Central heating and money saving

[VickMackie]

I have a rather strange question but it's been nagging me.

If I put the heating on and only want it in one room is it more efficient to leave the heating on in other rooms or is it best to switch the others off.

Without understanding the heating grid under the floor it's not really clear to me. It seems to me when I turn the radiator off it's only blocking the radiator at point of entry so the heat has still travelled all around the house!

Compartmentalising presumably works better for heating the whole house as well of all the radiators are on, is that fair?

[HibsMax]

What sort of heating system to you have? You said radiator so I assume it's fuel-heated, water-filled radiators?

I think shutting the heat off in each room that you don't want heat in should be saving you energy even though, as you said, you are only blocking the point of entry. The thing is, radiators are terribly inefficient at withholding heat (their sole purpose in life is to radiate heat) whereas the pipes that go around your house should be insulated.

[VickMackie]

Gas central heating. Guess its fluid of some sort.

Good point about radiators losing the heat. Although its underfloor heating which probably negates the point about insulated pipes!

[Peevemor]

Gas central heating. Guess its fluid of some sort.

Good point about radiators losing the heat. Although its underfloor heating which probably negates the point about insulated pipes!

You can't use/treat underfloor heating in the same way as a system with radiators. If you turn a normal water filled radiator off the room cools down, turn it back on and the room reheats almost immediately.

With underfloor heating, the cement screed on top of the pipes acts like a big radiator, but because of the mass involved (and the comparitively low temperature of the water circulating) the reaction time is far, far slower. Basically underfloor heating should be switched on and left on.

However, to get back to your original question, the system will be set up in zones, normally with each room having it's own circuit. Somewhere (normally near the boiler) there will be a manifold which controls the water flow to and from each zone/circuit - it's where you'll see loads of pipes dissappearing into the floor. Therefore if you switch of the heating to a room/zone, no warm water will be sent there (but it'll take all day to heat up when you switch it back on again.

You should also remember that the internal partitions in the house will not be insulated. Therefore a room that is being heated will lose heat, via the partitions, to any adjacent unheated rooms - thus using more energy to compensate in the process. That's why we put radiators in hallways - nobody's that fussed for a toasty lobby, but it helps keep your living room, bedrooms, etc warm more efficiently.

OK?

[VickMackie]

Cheers for the replies.

So I'll leave all the heaters on but just til it feels a wee bit warm then switch it off as the heat keeps coming through the floor.

Sometimes it's left on all night but I switched it off after about 45 mins and still warm.

Re the one in the hall, that'll be why that one doesn't have an of switch.

Cheers

[Scouse Hibee]

You can't use/treat underfloor heating in the same way as a system with radiators. If you turn a normal water filled radiator off the room cools down, turn it back on and the room reheats almost immediately.

With underfloor heating, the cement screed on top of the pipes acts like a big radiator, but because of the mass involved (and the comparitively low temperature of the water circulating) the reaction time is far, far slower. Basically underfloor heating should be switched on and left on.

However, to get back to your original question, the system will be set up in zones, normally with each room having it's own circuit. Somewhere (normally near the boiler) there will be a manifold which controls the water flow to and from each zone/circuit - it's where you'll see loads of pipes dissappearing into the floor. Therefore if you switch of the heating to a room/zone, no warm water will be sent there (but it'll take all day to heat up when you switch it back on again.

You should also remember that the internal partitions in the house will not be insulated. Therefore a room that is being heated will lose heat, via the partitions, to any adjacent unheated rooms - thus using more energy to compensate in the process. That's why we put radiators in hallways - nobody's that fussed for a toasty lobby, but it helps keep your living room, bedrooms, etc warm more efficiently.

OK?

My underfloor heating is electric and has no water, I guess it's like having a huge element under the floor, it heats up pretty quickly.

[Peevemor]

My underfloor heating is electric and has no water, I guess it's like having a huge element under the floor, it heats up pretty quickly.

A lot of electric systems are installed above the floor structure and are covered by not much more than the floor finish - they don't heat up the mass of the floor so reaction times will be a lot quicker. Electric systems that are under a screed work in much the same way as the wet systems.

[degenerated]

You can't use/treat underfloor heating in the same way as a system with radiators. If you turn a normal water filled radiator off the room cools down, turn it back on and the room reheats almost immediately.

With underfloor heating, the cement screed on top of the pipes acts like a big radiator, but because of the mass involved (and the comparitively low temperature of the water circulating) the reaction time is far, far slower. Basically underfloor heating should be switched on and left on.

However, to get back to your original question, the system will be set up in zones, normally with each room having it's own circuit. Somewhere (normally near the boiler) there will be a manifold which controls the water flow to and from each zone/circuit - it's where you'll see loads of pipes dissappearing into the floor. Therefore if you switch of the heating to a room/zone, no warm water will be sent there (but it'll take all day to heat up when you switch it back on again.

You should also remember that the internal partitions in the house will not be insulated. Therefore a room that is being heated will lose heat, via the partitions, to any adjacent unheated rooms - thus using more energy to compensate in the process. That's why we put radiators in hallways - nobody's that fussed for a toasty lobby, but it helps keep your living room, bedrooms, etc warm more efficiently.

OK?

The internal partitions in my house, it's an early 70's build, are typically all 100mm thick precast block rather than stud partitions. It definitely seems to retain the heat far better than a plasterboard stud partition and cost wise would be much of a muchness per sq.m. Can't see why it's so uncommon these days.

[Nazz]

Gas central heating. Guess its fluid of some sort.

Good point about radiators losing the heat. Although its underfloor heating which probably negates the point about insulated pipes!

You say you have underfloor heating and radiators. Is this a normal installation?

We have underfloor heating which is managed centrally for the whole building. It will be switched on later this month until March/April. We keep it on in every room else the apartment gets noticeably colder. not surprising when the outside temperature is around -10 for several months.

[Peevemor]

The internal partitions in my house, it's an early 70's build, are typically all 100mm thick precast block rather than stud partitions. It definitely seems to retain the heat far better than a plasterboard stud partition and cost wise would be much of a muchness per sq.m. Can't see why it's so uncommon these days.

Because it's a lot slower.

[Nazz]

Because it's a lot slower.

And heavier to carry!

[VickMackie]

You say you have underfloor heating and radiators. Is this a normal installation?

We have underfloor heating which is managed centrally for the whole building. It will be switched on later this month until March/April. We keep it on in every room else the apartment gets noticeably colder. not surprising when the outside temperature is around -10 for several months.

I have no idea. It's rented accommodation and it's not something I heard the landlord mention. I just noticed when I was standing talking in my socks one day.