Efficient use of central heating

As 'that' time of year seems to be fast approaching, and thoughts turn to the cold nights, I got to wondering what was the most efficient way to use central heating?

The system I have doesn't have a thermostat, but instead every radiator has a TRV that opens and closes according to the room temperature - the exception to this is the bathroom which has a heated towel rail which is on all the time when the heating is on (boiler running).

I have a condensing system boiler located in the loft, and a digital controller that allows me to set up to three periods of 'on' time per day for heating and the same for hot water, and allows those settings to be different depending on the day of the week (theory being that you won't want heating as early on a weekend as you would on a weekday presumably); hot water is stored in a tank on the first floor, which has a thermostatic control on it, so even if it is the 'on' period for the water, the boiler may not get a call for heat if the temperature in the tank is at or above the temperature set on the thermostat.

Now, in our last two homes, we had combi-boilers that heated the water on demand, and likewise for the heating - the downside being that we could have hot water or heat but not both together (although in reality this was rarely, if ever, an issue); it was a fairly simple situation, if the boiler was timed to come on and the room thermostat was below the desired temperature, then the boiler would fire up and heat until the place was warm enough again.

Now, with the current system, when we had the heating on last winter, it was heating in cycles even on the days when we are in all day. Essentially, the heating will come on, run at full pelt for two, three, four hours to heat the house up from cold, and then it will switch off and the house will gradually cool until the next burst of heat. This is fine in as much that I am unsure of the point of heating the house during the day when we are at work, or indeed through the night when we are bundled up in bed (although, if he could speak, the dog would certainly argue with me on these points ); however, this either means that there is a wee while when we are sitting feeling cold while the place warms up, or we end up timing the heating to come on up to an hour (weather dependant) before we are due in so that the place is comfortable as soon as we get in.

Now, the question is, are we being less efficient by the heat/cool/heat/cool cycles we have set? Would we be better to have the heating on for a much longer period of time (say, 4am to 9am, and then 3pm to 10pm), or even to have it running constantly?

The latter doesn't really appeal for a number of reasons admittedly - I don't like the house too warm when going to or in bed (although the TRV's should take care of this), I am unconvinced that it needs to be kept at a steady 20 or so degrees during the day, and this would surely wear the pump on the boiler?

I appreciate that if the TRV's all close because the rooms reach temperature, then the boiler won't have an awful lot to do, as it will only be maintaining the water temperature for the amount being fed to the towel rail, but surely even that will still require the burners to fire up every ten minutes or so, even if it is only for a minute or two?

Opinions, thoughts and experiences as always are appreciated.

 

@pete - if you haven't got cavity wall insulation, and a decent layer of loft insulation, get yourself some; the difference that getting our walls done last year has made is quite remarkable. I've just had a look at the digital thermometer, and its showing 21º at the moment, and that is without heating.

We don't have a gas fire, so our only source of heating is the central heating or electric oil filled radiators as a fall-back. In fairness, we were averaging around £60-£70 a month for gas last winter, and that includes the hot water and the hob. Our electric bill was stupidly high though, but that is the oven and the tumble dryer that caused that (not helped one bit by the chucking wet year that last year was).

The thing is, if its going to cost £60 a month to be almost warm, or £80 a month to be toasty, then I would happily pay the £80 - neither Mrs C nor I do well with the cold (goes for her knees, and absolutely knackers my joints); equally though, I am not in the game of wasting money, hence the wondering.

 

Could you not get the external insulation done? Might cost a bit more though.

 

Oil fired heating and an aga... You live in the country don't you?!

This house is 30's built (I think), has about a foot of insulation in the loft, cavity wall insulation, double glazed windows and doors and is ruddy freezing. I put it down to not having carpet anywhere. Stone floors downstairs, wood everywhere else.

 

Think Erica acts as a heat sink lol