Setting for most economical heating

ajmull

I have an old oil fired system. The thermostat is in the living room which is not in use during the day and the radiators in that room are not turned on until the evening. Would it be more economical to turn on the radiators in the living room at the same time as the other rooms and let the thermostat control the heating?

Wearb

The most economical way is to have the areas where you need heat on for the periods that you need them heated and at the temperature that you need. This will mean putting the heat on a while before you need it, to give it a chance to come up to temperature for when you need it.

During this weather, dont leave any areas of the house to get to near freezing.

So leave the living room off until before you need it. You should have some temperature control over the remaining areas, though they are unlikely to overshoot too much in this weather, unless youve upgraded your insulation since heating was installed. You can always get a rough temperature control from the boiler thermostat along with on/off times.