What temperature do you usually have inside your houses, what is the thermostat at, or when does the heating go on for winter?

[Defenderben]

Generally turn the thermostat up to 16 this time of year.

 

Got a multi fuel burner in the lounge but having not used it for a couple of winters, all the seals (not the glass and door) have dried and can’t use it now 😞 as it tends to smoke/sting your eyes if lit now.

It needs totally dismantling and rebuilding with new sealant on all the joints but being old cast iron, doubt the fixings will undo. It tends to just sit there now as a decoration.

[SC03OTT]

Bedrooms (upstairs) are set to 19°C and the living room (downstairs) set to 20.5°C. I’ve got Tado. Main stat is in the living room and each bedroom has a TRV and can call for heat on their own. 
 

During the autumn, I turn the bedroom TRVs on but leave the downstairs off. When the bedrooms call for heat, downstairs (plus bathrooms (3), kitchen, hallway) also come on (as it’s just a single circuit). I find this is enough to keep the house at the correct temperature. When we get to winter, I’ll turn downstairs on as well so it can also call for heat.  During the summer, the whole lot is turned off. I don’t want it heating early in the morning when a few hours later the sun will do it for free. 
 

Other than that those three manual interventions, I just set and forget. Geofencing takes care of the rest. 

Edited 20 October, 2021 by SC03OTT

[WolfyWesty]

Having recently replaced a 15 year old boiler, it's nice to have working heating and hot water 😁

 

We have a nEst Thermostat is usually set around 18C (minimal temperature is 15C). If it's really cold, turn it up to 21C in the evenings. 

[MATT0693]

I might have to rethink my heating strategy, I thought 23'c was about normal. 😐. 

[SC03OTT]

3 hours ago, MATT0693 said:

I might have to rethink my heating strategy, I thought 23'c was about normal. 😐. 

If that’s comfortable for you then who cares. People get hung up on temperature. I get a good laugh at people on the Tado Facebook group who seem obsessed with their TRVs not being 0.1°C accurate. The temperate they measure is - for me - borderline irrelevant. The question is “am I comfortable at the temperature I set”. If yes, then great. If not, adjust. Even if that does mean it’s now at 23°C and others are at 19°C. 

[Evil]

6 hours ago, MATT0693 said:

I might have to rethink my heating strategy, I thought 23'c was about normal. 😐. 

The way I see it is if its warm enough to walk about in t-shirts and shorts then the stat goes down. 

If it's still cold and everyone's wearing jumpers and long trousers, it can go up a bit - or the blankets can come out to play. 

[slicendice]

I also have EvoHome and can highly recommend it. Not a particularly cheap option but, as has been mentioned, you  get to control individual rooms rather than the house as a whole, so it's much more efficient. Plus, with the ability to set schedules, you can pop the temp up/down according to when you need it...and easy to override if you really need to (twizzle the TRV or use the app).

 

I work from home so usually have the office set to ~20 degrees 9am-5pm, with rest of the house loitering at around 15. At lunchtime, the dining room gets boosted to 20 for an hour (so I don't freeze whilst eating!). Then the lounge and dining room get boosted to ~20 for the evening.

 

 

[cheezemonkhai]

9 hours ago, slicendice said:

I also have EvoHome and can highly recommend it. Not a particularly cheap option but, as has been mentioned, you  get to control individual rooms rather than the house as a whole, so it's much more efficient. Plus, with the ability to set schedules, you can pop the temp up/down according to when you need it...and easy to override if you really need to (twizzle the TRV or use the app).

 

I work from home so usually have the office set to ~20 degrees 9am-5pm, with rest of the house loitering at around 15. At lunchtime, the dining room gets boosted to 20 for an hour (so I don't freeze whilst eating!). Then the lounge and dining room get boosted to ~20 for the evening.

 

 

Not too dissimilar schedule here, then overnight everything gets dropped. Does make a huge difference.

 

The tado does similar, but when I checked couldn’t be controlled/run schedules when offline.

[Evil]

We have 2 of these stats (one in the hallway and one in a bedroom)

 

 

And one of these to control the 2 stats (it runs a combi boiler so the water side runs a stat)

 

 

Should it be relatively simple to rip this lot out and go with something like EvoHome? (assuming I have the rads sorted)

[SC03OTT]

12 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Not too dissimilar schedule here, then overnight everything gets dropped. Does make a huge difference.

 

The tado does similar, but when I checked couldn’t be controlled/run schedules when offline.

Correct; with no internet connection you have no schedule with Tado. So you end up with a dumb stat. You can manually turn it on though, so you’re not left freezing.  
 

Im not sure if you could circumvent that issue by using HomeKit integration? I’ve never tried, mainly as HomeKit is pretty crap for heating schedules. Having to create multiple “scenes” just for heating. No thanks. I’ll stick to the dedicated app…for now…

[PetrolDave]

I had a Honeywell T6R in the FMH, that stored the schedules locally so it would continue to run the schedule even when offline.

[cheezemonkhai]

12 hours ago, Evil said:

We have 2 of these stats (one in the hallway and one in a bedroom)

 

 

And one of these to control the 2 stats (it runs a combi boiler so the water side runs a stat)

 

 

Should it be relatively simple to rip this lot out and go with something like EvoHome? (assuming I have the rads sorted)

 

That is a little more complicated, because what you have there is probably two zones running off a single boiler, each of which will have their own zone valve.

These are already more efficient, because you can set the two areas of the house (upstairs/downstairs) at seperate temperatures.

 

To use an evohome or tado properly, you'd need a way to control the zone valves when there is a call for heat. 

For the evohome, this comes in the form of using two BRD91 relay boxes to control the zone valves. Once that bit is sorted out, then you can just set your programmer to 24/7 for heating and let the evohome do the rest. (Assuming you don't spend the extra on parts to set the evohome to do hot water too and leave that on a basic time - this is what I've done)

 

If your primary goal however is to save money on gas bills, with minimum spend, then as you already have two zones I'd personally do something different.

 

I would fit a pair of smart or programmable thermostats in place of your dial stats, so something like this:

 

https://www.bes.co.uk/honeywell-home-t4-programmable-thermostat-23566/

 

These are programmable thermostats, so again you would set the heating controll to 24/7, then use these to set the temperatures on the zones at different times automatically.

They let you set the temperature up to 6 times a day and either on a weekday/weekend or individual day basis.

Essentially these would allow you to change the temperature of the bedroom zone so it gets warm for when you get up and go to bed, but then it's cold the rest of the day.  Downstairs you can change it so it's warm when you're there but not at other times.

 

This of course assumes you already have manual TRV on all the radiators (Bar the bypass)

 

If you don't already have manual TRV, then yes, I'd go the whole hog and get an evohome fitted with the room TRVs.

It wouldn't be a cheap option up front  because of the extra relays required for the zone valves, but if you leave the hot water on just a simple timer, it wouldn't be too bad.

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 October, 2021 by cheezemonkhai

[Evil]

3 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

 

That is a little more complicated, because what you have there is probably two zones running off a single boiler, each of which will have their own zone valve.

These are already more efficient, because you can set the two areas of the house (upstairs/downstairs) at seperate temperatures.

 

To use an evohome or tado properly, you'd need a way to control the zone valves when there is a call for heat. 

For the evohome, this comes in the form of using two BRD91 relay boxes to control the zone valves. Once that bit is sorted out, then you can just set your programmer to 24/7 for heating and let the evohome do the rest. (Assuming you spend the extra on parts to set the evohome to do hot water too)

 

If your primary goal however is to save money on gas bills, with minimum spend, then as you already have two zones I'd personally do something different.

 

I would fit a pair of smart or programmable thermostats in place of your dial stats, so something like this:

 

https://www.bes.co.uk/honeywell-home-t4-programmable-thermostat-23566/

 

These are programmable thermostats, so again you would set the heating controll to 24/7, then use these to set the temperatures on the zones at different times automatically.

They let you set the temperature up to 6 times a day and either on a weekday/weekend or individual day basis.

Essentially these would allow you to change the temperature of the bedroom zone so it gets warm for when you get up and go to bed, but then it's cold the rest of the day.  Downstairs you can change it so it's warm when you're there but not at other times.

 

This of course assumes you already have manual TRV on all the radiators (Bar the bypass)

 

If you don't already have manual TRV, then yes, I'd go the whole hog and get an evohome fitted with the room TRVs.

It wouldn't be a cheap option up front  because of the extra relays required for the zone valves, but if you leave the hot water on just a simple timer, it wouldn't be too bad.

 

 

 

 

 

It's a bungalow... not sure there's a need for multiple zones? And the 2 stats are about 18" apart which, thinking about it, also makes little sense unless bedroom 1's door is always closed - which it isn't.

[Ootohere]

Still not fired up my CH Boiler.

Inside temp has been below 16*oC and above 15 until this morning when it was 14.8*oC.   

 

Warm fronts and cold fronts and damp outside but i am not feeling the cold inside with sensible clothes on.

So sitting with credit with Eon and they are messaging (not massaging) every few days that my tariff requires i must let them install a Smart Meter.

 

So i will use gas when it gets cold outside and inside.  I am on a cheap enough tariff until mid January so not going to be totally tight saving a few quid.

I will be very be grippit after i am on the standard tariff & i have to pay more so just practising. 

Come April and a big hike in energy costs 

 

This is about the latest of any year that i have not fired up the heating.   I will be needing to watch for any leaks at radiators.

Edited 26 October, 2021 by roottoot

[edbostan]

I have a Baxi backboiler which still gives sterling service after 16 years. The downside is that it needs a chimney for the flue and a vent to feed fresh air to the burners. You do feel the air movement when the boiler is firing so the air movement  seems to chill the air even when the temperature 20°C on the room thermostat. Also I have a patio door at the end of the lounge which faces north. Even so I live in the south east, have 280mm of loft insulation, double glazing and wall insulation. I live in a 3 bedroomed semi built in the 60s and direct debit with Octopus of £86 per month for gas and electric. Air temperature is very even around the house at 20°C so very comfortable. During the winter months I have the heating on when needed. I have no TVRs, but a mechanical Danfoss programmable timer, thermostat on hot water cylinder and Honeywell mechanical thermostat in the hall.

[cheezemonkhai]

9 hours ago, Evil said:

 

It's a bungalow... not sure there's a need for multiple zones? And the 2 stats are about 18" apart which, thinking about it, also makes little sense unless bedroom 1's door is always closed - which it isn't.

what the…

 

they haven’t installed the two stays back to back on shared wires have they? Possibly worth getting it checked at next service to find out what is going on.

 

If only one stat is needed and it controls the boiler not zone valves then installation is pretty simple 👍

Edited 26 October, 2021 by cheezemonkhai

[logiclee]

I have Honeywell Evohome

 

Each room is programmed individually for it's own temperature at different time zones throughout the day.

 

For instance when I get up early for work I just heat the kitchen diner and bathroom to 20C.

 

Bedrooms used only get heated to a comfortable temperature at our families usual get up and goto bed times. System self learns optimum  time to bring on system to achieve desired temperature in each zone depending on ambient internal and external temps and past history. 

 

Through the Summer I'll drop the system in Eco mode which drops each rooms desired temperature at every time schedule by a couple of degrees 

 

I have a Bungalow I purchased for my Mother to live in now and for us in the future and have installed the same system there. I can control any room in any property remotely by App/Alexa etc.

 

Edited 28 October, 2021 by logiclee

[fabdavrav]

18.5C is what the main daytime temp is set to...night time is set to 14C I think....

 

Boiler & systems I designed & installed (got a certified Gas bloke to do the gas side) back in 2009......still like new & based (exactly) on the original system/controllers installed in the house in 1994.

 

unvented, indirect hot water cylinder, sealed system, "wet" radiators, mains pressure, with a top firing gas condensing boiler (A rated).

 

Current boiler (fitted in 2009) is a basic WB Greenstar 24Ri..& the hot water cylinder is a Heatrae Sadia Megaflow.

 

The fancy bit is the controllers & that there is pipe from the rad return (after last rad) back to the rad flow (before the first rad) which has a 3-way mixing valve. This allows the unused heat from the rad return to be shunted back around into the flow without the need to have the boiler running. Value can be anything from 100% open to 100% closed & anything in between.

 

The above set up does mean that besides the main "boiler pump" you also require a pump on the rad circuit as you can effectively shut it off from the boiler due to the 3-way mixing valve. Both pumps are Grundfos Alpha 2 (A rated) with Auto adjustment & usually they consume no more than 30W between them (as shown on the LCD panels).

 

Controller is a Siemens RVP 320 with full weather compensating & demand dependant control. This has temp sensors (no thermostats) inside house, outside house, boiler flow, boiler return, rad flow, & one in the hot water tank.

 

All rads are sized based on delta 40T (65C/55C/20C) & have TRVs. The house is old stone walls (some 18inch thick), some newer build insulated walls, insulated slate roof, & fully double glazed. I also have a 27yr old Clearview wood burner which is good in winter & as a just in case of power cuts!

Edited 6 November, 2021 by fabdavrav
spelling

[Breezy_Pete]

Got me wondering @fabdavrav...

One of our woodburners is in the room below our unvented electric hot water cylinder, and I'd love to be able to plumb some of the fire heat up into the water tank. Probably doesn't belong in this thread, but while you're here, is it worth considering, please. Doable?

 

[fabdavrav]

34 minutes ago, Wino said:

Got me wondering @fabdavrav...

One of our woodburners is in the room below our unvented electric hot water cylinder, and I'd love to be able to plumb some of the fire heat up into the water tank. Probably doesn't belong in this thread, but while you're here, is it worth considering, please. Doable?

 

 

I looked at doing this with mine but after looking in various technicalities decided against it. 

 

You have to fit water jackets to the inside of the stove between the bricks & the outer skin (this was a factory option for mine). Then fit pipework & valves etc.. The main problem is that the cold water in the jackets takes heat from the stove, (thats the point) so you have to run the stove hotter & use more fuel (wood/etc). There is also problems with more condensation & rust occurring in places next to the jackets

 

Its far more efficient for me to use my gas boiler to heat the water. My controller via the room sensor has a specific  "allowance" to tell if the rooms are being  warmed by other means & not the boiler, so it ramps the heating down when the stove is on!

Edited 4 November, 2021 by fabdavrav

[Breezy_Pete]

1 minute ago, fabdavrav said:

far more efficient for me to use my gas boiler to heat the water

No such option here. Must do some more investigating. Thanks for your thoughts. 

[fabdavrav]

14 minutes ago, Wino said:

No such option here. Must do some more investigating. Thanks for your thoughts. 

 

You have an electric immersion heater hot water cylinder??? 

 

If you can still get conversion coils then fit one of those & pipe back to the stove.

 

You will also have to fit a waterinfill/pressure gauge with 3 bar blow off & expansion tank (say 10lt) just like there is on a sealed system rad circuit. You will also need to have a pump to pump the water around. You also need to have the pump have a pipework bypass around the tank for when the tank is up to temp & no longer requires heat. You need to fit a one way shut off valve on the flow into the tank coil connected to the stat on the tank to stop the flow into the tank coil when upto temp.

 

Then you need a control box.

 

An HS Megaflow for indirect (sealed system) would be a good starting point, as it has the coil, internal safety stat & shut of valve. Just need the expansion tank/3bar PRV/infill, pump, & controller.

Edited 4 November, 2021 by fabdavrav

[Breezy_Pete]

Yep, no gas locally. Cheers.

[fabdavrav]

6 minutes ago, Wino said:

Yep, no gas locally. Cheers.

 

As you said before....

 

What I was outlining including the HS Megaflow (Hot water cylinder) are not powered by gas, they just require a source of hot water to heat the coil...

[Breezy_Pete]

I'll start my own thread as this isn't really anything much to do with thermostat settings. Cylinder is Megaflo, photo to follow in new thread. 

Edited 4 November, 2021 by Wino