Best practice for heating

[mrsimes]

Hi,

We've just moved into a new Barratt house. The water and central heating systems are very different to what were used to and I wonder if someone could advise us on best practices for efficiency?

We have a Potterton boiler and two separate timers. One for heating water and another with a thermostat for the central heating.

1. The water heating
   There's a large tank in the top bedroom with a temperature dial on it and two small, round, metal containers suspended up above it.
   The water timer under the boiler (Horstmann CentaurPlus) appears to heat this tank of water and when at the desired temperature the boiler cuts out. If we then draw water (for a shower etc) after a while the boiler comes back on for a while presumably to reheat the tank.
   As the tank is quite large, we've programmed the water timer to only come on between 6.30am and 7am daily. This fills the tank with hot water so we can shower and doesn't trigger the boiler to come on again whilst we're showering. I'm assuming this is good practice?
   Originally we had it on from 6.30am til 9am and then again at 5pm til 10pm. We noticed it kick in at 5pm but then we only use a small amount of hot water in the evening so figured this was a waste. The water heated in the morning is still hot in the tank in the evening. Is it more efficient to have it heating the water once a day or is it better to have it 'topping' up the tank all day long?
2. The central heating system
   It has its own combined Honeywell timer and thermostat in the hallway, then each of the radiators has a thermostatic valve.
   Having never had a room thermostat before, how should I use this?
   Should I program the heating to come on and off in the morning and evening, or do I leave it running all the time but set the hallway thermostat to the desired temperature, thus maintaining that temperature all the time?
   What temperature would you expect to set the thermostat? It's currently showing 20 degrees, but if I press the information button it changes to 5 degrees. Not sure what that means?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but hopefully someone can give me some guidance on this?

Many thanks,

Simon

 

[MarkB]

Hello Simon,

It sounds like you have a programable room thermostat. These allow you to set different temperatures at different times of day. The ones I have come across generally don't have an "off" setting, you simply set a lower temperature for that portion of the day. They generally display the current room temperature ie. 20deg and when you press the info button or similar they display the programmed temperature ie. 5 deg.

The radiator in the hall shouldn't have a thermostatic valve - if it does make sure it is on the maximum setting and leave it. Use the main thermostat to set a comfortable temperature and then use the thermostatic valves on each of the radiators to adjuct the temperature for each room.

I hope this helps

Mark