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South Coast so always warm, even if the riding isn’t so hot.
I wouldn't go that far but its certainly an advantage at the moment. We have so far limited CH to a couple of short top up bursts and lit the wood burner one day at the weekend. We are helped by my office being in the loft so stays warm and wife's in the spare room which seems to heat up fairly well as she has the door closed.
Heating goes on when it's cold. Had it running for a short while for the last month. Set at 17ish degrees. Heating off by 6:30pm but I'm still sleeping on top of the bed covers, as usual. Daughter and wife feel the cold. Son sleeps with window wide open.
Mine's still off although it's been pretty mild here (Bristol), hasn't dropped below 17c inside that I've noticed yet. Have swapped from shorts to joggers and have a hoodie on until about 11am, thermal socks are great to.
but the humidity is 68%. I’m fairly sure that’s a bit high??
Par for the course in a UK autumn/winter. You won't get your house any drier than it is outside without heating it. But you are generating your own humidity as well by breathing in the house and washing etc.
This is one of the reasons why you need heating on even if the temps are tolerable, the humidity goes up and you get damp - towels don't dry, etc.
Other half had enough of a cool house yesterday, not helped in part by builder in and out of the door and any heat we did have escaping. It wasn't on for too long. Annoying as not really that cold outside yet.
South Coast is cheating. We're in a 1920's detached in an urban South Coast setting.
Thermostat set at 19, heating hasn't kicked in yet to my knowledge, if it has it's been so fleeting it's escaped my attention.
All these northerners thinking the south is the Mediterranean is hilarious.
Thanks for brightening my day!
It was close last night, I let myself get cold after riding home from work and was struggling to warm up. Wife told me to stop whining and the heating wasn't going on til November now!!
Joggers and hoodie on, hood up, curtains closed and a hot chocolate sorted me out!!
Yeah my wife got cold at work, and was pretty cold all evening despite blankets and hoodies and all.
Blimey, just had an email from bulb that due to usage, credit and the Gov contribution they are putting our DD down from £240 to £214 a month.
Not sure what to think of that….
Not sure what to think of that….
Whilst Shell have done the exact opposite for me, in that despite credit balance; govt payment etc, they are increasing my DD from £145 to £186, but did state this is not including the govt payment which they use to reduce the DD they actually take.
Ours has been on and off most of the day, I've been draining down all the old filthy ink black water off the system, then once it's fairly clear, in with inhibitor and boiler silencer. Just finished now, so boiler on circulating all the additives. We have a header tank so easy to add chemicals.
Heating is still off, we do put the wood burning stove on in the evenings.
Also, I'm confused...it's not difficult!! In the spirit of educating myself I have been reading lots of 'helpful' pages and watched a few YT vids with heating bods (all UK). They all mention the debate about reducing boiler flow temps etc and that the magic number often quoted (apparently according to a building reg) is 55 degrees and that this will be the number displayed on the dial; display etc on your boiler for the heating side of things - combi boiler.
I have a 6-year-old combi boiler, no thermostat on the wall etc, just controlled by the dial on the boiler and the TRVs on the rads. I have a 1985 house in the NE of England that faces SW at the front and NE at the back where the living room is. Even in the 'depths' of winter if I had the boiler temp (as per the display) set at 55 we'd melt. We usually have it set at 40-48 degrees max.
So, am I doing something wrong? Am I not understanding how my CH system works? Admittedly I hate being too hot. Maybe it's just my internal thermostat that's to blame. Mrs fazzini likes it warmer than me, but still above 50 degrees as set on the boiler will then complain it's too hot! PS - no heating on here yet. 😂
As for boiler temperature, eco setting on ours is generally fine but doesn't really cut the mustard on the coldest of day where the outside temperature doesn't go above freezing, it takes far too long to heat the house up.
Have you ever balanced your heating system?
I spent a bit of time doing this a couple of years a go, I reckon it helped keep all the rooms more evenly heated.
Calderdale here, three bedroom semi, albeit with a loft conversion to make a fourth. Heating not on yet but on days like this, blue sky and strong sun, it warms up like a greenhouse as we have massive windows, as low as 12” high sills. Conversely, big areas for heat loss when it does turn proper cold.
I WFH in an empty house so have bought a 900w fan heater for my tiny WFH office, the rest of the house can freeze…and then get through around three logs an evening on a wood burner in the lounge if chilly.
Throws, blankets and big slippers issued to the family.
Holding off for as long as possible as Scottish Power put my DD from £106 to £296 overnight, despite the KWH usage tracking from last year is way way down. They’ve also credited the energy payment back to the bank, rather than the account, which probably gets them out of adjusting the DD.
So, am I doing something wrong? Am I not understanding how my CH system works?
No. Lower is better. By the sound of it, your boiler and pump are new enough to work together to slow down so that it supplies the right amount of heat to the radiators based on how their TRVs are open.
This poses the question who or what is controlling the temperature of my water.
I would have thought that it’s the tank thermostat as the boiler would have no idea what temperature the tank is at without a temperature probe in the tank…. Which I doubt it has.
That thermostat may not be linked to the boiler, or is just linked to the immersion - depends who put the system together. It took me, an experienced plumber and many hours on the phone with Vailant to figure out the system for my house.
Kryton57
Full Member
Blimey, just had an email from bulb that due to usage, credit and the Gov contribution they are putting our DD down from £240 to £214 a month.Not sure what to think of that….
same here - did you also get the pdf file that showed you were now going to be paying even less per kwh than before - i really can't figure that out!
So, am I doing something wrong? Am I not understanding how my CH system works?
Yes
55 is the temperature of the water coming out of the boiler, not the temperature of your house trying to be achieved. As it circulates, it cools and re enters the boiler at (for example) 40 degrees. Below 50-55 and you ar risking nasty things building up in the pipework. So leave it there and adjust your TRV's down so that your rooms reach a comfortable temperature. Remember that one Rad needs to be fully open because if all TRV's close pressure will build up in the system.
Below 50-55 and you ar risking nasty things building up in the pipework.
The CH circulation water will be full of Fernox etc (or rust) and as it's a closed system, it's pretty mute if something wants to grow in there - you're never in contact with it.
Which reminds me, can't recall when I last topped up the Fernox....
same here – did you also get the pdf file that showed you were now going to be paying even less per kwh than before – i really can’t figure that out!
Yes I think this is the key - they've worked out new KWH rates based on current prices minus the gov discount. So we'll now be charged the new discounted rates, which extrapolated out to historic usage has lowered the DD. If my thinking I right, this leaves more of our credit available for later in the winter period e.g. Jan - Mar when we'll really need it.
The hot water just came on. No-one's had a shower so it's still a fairly warm tank in the lifecycle of hot water. The boiler outflow temp was at about 50 and the burner shut off, and I thought that was a bit cold for the hot water heating so I put it up one notch. It came on full then as the outflow temp approached 56 it throttled way back and it settled at 62/56. That's a fairly small temperature differential.
The burner turned off but the water was still circulating as the temps had dropped tou 49/48. So I nudged the thermostat to make that the shut-off temp. Water in the tap is now 49. That seems a reasonable level.
I've calculated I lose about £2.50 worth of heat through the garage door, which is already insulated. I can probably reduce it by half for about £30, or nearly eliminate it for about £150...
It is warmer outside my house than inside at the moment during the day.
I'm getting close to lighting the fire. I've not had the central heating on yet.
It is warmer outside my house than inside at the moment during the day.
Other than the 'height' of summer, for NE England coast, this is extremely common in our house. I've often wondered why.
Other than the ‘height’ of summer, for NE England coast, this is extremely common in our house. I’ve often wondered why.
Because insulation works both ways. Your house loses heat slowly during the night, and outside the sun warms the air quickly but that heat takes time to get into the house because you've insulated it.
So I am still sticking with my original plan with a slight tweak or two.
Originally I had it set to 16 degrees overnight and 18 degrees from 8am to 11pm. It would come on in the morning and maybe for a minute or two late evening. I've now changed that to be 17 degrees from 7.30 to 10am then up to 18 for the remaining day. Mainly so I can enjoy the feeling of warmth a second time in the day.
I’m getting close to lighting the fire. I’ve not had the central heating on yet.
We've not had the CH on yet but we did have the first fire of the year on Wednesday but that was just because my wife and daughter had been in a damp stables/field for several hours and were a bit chilly. By the end of the night, despite the fire being on as low as possible, it was uncomfortably hot.
Well, my cats are less than happy, even though I've had the fire on a few times.
Thermostat currently set to 17, don't think it's kicked in yet.
Still 18° in the SE, same forecast for all of next week too. Never known anything like it this late in the year! I'm still in shorts 😃 House is still 18-19° naturally in all rooms at the moment, no question of putting the heating on yet! (Admittedly last year the thermostat would've been set for 20° in the evenings but given we're economising now just got a blanket for the sofa & it's fine 😃)
Other than the ‘height’ of summer, for NE England coast, this is extremely common in our house. I’ve often wondered why.
It is warmer outside my house than inside at the moment during the day.
I’m getting close to lighting the fire. I’ve not had the central heating on yet.
Unless it's proper pissing it down just open the doors and windows during the hottest part of the day.
I'm pondering quite how leaky my oven might be, I know the door seal is a bit rubbish as the manufacturer doesn't seem to make one anymore, and the pattern ones are about twice as thick so I'm not 100% sure it seals at the top lip. It's also a gas oven so has a constant draught through it for the burner.
Also wondering how much is 'lost' from the boiler and it's pipework as it's now open to the hallway after demolishing the under stairs cupboard.
The heating isn't on, but the house definitely isn't cold yet.
Daytime temps still hovering around 15C too this week, which seems ridiculously mild?
Also wondering how much is ‘lost’ from the boiler and it’s pipework
I too am wondering this. We have a hot water tank, the pipes leaving it act as heatsinks. As much DIY as I've now done I think I could open up the pipe boxes in the corners of the rooms and stick some insulation on.
Currently annoyed with. Annoyed with my boiler ATM - on a low setting whilst heating up hot water it will run until the outflow reaches say 62C or whatever then switch off, continuing to circulate the hot water to heat the tank. Fine, because the returning water is at say 56C. But when the temp drops down to 48 or so it won't turn back on and continues to pump the now lukewarm water around the circuit which is actually cooling my tank.
I think I'll have to set it to run only once per day, thus ensuring the tank is cooler and it can extract more heat from the circulating water and ensuring the return flow temp is low enough to allow condensing.
Doesn't your tank have zone valves on.
Yes, to activate either the heating or the hot water. But the problem is that I am trying to turn the boiler down as low as possible for better efficiency particularly with heating, when it ends up coming on. But heating the hot water only drops the flow temps about 6C. So if the boiler output temp goes above 63C then the return flow temp goes above 57C and it's not condensing any more.
I can set the outflow temperature to 63C, but burner cannot go below 9kW so when it reaches that temp it shuts off and the water keeps flowing - which is fine, it'll keep heating the tank with the water in circulation. The temperatures continue to drop of course as the water in the circuit cools. But it won't turn back on again until the flow temp is really low, 45C or so. At which point the flowing water is now slightly cooling the hot water tank.
Still going here in Exeter, although it has been pretty mild. It's certainly warmer outside than in the north facing room i use for work so primaloft slippers and gilet are on.
Some form of exercise, either a run or ride at lunchtime tops up the body warm till the kids are back from school and i forget about being cold.
Had to put the heating on last night. Kids came home from school soaking wet and shoes and coats wouldn't have dried otherwise.
So if the boiler output temp goes above 63C then the return flow temp goes above 57C and it’s not condensing any more.
So your trying to make it work in its optimised zone on a system it's not optimised to work on. What happens when you want to use the heating as designed ?
read this. thought of here...
read this. thought of here…
It was rightly slated in the letters section the next day.
Whoever Julian Baggini is, I want to punch him in the face. For most people in this country a £2K increase in living costs in one year can't just be soaked up. He is underestimating just how many people are being hit hard this year, after years of incomes decreasing in real terms before the problems of 2022 hit.
Had to put the heating on last night. Kids came home from school soaking wet and shoes and coats wouldn’t have dried otherwise.
That's my biggest challenge... but at least I have a bathroom with a extractor and a fan heater. Not had to resort to it yet but all my riding gear is still wet so it may well get used tonight.
So your trying to make it work in its optimised zone on a system it’s not optimised to work on. What happens when you want to use the heating as designed ?
Yes I'm trying to make it work as efficiently as I can. I haven't tried measuring the temps with the heating on yet.
I have discovered that turning the knob on the front down doesn't reduce the burner, it reduces the target temp it heats to - so it still runs full blast until it gets close to that temp then it slows and eventually stops. If the load is enough, it can continue to run at that lower temp in a steady state - but there's never a steady state. There really isn't a lot I can do with this system, I don't think.
Yes I’m trying to make it work as efficiently as I can. I haven’t tried measuring the temps with the heating on yet.
Well your not really Your trying to set it to a very specific set of circumstances.
How ever it's probably where the myth that it's cheaper to leave your heating on all the time is borne. Because it takes 7days to get it back up 3 degrees.