an option

Sparkpea

well its a small semi house so not hard to heat really and good insulation keeps the heat in. £12/15euro roughly but not bad. This is my first time using gas. Its an HE boiler also with all the modern heating controls so that helps. The kitchen window is open most of the time for an electric feed to a tumbledrier in the shed so I'm hoping to fit a waterproof socket on the outside of the house cos you can feel the breeze coming in so maybe get that bill cut down a bit more.

My last house had rubbish windows and I had my heating on 24/7 for approx 4-5 months last winter as we had a very young baby. I was probably buying 500L of oil every 6-8wks costing at least £200 for 500L.

Big difference!