Heating

I've never lived in a place that didn't have a thermostat to measure the temperature of the air (at least one with central heating).  I am a bit confused by our boiler which has the little dial to measure water temp and a timer.

I've done a LOT of searching online for how long we should have our boiler on and exactly how hot the water in the radiators should be.  I know it's largely personal preference, but I am a bit afraid to be using too much gas.  Alternatively, I don't want the floor heater (electric) to turn on too much (this is, however, the only heater in the living room besides what comes in through from the radiators in the other rooms).  

From what I see online, for timed boilers/manual settings, you should run your boiler for long infrequent cycles.  So I have it on for 2 hour stretches, 3 times a day.  Is this about right?  Longer? Shorter?  Right now I have it on 4 out of (IIRC) 9 (it may be on the temp level.  I ran it on manual setting last night a bit longer than normal because Mr. A. was wet from walking in the rain.  It was toasty in here, but I couldn't enjoy it.  I totally am scared of a huge gas bill.  I might bump it up to 4 times a day (if I am doing things right), but it's hard to squeeze that in as the boiler wakes Mr. A. up if it runs at night, so it doesn't run at night.

Am I doing it right?  We're in a mid-terrace garden flat with part double glazing.  We're pretty sure the hot water is gas, and we're hoping that it isn't a boiler that uses electric for hot water [edit: it doesn't appear to according to the overly complicated manual that is with it].

We've been keeping an eye on the meter, and it says we're only using about 1 unit a day.  Now I am afraid that that unit isn't a kwh (which is the unit they gave us a price for) but 10 or 100 of those units.  If it is really just a unit, then I am not going to worry about it so much.  It would balance things out as we're spending a bit more on electric because of our dehumidifier (something we'd have to run even if it was tropical in here because of the damp.  We're pretty sure there might be some structural problems or our upstairs neighbour is running a sauna or something).

I am a bit stressed out by this.  I feel like I am turning into my dad.

Have you finally moved out from your in-laws!

OI!  Sorry I can't help because we have central air...but this seems incredibly complicated.  I hope I never have to deal with this...but I'll be watching this thread for future references.

Have you finally moved out from your in-laws!

Yeah, and long enough ago that the guilt has set in.  Despite my BiL being there, they are struggling, and I feel a bit like crap about it.

1 unit of electricity is 1kWh(kilowatt hour), i.e. the amount of energy you'd use running a 1kw appliance for an hour.  To give an idea how much this is; most domestic kettles are rated at 2kW so if you ran it for 30mins that would be one unit.

One unit of gas is either 1 cubic metre or 100cubic feet depending on how old the meter is, this converts to either 11-ish or 30-ish kWh.  Your bill should say which.

The rest depends on what type of boiler you have (and is probably more of a Paul thing) but if you post back with what type you have someone might have some more info.  If you have a water tank that supplies both the taps and the heating from one source you don't want the water too hot (60 should do it) otherwise you might hurt your hands.  Combi and condensing boilers usually have two temp. controls so you can have the rads hotter.  The most efficient temp really depends on the boiler, the manufacturer should be able to help, as a rule of thumb condensing boilers run better hotter.

When to run the heat really depends on your place and lifestyle, I'd beware of one-size-fits-all answers.  Generally it takes less energy to maintain a temperature than to let the room cool and then reheat it.  On the other hand if you're out all day then it may work out better to leave the heating off and take one hit to reheat rather than heating all day.  The "right" answer might take some trial and error depending on how your place heats/cools.

Finally, I know it's hard, especially if you are not used to paying the power bill but don't worry so much.  Running the heating for an extra 30 mins or for an hour "too long" each day isn't going to make that much difference in the grand scheme.

1 unit of electricity is 1kWh(kilowatt hour), i.e. the amount of energy you'd use running a 1kw appliance for an hour.  To give an idea how much this is; most domestic kettles are rated at 2kW so if you ran it for 30mins that would be one unit.

One unit of gas is either 1 cubic metre or 100cubic feet depending on how old the meter is, this converts to either 11-ish or 30-ish kWh.  Your bill should say which.

I am assuming the cubic feet is the 11ish, right?  I will have to ask Mr. A. to double check, but I am pretty sure he said something about cubic feet on the meter.  This is helpful information for me as we get our bills quarterly. The price on our contract is in kWh for sure.

The rest depends on what type of boiler you have (and is probably more of a Paul thing) but if you post back with what type you have someone might have some more info.  If you have a water tank that supplies both the taps and the heating from one source you don't want the water too hot (60 should do it) otherwise you might hurt your hands.  Combi and condensing boilers usually have two temp. controls so you can have the rads hotter.  The most efficient temp really depends on the boiler, the manufacturer should be able to help, as a rule of thumb condensing boilers run better hotter.

It's a condenser boiler.  I moved the hot water from the highest setting (which it was on when we moved in) to the lower one with the line still next to it.  Needless to say, the instructions aren't that great, so I am a bit lost:

Photo of current settings (hope it's clear enough)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1678/boilert.jpg

As you can see, I bumped up the number of times it's on.

When to run the heat really depends on your place and lifestyle, I'd beware of one-size-fits-all answers.  Generally it takes less energy to maintain a temperature than to let the room cool and then reheat it.  On the other hand if you're out all day then it may work out better to leave the heating off and take one hit to reheat rather than heating all day.  The "right" answer might take some trial and error depending on how your place heats/cools.

Finally, I know it's hard, especially if you are not used to paying the power bill but don't worry so much.  Running the heating for an extra 30 mins or for an hour "too long" each day isn't going to make that much difference in the grand scheme.

I am definitely not looking for a one size fits all, just some guidance.  Growing up we used an oil furnace, then we had a woodstove.  As an adult, I've always either had someone else dealing with the heat or it's been relatively simple (thermostat controlled, wood, and one place with a space heater which I called my "natural gas woodstove").  I am totally clueless.  I don't want to be wasteful, but I also don't want my husband to be cold needlessly (although I am a huge advocate of layers and hot water bottles).

I am home during the day, so we do need it on then.  

I guess the reason I obsess about it is that my inlaws had huge heating and electric bills.  We were paying the electric there, and we had bills that were between £400-500 a quarter just for electric.  There was nothing we could do about it because most of the usage was not my husband or mine.  To say I am extremely careful now is an understatement.  We just need to be prepared for the bills when they come.  That this is a totally unfamiliar system isn't helping me not stress out about it.

ETA: I know what all those dials control, so I don't need that explained.  I really just want to know if what we're doing sounds reasonable, not for exact instructions on how to set it.  We have our undertile heating set to 68 f during the night and while my husband is at work.  While he is home, it's at 72 f, and we put it on "comfort" if he is bathing--which is currently set to 78).  This, of course, is not the air temp, but the surface temp.  The tile and undertile heating is throughout the flat except in the bedroom.

Second edit:  To give you an idea of how clueless I am, I had it running every three hours or so for an hour once we first discovered that the boiler heated the radiators.  Before that, we thought that the thermostat for the tiles was the boiler thermostat.  I couldn't figure out why the radiators weren't heating up, ever.  Thankfully, this was only for a day or so until I switched the boiler over to hot water and heat.  Then for about 2 weeks, I was doing the shorter runs of radiator heat.

£400 a quarter is an insane amount of electricity, there's no way a normal household should come anywhere near that.  What were they doing, heating the entire house with heat lamps?

Gas heating is cheaper than electric and condensing boilers are the most efficient type.  I've not got the bills to hand but I think we pay about £180 a third for gas heating with an older combi in a 3 bed house if that helps.

I'm not very familiar with the electric underfloor heating, AFAIK, unlike the water based underfloor heating the electric method is more a tile warmer not really for heating the room.

That wasn't for heat.  It wasn't for hot water.  It wasn't even for cooking.  That is what we spent on electric for lights, appliances, etc.

The gas was about £20 a week, but they were paying off a bill and it was on a key meter.  We had to pay this occassionally when they were skint, but in the summer it went down to about £10 pw (with I think 5-7 of that going to the bill).

ETA;  I always thought the shop next door or someone in our building or beside it was stealing our electric.  My inlaws always claimed that if we turned everything off, the meter would stop turning, so it couldn't be that.  I guess now they are getting someone from the electric company in to assess why they are going through so much electric.

Legs, your boiler looks identical to ours now & from our last flat.  Our thermostat is unfortunately next to a drafty window so its reading is quite inaccurate (it thinks it's 15 degrees inside when it's actually around 18).

I've currently got the timer settings on, having it switched on about 30 min before we get out of bed for an hour, then I think an hour around dinner time and then another hour in the late evening.  I get really hot in the night (pregnancy hormones!) so currently it's off when we're in bed but as the nights get a wee bit colder, I might do say a 3am run or something.  Anyway, what you're doing sounds reasonable and should be conducive to a good gas bill.  I also keep our thermostat on roughly 15 (so in a normal house, maybe 17-18) so the boiler doesn't kick in if it happens to be warmer in the house.

I'm at home all day now so if I DO get cold, I can manually wack it on for 30 minutes to warm up the house, but otherwise I try not to run it as preggo-lady internatl thermostat keeps me warm .

Thanks guys.  I am going to have Mr. A. read the meter when he gets home.  I can't remember exactly what it was averaging before, but hopefully we will have a better idea of our usage tonight.

When I used to have a similar set-up, I'd put it on from 7-8am, then again from 6-10pm. Even though I was home during the day, I generally left it off until evening. Once in a while, I'd over-ride the timer and give myself a few extra hours if I was particularly cold, but it didn't happen often.

We run ours twice a day: once in the AM from an hour before we wake up (so from 6am) until 45 minutes after we get going (so 9am). It kicks on again about an hour before getting home (5:30pm) and stays on for a good chunk of the evening (kicking off at 10 or 10:30). I stay home most days and plan my hot shower and warm drinks to keep warm, as I have to open the windows in some rooms to air it out and stave off mold growth. Every so often, if it gets particularly cold during the day, I may turn it on for an hour just to warm up the lounge. Our gas bill runs about £25 a month in the winter and about £10 a month in the summer. However, we do seem to spend an obscene amount of electricity (not nearly as bad a £400 a quarter), partially because everything is electric except for the heating and water...and I have a small farm of computers.

Photo of current settings (hope it's clear enough)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1678/boilert.jpg

It's a Glow-worm boiler.  From the picture, possibly a Betacom which is a band B boiler.  The most efficient boilers are band A.

I would have to question why you have the UFH set to 68f during the night (sleeping hours).  I would look at pulling that down to about 64C.  Truth be told, I don't use our heating at all after 10-11ish at night.  We are under the covers and don't need it.

Definitely a good idea to pull down water temperature to only what's required for showering.  You could possibly get a way with an even lower temperature if you have an electric shower.  In the warmer months, you should be able to drop water temperature further as the incoming mains temperature will be higher.

Thanks for the feedback.

I changed the settings on the under tile heater.  I really set it there for myself.  I have OA particularly bad in a reconstructed ankle.  When we moved in, I shut it off totally when we went to bed, but getting up in the middle of the night with extremely cold tiles (garden flat) helped contribute to the really bad aches and pains I had for the first few weeks here.  I can't sleep in socks (I will take them off in the night while I am asleep if I try to sleep in them), and even my thick and woolly slippers don't totally shield my feet from a totally unheated floor.  Usually, I don't have time to faff around with socks if I need to use the loo.

Going by what was online, the normal comfortable surface temp is 72f (as has been said, it's not a heater per se except it seems to be what we're supposed to rely on in the rather large living room which has no radiator for some reason...it's also where the thermostat is for the tiles, so I wonder if they took the radiator out to not throw that off).  I have it set to 68f during the day because I wear two pairs of socks and thick slippers in the winter, so it doesn't bother me so much to have it that low.  I do wonder if my ankle and knees would feel better if I had it higher, but I bet it wouldn't be that much better to justify the cost.  I will try it for a while low, and see how it goes.

We don't have an electric shower.  I am not sure what that band is on the hot water dial, but I assume that is the "kills germs" or "hot enough to wash in" line.  I will try to set it lower than that (unless I am wrong) in the summer.

I do crack the windows during the day (and sometimes at night after one of us showers or if I cook).  We also have these vents in most rooms that are always open (I don't know if there is a way to close them).  Even doing all this, we still need to run the dehumidifier half the day most days and sometimes all day (especially if it's rained for a few days and then stops...the evaporation from the building and yard seems to just totally saturate the air).   I do a weekly walk around the flat checking the walls and back of our clothes cupboard for mould.

After Mr. A. came home, he checked the meter, and we've used very little gas (using the cubic foot conversion).  This may go up because while it's been a bit chilly, it's not been super cold yet.  I might just invest in more throw rugs and keep the under tile heater low, but that will have to wait until we have a proper hoover.