Leave heating on or swich everything off?

[pampam]

Hello all i was talking about what to do when leaving home empty for a few weeks this time of year, what is most peoples choice? Switch everything off, i personally came back to a rather large gas bill when i left my hesting on last year (on number 1) so i think id swich off , but at this time of year could the house be damaged ,if you was to set temp to 10 degrees would house stay chilly but no chance of freezing ? All ideas gratefully received Cheers pampam

 

[funflair]

Our insurance distipulates a minimum temp that it must be left on at, if off it must be drained, worth a check possibly.

 

[David and Sally]

Ask your insurers what they want. Ours wanted a min 15 deg setting.

Have you got water tanks or pipes in the attic that could freeze?

 

[PaulyP]

As I have the hive control on my phone I put the system into manual and set the temp low, 15 degrees, then if needed I can set it higher or lower wherever I am.

 

[grasscutter]

Ours also requires a minimum 15c.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MichaelT]

Ours is set at 10c for insurance, on checking the hive app its come on for 13 minutes in the last 3 weeks since being away.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

We have a full Tado system with valves on every rad. We always turn it to away mode even when shopping. It monitors every room and the boiler and switches on at 5 deg. We can also switch on an hour or so before we get home so the house is warm to come in to. It is a fantastic system worth every penny. It paid for itself in the first year. I can monitor each room when away. Even though we have been away for over a month all the rooms are between 7 & 10 deg which is pleasing as my mate texted the other day to say that snow was forecast for our area.
i also turn the water off when we go away for more than a night and in the street also when away for more than a weekend. We have a combi boiler so no tanks.
The electric has to stay on for the internet router and so the Humax can record planned programs or others we set over the internet.

 

[Norfolk Nige]

I have to leave my late mother’s house, which is empty and being sold, at 15 degrees for the insurance to be valid. Doesn’t cost a fortune.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Ours also requires a minimum 15c.

15deg seems very high, unnecessarily so when pipes wouldn’t freeze until the house was below zero for many hours. We din’t heat most of our rooms above 10deg unless we are using them. Are you sure it’s not 5 deg.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a Nest thermostat have the Eco mode set to 12° I turn it to Eco mode when we are away and a day or two before we come home I turn it back to normal to get the house back up to temperature.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

15deg seems very high, unnecessarily so when pipes wouldn’t freeze until the house was below zero for many hours. We din’t heat most of our rooms above 10deg unless we are using them. Are you sure it’s not 5 deg.

Quite a few insurance companies stipulate 15°.

 

[Minxy]

Insurers will want the heating on usually 12 or 15 degrees however it doesn't say it has to be on continuously, we don't do that even when we're at home so when away I set it to come on for 2 hours at a time - 7.30 am, 1.30 pm and 9.00 pm - sufficient to keep everything from freezing but not costing the earth either.

 

[Mikeco]

We just turn the water off outside and also the gas which is expensive tanked LPG so no heating on. The insurance is with the Caravan Club and the policy states that damage from freezing water to the heating system is not covered while the house is unoccupied.
Not had a problem in the last 12 years or so.

 

[Pausim]

15deg seems very high, unnecessarily so when pipes wouldn’t freeze until the house was below zero for many hours. We din’t heat most of our rooms above 10deg unless we are using them. Are you sure it’s not 5 deg.

Some of the pipe work will not be in the heated areas, roof spaces and cavity walls are usually a lot colder than the rooms with thermostats. The minimum temperature needs to be warm enough to keep the whole structure above freezing not just the air temperature in the room with a thermostat. The temperature in a loft or an un insulated cavity space can fall very rapidly in a very cold wind.

Another factor to bear in mind is that rising and falling temperatures can cause condensation and damp problems. I much prefer to keep a reasonably steady temperature to avoid this.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Our loft, tanks and pipes are all well lagged. Not worried if I get a leak in the heating system, it's warm air . Timer kicks in on minimum twice a day.
Mike.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[denisejoe]

We set ours to a 15 degree on frost setting so no chance of damage.

 

[rod_vw]

When we are away the hot water is switched off and the central heating turned down to the 'frost' setting on both downstairs and upstairs thermostats. Summer gas usage is then negligible, rarely away in winter to be able to quote a consumption figure.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Some of the pipe work will not be in the heated areas, roof spaces and cavity walls are usually a lot colder than the rooms with thermostats. The minimum temperature needs to be warm enough to keep the whole structure above freezing not just the air temperature in the room with a thermostat. The temperature in a loft or an un insulated cavity space can fall very rapidly in a very cold wind.

Another factor to bear in mind is that rising and falling temperatures can cause condensation and damp problems. I much prefer to keep a reasonably steady temperature to avoid this.

We are lucky that all pipes are in the upstairs floor except the main water feed which goes through the ground floor concrete floor which I switch off in the street at the meter. The house is very well sealed draft and heat wise and I monitor the heat and humidity in all rooms, loft hall garage and boiler cupboard. The humidity in all areas is below what it is when we are there and causing humidity. If the humidity does rise above the limit my dehumidifier comes on to reduce it. The house is monitored with HomeAssistant which monitors the Tado system as well and sends me an alert if anything is amis.
the whole house temperature has only dropped a few degrees in a month and a half away. away with no heating use. Solar gain probably helps as we have a large expanse of south facing glass on the landing which runs across the front.
I have just checked my insurance policy and as far as I can see they don’t specify a minimum temperature. But the boiler and Tado default of 5 deg is fine as far as I am concerned.

 

[seasideBill]

I leave system on, ‘Wiser’ system (Drayton Controls) with away mode at 14c. If a cold snap is looking likely while we’re away I use the App to check the house temperature and give it a boost if necessary. A couple sitting next to us in a Lanzarote restaurant recently received a call from their son…he’d just been to check their house to be met by water cascading down the stairs! Comment to us was “it didn’t seem that cold when we left”.

 

[DavidG58]

We monitor ours closely due to the large bills we have , I was very disappointed to find that even set at 8.5C the heating still cut in quite a lot when it went very cold last month

We are lucky our house is made up of rwo now knocked together (some may recall my mother moved in ) so we can turn this part off

Gas consumption was still around £4 / day keeping it this cold

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

This is my Tado Away screen showing all the room temperatures.

 

[pampam]

Thankyou all ,i think ill set it to 10 degrees but check on my insurance first, ive only been here three weeks as we have moved areas and downsized to a bungalow,(its lovely)so its all quite new to us at the moment, cheers pampam