Home heating: slow and steady or as you need it?
Press enquiries
If you are a journalist with a media enquiry, please contact our Press Office by email at [email protected]
For all other general enquiries, please call 0345 555 7100 or email [email protected].
Whether your house uses gas or electricity, there are a number of ways to heat your home. However, one of the big questions is this â€� is it better to keep your heating turned on but on a low temperature, or to turn it on as and when you need it?Ìý
Things to bear in mindÌý
There are a number of things to keep in mind when considering how to heat your home, including:Ìý
How your home is insulated and how effective it isÌý
The size of your homeÌý
How efficient your boiler isÌý
The average temperature of your homeÌý
How long you’re going to be home for.Ìý
Let’s take it by heating type.Ìý
Underfloor heating has a slower response time and can take hours to heat up or cool down, thanks to the thermal mass in the floor â€� the actual heating element can be anything from 50 to 100mm below the floor. As a result, it can be more efficient and cheaper to leave your underfloor heating switched on at a low temperature than turning it off and on.ÌýÌý
Radiators only have to heat the air, so they don’t take long to heat up and are better suited to turning them on as and when you need them.Ìý
What about heat pumps?Ìý
If you have a heat pump, you can save money by leaving the heating on all day. This is because heat pumps take air from outside to heat up your home, meaning they’re less efficient in colder temperatures as they have to work harder to keep water at a higher temperature.ÌýÌýSimilarly, if the temperature inside your home drops, the heat pump has to work harder to get it up to a warm temperature. By keeping it on all the time at a lower temperature (or ‘set-backâ€�) when you’re not home, it won’t have to use as much energy to get back to a warmer temperature when you get back.ÌýÌý
Insulating your hot water tank
A common energy saving myth is that you should have your hot water heater on all the time, instead of turning it off and on. Immersion heaters and boilers will heat up the hot water to a certain temperature and will then keep the water hot all day for you to use when you need it, so once it’s reached the maximum temperature it’s aiming for, it can’t actually heat up anymore. Save yourself the hassle by only heating up the boiler when you need it.ÌýÌýHow your home is insulated also plays a big part in deciding which is the most efficient way to heat your home. If you have cavity wall and loft insulation, providing it’s up to modern standards, then it may be worth keeping your heating on at a lower, steady temperature as you’ll lose less heat.ÌýÌý
The verdictÌý
Realistically, it comes down to one simple fact: if you keep your heating on, you’ll be paying for heat you’re not using or feeling the benefits of, and you’ll risk losing more heat. However, if it takes a while for your heating to come on, it uses more energy to get to a comfortable temperature and it’ll cost you more if you’re constantly turning it off and on (like underfloor heating).Ìý
Check out our winter energy saving tips to find out how you can make your home more efficient.Ìý
Ready to start turning your bills into mills?
and we’ll use your bill money to build new sources of renewable energy and build a greener Britain.
Similar articles
10 climate change facts you can’t afford to ignore
Global warming is showing no sign of slowing down. Human activity is pushing temperatures higher than ever before, with the risk of a tipping point from which we can never recover getting closer by the minute.
More
How Smart Meters Work - A Simple Guide
Having a smart meter installed will help you monitor your energy use, but how does it work, and why is it good for the environment? »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp’re here to help answer this.
More
May's positive climate news
News about the climate is often doom and gloom. It’s important that we know how our collective actions are often causing harm to our planet, but there are individuals that are doing a lot of good work too!
More