Safe temperature to leave a house.

[ronboyracer]

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?

The golden days of motorhoming, for me 2007-2019, wintering for 4 months or more pet passports a doddle, felt part of Europe, with reservations, didn't rent my bungalow, but it was a bolt hole to come back to. Insurance had grey areas quoting an old motorhomer "who dares wins" water turned off, rad stats turned to frost setting. Kids around to keep an eye on things, no probs in all them years, Brexit and the pandemic changed everything for me and to be honest
the weather in Spain had deteriorated over the years. A new generation of motorhomer now equipped with all the knowledge of the digital age, but sometimes seem quite nieve.
I do miss that life winter in Spain, summer in a static van in Wales, but glad to motorhome with my dog in .

 

[Brains]

Old Victorian terraced house with solid brick walls and single pane sash windows.
We leave most internal doors open and the water always off.
We have a Nest system so can monitor remotely.

We have experimented with different temperature levels.
We have found about 14c to be as low as we want to go.
If we go down to 12c it takes 2-3 days to warm the house up, and you get a damp smell
Whereas at 14c it will heat up in a day and does not smell of damp.

 

[Jerrywh]

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

"If all else fails, read the instructions" .. they should have been left for you but will be available online somewhere, too

 

[B+W vanman]

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

I believe modern boilers either have a built-in frost stat or the capacity to be connected to one, depending on make and model.
The operating manual/installation guide (which should have been left by the installer) should inform you

 

[Zentex]

Leave ours on frost protection 5 degreesC.

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?

Insurance companies as ever are trying to lower their risk- nobody in their right mind would waste several hundreds of pounds to keep a house at 15C for months when they are away- I have kept my holiday cottage at 5C every winter on the North Pennines for years and that has been perfectly sufficient- I notice the heating is on (as I write and periodically ) to keep it at 5C during these freezing days and nights but to keep it at 15 is an absolute joke and ruinous financially - as long as taps (an any tanks you have) are drained you will be fine at 5, or 7 if you are a bit nervous , always put the thermostat in the coldest part of the house ( as solar gain can add a few deg to a sunny side) &/or where most of your pipes converge

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[BobilG600]

As others have mentioned, turn the water to the property off at the stop cock when you leave in addition to setting your heating to a suitable temperature.
We went abroad after New Year’s Day in 2010. A few days into the trip I got a phone call from a friend to say a neighbour had seen water running out from under the roof edge at the rear of our house.
Despite the heating having been left on a low setting the -15deg temperature meant a cold water pipe in the loft had frozen.
The resulting damage kept us out of the house for over a year. Thankfully the resulting damage was put right by the insurance company, but the entire process was very stressful to say the least. We spent over a year in temporary accommodation and had to fight the case to make sure the repairs were carried out to the standard of finish the house had before the damage.
Turning the water off won’t stop pipes freezing but will minimise damage to your home should this happen when the house is unoccupied.
We always turn the water off when we now go away whatever time of year.

 

[dunnah01]

Our restoration house has had no heating for at least 7 years. Solid brick walls with no real insulation but water pipe has never frozen inside. South Lincs so maybe doesn't stay cold long enough

 

[Nirvanauk]

Insurance companies as ever are trying to lower their risk- nobody in their right mind would waste several hundreds of pounds to keep a house at 15C for months when they are away- I have kept my holiday cottage at 5C every winter on the North Pennines for years and that has been perfectly sufficient- I notice the heating is on (as I write and periodically ) to keep it at 5C during these freezing days and nights but to keep it at 15 is an absolute joke and ruinous financially - as long as taps (an any tanks you have) are drained you will be fine at 5, or 7 if you are a bit nervous , always put the thermostat in the coldest part of the house ( as solar gain can add a few deg to a sunny side) &/or where most of your pipes converge

I’ll keep mine set to 15 when I’m away. Thank you.

 

[Neil S]

We leave ours at 12c but if it turns really cold my nephew who lives 100 metres away will turn it up further
He comes in every day at 5pm to check the mail and fills in a diary with time and date just to confirm he’s been in
Any important mail he opens and WhatsApp us a photo

 

[Paul Wilkins]

View attachment 997872

Best system out there...

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[BobilG600]

Our restoration house has had no heating for at least 7 years. Solid brick walls with no real insulation but water pipe has never frozen inside. South Lincs so maybe doesn't stay cold long enough

I guess you are lucky but it does happen every winter in very many properties.
It does make you wonder about the time when no one had central heating or insulation. But then there was no need to put pipes in the loft.
We had a heating system with header tanks in the loft for hot water and central heating, and it was a cold water feed to one of those tanks that froze, then split. Had that system removed and all possible pipework removed from the loft at our own expense when the repairs were being carried out.

 

[pat100]

(Just a question not an opinion)
Why do folk leave their MH unheated during winter storage, usually quoting some aspect of lower humidity, but leave their house heated?
(I spent a while googling and the general consensus was 15°C but most contributors were insurance or estate agents.)

 

[oldiesontour]

Often loft insulation will superbly insulate the loft from any heat in the property below (that's it's job)
I seem to remember advice about keeping all internal doors closed ,as they will at least considerably slow a fire and may even starve it of oxygen sufficiently to extinguish it ( but not in our case as building control means A 10MM gap is left under all internal doors to aid air flow )
Common sense and a basic understanding is what's needed...a commodity that appears to be becoming ever rarer

 

[Apacheman]

Just had a week away over new year and before leaving turned everything down to 10*. Turned water off at mains and drained pressure. No tanks to worry about or loft pipes. Returned no issues.
When we head off for 8 weeks in April I’ll turn the boiler off. Turn off the mains and open the taps to relieve the pressure.
Only thing my insurance company insist on for more than 30 days is turning off the stop tap.

 

[varaizian]

Between 1989 and 2006, when our present house was our holiday home, it was left all winter completely unheated. I fitted very basic mercury max / min thermometers and found that they never went lower than 12 degrees centigrade; the same temperature as the water from our 10m deep well maintains all year round. We have 60cm thick stone walls which are insulated and dry lined on the inside. Our insurers require that the mains water is always turned off when the property is unoccupied but do not demand any minimum temperature is maintained. Our mains water pressure is about 5 bar so any water leak would be catastrophic!

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[Riverbankannie]

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.

Our holiday setting on a similar set up is 15°.

 

[Sandancers]

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

Look at the make of boiler, phone the manufacturers, tell them the model number and they will inform you.

 

[Sandancers]

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….

Send an email to Mr Miliband concerning the way you are being forced to add to climate change and can he have a word with the insurance company.

 

[PaulyP]

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

I have the same, it’s set on manual at 10 degrees, been on and off since midnight, total 1hr 30.

 

[Mel68]

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?

Hi, we normally set the boiler to continuous with a temp of 10 deg, turn mains water off and drain any water left in the pipes and leave the taps open and remove the plugs. Also empty the fridge freezer and clean, leave the doors ajar.

Happy travels

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[dunnah01]

If the water is turned off but the electrics left on you can leave modern boilers and CH systems to look after themselves. They all have a anti-frost cycle as well as an anti lock cycle to activate the 3 way and zone valves.

 

[David & Gill]

I turn off stop cock.I have fitted frost stat and pipe stat set at 5 degrees in the garage next to the boiler this overrides the room stats and radiator stats.Our boiler system is a Y-Plan.Look at John Ward video on you tube.

 

[andyman]

We live in a 3 bed detached bungalow. Temp set a 15c, since we left home on the 14th Dec we have used £36 of gas. So no major cost, and stop tap turned off for safe measure.

 

[highwood122]

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 ?

do they ever pay out anyway

 

[oldiesontour]

We live in a 3 bed detached bungalow. Temp set a 15c, since we left home on the 14th Dec we have used £36 of gas. So no major cost, and stop tap turned off for safe measure.

That's a similar property to ours annual oil bill circa £250...say heating on 6 MTs 24 weeks £10 a week when we're home .

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[Bessy765]

View attachment 997872

Gas consumption whilst away

Shows it’s working

 

[starquake]

Be warned we got back from the trip in MH this xmas, heating set on 12, to find a frozen pipe had occurred in kitchen (which got below 12 obviously). Luckily it was a section that was easily fixed with a visit to screwfix and £8 of bits the following morning once I had isolated.

Even more luckily it didn't start leaking until AFTER we got in the house and turned back on the heat.

 

[gus-lopez]

However our insurers now insist (since last November) on the heating protection temperature now being 13 degrees.

I'd be having to ask them how people with only wood burners or coal fired heating managed to do that? Also if you turn off the electric how does the heating stay on?Just scammers.

We had a heating system with header tanks in the loft for hot water and central heating, and it was a cold water feed to one of those tanks that froze, then split

If you are going to turn off the water then you have to drain both the cold & hot tanks as well as pipework.

Had that system removed and all possible pipework removed from the loft at our own expense when the repairs were being carried out.

It should have been the insurers expense as you were/are only saving them money if it froze again.I'm surprised they did not insist on it being done under the claim?

 

[Bramidan]

If you have a well insulted house and it is all closed up why would there be major heat loss?
If you set thermostat at 15 degrees the heating will only come on if it falls below 15!
Having heated it up to 15 where is the significant heat loss? See my opening sentence.
Thus as you are not heating from 0 to 15 it shouldn’t be that expensive.
I leave mine at 15 and my kids say I squeak when I walk!

 

[dunnah01]

We live in a 3 bed detached bungalow. Temp set a 15c, since we left home on the 14th Dec we have used £36 of gas. So no major cost, and stop tap turned off for safe measure.

That would be about £300 for us in our 4 bed detached all electric

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