What's your Heating and Hot Water Schedules?

22
Posted 1st Jan 2023
For those that have a heating and hot water schedule, can you help and advice


What's your current set up?

The current water is set for 5am to 8am and then 4pm to 7pm
The heating is also at 19, at those exact same hours.


The above seems very excessive and my bills are very high. Does the above make sense, should they both be on the same time/same schedule?


Is that more economical or should the water come on 30mins earlier?


Thank you
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  1. smoose89's avatar
    I have set our water at 8am till 8.25 and then 3pm till 3.25 that's with 3 of us. We share a bath butt anything after 2 baths your struggling to have hot water in the evening
  2. JimboParrot's avatar
    Obviously depends on your boiler/system, but six hours of hot water seems excessive although presumably it isn't heating all the time. I would have thought an hour in the morning for hot water sufficient if you are showering only. Heating seems to come on early and go off early in the afternoon/evening but again depends on your working hours etc.
  3. AMaky's avatar
    Don't have schedule as combi boiler and 2nd shower is electric. 
    Heating comes on automatically when minimum temp is reached, 2 thermostats for upstairs and downstairs..
    I would say you are better off keeping house at constant temperature than 3 hours and 3 hours. If ours comes on, it's for like 20-30mins 2-3 times a day unless I manually put it on.
    House is only 5 years old though so very good insulation. 
  4. Mark_Hickman's avatar
    How much does it cost per day currently with that setup ?
    We have a combi boiler but we're using approx £11 per day gas and electric to have the heating on 20.5 degrees from 8am-10pm and 4 ppl having showers every day.
    As already mentioned above it can be better to keep heating at a constant temperature rather than to have the heating coming on and off for long periods as it takes a long time to heat back up which costs more than short blips through the day to keep the constant temperature set (edited)
  5. Smithers37's avatar
    We have tankless. 18 degrees 24/7. If I set it to go down to 16 overnight, it takes ages and uses just as much gas to get it back up to tempature. Costing about £4 a day in mild winter, and £10 when it went -8.
  6. optrex10's avatar
    How many people, what size house? 2 ppl, 3bed.
    My water comes on for 2hr before we wake up , 1hr middle if day and another 2 from 6. I have a heat only boiler.
    My heating comes on 30mins before we wake up for 1.5hours , 1hr in middle of day then stays on from 6.30 till 11 but easy to use thermostat to turn off. (edited)
    MarioMan's avatar
    Author
    Thanks 4ppl and 4 bed 
  7. wayners's avatar
    Heating on when we get up and off when we get in bed.
    Combi boiler so can't give any details on water.

    The December bill was £50 more than November. £11 per day for gas and electric. (edited)
    MarioMan's avatar
    Author
    £330 for December? How many people and how many rooms?
  8. Willy_Wonka's avatar
    Buy a combi so your water is heated on demand (little wasted hot water)

    Adjust your heating setup to 2 zones. Upstairs & downstairs. Set thermostats to 18 Switching off downstairs during sleeping hours.

    Insulate your loft to knee high.

    Buy the most economical oven & hob. Cook when you can in a microwave, slow cooker or air fryer.

    Whatever it costs to install no doubt you will save in 18-24 months.
    StudentGrant's avatar
    "Whatever it costs to install no doubt you will save in 18-24 months?"

    If you haven't got all your recommended improvements already and buy it now it's probably going to be more like seven years plus before you cover the costs - and combi boilers tend to die after ten years
  9. TyroneH's avatar
    Only takes 20mins to heat up a water tank depending on your boiler and will stay hot for a few hours
  10. rimalpatel007's avatar
    Heating when needed generally 30min in the mornings and on again for 15 twice for drying clothes.

    Hot water is on demand as we have a combi

    2 bed flat for 3
  11. CatsWithThumbs's avatar
    That does seem a long time for the hot water to be on; do you have a cylinder thermostat? If so set it to 55-60C and regardless of the timings it should shut off when the temp is reached. (Should not be any lower than that, to keep legionella bacteria at bay and no need really to have it any higher than that I'd say). If you don't have one then look into getting one fitted (you might be able to do this yourself depending on how comfortable you are with wiring it in). Also ensure your tank is well insulated.

    I'm not sure whether the hot water being at the same time as the heating makes any difference. If they're on together the hot water coming from the boiler will (or should) be split between the two so effectively taking twice as long to do each job, whereas if you have them at different times then each will get 100% so I don't think you'd see a massive difference either way. (as long as all the valves are working correctly and diverting to each side as appropriate)
  12. sfndkks's avatar
    That is a lot of time for hot water!
    I have it set for 15 minutes at 7 and 15 minutes at 5pm and the water is hot at all times (small family though)
    Heating is at 17 degrees fixed, and the boiler kicks in on average 2 hours a day to keep it at 17 minimum, im not a big fan of too warm conditions, even before the energy crisis
    rev6's avatar
    What temp your water get to? 60c?
  13. samosa's avatar
    Heating set to 16
    Water 30 mins in the morning and On-demand if required in the evening. Tank set to 60c. (edited)
  14. scuzzlebutt's avatar
    I'm on White meter electric and I used to get my off peak hot water boost through the night, I was happy enough to let it boost every night but since the price hikes what I've now taken to doing is just switching the boost heater off and using the hot water up until it goes cold and only then boosting it so that's normally 3 days worth of hot water. I have also cut out baths completely in favour of showers.
  15. dfunked's avatar
    Combi boiler so no water schedule. Hot water is set to 50 degrees on the boiler which gives a nice hot shower. It was set a bit higher than that because my OH loves an absolutely boiling bath, but she has those so rarely it can just be turned up when needed.

    Heating goes on at 07:30 (half an hour before alarms go off) and stays on at 15 degrees until 22:00. Quite often gets turned up a bit more than that in the evenings mind you and sometimes during the day/weekends, but I find it fine for WFH (office is usually a few degrees warmer than the room the thermostat is in)
    Peak gas usage according to Flow was £9.31 on the worst day during the cold snap, but closer to £3/£4 recently with the milder weather.
  16. exexpat's avatar
    Interesting thread. As a tip anyone with an electric shower can switch there hot water off. If I need hot water in the kitchen I will boil the kettle.
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