I put the heating on yesterday, purely to check everything is working ok and there were no issues
Front room is currently 18.5 degrees, heating wont be used until it drops down to 16 degrees
I run hot so dont feel the cold too much which is great in winter, in summer its hell as i just sweat loads, went on holiday to Spain once and it was 33 degrees and i just died!
Wife is menopuasal so she hates heat at the momment
I do a Zwift ride about 6pm so stay warm until about 9. I don't seem to retain heat like I used to, so on for about hour on is fine when it drops below 17. Seems only cost 30p.
Probably putting the lounge storage heater on for first time this autumn, so max input and output.
On today
We have the heating set to a comfortable 20 degrees most of the cooler months, even in summer when the temps drop
However, in bed, I'll have the thermostatic rad valve turned to off or 1 and sometimes the window open. Couldn't bear the thought of a leccy blanket, I sometimes sweat with just a duvet
After having to clear several inches of snow and ice off my car this morning followed by 6 hours in an unheated warehouse I've relented and put my heating on for the first time since about last Feb. I hope it works!
I've used my central heating for a few hours recently. averaging around 3hrs per month. Had the fire lit a few times. Maxed out on the Octopus agile cheap electricity for electric heating when available. Saved a fortune in gas. Kitchen was 4 degrees c this morning tho! so probably taking not turning the heating on a bit too far!?
I've not done an ambient oustide temperature comparison, but in the last 2 months I've used less gas compared to the same period last year - 111m3 vs 160m3
The only thing I've done different is have a layback temp of 16c 24/7, and I boost it up to about 19-20 for a few hours per day in the evening, rather than turning the heat off and on at certain times.
I guess that's because with a baseline of 16c there's less work for the boiler to do to maintain that and bring it up to 20c than if it was starting from a lot lower...?
Added bonus, the house never gets too uncomfortable either as 16c is the lowest temp it gets to.
Has it got windows and doors ?
Yep, it's a single story Victorian with no cavity wall insulation, poor roof insulation, decent double glazed 1m² window, composite door and a skylight. IKEA kitchen in it, fitted to uninsulated brick walls 🙁
The Victorians didn't know how to build warm homes 😉
The only thing I’ve done different is have a layback temp of 16c 24/7, and I boost it up to about 19-20 for a few hours per day in the evening, rather than turning the heat off and on at certain times.
Ours is on 17.5 during the day and off at night, it only drops <16 on the coldest nights. That's with the rad's balanced, pump turned down and boiler set to ~62C. Most of the rads never actually get 'hot' so it takes a few hours to have a really noticeable difference but I think that actually makes it feel warmer as you don't move around the house finding hot/cold spots.
It's that time of year. Noticed it's definitely getting colder in the house. Down to 19 Celsius today so had to pop a fleece on over the t-shirt. Still wearing shorts.
The lack of sunshine isn't helping.
Mrs jeffl is well trained. She's cold but refuses to pop the heating on until November.
Gave it a squirt last night to test but still too warm for this old walrus.
We have succumbed to a half hour first thing and another boost in the evening if a jumper and blanket aren't enough.
I’ve had the heating on already, feels cold today and the heated seats came on in the car this morning - contemplating a fire now but it’s not quite cold enough yet… The cloud cover keeping the chill off.
Since the installation of new central heating system a year ago, my flat is much more bearable in winter now, as I set the thermostats to 16c. The heating only kicks in when the temp drops below 16c. Before that my living room was so cold the temperature could drop as low as 11c on a cold night with bedroom temp at between 5c to 7c. However, the energy bill has also doubled. Just few months ago, my energy company sent me an email asking me to fix the rate. Nahh ... can't be arsed, so I foresee getting fleece this winter. For the past few nights the room temp has been dropped to around 17c, and colleagues just told me there would be a freezing winter this year. Balls, I replied as I foresee a warm winter. LOL!
Yup been on a few times already.I,m a sedantary old softy
My heating is set for 18°, and it’s been coming on occasionally for the last couple of weeks. Fortunately, I had all my double glazing replaced a couple of years ago, along with the very old and rather draughty front door, so that’s improved things quite a lot.
and colleagues just told me there would be a freezing winter this year.
I’ve been wondering about that, my Pyrocanthus hedges out front are covered with berries, and what’s unusual is that the regular pigeons and blackbirds are out eating them; that rarely happens, except when it’s really cold, and we start getting the continental thrushes coming in from the fields. Which drives the male blackbird, who considers my house and garden a significant part of his territory, absolutely nuts!
My thermostat is curently set to 19c... i've heard my boiler fire up a few times in the last few days, might be time to bring out the extra blanket for the bed.
continental thrushes
Bloody continental thrushes.
Commin over ere, and giving us yeast infections.
Send them back!
I've been totally upfront with the kids and Mrs officer on our projected costs because I know the energy demand for our house and our new unit rate. I've asked them to put a jumper and long trousers on so that I can continue to pay their driving lessons.
God your house sounds I fun place to be 😂
Ours has been on for the last month or so, oil prices are pretty much stable, and roughly half the price it was in COVID
and roughly half the price it was in COVID
Errr. It was 20p a litre during COVID.
My heating is set for 18°, and it’s been coming on occasionally for the last couple of weeks. Fortunately, I had all my double glazing replaced a couple of years ago, along with the very old and rather draughty front door, so that’s improved things quite a lot.
and colleagues just told me there would be a freezing winter this year.
I’ve been wondering about that, my Pyrocanthus hedges out front are covered with berries, and what’s unusual is that the regular pigeons and blackbirds are out eating them; that rarely happens, except when it’s really cold, and we start getting the continental thrushes coming in from the fields. Which drives the male blackbird, who considers my house and garden a significant part of his territory, absolutely nuts!
You know plants produce fruit based on what the weather is/has been.. They can't predict the future.
The heat has come on a few times (thermostat set to to 19 degrees).
Log burner hasn't been lit yet though.
Same here.... The last 2 years the log burner has been lit from the beginning of October so I'm viewing this as a win.
My log bags inside are still empty, had no need to fill them. Saying that, i'll be filling them tomorrow when i get home from work! Due to be below zero every morning for the next few days.
We put ours on for an hour on Sunday night as the temperature inside had dropped to 15deg, but it's switched back off again now.
might be time to bring out the extra blanket for the bed
That's one thing I never do – we have a summer-weight duvet on all year around. If it is cold, I wear a tee-shirt. If it is *really* cold, then I sometimes wear PJ bottoms too. Ohh, and we never have heating on in our bedroom either.
Had the CH on for an hour or so about three times this week, and wearing wool socks today.
As a resident scrawny STW wuss, it was 18.5C in my office (aka the spare room) this morning, which calls for a T, plus a long sleeved T, plus lambswool rollneck jumper. And the heating is on for the time being.
Haven't yet broken out the big chunky wool socks though, although I am looking foward to that soon
Heating is set to 20C all year round, so it's been coming on now and again the last week or 2. Most mornings this week. We don't 'turn the heating on' as such.
Possibly an insulting thread to those people genuinely not able to afford to put any heating on? My thermostat is set at 20 so goes on based on that, all year around. Not sure what you are trying to win by not having it on.
Mine came on for the first time this morning in sunny Essex. My house is a shitty old 1950s build with solid walls.
It goes mouldy if it gets too cold, as a result the thermostat is set to 17.5 and is set to 'on' year round.
I borrowed a colleagues IR camera and found a few cold spots, so looks like I'll be doing some DIY to remedy the work done by incompetent tradesmen.
Possibly an insulting thread to those people genuinely not able to afford to put any heating on? My thermostat is set at 20 so goes on based on that, all year around. Not sure what you are trying to win by not having it on.
this.
Though ours is on a Nest and set temperature varies from 20 in the mornings to 22 in the evening.
Yeah, don't understand the whole turning heating on/off thing. Each room has an appropriate schedule set up, and I let it do its thing all year.
Gave in the other night and put the karkelugn on. The downstairs part of the house is generally warm enough with the radiators on (especially now that the cat has a second catflap and I do not have to leave the inner door open for him), but I wanted to sit in front of the fire for a bit and warm up the upstairs a bit.
I have even, finally, closed my bedroom window. Not yet put the inner windows back in, but that will happen soon enough.
15 mins to dismantle a pallet and cut it into 500mm lengths with just a hand saw, keep the beech, ash and oak logs for decorative basket until the real cold comes in
Firelighters from B&M but can't believe £5 for a wee bundle of kindling, so easy to pick up or chop your own
21° so easy in one room with others progressively cooler as I like a couple of windows slightly open
Kids including mine were brought up with too much central heating but they pay for their own now
Same here, round at my place i like the bedroom cool, my partner complains about this when she gets into bed (with her own, seperate, winter weight duvet) come midnight she's got the duvet almost on the floor complaining about the heat i'm kicking out.That's one thing I never do – we have a summer-weight duvet on all year around.
At her place i loose about a third of my body weight to sweat every night. The minimum temp for the apartment is about 22 degrees.
Yeah, don't understand the whole turning heating on/off thing. Each room has an appropriate schedule set up
Erm, some of us just have a single dial (probably from the 1980s min my case) and valves on the rads.
I only flick it on when I actually feel chilly, but that doesn't always happen at the same temperature.
I sometimes set it to a minimum when it gets really cold though.
I’m reeling from two things:
- people have heating on during the day
- that they let a thermostat decide to put the heating on in September
While I agree, there is nuance there. A really well insulated house = heating on all day can work well.
Also, our heating has outdoor temperature sensor and is smart enough to calculate when the heating may be needed and fully modulate the boiler.
All that said, I am too tight arse to have the heating 'on' by default at a particular date and try to push to mid October and get it switched off by 1st of April...
Ours is on a fairly standard split system with a thermostat upstairs and downstairs, with TRVs on all the radiators, bar the two rooms with the thermostats.
However our combi boiler does have a toggle letting you enable the heating and hot water or just the hot water.
The thermostats also have an away mode which doesn't let the temperature drop below 15 Celsius I think.
So I do choose to actively turn it on and off in a sense, normally at the start and end of winter.
I did look at going down the whole smart thermostat and TRV route but the initial outlay was too high, it would have taken me several years to recoup, and we don't plan on being here that long.
A really well insulated house = heating on all day can work well.
In a really well insulated house just living in the house keeps it warm enough. In a fairly well insulated house there will be less energy loss if the temperature is allowed to drop a little at night or when unoccupied.
Currently 22°C in the middle of the house with no heating. In the sunniest room it's 28°C. We've only just gone from leaving shutters closed on the sunny side to keep the house cool and it'll be a while before we light the wood burner. One of the nice things about living 43°N is the short heating season.
No gas central heating for me this year. Combi boiler broken.
I shall be relying on cheap or negative octopus agile electricity pricing, the log burner and heating the person not the room. 🔥🔥
Currently 14°c indoors and cooling slowly ❄️❄️☃️
Heat pump at its lowest setting is holding the house at between 20-21C. Radiators in the bedroom are switched off and there have been a few nights where the air con upstairs is running to cool the bedroom while the downstairs is being heated.
Combi boiler broken.
must be difficult to have a shower or a bath ?
Our heating goes on if Mrs Zip decides it looks cold outside!
Combi boiler broken.
must be difficult to have a shower or a bath ?
Cold shower after a warm water wash at the sink ❄️🔥.
Only I has to deal with the broken combi. If there were more in the house I'd get it fixed.
I'm also considering going full electric for my heating and hot water needs so repairing or replacing the gas boiler seems like it could be money spent elsewhere.
17c and moist. Had a week of nice weather but chilly and damp today. Office aircon is on toasty.
Has anyone used a radiator booster fan? Did make any difference? Would you recommend?
Our kitchen is always a bit on the cold side while the rest of the house is at a reasonable temperature. I think the radiator is a little under sized. Not sure whether to get a larger / higher output radiator installed or try a booster fan on the current radiator.
I’m reeling from two things:
- people have heating on during the day
- that they let a thermostat decide to put the heating on in September
While I agree, there is nuance there. A really well insulated house = heating on all day can work well.
Also, our heating has outdoor temperature sensor and is smart enough to calculate when the heating may be needed and fully modulate the boiler.
All that said, I am too tight arse to have the heating 'on' by default at a particular date and try to push to mid October and get it switched off by 1st of April...
1) some people work from home (both of us in our case now), in a well insulated house heating on all day (possibly with setback periods at a lower temperature rather than off) works well
2) why wouldn't you have the heating on if it's cold in September?
Ours is driven by a outdoor stat and the Underfloor runs whenever the outside temperature is below 13C but because it runs at a very low temp - the water flowing in it is only 21C when its' that warm out - it costs a negligible amount to run. I leave it 'on' all year unless we go on holiday for more than a week at a time in winter. Our gas bill for this calendar year is looking like it will be about £600 (and c35% of that will be from hot water based on previous years). We built our house well beyond the building regs insulation and airtighting requirements so its far from typical but I'm still amazed when I hear about people building extensions (or even whole houses) and complaining about how much insulation they have to install or doing the minimum they can get away with. Why wouldn't you want your house to be warm and to minimise the costs of heating in future?
How much are other peoples heating bills? I was always amazed at my ex brother in law. Flashy car on finance, fancy watch, expensive holidays but refused to put the heating on and had a cold house. It seemed a weird set of priorities to me.
A really well insulated house = heating on all day can work well.
In a really well insulated house just living in the house keeps it warm enough. ....One of the nice things about living 43°N is the short heating season.
As you've said, that clearly depends on where the house is. Passive house standard still has heating input - just not much.
As my heating bills have increased quit a bit this year, I was looking at taking some extra steps, I was wondering if using something like tessamol thermo cover would make much difference to an already double glazed window?
I am in a rented apartment so am limited in how much I can do, but am planning on getting some reflective insulation behind the radiators and while browsing saw the plastic film that is usually used to make a single glazed window double glazed and wondered if making the double glazed upvc windows into triple glazed windows would be cost effective or just pointless.
The heat pump decided to stop working on Hogmanay - fortunately the hot water is still working. Managing to keep the temperature in the low teens with fan heater and bioethanol stove.
We were at the in-laws for Christmas. They're in a 17 year old? SIP self build with 3g windows. I don't know the full specs and whether insulation was at or boyond building regs but it's got mvhr so airtightness should have been decent (though front door and folding sliding door seals have not done well - latter gets gaffa taped for winter)
Their pellet burner broke a little while before christmas so it was pretty chilly. Luckily still had electric immersion, and the pellet burner might have been doing something (it was cutting in and out - how much actual heating it did is debatable. The radiators upstairs never got hot).
What it did show was just how poor an open fire* is - we were burning an enormous amount of wood and it was OK if you were in front of it, but did next to nothing for the rest of the house.
(yes, architect was head in hands about open fire in a modern, airtight, house, but old farmer won out. Supect a lifetime of open fires is very likely reason he only has one lung now due to cancer)
Supect a lifetime of open fires is very likely reason he only has one lung now due to cancer
There's other more likely causes TBH.
What it did show was just how poor an open fire* is - we were burning an enormous amount of wood and it was OK if you were in front of it, but did next to nothing for the rest of the house.
Yes, open fires are suck a huge amount of air out of the house and out through the chimney - which is why stoves are so much more efficient as the air intake can be throttled down to draw the minimum amount from the room while radiating much more heat than an open fire ever could.
(and the truth is that wood alone isn't the best fuel)
As my heating bills have increased quit a bit this year, I was looking at taking some extra steps, I was wondering if using something like tessamol thermo cover would make much difference to an already double glazed window?
We have some DG units with a narrow air gap dating from back in the 90's and sometimes I can feel the cold air falling down from them. Especially in my office which is pretty small but has two fairly large windows.
A little research seems to show that simply changing the DG units to Low E glass (preferably filled with argon) should make a pretty big difference without the disruption and cost of entirely new windows.
But you're a bit more hindered...
I am in a rented apartment so am limited in how much I can do
Supect a lifetime of open fires is very likely reason he only has one lung now due to cancer
There's other more likely causes TBH.
It's a significant risk factor, and they've always lived rurally so other sources of air pollution are low.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/sep/how-air-pollution-can-cause-lung-cancer-non-smokers-revealed
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/sep/indoor-wood-burners-linked-decline-lung-function
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412023004014
Has anyone used a radiator booster fan? Did make any difference? Would you recommend?
Our kitchen is always a bit on the cold side while the rest of the house is at a reasonable temperature. I think the radiator is a little under sized. Not sure whether to get a larger / higher output radiator installed or try a booster fan on the current radiator.
Yes, I made one out of PC fans, it has helped for sure. It increases the effective output of the radiator by something like 50% at low temperatures. The problem is now that the flow rate isn't enough because this particular rad is at the far end of the loop. However, I found you can get radiator flow booster pumps: WRIGHT Pumps
Our heating failed on Friday last week, luckily I was able to get a decent heating engineer out on Saturday. Smart heating controls were all fine and boiler was working fine (still had hot water) but actuators were not opening to either of the two separate heating zones. Motors replaced in each and a couple of hours labour, we were back up and running and £200 worse off (pretty reasonable for callout, labour and parts I thought).
The weird thing is how both actuators failed on exactly the same day. One linked the the radiators in the old part of the house, the other to the UFH heating in the extension. They have sperate thermostats and come on and off independently of each other. Seems a hell of a coincidence for them to both fail on the same day,
It's a significant risk factor, and they've always lived rurally so other sources of air pollution are low.
I was thinking more along the lines of smoking and passive smoking.
I'm sure you'll probs say they've never smoked or been in a room where someone was smoking 😉
I thought you were alluding to farmers lung
I really enjoyed the time I spent outside de-icing the condensate pipework today (I also lie). Turns out the solution to a cold house is go outside for a bit. Indoors feels lovely and warm then.
My stove in living room hasn’t been off since before new year, i pile it up at night with door shut and mum piles it up in morning and opens door so my 1bed bungalow is warm enough for me to get up and get moving, currently only 22° in living room and 18° in bedroom, it should get up to around 24° or hopefully more if I throw on more coal
Thankflly no snow here in Galloway but it’s still bloody cold
mum piles it up in morning and opens door so my 1bed bungalow is warm enough for me to get up and get moving
Where does your Mum sleep if you both live in a one bed bungalow. Are you 'very close'?
they've always lived rurally
More likely pesticides, herbicides, fungicides... that have caused the cancer.
It's currently 15°C in the house. Sometimes only having a small wood burner lit when we're in isn't enough, but it'll do, I've put long Johns on 🙂 . A friend has lent me a thermal imaging camera. This tells me that the house has nasty thermal bridges where inside brick walls meet outside brick walls and has also some walls where I need to improve the wall insulation. It was interesting comparing different types of glazing in the same room.
Triple units 15.6 °C
Triple seconday (above door) 15.1°C
Double secondary (door) 13.6
The extension I've built to modern insulation standards has no thermal bridges and it seems however good the windows/doors they're the main source of heat loss. In the old retro-insulated part of the house the triple glazing units with shutters barely show warmer than th ewalls from the outside and the thermal bridges around the frames I can't do much about show warmer.
I was a bit disappointed till I pointed the camera at some neighbouring houses.
Had the karkelugn on yesterday and will have it on again tonight. It was cold enough the other night I put a fire on in the bedroom (-15c outside, 4c in the room) but it has warmed up enough now that I won't need to worry about that today (only -10c).
Inside is currently about 16c, so I should really put my slippers on, but the radiators are holding off me getting out my work blanket. I really should get a air source heat pump installed, but that means getting a new floor fitted in the kitchen and lounge to seal up the gaps and draughts.
Those radiator fans are interesting, I think they would be a good solution to aid me in my rented apartment.
Does anyone have some real world figures if they actually help? And how noisy are they? I am a bit oversensitive to environmental noise.
Yep:
The lower the temperature the bigger the boost. about 60% or so at 35C flow temp.
I can't speak for the ones you buy, as I made my own from PC fans and a PWM speed controller. Mine is audible when sitting next to the rad but it's a lot less noisy than the fridge (it's in the kitchen).
Yep:
The lower the temperature the bigger the boost. about 60% or so at 35C flow temp.
I can't speak for the ones you buy, as I made my own from PC fans and a PWM speed controller. Mine is audible when sitting next to the rad but it's a lot less noisy than the fridge (it's in the kitchen).
Interesting that, so am I right that the room is warmer, but the radiators aren't cooled more by the fans (if they were then it would mean the boiler works harder and costs go up).
Our flow temp. is about 60, maybe 65, even so, as we have an old house ('20's) with no cavity walls it's still bloody hard to heat. We do have double glazing but it's at least 30 years old.
Our boiler is well over specced and the rads are what the engineer recommended - all the same, it takes quite a few hours (maybe 3, dependsing on outdoor temp.) to warm up the rooms, then they cool fast when the heat goes off. I can't bear the idea of keeping the heat on 24/7, which seems to be what heating engineers universally recommend, as SO much just goes straight out the walls.
Anyone got a link to a rad, fan solution that works and one can buy, please?
so am I right that the room is warmer, but the radiators aren't cooled more by the fans (if they were then it would mean the boiler works harder and costs go up).
No - the coooler the radiator is (at the exit) the warmer the room will be, because the heat is being transferred from the rad to the room. There is a temperature drop across the radiator called delta T - Normally at 65C it might be I dunno, 8C, so the input is 65C and the outlet is 57C. If you stick a fan on, the outlet might be 55C which means more heat has been transferred from the rad to the room. The outlet water is cooler, and that mixes in to the outlet water from all the other rads to make the return temperature to the boiler slightly cooler. And the boiler will have to work slightly harder. But, a cooler return temp on a condensing boiler actually improves efficiency anyway slightly. It's exactly the same as having a larger radiator. However, fans do also distribute the air better.
Costs will go up a tiny but but that's because you're putting more heat into the room, so it makes sense.
If your house is poorly insulated (sounds like it is) then you're NOT better off keeping it on all the time. That only works if you have decent insulation.
so am I right that the room is warmer, but the radiators aren't cooled more by the fans (if they were then it would mean the boiler works harder and costs go up).
No - the coooler the radiator is (at the exit) the warmer the room will be, because the heat is being transferred from the rad to the room. There is a temperature drop across the radiator called delta T - Normally at 65C it might be I dunno, 8C, so the input is 65C and the outlet is 57C. If you stick a fan on, the outlet might be 55C which means more heat has been transferred from the rad to the room. The outlet water is cooler, and that mixes in to the outlet water from all the other rads to make the return temperature to the boiler slightly cooler. And the boiler will have to work slightly harder. But, a cooler return temp on a condensing boiler actually improves efficiency anyway slightly. It's exactly the same as having a larger radiator. However, fans do also distribute the air better.
Costs will go up a tiny but but that's because you're putting more heat into the room, so it makes sense.
If your house is poorly insulated (sounds like it is) then you're NOT better off keeping it on all the time. That only works if you have decent insulation.
thanks for the explanation, and the link - looks like it's £107 for each radiator - might be cheaper to just let the rad's come on earlier? Unless we use 'em for years I guess. I can see why you made your own. Then there's the issue of getting the power near to the rads. hmm, looks like I'll have to continue rug on lap and rab hut boots on with a down jacket on top! (this with the room stat set to 20 - and it's maybe reached 18, but not near the floorboards I guess )
Bigger rads ?
Do you have T22 double panel double convector rads installed now? Might be a better bet to increase the btu available from the existing boiler and pipe works. If you can source taller rads that fit I would do that as well. Surprisingly cheap and certainly DIYable .
Maybe do 1 room first to see if you get some gains , will cost more in gas for the initial hour as the hw returns temps will be lower .
Just shut the lock shield valve down on the radiators to get a bigger delta T across the radiator. They should be all balanced anyway with the correct delta T for the heat source.
LOL, mine went on properly a while ago, when it dipped below zero. Now down to -10 and 30 cm of snow out there. Forecast is colder over the weekend
Just shut the lock shield valve down on the radiators to get a bigger delta T across the radiator
That doesn't always work - for whatever reason, the run is too long on mine or the rad is too low down or something. If I throttle down the rads to the appropriate dT/temperature the kitchen one does get warmer but not quite enough.
Do you have T22 double panel double convector rads installed now?
T22s are noticeably thicker and whilst good, don't always fit. However T21s are nearly as good as T22s but barely any thicker than T11 so are a good investment IMO.
Well, won't need the heating this afternoon, just cleared about 30m of path and dug the car out. 40 cm of snow...