Central heating

[brencar]

Hi everyone, would really appreciate some advice on what we should do about the central heating when we are in Portugal over the winter. We have lived in Australia for the last 38 years and are not sure, do we leave it set to come on everyday or turn it off completely. Brenda

[chas]

Hi brencar- Two choices spring to mind, first would be to leave the heating on a frost setting timed to come on at evening time, but this idea does not take into account if we should have a very cold winter unless you have freinds/neibours to check every thing out. Personally with the high cost of energy today I would call a plumber in and get the system drained down and shut off including your water supply, only snag is when you return the home will take some thawing out ( cold damp ) but think of the costs you will have saved. Have a good holiday . chas

[brencar]

Hi Chas Thanks for the quick reply, does it mean that it's a bit risky to leave it set to come on for an hour morning and night unless we have someone to come in and check it Brenda

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]brencar - 2006-08-27 5:22 PM Hi everyone, would really appreciate some advice on what we should do about the central heating when we are in Portugal over the winter. We have lived in Australia for the last 38 years and are not sure, do we leave it set to come on everyday or turn it off completely. Brenda[/QUOTE] Hi Brencar, Check your house insurance because some companies insist that a wet system drained down if you leave the property unattended for certain periods. I assume you have contacted your insurers about leaving the house unattended over the winter. Regards Don

[brencar]

Hi Don We haven't checked with the insurance company but will do. So do most people close it down when away. Brenda

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]brencar - 2006-08-27 5:51 PM Hi Don We haven't checked with the insurance company but will do. So do most people close it down when away. Brenda[/QUOTE] Brenda, We are away for five months in the winter. We have blown air heating which we leave on at low setting. Our next door neighbours look after the house, getting rid of junk mail and such like. With our previous insurers (CIS) we also had to notify the police that we were away. Regards Don

[brencar]

Hi Don We have a combination boiler with no storage tank, yours sounds as if it is an electrical system. Sorry to sound so dumb but we have only had one winter here and didn't go away last winter. So I guess we have to decide, really don't fancy leaving it off for three months Brenda

[BrianR]

My insurance company insist that the system is either drained or left permanently on i.e., 24/24; 7/7, so this is what I do, leaving the room thermostat at 37ºF. This has not been expensive and it means that you come home to a warm dry house. They also say leave the trap door to the loft slightly open, so that the tank, etc. up there doesn't freeze. If you drain the system you will have the expense of re-filling it with Fernox or similar solution and getting out all the airlocks. Brian

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]brencar - 2006-08-27 8:05 PM Hi Don We have a combination boiler with no storage tank, yours sounds as if it is an electrical system. Sorry to sound so dumb but we have only had one winter here and didn't go away last winter. So I guess we have to decide, really don't fancy leaving it off for three months Brenda[/QUOTE] Brenda, Yes our system is an electrical one. We set the thermostat for about 36 degrees F. In the 15 winters we have been away we have never had a problem. Don

[chas]

Hi Brencar- Sorry for the delay, If I were you I would close the system down and shut off the main water stop tap. O.K. so you will have a cold house when you return, but leaving it on for weeks unattended would worry me while I was away, having some one come in to check everything would not help because you can bet that after they had left something would go, and the damaged caused by black staining central heating water and ceilings hanging down would ruin any after thoughts of your holiday. After the system is started back up, use the motorhome to live in for 24hrs or so till it airs out. If you know that disaster cant happen you will enjoy your holidy even more. chas

[Brian Kirby]

Brenda

Do check your insurance as suggested. 

You don't say where you live, the further North you go in UK the colder it tends to be, with the East generally colder than the West whatever the lattitude.  Altitude also plays a part, the higher you live, the colder it will tend to be.  However, local factors can give surprisingly mild winters in northern parts, for example the West coast of Scotland. 

You don't say how long you're planning to be away, but the worst (coldest) weather generally arrives after Christmas and up to the end of February.  How your house performs will depend on how well insulated it is, and how solidly it is built.  However, if we have a hard winter we can experience temperatures below freezing for several days on end and in some areas for several weeks on the trot.  To be clear, I mean staying below 0C for the entire 24 hour day, although this is unusual in most areas.  So, there is great variation around the country, and from one year to the next.

Under these circumstances, it is best to plan for the worst and hope for the best.  That means draining down wet central heating systems, unless filled with an antifreeze mixture which only a relatively few, recent, systems have.  You should turn off your water at the external stopcock in the street, rather than just the one in the house (test this beforehand, they tend not to be much used and you may find you need the services of a plumber), ensure that all tanks, cisterns and water cylinders etc are emptied before you leave, and turn off the electricity at the consumer unit and any gas at the main cock.  Unless your house is modern and timber framed, don't come home before the end of March though, because it'll take you a week to get the place comfortably warm again if it is a cold winter!

Hope this helps.

[docted]

Brenda With a combi you do not have a hot water tank to worry about and probably do not have a cold tank either if the system has been installed recently.In that case you are probably better to leave on very low thermstat setting 24/7 if doors and windows not opened several times daily there will be very little loss of heat and running costs will be minimal. Benefit is that you come back to a warmed house drawback small cost of running the system. If you have a cold tank to worry about it is probably better to drain down the house water system completely and turn water off at the mains. Unfortunately you would also have to turn of the heating. Benefit no heating bill to come back to drawback house cold!. Enjoy your trip and stay in Portugal. Docted

[Dave Newell]

I have to say turn off the water and drain the system. A few years back my parents had five weeks in spain in february/March, myself and my uncle were alternately checking their bungalow on a daily basis (water left on and heating on low twice a day). On the day I was due to collect them from the airport I called to pick up his car (he always insisted I use his car to fetch them) and was a bit concerned to find the conservatory full of condensation. On opening the kitchen door I was greeted with the sight of the dining room celing lying on the floor and gallons of water pouring through from the loft! My uncle fetched them while I started the clean up. Their insurance company were terrific (Zurich) and had industrial sized de-humidifiers in within a few hours. An inspector was there the next day to assess the damage (I fixed the leaking pipe on the day we discovered the problem) which included: Dining room ceiling to be replaced. Cupboard doors in dining room to be replaced. Skirting boards in dining room, hall and lounge to be replaced. Dining room, lounge and hall to be redecorated. This work took about three months to complete because it took around a month to dry the place out to start with plus the cupboard doors and skirting boards had to be specially made to match the existing timber work. turn the water off and drain the system but also get someone to check the house regularly. P.S. It is worth saying that both my father and myself only turn the stopcock on sufficient to give a decent flow. this is about 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn. The reason is it limits the water flow should anything like tihs occur plus it makes ot faster to turn it off in an emergency. D.

[brencar]

Hi everyone Thank you all so much for taking the time to give us so much information I can't thank you enough. We live in Ramsgate Kent (really handy for the ferries) so generally it is much milder than northern counties, actually the climate is not all that different to Tasmania where we lived. We haven't decided which way we will go yet but now have a lot more information to help us decide. Thankas again Brenda

[BrianR]

David doesn't say how the pipe in the loft came to be leaking, but if it was a burst pipe, this is why the insurance companies insist that you leave the heating on continuous and leave the trap door to the loft open a little to keep the loft temperature above freezing. Brian

[Dave Newell]

Sorry Brian, The "burst" was a compression fitting that came adrift on the feed to the header tank. Whether it froze and was pushed apart or just a badly made joint I don't know but as it had been there for sixty years or so I asume it froze. The insurance company in question reccomended that the water be turned off and the system drained when leaving the house unoccupied for more than a day or two in summer or winter. D.

[Brian Kirby]

[QUOTE]brencar - 2006-08-28 4:54 PM Hi everyone Thank you all so much for taking the time to give us so much information I can't thank you enough. We live in Ramsgate Kent (really handy for the ferries) so generally it is much milder than northern counties, actually the climate is not all that different to Tasmania where we lived. We haven't decided which way we will go yet but now have a lot more information to help us decide. Thankas again Brenda[/QUOTE]

We lived in North Kent for several years: don't get too confident about it being mild!  Generally it is, but from time to time we get North Easterly winds, and snow, in winter. 

The winds come straight out of Siberia/Scandinavia, down the North Sea, across the Thames estuary, and guess where they go next?  Straight over that handy sticky out bit of England called Kent! 

Not that normal, but we experienced a couple of really hard winters where we lived, with the snow persisting for several weeks.  For a few hours, Kent was basically cut off by road and rail from the rest of the UK, and the minor roads remained ice bound for well over a week.  The wind chill takes the temperatures way lower than the actual air temperature, and any chinks in your insulation/draftproofing are well and truly exploited!

Sorry to sound a pessimist, but forewarned is forearmed and it would be unwise to take our weather too much for granted.  It's funny stuff!