which is more expensive heating wise?

[petemurphy]

I have a freezing and drafty victorian flat.

At the mo i have the heating come on at diff times during the night so it come on about 6 times for 1/2 hour at sep times throughout the night,

Is it cheaper to do this or have it on permanently all night but turn down the radiators?

thanks!

[cjs]

Do you have a room thermostat? If not get one and use that to control the temperature, leave the heating on. Even better get a programmable room stat which will change temperatures for you at different times of the day.

[rsv gone!]

The cheapest and most effective thing you can do is control the number of air changes; ie eradicate the draughts.

A good modern target is 5 air changes per hour. 10 is average. Your house will probably be closer to 40.

You can get brush strips for wooden window, copious amounts of crazy foam or sealant around construction joints. Seal the gaps where soil pipes go up into your roof space.

[petemurphy]

cjs said:

Do you have a room thermostat? If not get one and use that to control the temperature, leave the heating on. Even better get a programmable room stat which will change temperatures for you at different times of the day.

excuse my complete lack of knowledge about these things but...

there is one and its a wireless one. however since i moved here ive never been able to get it to do anything. ive changed the batteries and read the instructions online. It seems to connect with the heating thinghy but if i increase or decrease the temp on it nothing seems to happen?

will def look at the drafts although one its diff as they are massive sash windows and two i quite like the idea of some fresh air getting in.

ignoring the above to settle arguement with the girlfriend is it more epensive to have it keep turning on from scratch every few hours or is it more expensive to have it on all teh time?

[TimJMS]

petemurphy said:

...massive sash windows

There is 6 months left of this crap weather yet. Seriously look into secondary glazing. You can throw all the heat into those rooms that you like, but with leaky Victorian sash windows it'll be gone like a fart in a thunderstorm.

Edited by TimJMS on Monday 8th November 10:18

[NoelWatson]

petemurphy said:

ignoring the above to settle arguement with the girlfriend is it more epensive to have it keep turning on from scratch every few hours or is it more expensive to have it on all teh time?

What type of boiler is it - condensing?

[petemurphy]

NoelWatson said:

petemurphy said:

ignoring the above to settle arguement with the girlfriend is it more epensive to have it keep turning on from scratch every few hours or is it more expensive to have it on all teh time?

What type of boiler is it - condensing?

erm i have no idea - gas one? how do i tell

[Simpo Two]

Do you get a gas bill?

[petemurphy]

Simpo Two said:

Do you get a gas bill?

yes its def a gas boiler just dont know what condensing means

[ZesPak]

TimJMS said:

petemurphy said:

...massive sash windows

There is 6 months left of this crap weather yet. Seriously look into secondary glazing. You can throw all the heat into those rooms that you like, but with leaky Victorian sash windows it'll be gone like a fart in a thunderstorm.]

What he said:
Thanks for heating the street for us.

[petemurphy]

ZesPak said:

TimJMS said:

petemurphy said:

...massive sash windows

There is 6 months left of this crap weather yet. Seriously look into secondary glazing. You can throw all the heat into those rooms that you like, but with leaky Victorian sash windows it'll be gone like a fart in a thunderstorm.]

What he said:
Thanks for heating the street for us.

fair enough but what about the original question to try and stop the hot air coming out my birds mouth

[Gingerbread Man]

Get a thicker Duvet. People don't normally have the heating on during the night.

If it's a condensing boiler, it'll have a plastic pipe (overflow size) coming out of it and going to a drain.

[JM]

petemurphy said:

Is it cheaper to do this or have it on permanently all night but turn down the radiators?

It will deped on what temps you are running at.

Try an experiment and see.

Read your gas meter at night before bed, then again in the morning running as you have it, then chnage to run perm and re-read the meter again and compare.