Safe temperature to leave a house.

[David and Sally]

Last year when we were away in Spain the home insurance company insisted we set the minimum house temperature at 15 degrees. We have just changed companies and they don’t insist on any particular temperature.

So, what do you suggest as a safe minimum temperature?

 

[St3v3]

Frost protection has been a thing for a long time now. Do you have that on your boiler or stat?

 

[Bessy765]

We leave ours at 14C and use a tado so we can check the house temp on the app on our phone.

 

[Bessy765]

 

[Lenny HB]

Leave ours at 15 and if its cold turn it up a day or two before we get home.

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[Neckender]

Leave ours on frost protection 5 degreesC.

 

[meanders]

Depends if it's also on a timer. If 'available' 24hour 5 degrees will be fine, but if timed to be on during the morning and evening,bI would go for 10. However, you need to ensure that anywhere with water pipes is covered, or lag all the pipes. When we have been away New Year and it's been cold, I turn the water off at the main stopcock as a just in case, but we do not have hot or cold tanks in the house worry about. Boiler is in the garage and is fitted with a frost stat.

 

[David and Sally]

Frost protection has been a thing for a long time now. Do you have that on your boiler or stat?

I really don’t know. It is a standard boiler with a radio link to the thermostat. I can set the ‘holiday’ setting for min temp at anything.

 

[DavidG58]

We have a hive system and can remotely monitor temperature and power consumption. We were away before and after Christmas, both periods temps well down into single figures outside , inside dropped to my set level of 12C and I was surprised at how much gas we still used just keeping temp up to 12C I dropped it to 10C which only took a few hours to drop to, then same problem restarted

I am currently working on a better plan

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Leave ours on frost protection 5 degreesC.

I tweaked mine to 6 deg.... chickened out at 5. .
All those leaving theirs at 15 deg will end up with big bills
We are in Spain now and it's 15 degs in the van ..nice

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[Grianan]

We put thermostat at 15 and leave interior doors open to try to maintain a more even temperature.

 

[Smudger55]

We have a hive system and can remotely monitor temperature and power consumption. We were away before and after Christmas, both periods temps well down into single figures outside , inside dropped to my set level of 12C and I was surprised at how much gas we still used just keeping temp up to 12C I dropped it to 10C which only took a few hours to drop to, then same problem restarted

I am currently working on a better plan

View attachment 997875

Ha.......... before I read your post, this thread reminded me that I could check our heating, we have Hive. Just looked at similar information as you have just shown. Set mine to 10 and occasionally heating has come on.

Must try and remember to keep checking.

 

[DBK]

Having experienced the late Mother in Law's house flooding, while she visited us one Christmas, if you have pipes or a water tank in the attic then leave the attic trapdoor open so warmth can get up into the roof.

She wasn't able to return to her house for over 6 months.

Can't help on a temperature but not less than 10°C would be my guess, possibly a bit more.

 

[Sandancers]

15c ? That's a bit high. It also depends where you measure the temperature. If you measure the temp in the coldest part of the house then 10c would be fine as the rest of the house will be warmer anyway. But if you are measuring at a warm part of the house then make an allowance as to how warm the coldest part will be. Modern boilers have a built in anti frost setting to bring on the boiler to protect it, but that setting is really low, something like 3c from memory.

I wonder if the insurance companies ask pensioners what the minimum temperature they allow their house to fall to ? It could well be below 15c !

 

[Bolti]

Moved the thermostat to the kitchen set to 10 degrees (bathroom is above) radiators in these two rooms fully open rest of the house doors closed, radiators set to frost protect.

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[Astranomicalblue]

Ours is set a 5degrees, thermostat is in the coldest room, happy with that

 

[Whippet93]

Last year when we were away in Spain the home insurance company insisted we set the minimum house temperature at 15 degrees. We have just changed companies and they don’t insist on any particular temperature.

So, what do you suggest as a safe minimum temperature?

When my central heating was installed, the fitters advised a minimum if 14 degrees to prevent damp. We have a wireless thermostat so when we're away I move it from its normal position in the toilet window to another room. Saves changing the settings and leaves the house a bit cooler while we're away. I also turn off the water. A little leak could do a lot of damage over a few weeks.

 

[Sheddy]

I use Nest and keep temperature low but use the humidity level to decide if and when to put the heating on. Water is off in the house all room doors are open and currently we are running for about an hour a week.

 

[Mikeco]

We don’t leave any heat on and as we are on tanked LPG it would be expensive if we did so the gas and water get turned off, the bungalow will get cold but that’s all.

 

[dash300]

When my central heating was installed, the fitters advised a minimum if 14 degrees to prevent damp. We have a wireless thermostat so when we're away I move it from its normal position in the toilet window to another room. Saves changing the settings and leaves the house a bit cooler while we're away. I also turn off the water. A little leak could do a lot of damage over a few weeks.

Yes we do the same. We have an empty rental currently for sale and keep at 15c mainly to prevent damp and condensation; and that's working.
We do the same when we go visiting family in Vietnam usually at this time of year but we are having bathrooms refitted (in the middle of winter!) Also converting to unvented cylinder to have a dry loft. House never smells of any moisture or dampness on our return.

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[Reallyretired]

Our antifrost setting is 10c although we turn the water off as we had a toilet cistern misbehave once. We have no tanks.

 

[CA]

We have a Hive system on a second home - the frost protection (set by Hive) is 7 degrees. It’s worked great for 8 years like that, and as I can monitor it remotely, I notice the heating rarely, if ever, comes on. Obviously each property has different insulation but ours almost never drops below 8 or 9 degrees even when its minus temperatures for days on end.

However our insurers now insist (since last November) on the heating protection temperature now being 13 degrees. Have used 4 times as much gas being this much higher….

 

[DandJ]

This insistence by insurance companies...only actually means anything if you claim from them for a temperature based issue...frozen pipes...so presumably if you set the 'frost setting' to be just that.....say 5c and have a properly insulated lagged house, it shouldn't be an issue....should it ?

 

[dunnah01]

Insurance companies aren't paying the bill so why don't they insist on 25°

 

[rob1234]

Depends if it's also on a timer. If 'available' 24hour 5 degrees will be fine, but if timed to be on during the morning and evening,bI would go for 10. However, you need to ensure that anywhere with water pipes is covered, or lag all the pipes. When we have been away New Year and it's been cold, I turn the water off at the main stopcock as a just in case, but we do not have hot or cold tanks in the house worry about. Boiler is in the garage and is fitted with a frost stat.

hi ,,i have just moved to a house that the boiler is in the garage ,,how can i check if it has a frost stat,,thanks

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[chris1949]

Last year when we were away in Spain the home insurance company insisted we set the minimum house temperature at 15 degrees. We have just changed companies and they don’t insist on any particular temperature.

So, what do you suggest as a safe minimum temperature?

We set our thermostats to 10 Deg C for all rooms. Never had a problem and we also turn off our water as a second precaution.

 

[David and Sally]

Thanks so much for all replies. We have a thermostat that we can move around so I might move that to the kitchen where we have the most pipes. Leave the cupboard doors open to allow air flow.
We don’t have pipes or tanks in the loft but do turn off the water at the mains.

Just need to leave some doors open to help even out the temperatures without setting off the intruder alarm.

Might settle on 12degrees. We don’t have thermostats on all radiators but will fit some more upon our return.

 

[meanders]

hi ,,i have just moved to a house that the boiler is in the garage ,,how can i check if it has a frost stat,,thanks

Ours is on the wall nearby. It looks like an old style rotary dial, but there is no dial to turn as it's fixed.

 

[Peter_Cooke]

11 degrees centigrade 24 hours a day with all door slightly ajar to equalise the interior temperature.

 

[peterespagne]

Last year when we were away in Spain the home insurance company insisted we set the minimum house temperature at 15 degrees. We have just changed companies and they don’t insist on any particular temperature.

So, what do you suggest as a safe minimum temperature?

In Spain at the moment, mine set at 7 and is maintaining at 7. I use a hive to keep a check on things. Temperatures rising next week.

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