Hi all

I know nothing about central heating so please don't flame me.

We have a small annexe over our garage which is not being used at the
moment. I want to set the heating system up so that it uses the least amount
of energy while protecting the pipes from freezing, is that necessary?

The system comprises a 'Worcester 240' boiler which heats the hot water and
feeds 3 radiators. All of the radiators have thermostatic controls fitted
but I am not sure what to set them to, to avoid frozen pipes.

I have some questions I was hoping you could help me with:

1. I was going to set the thermostats on all three radiators to the 'blue
snowflake' setting which is the setting below a single red line, Is this
right? My only concern is that when I set it to the blue snowflake (on all
three radiators) it seems to cut off all the water (perhaps some is still
flowing but I can't tell). If I turn the thermostat up to the mid point
halfway between the blue snowflake and the single red line, I can hear water
start to flow and the radiator gets quite hot but that seems to be too hot.
Any advice?

2. I was going to set the boiler thermostat to the minimum setting. Is this
right? This article
https://www.energyefficiency.powerge...Thermostat.htm
on the Powergen website suggests that the boiler works most efficiently when
set to high but I only want to heat a little water to stop the pipes
freezing so I'm not sure what to do for the best.

3. Do I need to turn the hot water setting on to protect the pipes?

4. If I can figure out how to program the boiler, is there a recommended
time when you should switch the boiler on over night to stop pipes freezing?
Say 10PM - 8AM or something like that.

5. If I can't figure out how to program the boiler is it OK/economic to
leave the boiler switched to the ON position for the next few months?


Hope I made some sense.

Thanks for any help.

Pete