On Dec 19, 1:16*pm, "Andrew Mawson"
wrote:
"chris French" wrote in message

...





There seems to be floating about among some people I know online the
idea that keeping the central heating on all the time is cheaper
than
turning it off at night. Not sure where it comes from, but seeing as
they all frequent the same/ related e-mail lists, maybe from there.

The basic idea seems to be that it costs more *to heat the house
back up
in the morning, than to keep it at the same temp.

now I know it depends on things like internal and external temp (we
have
a programmable stat set at 12-13 C, it hardly seems to turn on
except
when down to about freezing outside from what I can tell),

But in principle it seems rubbish, it must use more energy to keep
something hot, than to let it cool and then reheat., but a couple of
people had been hard to convince, esp. as a 'plumber told me it)

Or is my brain addled?? :-)
--
Chris French

Yes - it's a load of tommyrot - obviously more energy used keeping it
hot all the time.

Now I did work in an oil refinery where if they let the pipes cool it
got very expensive, as the tarry gunge set solid, never to move again
G

AWEM- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well right now it's minus 8 C outside (it was minus 12 earlier today).
Inside it's somewhat less than plus 20 degrees. Probably around 67 F.

When retiring in a couple of hours time will definitely turn down the
thermostats in the two rooms we use most. And the TV will be off so
it's wasted heat will not be present either. The temp. since it is not
all windy tonight will drop slowly and by morning the house will be
cooler by quite a few degrees and thus losing less heat per unit of
time than right now while I am still up and about.

It won't take long, maybe half an hour with the thermostats turned
back up, in the morning for the two or three most used living areas to
warm back up. And if I was leaving for the day I might even leave them
turned down until returning tomorrow evening! As a single retiree home
most of the time it is possible to keep thermostats in the less used
rooms turned lower.

A basement workshop, and an attached storeroom garage are only heated
occasionally when in use. The bathroom has a row of six inefficient 40
watt bulbs; much of the time since they are on when bathroom is in use
they are sufficient to heat the room so the 500 watt electric
baseboard heater rarely cuts in.

It's quite obvious that one heats the areas necessary to the degree
needed and anything more costs more to heat. At any temperature the
heat loss from wind IS a significant factor; not so much because wood
frame houses here are leaky, they are not. If anything are often too
well sealed and must use air/heat exchangers; but because wind carries
away heat from the structure.