Have you put your heating on yet?

[CambsBill]

ukwill said:

I'm not entirely sure about all the ins and outs of the system, but from what was explained to me, the boiler adjusts flow temp to the rads/ufh based on the external temp (I think the two devices fitted were the VRC720 and VR71). The system was also converted to domestic hot water priority (https://www.lhs.plumbing/post/what-is-priority-hot-water-dphw)

Not sure that would work for us - we get a good amount of solar gain through having large windows so this week, when it's cold but clear, the CH's only coming on at night, not needed at all during the day as indoors has been hitting 22-23C. Last week, when it was warmer but cloudy, the CH was kicking in.

Does get quite hot indoors in the summer though - haven't worked out a solution for that yet.

[Hoofy]

Scabutz said:

Recently moved into a rental. The master bedroom gets pretty parky at night. House is about 25 years old, probably no cavity fill, and little loft insulation. Windows are DB, but tiny air gap, they are crap. Also they are quite large.

Once I am in bed its ok as I have big thick duvet, but if I turn in the night the rest of the bed is cold and the air temp is pretty bad on anything exposed.

I have an oil filled radiator I put on 20 mins before I go to bed which warms it up nicely to get ready. Wonder what I can for the middle of the night early morning. Dont want to heat the whole house, its just me here. What would be best? Plug the oil radiator into a Tapo and then ask Alexa to turn it on for 20 mins if I wake up cold? Heated sheet, on Alexa? Guess an advanced way would be to have a temp sensor and have Alexa or something top up the temp with the rad automatically when it drops to a certain level? Assume a Tapo plug is ok with something drawing that much power, its still on a 13A plug

Jump out, flick oil rad on, jump back in?

Also, if you want a quick burst of heat, a fan heater is a better bet. Oil rads work better for longer periods because of how they work... I think?

[Hoofy]

CambsBill said:

Not sure that would work for us - we get a good amount of solar gain through having large windows so this week, when it's cold but clear, the CH's only coming on at night, not needed at all during the day as indoors has been hitting 22-23C. Last week, when it was warmer but cloudy, the CH was kicking in.

Does get quite hot indoors in the summer though - haven't worked out a solution for that yet.

Silver black-out curtains that can be removed when not required. I tried one for my bathroom this year and if it didn't reduce the heat in the bathroom in summer, it at least felt like it did. (Unlike the other rooms which have light roman blinds, the bathroom just has frosted windows so gets really hot in summer normally.)

[Wildfire]

Hoofy said:

Jump out, flick oil rad on, jump back in?

Also, if you want a quick burst of heat, a fan heater is a better bet. Oil rads work better for longer periods because of how they work... I think?

Some of the oil filled radiators have a themostat on them, so you could leave it on low all night and it should just heat up when it drops a bit too cold.

[UTH]

It has now hit the temp outside where my UFH can't hit the set temp
Kitchen is hovering around 17.5 with a target of 19, even the living room is about 19.5 aiming for 20.

Hoping this cold snap doesn't last too long.

[soupdragon1]

ukwill said:

Back in the days when no one noticed how much energy they were consuming / how inefficient their houses were...

Just looked at some previous years - quite astonishing how inefficient our house was! (hopefully EPC will show this when it comes time to sell)

Averaged around 8300kwh of gas for Nov/Dec

Same period this year - 3200kwh

(1920s detached 300sqm).

Changes made last year:
300mm insulation throughout loft
Cavity wall insulation (grey eps beads)
weather compensation fitted to (vailant) boiler

UFH set to 19 6am-11pm, fallback to 16. HW once a day for 45mins (300L unvented cylinder). Mrs WFHs twice a week and feels cold in the desert so her office rad is set to 22(!) on those days.

Id really love to remove the air bricks under the lounge floor, but it's an extension on a suspended floor so that's a non-starter - just wish the mrs hadn't demanded ufh in there as it's been a complete waste of time (had I known more about ufh at the time I'd have made sure they fitted sufficient insulation on noggins under the pipe trays).

Biggest thing we've noticed - heat retention has greatly increased. Bills clearly highlight this - house stays warmer for longer, without requiring as much energy. Weather comp cost £1200 (fitted), Cavity insulation cost £2800. Loft I did myself.

Since weather comp was fitted, the boiler is running so much more efficiently - although if anything, it's probably a bit undersized.

Thats hugely impressive. For context, we built new 9 years ago and while we are oil central heating (radiators and water, no UFH) and our annual usage is 1500L of oil, or 15,000kwh gas equivalent. We're typically 500L/5,000kwh is the 3 winter months and 10,000kwh for the other 9 months. Our house is 215spm so we're basically using the same amount during winter, but you're heating nearly 50% more space. I work from home mostly, but try to avoid using the heating unless its really cold. To get a 1920's house, very large, to use that little energy is a great success IMO.

[Hoofy]

UTH said:

It has now hit the temp outside where my UFH can't hit the set temp
Kitchen is hovering around 17.5 with a target of 19, even the living room is about 19.5 aiming for 20.

Hoping this cold snap doesn't last too long.

I will wait for summer before I see those temps indoors!

[biggiles]

Hoofy said:

Scabutz said:

Recently moved into a rental. The master bedroom gets pretty parky at night. House is about 25 years old, probably no cavity fill, and little loft insulation. Windows are DB, but tiny air gap, they are crap. Also they are quite large.

Once I am in bed its ok as I have big thick duvet, but if I turn in the night the rest of the bed is cold and the air temp is pretty bad on anything exposed.

I have an oil filled radiator I put on 20 mins before I go to bed which warms it up nicely to get ready. Wonder what I can for the middle of the night early morning. Dont want to heat the whole house, its just me here. What would be best? Plug the oil radiator into a Tapo and then ask Alexa to turn it on for 20 mins if I wake up cold? Heated sheet, on Alexa? Guess an advanced way would be to have a temp sensor and have Alexa or something top up the temp with the rad automatically when it drops to a certain level? Assume a Tapo plug is ok with something drawing that much power, its still on a 13A plug

Jump out, flick oil rad on, jump back in?

Also, if you want a quick burst of heat, a fan heater is a better bet. Oil rads work better for longer periods because of how they work... I think?

Electric sheet (aka electric blanket) will be the most efficient by far for keeping a bed warm - you can set it to a low setting for the whole night if it's that cold.

[Scabutz]

biggiles said:

Hoofy said:

Scabutz said:

Recently moved into a rental. The master bedroom gets pretty parky at night. House is about 25 years old, probably no cavity fill, and little loft insulation. Windows are DB, but tiny air gap, they are crap. Also they are quite large.

Once I am in bed its ok as I have big thick duvet, but if I turn in the night the rest of the bed is cold and the air temp is pretty bad on anything exposed.

I have an oil filled radiator I put on 20 mins before I go to bed which warms it up nicely to get ready. Wonder what I can for the middle of the night early morning. Dont want to heat the whole house, its just me here. What would be best? Plug the oil radiator into a Tapo and then ask Alexa to turn it on for 20 mins if I wake up cold? Heated sheet, on Alexa? Guess an advanced way would be to have a temp sensor and have Alexa or something top up the temp with the rad automatically when it drops to a certain level? Assume a Tapo plug is ok with something drawing that much power, its still on a 13A plug

Jump out, flick oil rad on, jump back in?

Also, if you want a quick burst of heat, a fan heater is a better bet. Oil rads work better for longer periods because of how they work... I think?

Electric sheet (aka electric blanket) will be the most efficient by far for keeping a bed warm - you can set it to a low setting for the whole night if it's that cold.

So last night I left the oil radiator on all night, but put the heat setting to the lowest and set the built in thermostat low. That clicked on and off all night and kept the room at a comfortable cool temperature. According to my smart meter data it cost me about 40p so happy with that. I like the bedroom cool anyway but before it was getting so cold it was waking me up. Last night I slept for a solid 7.5 hours so all good.

If it stays cold I might think about a heated sheet. Even just to warm the bed up before hoping in as it will be nicer. Problem is i have a super in bed and just me in it so the sheets cost more and will be heating a half empty bed.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

You can get them with zones so you can heat just one side

Edited by Trustmeimadoctor on Wednesday 10th January 12:00

[Alex_225]

We've adjusted the timer on our place so the heating comes on earlier in the mornings.

We're new to oil central heating, had 1,500 litres put in the tank but trying to work out how much we use. It's quite a big place and once warm can be super warm but takes a while to get to that point. We're wrapping up more than we used to in our old properly haha

[B'stard Child]

UTH said:

It has now hit the temp outside where my UFH can't hit the set temp
Kitchen is hovering around 17.5 with a target of 19, even the living room is about 19.5 aiming for 20.

Hoping this cold snap doesn't last too long.

Thing is I'd find those temps *comfortable??

(*provided the room is draft free)

[soupdragon1]

Alex_225 said:

We've adjusted the timer on our place so the heating comes on earlier in the mornings.

We're new to oil central heating, had 1,500 litres put in the tank but trying to work out how much we use. It's quite a big place and once warm can be super warm but takes a while to get to that point. We're wrapping up more than we used to in our old properly haha

My solution is to buy 500L at a time as I've no other real way of tracking it. And I order from the same local supplier every time so that I can ask them for my purchase history so that I get a multi year view of what month I buy the 500L and when it runs out. I always let it run out and get the man to fill a couple of spare drums on each fill, so that when it runs out, I put the drums in and phone in another order.

There is no savings here in NI for ordering in advance. I get same day delivery (if I phone in the morning) and its exactly the same price as it would be if I wanted it next month. So its a system that works well for me in tracking usage. Might cost me £5 to £10 more per delivery, using the same supplier rather than shopping around or ordering 1000L instead, but support your local business and all that and they're good to me if I need same day delivery as I've been a loyal customer for years.

Outside of measuring with a stick, I'm not sure if there is any real other way of measuring usage without getting mods done on your boiler.

[UTH]

B'stard Child said:

UTH said:

It has now hit the temp outside where my UFH can't hit the set temp
Kitchen is hovering around 17.5 with a target of 19, even the living room is about 19.5 aiming for 20.

Hoping this cold snap doesn't last too long.

Thing is I'd find those temps *comfortable??

(*provided the room is draft free)

It's certainly not uncomfortable, it's just frustrating that the limit of what the UFH can do gets reached around 0 degrees outside.

[B'stard Child]

soupdragon1 said:

ukwill said:

Back in the days when no one noticed how much energy they were consuming / how inefficient their houses were...

Just looked at some previous years - quite astonishing how inefficient our house was! (hopefully EPC will show this when it comes time to sell)

Averaged around 8300kwh of gas for Nov/Dec

Same period this year - 3200kwh

(1920s detached 300sqm).

Changes made last year:
300mm insulation throughout loft
Cavity wall insulation (grey eps beads)
weather compensation fitted to (vailant) boiler

UFH set to 19 6am-11pm, fallback to 16. HW once a day for 45mins (300L unvented cylinder). Mrs WFHs twice a week and feels cold in the desert so her office rad is set to 22(!) on those days.

Id really love to remove the air bricks under the lounge floor, but it's an extension on a suspended floor so that's a non-starter - just wish the mrs hadn't demanded ufh in there as it's been a complete waste of time (had I known more about ufh at the time I'd have made sure they fitted sufficient insulation on noggins under the pipe trays).

Biggest thing we've noticed - heat retention has greatly increased. Bills clearly highlight this - house stays warmer for longer, without requiring as much energy. Weather comp cost £1200 (fitted), Cavity insulation cost £2800. Loft I did myself.

Since weather comp was fitted, the boiler is running so much more efficiently - although if anything, it's probably a bit undersized.

Thats hugely impressive. For context, we built new 9 years ago and while we are oil central heating (radiators and water, no UFH) and our annual usage is 1500L of oil, or 15,000kwh gas equivalent. We're typically 500L/5,000kwh is the 3 winter months and 10,000kwh for the other 9 months. Our house is 215spm so we're basically using the same amount during winter, but you're heating nearly 50% more space. I work from home mostly, but try to avoid using the heating unless its really cold. To get a 1920's house, very large, to use that little energy is a great success IMO.

That seems a bit strange to me.......

Detached 4 bed (stupid shape so several rooms have 3 external walls) 113 m2 floor area (290 m3 heated area)

For the last 4 years

3 winter months for me are 51% of annual gas usage
6 Spring and Autumn months are 45% of annual gas Usage
3 Summer months are 4% of annual gas usage

Do you have months where you don't use the central heating or is it always needed at some level?

[soupdragon1]

B'stard Child said:

soupdragon1 said:

ukwill said:

Back in the days when no one noticed how much energy they were consuming / how inefficient their houses were...

Just looked at some previous years - quite astonishing how inefficient our house was! (hopefully EPC will show this when it comes time to sell)

Averaged around 8300kwh of gas for Nov/Dec

Same period this year - 3200kwh

(1920s detached 300sqm).

Changes made last year:
300mm insulation throughout loft
Cavity wall insulation (grey eps beads)
weather compensation fitted to (vailant) boiler

UFH set to 19 6am-11pm, fallback to 16. HW once a day for 45mins (300L unvented cylinder). Mrs WFHs twice a week and feels cold in the desert so her office rad is set to 22(!) on those days.

Id really love to remove the air bricks under the lounge floor, but it's an extension on a suspended floor so that's a non-starter - just wish the mrs hadn't demanded ufh in there as it's been a complete waste of time (had I known more about ufh at the time I'd have made sure they fitted sufficient insulation on noggins under the pipe trays).

Biggest thing we've noticed - heat retention has greatly increased. Bills clearly highlight this - house stays warmer for longer, without requiring as much energy. Weather comp cost £1200 (fitted), Cavity insulation cost £2800. Loft I did myself.

Since weather comp was fitted, the boiler is running so much more efficiently - although if anything, it's probably a bit undersized.

Thats hugely impressive. For context, we built new 9 years ago and while we are oil central heating (radiators and water, no UFH) and our annual usage is 1500L of oil, or 15,000kwh gas equivalent. We're typically 500L/5,000kwh is the 3 winter months and 10,000kwh for the other 9 months. Our house is 215spm so we're basically using the same amount during winter, but you're heating nearly 50% more space. I work from home mostly, but try to avoid using the heating unless its really cold. To get a 1920's house, very large, to use that little energy is a great success IMO.

That seems a bit strange to me.......

Detached 4 bed (stupid shape so several rooms have 3 external walls) 113 m2 floor area (290 m3 heated area)

For the last 4 years

3 winter months for me are 51% of annual gas usage
6 Spring and Autumn months are 45% of annual gas Usage
3 Summer months are 4% of annual gas usage

Do you have months where you don't use the central heating or is it always needed at some level?

The oil will come on in Autumn and Spring via the thermostat and timer but pretty much thermostat is turned off during summer so it never comes on. But it heats the water still, and I've 2 kids who like to use full pressure for the entire shower experience and often, they will run the thing until it starts to get cold. I reckon we could save a bit there if they did what they were told. I'm just a grumpy dad though, when I complain about it.

My son goes to the gym 3 times a week. He comes home and jumps into our shower, rather than at the gym. Some great money saving opportunities, slipping by the wayside - sigh

[A500leroy]

11.5 0c at mine today, set for 15.5.

Have it set for 3 equally spaced 2 hour blasts over 24 hours. Is that wrong?

[B'stard Child]

soupdragon1 said:

The oil will come on in Autumn and Spring via the thermostat and timer but pretty much thermostat is turned off during summer so it never comes on. But it heats the water still, and I've 2 kids who like to use full pressure for the entire shower experience and often, they will run the thing until it starts to get cold. I reckon we could save a bit there if they did what they were told. I'm just a grumpy dad though, when I complain about it.

My son goes to the gym 3 times a week. He comes home and jumps into our shower, rather than at the gym. Some great money saving opportunities, slipping by the wayside - sigh

I have some sympathy for your situation now - water heating is just 15% of our annual gas usage but it's just two of us showering daily and Mrs BC likes a bath occasionally

[Portofino]

B'stard Child said:

soupdragon1 said:

The oil will come on in Autumn and Spring via the thermostat and timer but pretty much thermostat is turned off during summer so it never comes on. But it heats the water still, and I've 2 kids who like to use full pressure for the entire shower experience and often, they will run the thing until it starts to get cold. I reckon we could save a bit there if they did what they were told. I'm just a grumpy dad though, when I complain about it.

My son goes to the gym 3 times a week. He comes home and jumps into our shower, rather than at the gym. Some great money saving opportunities, slipping by the wayside - sigh

I have some sympathy for your situation now - water heating is just 15% of our annual gas usage but it's just two of us showering daily and Mrs BC likes a bath occasionally

My son, jeez. At least 2, sometimes 3 10 minute plus showers a day.

T’ill I’m blue in the face for years now but hardly any change…..

[B'stard Child]

A500leroy said:

11.5 0c at mine today, set for 15.5.

Have it set for 3 equally spaced 2 hour blasts over 24 hours. Is that wrong?

It works for you - there is no wrong or right

Are people in the house all day? (AKA WFH)

I heat twice a day 0630 to 0745 and 1500 to 2200 and currently doing 55 kW a day

If I heat from 0630 to 2200 with no set backs I'll do 60 to 65 so heating in two sessions and not when we are out of the house works out cheaper but it's not a huge saving

Experiment and see what works best

Have a watch of this