How much heat does your house lose overnight?
Discussion
As we all focus on ways to try and mitigate the forthcoming rises in energy costs, it occurred to me that a good measure of how well a house is insulated is to monitor how much heat is lost overnight. I'm interested in what could be defined as an acceptable level of heat loss, given the staggering price rises we face. Has anyone else taken note of how much their thermostat reading drops between the heating going off at night and coming on in the morning?
Heating off at 10:30pm, back on at 6:30am
Usually lose 2.5-3 degrees, any more and it will be well under freezing outside. Never seen a 4 degree drop, even when it was proper cold down to -15 a few years ago.
Well insulated house with cavity wall insulation, K glass etc. Plus I've just topped up the loft insulation from 100mm to 270mm, which has not made much difference to the overnight drop but has made a difference in how hard the heating seems to work to pull the temp back up, not been done long enough to notice any change on heating bill.
Usually lose 2.5-3 degrees, any more and it will be well under freezing outside. Never seen a 4 degree drop, even when it was proper cold down to -15 a few years ago.
Well insulated house with cavity wall insulation, K glass etc. Plus I've just topped up the loft insulation from 100mm to 270mm, which has not made much difference to the overnight drop but has made a difference in how hard the heating seems to work to pull the temp back up, not been done long enough to notice any change on heating bill.
Our house was built in 1790. When the temperature drops to, say, -5 over night we would see the temps in our daughters’ rooms go from 20/21c at our bedtime of 11:00 to 13/14c at 7:00 if we didn’t set the heating to come on in the night.
The walls are very thick but they simply don’t provide much insulation unfortunately. It takes a long old time to warm up too.
The walls are very thick but they simply don’t provide much insulation unfortunately. It takes a long old time to warm up too.
It was 15.2 in the lounge when we went to bed last night. I've just come down and it's 13.3 and quite comfortable as I sit here with the first cuppa of the day. Unless O/H asks, the heating won't go on today.
House was built in 2005 and is very well insulated. A few of the windows are draughty as the hinges need replacing but we don't mind, fresh air is better than the having the house hermetically sealed like one of my sisters does. We get headaches when we stay there.
House was built in 2005 and is very well insulated. A few of the windows are draughty as the hinges need replacing but we don't mind, fresh air is better than the having the house hermetically sealed like one of my sisters does. We get headaches when we stay there.
Top floor apartment - usually hovers at 18c through the day (if we're in) and on an evening. Warm enough to be comfortable. I find 20 + too hot personally.
I wake up to 15c pretty routinely. All of the windows need new hinges as they aren't 100%, plus downstairs is currently empty and we usually get a bit of residual heat from them.
Being two bed and a flat it heats up remarkably quickly too. One of the 'nicer' properties we've had in terms of temperature.
I wake up to 15c pretty routinely. All of the windows need new hinges as they aren't 100%, plus downstairs is currently empty and we usually get a bit of residual heat from them.
Being two bed and a flat it heats up remarkably quickly too. One of the 'nicer' properties we've had in terms of temperature.
New build 4 bed with the heating set at 21 on the evening upstairs and downstairs, goes off at 10pm and if it's really cold outside of may drop to 19 downstairs when I get up about 7am, upstairs as the stat is in our room is normally 20 still.
Biggest difference I notice wheni moved here from an 80's build is how quick it heats up too.
1 room, my sons bedroom always feels colder than the the rest, not sure if they skimped on the insulation or the radiator is too small, I did report it under the 2 yeas Customer Service and they said they would change the radiator for a double but that never materialised.
Biggest difference I notice wheni moved here from an 80's build is how quick it heats up too.
1 room, my sons bedroom always feels colder than the the rest, not sure if they skimped on the insulation or the radiator is too small, I did report it under the 2 yeas Customer Service and they said they would change the radiator for a double but that never materialised.
TheInternet said:
You need to define internal/external temps for this to make any sense.
^^^ This. And the period over which it is not heated, of course. And the windspeed and even relative humidity, if you want to get technical.The rate of heat loss increases with bigger internal:external temperature difference.
In my case, since I sleep with the bedroom window open and the back door open so that the dogs can go out into the garden if they want, even in mid-winter, it can drop almost to ambient external temperature.
Surprisingly, my heating bills seem pretty reasonable compared to a lot of peoples' I know.
Our heating goes off at about 7:30-8pm when the kids go to bed (pump is in my sons room).
At the moment with 5-8* outside temps it drops 2 degrees when I get up at 6:30am (so heating off for ~10.5 hours). If the outside temp is nearer 0 it drops 3 degrees.
Typical 1930s semi, old double glazing, cavity wall insulation and 100-200mm of loft insulation.
At the moment with 5-8* outside temps it drops 2 degrees when I get up at 6:30am (so heating off for ~10.5 hours). If the outside temp is nearer 0 it drops 3 degrees.
Typical 1930s semi, old double glazing, cavity wall insulation and 100-200mm of loft insulation.
That Tado data is amazing (assuming it's all true, I haven't verified it!). Before 'smart' heating devices, this sort of data would have been near-impossible to gather.
It's also covering a period of only 5 hours, so the difference in UK heat loss is even more remarkable. Is UK housing stock/insulation "just not very good" or is it also our weather causing faster heat loss? I can envisage a scenario where damp squalls in the UK will cool a house faster than dry zephyrs in Sweden.
It's also covering a period of only 5 hours, so the difference in UK heat loss is even more remarkable. Is UK housing stock/insulation "just not very good" or is it also our weather causing faster heat loss? I can envisage a scenario where damp squalls in the UK will cool a house faster than dry zephyrs in Sweden.
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