Hi I am going on a fortnight's holiday next week and my house will be empty. Since I live in Scotland there is the likelihood of frost. I have Johnson & Starley warm air gas heating and a Janus water heater. What would be the best way to protect the house from frost? Leave the heating on all the time but turn the thermostat down and leave the pilot light on for the hot water? What do other people do?
Thanks Jan
I would leave the heating on 24x7 at a setback temperature, something like 10C. You could go even lower if you have no pipework in unheated areas such as the attic. Don't know what a Janus water heater is, but if it's an instant heater with balanced flue, then that seems like a good idea to prevent water in the heat exchanger freezing if theres a cold wind. They usually have provision to drain the heat exchanger pipework, but that might not be something you are happy to do. Also turn off the water at the main stopcock so if it does freeze and burst a pipe, the amount of water available to cause damage is limited.
In Scotland, I'd be more worried about breakins.
It would be better to have a frost thermostat.
Live in different parts of the country to Scotland
So you missed the "Best Place to Live in the UK" is Edinburgh, with a crime level one-fifth that of the UK average?
There is more to Scotland than a MacAldi shop in Craiglang.
There are quite a lot of English people in Edinburgh; I think we're the number 2 immigrants after the Poles.
Owain
Scotland *is* a different country :-)
The message from Owain contains these words:
The East side of Scotland all the way to the Firth of Forth was part of England for several hundred years (part of North Humberland really as England wasn't united at that time) so the native antecedents are mostly Angles anyway.
Do you really believe all that bumph?
Each city in the UK has a bad part and good part Edinburgh is by no means a good place to live, a neighbours MIL wanted to move from there because of the burgalries happening in her area.
... which is why their MPs can vote on English laws, but English MPs can't vote on Scottish ones!
You might all notice that Janice hasn't said where she lives. I daresay that in Caithness & Sutherland she needn't even lock the door. (I won't give the opposite example, someone might be upset!)
I'd leave the heating on, but low. A fortnights gas bill is a heck of a lot cheaper than a frozen pipe flood.
Andy
I'll bet 10,000 quid there are parts of Scotland with a much lower crime rate than where you live. If you exempt sheep shagging.
I leave everything on as normal. When I did turn things down the savings were not significant and the house could take a couple of days to warm up properly when I came back.
Colin Bignell
I went to a Polish restaurant in Edinburgh. Food was terrible, but the plastering was great :-)
Some might say that there are far too many English in Scotland...they're pushing property prices up!
Scotland is more than just Glasgow.
They'd like to think that, bless them.....
The message from Anne Jackson contains these words:
We have been hearing that sort of whinge from Wales for years but really it is just the victim mentality giving voice. The reason why houses were so cheap in Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland was population drift to England where the extra population pushed up house prices, particularly in London and the Southeast where the population pressure is greatest and development land scarcest.
Maybe leave your loft hatch open.
And in any case who is selling these houses at inflated prices? If its such a problem don't rip off the buyers by doubling the price.
The message from Roger contains these words:
I beg to differ. Property prices in Scotland, in the main, reflected the fact that wages here were lower, and unemployment was higher. This, in its turn may well have led to the drift southwards.
It is wrong, to my mind, that the people living and working in any particular part of the country cannot afford to buy a house there, wherever 'there' may be!
If you would to post the address, I could arrange for an extended family of Eastern Europeans to move in and keep it warm for you
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