Heating

[Matthew Ames]

When do you turn it on? One of my lodgers seems to be really weak and wants the heating on already - I live in Dorset and it is far from cold yet.

[John Anderton]

I also live in Dorset (about as far south as you can go) and I've turned the heating on for the first time today,

Cheers,

John

[Andy Hall]

If you have thermostatic controls in the rooms (thermostatic radiator valves) and a room thermostat, then this shouldn't matter. The heating will come on when the temperature is too low.

I leave my heating on the whole time and have a controller with day and night time temperatures. I also have a condensing boiler which will come on and make the radiators just tepid rather than heating them to full temperature of 70 degrees. At this time of year, the heating is coming on in the morning for a short while and then again later in the evening.

Even with a basic thermostat, it should not be necessary to turn the heating off anyway.

.andy

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[geoff]

In message , Matthew Ames writes

Well, I'd certainly turn it on now just to make sure it's working, rather than wait until November and finding that it doesn't work

As for your lodger, well that's your decision

[chris French]

In message , Andy Hall writes

Yep, we have a programmable thermostat controlling our system. I just leave it alone all the time and it just starts coming on once it gets cold enough.

Mine two has been coming on recently, though just in the morning so far.

[IMM]

Bad advice. Sometimes a cold chill may enter the hallways and switch on the stat. then the heating comes unnecessarily burning fuel, causing expense and adding to global warming.. Best time the heating periods, that is why time clocks are here. When a cold snap comes along, then switch manually, or revert to the time clock. Currently, I have the heating come in the mornings only, as the mornings are guaranteed to be cold. Solar gained heat during the day, people and electrical appliances may be enough to keep the house warm during the evenings. If not manually switch on. It is very simple.

[Dave Liquorice]

It stays on, the thermostat keeps it off when it's warm enough.

Our heating is now kicking in during the late afternoon as well as first thing in the morning and early evening. Time to stop walking around in T-shirts and find the jumpers. Does your lodger dress properly or insist on wearing few clothes?

[Andy Hall]

That depends.

That depends on whether you have the thermostat in the hallway.

I didn't say that I don't. The thermostat is a set-back type, and is also fully proportional so the boiler starts at very low level.

In fact it was quite warm this morning and the heating came on only very briefly.

Not to mention the hot air....

.andy

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[chris French]

And anyway, having it turn on when the hall temperature drops because of an open door is not necessarily a bad thing, eventually the heating system will have to make up for it anyway.

I played around for a while with ours on a long cable, trying different positions - hallway, landing, sitting room etc.

I decided that the hallway did give the best overall performance, in the sitting room for instance it didn't seem to turn on enough and other parts of the house seemed colder.

Yes, if the front door is open long enough the hall temp drops and the heating kicks but it's not some instant response to a cold draft, it generally takes awhile before the stat seems to sense the reduced temp. and anyway, if the temp has dropped I'd like it warmed up again. The rest of the house is on TRV's so no heat will heat those rooms unless it is required.

[Owain]

"Matthew Ames" wrote | When do you turn it on? One of my lodgers seems to be really weak | and wants the heating on already - I live in Dorset and it is far | from cold yet.

Have started putting the rads on for ten minutes with the morning hot water to air the bathroom and towels before having a bath, but I've been doing that every couple of weeks all year so things don't Stop Working.

And the gas fire's just started going on for the odd few minutes too.

And the Autumn Duvet's gone back on the bed.

But I'm sitting here with the window wide open right now.

Give the lodger a fan heater on a slot meter and see if he/she still feels the cold :-)

Owain

[Christian McArdle]

If this happens, keep giving half a turn clockwise to the lockshield valve in the room with the thermostat until it stops behaving this way. Doing this, the heating will favour the other rooms. Eventually, they will get to temperature and their TRVs close down. When this has happened, the heat has to go through the only radiator without a TRV and the room thermostat is finally satisfied.

Christian.

[Nick Read]

I wish I'd thought of that, I used to have a lodger who would walk around the house in the middle of January wearing shorts and a t-shirt and then complain he was cold. He also used to leave the radiator thermostat in his room on maximum all the time regardless of the weather, simply opening more windows when he was too warm. I finally told him to leave when I came back from a weekend away to find he had rearranged all my furniture downstairs claiming "It seems more logical this way round" !

Nick

[IMM]

As I said. Bad advice.

[Matthew Ames]

this is the trouble, my lodger is a pratt - he walks around in t-shirts and complains about being cold. I don't think that he has any any blood flow in this body - and that might explain why he always seems to be ill (the other two of us in the house are fit, healthy and not cold).

What I have done is set the heating to come on for 30 minutes in the morning and the same in the evening.

[Matthew Ames]

I wish I could :-) Last year when I came home from work early one day I found a fan heater in his bedroom, running full blast. Even the outside of his bedroom door handle was hot - almost as if there was a fire in there.

Can I have a whinge box for him as well?!

[ARWadsworth]

I had a female lodger who walked around in just her bra and knickers complaining it was cold. My gas bill for those 6 months was high but worth every penny.

Adam

[BigWallop]

LOL Pre'vert (that's being a vert before fact) :-))

Seriously though, why not buy your lodger a hot water bottle. If he's always ill, that'll keep him in bed and out of your hair. Or a butane gas heater for his room and get him to buy the refils for it.

[BigWallop]

I think he sounds as though he needs to be in a box, preferably wooden with just enough room in it for one person. :-))

[Simon Avery]

Hello Matthew

Mine's started kicking in the evenings on with an inside thermostat set at 15c. We had frost last week.

[Andy Hall]

Should we have a collection and get you that Dirty Old Man Starter Kit for Christmas? ;-)

.andy

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