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As above - want to leave the heating on to stop pipes freezing but would prefer to turn the mains stopcock off just in case.
I've got a closed / pressurised oil central heating system - as it closed etc... I assume it's ok to run with the mains water turned off but just wanted to make sure?
What's the worst that could happen? It's an old boiler so not convinced it would automatically cut out if there was a drop in pressure in the system and pretty sure the central heating pump has no way of knowing if there's no pressure (or water!) in the system.
Only going away for a week or so don't want the hassle of turning everything off and draining down the system - also be nice to come home to a warm house!
Thanks in advance.
Just leave the heating on at, say 12, on a normal programme
As above, just set it to a low figure. That is basically all the built in anti freeze settings do.
I fitted a flow sensor to our CH system, so if there isn't enough flow the boiler isn't powered. Really as a backup for a 25+ year old boiler.
Ours is an open gas fired system and yes, we leave the boiler on and the mains stopcock off. If the pipes drained the boiler wouldn't fire.
Leave heating on, thermostat at 15c.
Lock doors, possibly close curtains.
Cancel milk.
Most thermostats have an "hors gel" setting which I assume is "anti-freeze" at 5°C. If not turn the heating down to 5°C
You say you have an 'old' oil boiler but didn't say what other controls on the system.
Some systems have a frost stat in the utility room or similar that is set to 4/5 deg C so of the temp in that room drops to the set temp, the boiler is forced to fire, regardless of your timer settings. This keeps the house between 4-9 deg C depending on the hysteresis of the AT&T ( I like that word,).
If you have a room stat that controls the boiler, set it to whatever you feel comfortable with - if the are pipes in the loft, you might want to keep the house warmer than if not, to alow the loft to stay above freezing. If no pipes in the loft, I'd be happy with 4-5 deg c.
If you don't have a room stat, and use the boilers thermostat to vary the temperature in the house then turn it to its lowest setting and leave on 24/7.
HTH
You are aiming to maintain the temperature of the structure and contents of the house. You'd be surprised how much heat the internal walls, fittings and furniture will hold and how long it will all take to cool down and conversely, to warm up again.
On my old oil burner i turn the mains water off after making sure pressure in heating system is up to the mark.My plumber said leave the thermostat in the living room at 10 degrees.Left it like this for over 2 months last winter with no problems.
Loss of pressure and consequent boiler stoppage is your biggest concern. If you have an old-fashioned open vented system with a small header tank you shouldn't need to worry.
What's the advantage of pressurised systems anyway? They seem to cause a lot of trouble.
Can't you just ask a neighbour to keep an eye on it?
Globalti
Installed from scratch - no pipes in the loft - less chance of freezing.
Retrofit frees space in loft for extension/loft room. In this case, they are usually done With a conversion of the hot water cylinder to an unvented one.
Where do you live where you think its going to get that cold in the next week?
Exactly - it will take longer than a week for the house to cool down to outside temperature anyway. Outside temperature being around 2-6 degrees C there's little risk of a pipe freeze. Even in prolonged spells of minus 7 to minus 10 I've only ever seen one pipe freeze and that was in the attic space above our unheated, un-insulated garage. I defrosted it and wrapped it in foam and it's never happened again.
But I would leave the CH ticking over day and night at about 12 C just to maintain the temperature of the structure.