Has anyone put their central heating on yet?

Fucking scandalous reading this thread how people in the UK are scared to put the heating on. I mean how do they go on in Scandinavian countries and parts of Canada where it's on average much colder than UK in winter ?

The killer in the UK is the damp, a lot of these cold places are much dryer. I think I'd be right in saying we're on the same latitude as Black Tickle, which has it's fair share of polar bears.


It's the good old gulf stream that dumps it's warm moisture on us, keeping us cosy, arthritic and full of respiratory ailments.
There's something to be said for using a dehumidifier.
 
I've totally fell out with the bloke who lives below me. For the last 3 or 4 weeks I've been stamping down on the floor, I then started banging on his door but the fucker wouldn't open. Then last night, I caught him when I was coming in from work. He asked why I keep harassing him and banging on his door? I said, you keep turning your fucking heating off you selfish bastard! I'm fuckin freezin up there.
 
I was curious about the benefit of just leaving the gas central heating on versus on/off on the timer.
Reading online, you will save some money setting the timer.
But each house is different, and in our house, there aren't many times when the house is empty.

My wife has thyroid problems and always feels cold, so the heating tends to be much higher than other houses.
So the front/living room is set to 23C day and night. That's where the thermostat lives.
The rest of the house radiators gets heat only when the front room needs heat.
I was going to get individual smart stats for each room, but have found that the current method seems to work for us.

We have a great Bosch floor standing combi boiler which is very efficient. Loft and cavity wall insulation. Modern double glazed windows. Maybe the most important bit is shutting the very heavy/thick living room curtains when we go out or when it gets dark.
It's a largish 4 bed property, yet is surprisingly cheap on the gas bills. Electric is another story, as the house is very automated meaning gadgetry stuff is always on. If everybody leaves the house, the automation will shut everything down including the heating. But as said that is rare.

I got a message the other day from HIVE which we use to control the heating. It was giving me stats as to my boiler usage.
I was very shocked to see that the gas boiler has only been running for a total of 1 hour a day!

The graph shows the heat cycles from 22C to 23C which is the trigger points for switching on and off etc.
It shows the boiler only needs a short while to heat the room back to 23C, then shuts down.
So that explains the cheap gas bill.
Insulation and curtains seems to be the trick!
 
I was curious about the benefit of just leaving the gas central heating on versus on/off on the timer.
Reading online, you will save some money setting the timer.
But each house is different, and in our house, there aren't many times when the house is empty.

My wife has thyroid problems and always feels cold, so the heating tends to be much higher than other houses.
So the front/living room is set to 23C day and night. That's where the thermostat lives.
The rest of the house radiators gets heat only when the front room needs heat.
I was going to get individual smart stats for each room, but have found that the current method seems to work for us.

We have a great Bosch floor standing combi boiler which is very efficient. Loft and cavity wall insulation. Modern double glazed windows. Maybe the most important bit is shutting the very heavy/thick living room curtains when we go out or when it gets dark.
It's a largish 4 bed property, yet is surprisingly cheap on the gas bills. Electric is another story, as the house is very automated meaning gadgetry stuff is always on. If everybody leaves the house, the automation will shut everything down including the heating. But as said that is rare.

I got a message the other day from HIVE which we use to control the heating. It was giving me stats as to my boiler usage.
I was very shocked to see that the gas boiler has only been running for a total of 1 hour a day!

The graph shows the heat cycles from 22C to 23C which is the trigger points for switching on and off etc.
It shows the boiler only needs a short while to heat the room back to 23C, then shuts down.
So that explains the cheap gas bill.
Insulation and curtains seems to be the trick!
Proof that if you have a well insulated home it pays to keep the temperature constant by leaving the boiler running, topping the temperature up as it gradually dropped.. Imagine though if your house was not insulated, you gas bills would be much higher.
 
The graph shows the heat cycles from 22C to 23C which is the trigger points for switching on and off etc.
It shows the boiler only needs a short while to heat the room back to 23C, then shuts down.
So that explains the cheap gas bill.
Insulation and curtains seems to be the trick!
Maybe those pesky people that glue themselves to roads are onto something….
 
I was curious about the benefit of just leaving the gas central heating on versus on/off on the timer.
Reading online, you will save some money setting the timer.
But each house is different, and in our house, there aren't many times when the house is empty.

My wife has thyroid problems and always feels cold, so the heating tends to be much higher than other houses.
So the front/living room is set to 23C day and night. That's where the thermostat lives.
The rest of the house radiators gets heat only when the front room needs heat.
I was going to get individual smart stats for each room, but have found that the current method seems to work for us.

We have a great Bosch floor standing combi boiler which is very efficient. Loft and cavity wall insulation. Modern double glazed windows. Maybe the most important bit is shutting the very heavy/thick living room curtains when we go out or when it gets dark.
It's a largish 4 bed property, yet is surprisingly cheap on the gas bills. Electric is another story, as the house is very automated meaning gadgetry stuff is always on. If everybody leaves the house, the automation will shut everything down including the heating. But as said that is rare.

I got a message the other day from HIVE which we use to control the heating. It was giving me stats as to my boiler usage.
I was very shocked to see that the gas boiler has only been running for a total of 1 hour a day!

The graph shows the heat cycles from 22C to 23C which is the trigger points for switching on and off etc.
It shows the boiler only needs a short while to heat the room back to 23C, then shuts down.
So that explains the cheap gas bill.
Insulation and curtains seems to be the trick!
Fascinating. I have a Victorian 5 bed without DG. My smart meter tells me it costs 50% more to have the ch on all the time than it is to set the timer for 3 spells of 3 hours per day. I augment that with a wood burner. Last winter my gas bill was over £2k for the 4 winter months. That was ch on all day and off at night. This winter I think we will get away with 50% of that. Smart meter installed in October has helped a lot although it still doesn’t work for my electricity correctly. Every house is different.
 
Fascinating. I have a Victorian 5 bed without DG. My smart meter tells me it costs 50% more to have the ch on all the time than it is to set the timer for 3 spells of 3 hours per day. I augment that with a wood burner. Last winter my gas bill was over £2k for the 4 winter months. That was ch on all day and off at night. This winter I think we will get away with 50% of that. Smart meter installed in October has helped a lot although it still doesn’t work for my electricity correctly. Every house is different.

I think the insulation on our house is the key to our low use. It takes ages for the room to cool down even 1 degree.
This wasn't always the case though. Our gas bill used to be higher than the electric.
Then we had the old windows done. The loft and walls insulated etc. I think the biggest heat loss was the old wooden patio doors. They warped so badly you could actually see daylight through the door gaps!

One thing that has helped the electric bill was fitting a Chinese diesel heater in the garage.
It feeds into the laundry room at the back. The room has loads of drying racks, so the electric tumble dryer doesn't need to be used.
We buy red diesel (heating oil) from a boat place nearby which keeps costs down.
The added benefit is that the room is always toasty and keeps damp at bay.
 
Martin lewis says keeping the heating on low all of the time doesnt save you any money , you save by only putting the heating on when you need it and just heat the rooms you use and the hallway
 
Fascinating. I have a Victorian 5 bed without DG. My smart meter tells me it costs 50% more to have the ch on all the time than it is to set the timer for 3 spells of 3 hours per day. I augment that with a wood burner. Last winter my gas bill was over £2k for the 4 winter months. That was ch on all day and off at night. This winter I think we will get away with 50% of that. Smart meter installed in October has helped a lot although it still doesn’t work for my electricity correctly. Every house is different.
Your fucked with your scenario the house is not retaining any heat in such a big house as well. This year I insulated our loft and boarded it out, converted the attached garage to a room with loads of insulation, installed a log burner. Ive done some experiments the heating on for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, the house unless it’s Baltic is around 16 degrees, I set the thermostat at 19 degrees and put in hallway with radiator no trv, every other room has TRVs. We have new double glazing as well. My gas bill for the two periods is around £3 fir the day as boiler heats up to 19 then shuts down, so I then tried sticking it on all day that’s 6am-9pm (we are always home) cost £4-5) depending on how cold it is outside. We are more than warm and for the extra few £1.50 it’s worth it. Alternatively we stick the log burner on around 11am if it’s cold until 6pm however thats a lot of logs so probably £3 in logs plus the £3 for gas it’s actually cheaper to just use gas.
Maybe try trvs and turn them down in the rooms you don’t use that much, double glazing would make a difference and definitely insulate your loft, it’s piss easy to do send cheap if you do yourself, just wear a mask and white suit as that stuff is itchy as hell.
 
Your fucked with your scenario the house is not retaining any heat in such a big house as well. This year I insulated our loft and boarded it out, converted the attached garage to a room with loads of insulation, installed a log burner. Ive done some experiments the heating on for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, the house unless it’s Baltic is around 16 degrees, I set the thermostat at 19 degrees and put in hallway with radiator no trv, every other room has TRVs. We have new double glazing as well. My gas bill for the two periods is around £3 fir the day as boiler heats up to 19 then shuts down, so I then tried sticking it on all day that’s 6am-9pm (we are always home) cost £4-5) depending on how cold it is outside. We are more than warm and for the extra few £1.50 it’s worth it. Alternatively we stick the log burner on around 11am if it’s cold until 6pm however thats a lot of logs so probably £3 in logs plus the £3 for gas it’s actually cheaper to just use gas.
Maybe try trvs and turn them down in the rooms you don’t use that much, double glazing would make a difference and definitely insulate your loft, it’s piss easy to do send cheap if you do yourself, just wear a mask and white suit as that stuff is itchy as hell.
Loft is well insulated. Windows are protected as part of listed building. TRVs on every radiator and turned down in rooms we don’t use. I’m pleased enough at halving the bill this winter. In the recent cold snap it gets down to around 12c during the night but that’s bearable. During the day it’s 19c or so.
 
Loft is well insulated. Windows are protected as part of listed building. TRVs on every radiator and turned down in rooms we don’t use. I’m pleased enough at halving the bill this winter. In the recent cold snap it gets down to around 12c during the night but that’s bearable. During the day it’s 19c or so.
So they want to save the planet but not as long as your windows aren’t replaced! Worked gone mad.
 
Your fucked with your scenario the house is not retaining any heat in such a big house as well. This year I insulated our loft and boarded it out, converted the attached garage to a room with loads of insulation, installed a log burner. Ive done some experiments the heating on for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, the house unless it’s Baltic is around 16 degrees, I set the thermostat at 19 degrees and put in hallway with radiator no trv, every other room has TRVs. We have new double glazing as well. My gas bill for the two periods is around £3 fir the day as boiler heats up to 19 then shuts down, so I then tried sticking it on all day that’s 6am-9pm (we are always home) cost £4-5) depending on how cold it is outside. We are more than warm and for the extra few £1.50 it’s worth it. Alternatively we stick the log burner on around 11am if it’s cold until 6pm however thats a lot of logs so probably £3 in logs plus the £3 for gas it’s actually cheaper to just use gas.
Maybe try trvs and turn them down in the rooms you don’t use that much, double glazing would make a difference and definitely insulate your loft, it’s piss easy to do send cheap if you do yourself, just wear a mask and white suit as that stuff is itchy as hell.
How are you finding the log burner?
 
How are you finding the log burner?
It gets bloody hot 25degrees easily after about 30 mins, it’s no substitute for central heating though, unfortunately we have an open plan downstairs so thats kept warm but it won’t go upstairs. We tend to use it during the day when home as the wife works downstairs so doesn’t need heating in rest of the house, but it’s a false economy if I’m honest now prices have dropped. I tried using coal a few times but it’s a lot messier and doesn’t get as hot but tends to last longer. If you get one with the intention of replacing your central:heating don’t.
 
It gets bloody hot 25degrees easily after about 30 mins, it’s no substitute for central heating though, unfortunately we have an open plan downstairs so thats kept warm but it won’t go upstairs. We tend to use it during the day when home as the wife works downstairs so doesn’t need heating in rest of the house, but it’s a false economy if I’m honest now prices have dropped. I tried using coal a few times but it’s a lot messier and doesn’t get as hot but tends to last longer. If you get one with the intention of replacing your central:heating don’t.
I know this, I was telling you about it when you were getting one. I have one cos Ive always wanted one and also have open plan type thing with the stairs in the living room. They are a bit of a luxury item and not a replacement for heating. Certainly not cheap to run them as shit cheap logs are a false economy. I use it as a good extra to the heating and for the aesthetic of it, and the therapeutic effect
 
I know this, I was telling you about it when you were getting one. I have one cos Ive always wanted one and also have open plan type thing with the stairs in the living room. They are a bit of a luxury item and not a replacement for heating. Certainly not cheap to run them as shit cheap logs are a false economy. I use it as a good extra to the heating and for the aesthetic of it, and the therapeutic effect
Totally agree, the dog loves it after a very wet walk, drying off in front of it. Last winter without all our extra insulation and the price of gas etc it would’ve been a godsend, the bloody wife is always cold! Like you say no way it can replace your central heating, however I would say fir downstairs it heats it pretty well but your type wood like you say makes a lot of difference, but if you can get it very cheap and season it yourself overtime it can be a lot cheaper.
 
Has anyone gone for fixing their Tariff, with a rise in January Octopus are offering to fix at current prices, now with the Ofgem doing 3 monthly changes rather than 6/12, im not sure fixing is a good idea at the moment. For me if they stopped the standing charge increases then that would help everyone out.
 
Has anyone gone for fixing their Tariff, with a rise in January Octopus are offering to fix at current prices, now with the Ofgem doing 3 monthly changes rather than 6/12, im not sure fixing is a good idea at the moment. For me if they stopped the standing charge increases then that would help everyone out.
I’m looking forward to the price cut when I come off my fixed tariff at the end of May. Fixed to avoid Armageddon last October only for the Government to step in and cap around the same price a couple of weeks later!
 

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