Not putting the heating on – how’s it going…?

Every time I run the numbers, there’s not a strong case to upgrade

yep, every case is different, it depends how much gas you use, and what you pay for the gas, at the peak of gas prices last winter,my new boiler/cylinder etc would have paid back in 4 or 5 years (even faster without the government price support) . With prices now significantly lower its looking like payback in around 10 years – but I presume prices will continue to drop a bit over the next couple of years, pushing the return on investment past 10 years.

There are other non financial benefits though – like the house now heats up faster than with the old boiler – cant work out why this would be , but it does. Plus a much greater supply of hot water from the much larger hot water cylinder means we’re not constantly waiting for the water to heat up after one shower etc, plus the water heats up much faster due to the fas recovery coil in the unvented tank. Our newer setup seems just more fit for purpose/better than the old one, but again this does depend how unfit for purpose the old setup is. I think ours was very unfit for purpose

Also some people (not really me though) take the view that return on investment is not as important as just reducing your use of fossil fuels.

I replaced the summer duvet with the winter duvet yesterday.

I’ve only had the summer duvet on for a couple of weeks.

Desk thermometer showing 20C at the mo, heating not going on yet.

Same here. Numbers for replacing our early 80s baxi with just a gas valve and heat exchanger were sitting at about 18 years payback until fuel prices went nuts. It was kettling and short cycling just before the price jump so got it changed just it time.

Ballparking comparative costs, (I’ve not compared volume consumptions pre and post), given domestic prices peaked about 80-95% higher than pre, we’re using about 40-50% less. But, its a much cleverer modulating system boiler with fully integrated pump and flow controls, AND its been heavily optimised for condensing, AND we reduced our standard indoors temp to 18 from 20, AND we also replaced the old tank for a new heavily insulated one, AND we changed to an unvented system for efficiency and reduced losses through the header tank.

It’s October, the sun’s out, it’s 18c outside, and we’ve got all the windows and doors open.

Nope, heating not on yet 😆

Same here except it’s 22 during the day and hasn’t dropped below 13 in the night for a long time. Still sleeping with the bedroom window open otherwise it gets too hot! Does help I’m in a very warm block of flats, even though I’m on the ground floor. I’ve normally had the heating on once or twice now due to predicted cold snaps (storage heaters so have to plan a day ahead) but not this year, I’m actually having to clean flies off the car it’s so warm!

I’m away at the mo, but the Wiser app tells me that the heating kicked in for 15 mins or so this morning, as the temp in hallway and bedroom above got down to the ‘Away mode’ set point of 14c.

Mid Oct ain’t bad, but may lower the set point!

I’m away at the mo, but the Wiser app tells me that the heating kicked in for 15 mins or so this morning, as the temp in hallway and bedroom above got down to the ‘Away mode’ set point of 14c.

My house this morning was about 14c as well, that was quite chilly! But outside had got down to 0c so not unexpected. Popped the heating on for half a day while I went riding, it was all toasty warm when I got back.

That’s the first time it’s been on this season though.

I’ve overridden my timer several times over the last few days, because evening temperatures have noticeably dropped, and now I’m at home most of the time, instead of at work twelve hours a day, I’ve revised my timer settings, and I’ll review them again as the winter progresses. It’s on right now, because it was getting noticeably chilly by around teatime.

It was kettling and short cycling just before the price jump so got it changed just it time.

Probably limescale, you can clean it out with Fernox DS40.

We’re in a super hard water area and I descale ours every 10 years or so (when it starts kettling).

Had to put mine on for the first time this morning.
Below freezing (-1C) outside and the house was down to 13C.

Ours kicked in for the first time Saturday morning, then yesterday evening. Cars needed scraping this morning, autumn had arrived.

I have no heating 🙁

c/h boiler died in September, British Gas condemned it. So now I’m trying to get it replaced, turns out I have an old fashioned one pipe system which is not suitable for modern combi boilers.. so now I need a whole new heating system 🥶

Tested the heating yesterday. Only the second time since we moved in. No need to put it on yet but wanted to make sure it worked.

My heating is off. The pub I’m in have lit their fire though 🙂

First real wintery day, daughter left the front door open going to her mates, our heating thermometer went down below 18 and it kicked in, worked fine, no horrible smell this year, did have a new boiler and so on, so that might be the reason.

Fully expect a new ‘crisis’ to appear in the next two weeks that’ll unfortunately see energy prices double before December!

I’ve caved in, thermostat at 20c now….

Painting:
“The arrival of the gas bill”

Oil on canvas, artist unknown.

LOL @mattyfez 🤣🤣

Ours kicked in yesterday set at 17 hallway sitting at 16.5 got the fire on too that’ll warm the house.

Just got back from a week in Cyprus and it’s a bit of shock…

Roasty toasty holiday cottage in a chilly Northumberland 👌😁

Stove lit for the first time tonight…. still no heating.

Stove lit for the first time tonight…. still no heating.

I’m sure we’ve been over this many times in this thread already but what part of having a fire in your house is not having heating?

yep our heating has kicked in.  set to 18.  was down to 2 last night.

Put it on as got fed up of all the doors sticking. 

A trip to B&Q on the cards here, MrsFFJA’s house was 10 degrees this morning. A day with the heating on and it raised the temp to a tropical 12 degrees….  No noticeable draughts, but wondering if the large un-insulated void below the ground floor is making it so cold? Suspect no insulation above the spare room that’s over the garage too. I’m hoping some insulation in those spots is going to make a difference as it’s always freezing in winter!!

A day with the heating on and it raised the temp to a tropical 12 degrees

Are you sure the boiler was on all day and is actually connected to the radiators?  That sounds horrific.

I’m sure we’ve been over this many times in this thread already but what part of having a fire in your house is not having heating?

Yeah, this always amuses me also. “I’ve not put the heating on yet but I’ve lit a massive fire in the house to keep me warm” 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

what part of having a fire in your house is not having heating?

That’s a good point!

Of course you’re right, but lighting the stove to heat ⅓rd of downstairs and nothing upstairs feels better than burning oil to heat the whole place!

My heating came on yesterday morning. Officially winter in Leeds!

Mine wants to be on now… but i need to order some gas, which will take till Weds… it is, a bit on the chilly side this morning.

2 Deg outside here this morning in the South Cotswolds.  My Nest is complaining vociferously about “NOT BEING ABLE TO CONTROL THIS EQUIPMENT!”  as it’s less than 14c in the house and it’s trying desperately to reach 17c and has been for some time.  I may need to switch the boiler to allow for central heating again…

Winter is coming.

My heating came on yesterday morning. Officially winter in Leeds!

This, this morning.

MrsFFJA’s house was 10 degrees this morning. A day with the heating on and it raised the temp to a tropical 12 degrees

That’s not an insulation issue – the heating clearly isn’t working. How many radiators are there? Are they hot?

Heating is on, was at £3 before the family even woke up this morning…not great.

We converted the spare room into my little girls room and it is freezing cold, every other room is toasty except hers.  Just cant figure out where the cold is coming from except its a north facing corner room, 2 external walls and above the porch/hallway.  I’ve doubled the insulation in the roof above her room and even checked the stud walls for insulation (none there).  She wont sleep in there anymore, proper shitty for a first bedroom!

Next step is hiring a thermal imaging camera to see where the rooms losing heat.

@molgrips 8 radiators and yep they get hot but this never seems to lift the temp. Tbf they’re probably too small for the size of house I think.

Our heating clicked on yesterday.
My wife must have been anticipating it, as a couple of minutes after it came on she shouted “Whoop!! The heating’s on” down the stairs.

I’m quite pleased, as we’d reached the point where the towels in the bathroom weren’t drying & the normal suspect doors that stick around this time of year are starting to be a pain.

There’s a lot of moisture in the air at the moment. I guess partly because it’s still quite warm during the day, but I’ve been wiping a lot of condensation from the windows over the last few days.
Might treat myself to one of those Karcher window vac things.

Dehumidifier. 

How hot though? Warm, or too hot to touch? You need to get someone in I reckon.

Today I have reconfigured the thermostat with a 0.5C span so it has less work to do when it comes on, and when running at 50C flow temp I hope it can hit that 0.5C before cycling occurs. Although, at 50C the cycling is quite long – 3-5 mins.

I am also going to get new hinges for the windows to make sure they shut properly.

Yesterday’s frost was a surprise, so heating went on. It’s on timed, and only if house drops below 18. WFH today, so just popped the fan heater on for a few minutes in the conservatory.

Most importantly, got the ice wheels on standby for the commute.

Went out for hours on the motorbike yesterday, coming back as the sun was going down and the temperature had plummeted.

Had that deep in your bones feeling cold all evening so had to fire up the wood burner for the first time.
😔

Nothing yet on the south coast Riviera.

Did install the electric blanket and added a layer to the bottom half of the summer duvet.

16c indoors this morning which is fine. Booked a chimney sweep but as usual left it abit late and he’s busy for 2 weeks.

Going to see if I can make it to November before limited use of the central heating, but working shifts and getting in the door at 8.40pm means it’s far too late to bother with the wood burner so it will have to be a quick 30mins of ch before bed.