How should you use your heating & thermostat?

Zascar

In most places I have lived - the way the heating works is that it goes on for an hour or so in the morning, and again another hour or so in the evening. The thermostat is set to max. If I need to boost it, I'll put it on for an extra hour when needed. However I've heard others that simply leave their thermostat on 22 degrees and leave it there. Is that what you guys do? Would that not mean you are heating your house and paying for it when you are not home from 8am-6pm, 5 days a week?

What is the best way to do this?

Atlantic Dawn

You can normally set a time so say 7-9am and then 6-10pm and the heating will come on at these times if the temperature is below what the thermostat is set to. Some people might also have heating permanently on with a lower temperature set, say 5 degrees so the heating is just used to prevent the pipes freezing in an unoccupied house.

Bigus

More like set the interior wall stat to 15 when you're home , and 10 or twelve when you're out, definitely a better way to control then a timer. ( that's assuming 15 is comfortable enough , for me 15 seems to translate to ambient of 20 or 21, and funnily enough that was the same with my old stat which was replaced last year along with the boiler .

Wearb

From cold, your first hour will cost about 3 or 4 times as much as subsequent hours -assuming a good level of insulation. If someone is home all day, it is only a little extra for a lot of comfort.

But as you describe it, there are savings to be made by having it off during that long period when nobody is at home.

Not sure what thermostat you are referring to. Is it the one controlling the boiler?