Heating left on or off?

Coolbeanz

Coolbeanz

Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Posts
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Location
Pinar de Campoverde, Spain
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24,871
MH
Giottiline T60
Exp
Since March 2013
Can I ask what you do if you’re house is left empty all winter. We currently leave our heating off and the water is turned off at the mains. My son checks our house regularly and reckons it’s colder in our bungalow than it is outside :eek:. So far we’ve never suffered any damage from the cold but was curious what others do and has anyone suffered problems as a result of not having heating on?
 
We have a NEST thermostat which automatically clicks on the heating if it looks like we are going to get close to freezing inside. We do't turn off the water when away which may or may not be a mistake
 
Our insurance say thermostat must be at a minimum of 12deg so thats what it is plus water off during the winter.

Martin
 
If you are going to leave the heating off you either need to drain down the system or put antifreeze in it.
Some insurance companies state when unoccupied the heating has to be set to 15 deg.

We set ours to 12 deg we also have a Nest and if it gets cold I turn the heating back on a couple of days before we get home.
 
You must check with your insurers.
I left mine on 15°, but someone had to go in weekly to check.

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We leave ours on timed, couple of hours in morning and evening, about 15 degrees.
I used to have one of those remote things that turned the heating on before we arrived home, it was called Dad. Sadly no more.
 
We have the Hive system and leave our heating on at 15 degrees while we are away. And we turn it back to the normal schedule a couple of days before we are due back, if we remember.
 
I used to work two weeks on, two weeks off on the oil rigs. Always turned everything off, water off at main valve and all taps left open hoping it would allow any ice to expand. Came back one after one winter trip and found the toilet bowl snapped off and lying at an angle. Of course the water in the bowl had frozen. Always poured a pack of salt in the bowl after that.
 
Definitely check your insurance!

Mine says 12deg but Dad's says 16deg PLUS a verifiable visual check every week (he's in a Care Home, so the house is classed as unoccupied).

Gordon
 
funflair said:
Our insurance say thermostat must be at a minimum of 12deg so thats what it is plus water off during the winter.

Martin
Click to expand...

Leave ours on low and turn off the water, draining down the water supply to the taps.

And then the hot water cylinder developed a leak ..............

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We used to turn water and electricity off, anti freeze was added to central heating ----- we also used to leave the curtains open so anyone could see we had nothing worth pinching!!!!!! Always tried to leave to central heating oil tank as low as possible!! Maybe we were just lucky but we did this for several years and never had a problem!!!!!------- now rent it out so the tenant takes care of it!!!!
I had some RV antifreeze and used to put some in all u traps and loo (which was flushed to empty cistern)
 
When I taught in North Yorkshire, the County Council extended the Xmas holiday from 2 weeks to 3 weeks to "save money". All they were really doing was transferring the cost to several hundred parents per school.

Unfortunately, not all schools were able to re-open as there were several leaks and getting all of those bricks back up to 16deg took longer than expected.

I think the "experiment" lasted for 2y then it was back to a 2 week break.

Gordon
 
A couple of years ago whilst in Spain we got a call from our neighbours to tell us we'd had a burst in the en-suite and it was coming through the kitchen ceiling. We had left the heating on but we hadn't drained the tank, however the radiator in the en-suite has always been a bit pathetic and we stupidly closed the door to it which meant that it didn't benefit from any of the heating from the bedroom. Have to say this was during the Beast from the East weather so not a huge surprise really.
 
Puddleduck said:
then the hot water cylinder developed a leak
Click to expand...
Not that unusual, if the cylinder is old ish, I always left the hot water on until we moved and I put a stainless steel unvented cylinder in.
If away for 2 to 3 weeks I leave everything on, if away for a long best to drain everything, use antifreeze in the heating, but still leave the heating on 12 degrees
 
We Had to leave our heating set to 15 degrees and leave the loft door open to comply with insurance requirements also had to have weekly visit from family to ensure security etc.

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Used to leave it off and the frost stat set to 5c
Noways we have one of the grand kids living here while we are oorrrffff so it is a mute point ( she proly has it would up to about 30 !!! )
 
We used to have a holiday cottage at Glen Trool Village.
When we left the LPG combi boiler was turned off as was the water.
One autumn daughter #1 had been for a few days.... And she doesn't know left from right.
She turned the stop tap on FULL.
Of course, the pipework froze and the first 22mm joint after the stop tap popped.
The postman had reported water running down the footpath from our front door.
The in street stop tap supplied two properties so that couldn't be turned off.
A 220 mile emergency trip in the dead of winter to turn off the water, fix the pipe and bail out the 2" of water in every room.
 
I think some people misunderstood my post, I didn’t need advice on insurance requirements as I make sure I’m fully compliant with my insurer as I can’t see the point in paying all that money and then finding I’m not covered if something goes wrong. I was curious what other people do and whether there have been any unfortunate incidents that we can all learn from. It’s been interesting seeing the replies and also how much insurance companies differ in their requirements. We have to have our house inspected weekly and the water switched off at the mains. So far so good so let’s hope it stays that way. Even during the beast from the east we had no issues. The only thing we have on all year round is our Envirovent de-humidifier so we never get condensation or damp.
 
I turn the water off and open the taps but I am nervous about leaving the heating on. I have a had leaks in a couple of radiators- the system is 60 years old with a back boiler. If the system drains through a leaky radiator, presumably the boiler will also drain and explode?
 
Heating stats set at 15°C, hot water turned off. Leave cold supply on and all internal doors open.

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Janine said:
I turn the water off and open the taps but I am nervous about leaving the heating on. I have a had leaks in a couple of radiators- the system is 60 years old with a back boiler. If the system drains through a leaky radiator, presumably the boiler will also drain and explode?
Click to expand...
With an older system the heating should fill its self front the F&E tank in the loft.

Also boilers don't blow up often.



Normally it's only once:LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
My parent’s house got thoroughly flooded despite leaving the heating on because the loft insulation was too good. The lagged pipes still froze and split in the loft above the main insulation and the property was soaked from top to bottom. If in doubt drain down.
 
We never, ever, turn our heating off. It has a thermostat to regulate the temperature.

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We turn the water and electric and gas off. The house is very well insulated and we put extra curtains up. We turn the radiators off at both ends, so if we have a burst pipe the radiators will not empty, so the only water is from the pipes.
 
We leave the heating on at 15 degrees and the loft hatch open. It's worth turning off cold mains in case a washing machine hose lets go (unless they're isolated separately). Turning off electricity is a problem: if the heating is left on and/or if you rely on power for security cameras etc. then the mains will need to be on. We turn off chargers but leave the power on. There's a lamp with very low wattage LED left on in every room whether we're at home or not.
 
The only thing I do (now) is always turn off the water at the mains. It used to be left on to service the garden watering and we had a fracture of the Water filter casing Aug `17 and where out of the bungalow for 5 months. The heating system is "tight" and there is sufficient water in the header tank to cope with all but a catastrophic failure. In which case you do NOT want the tank continuing to fill?. The heating we put on to continuous, and turn the `stat to 15C. Never turn of the Power though, as the heating surprisingly? needs Electricity to function!, and the Security Cam`s don`t work!, and the freezer defrosts too.
 
I turn the water off, but don't drain down. It's a bit of a faff refilling as I end up with air locks. But that leaves a tank full in the insulated roof that will be vulnerable even with tank lagging. Never checked the insurance small print to see what they might require. I figure a tank full of water if it goes will make a mess, but as in winter the longest I'm away is a week it would be harsh for anyone to expect a drain down.

I have a Hive controller on the heating. It's off frost protection is the default 7 deg. That seems fine to me. In these days of energy efficiency I'm not heating the house to high temps when I'm not there. Normally however I don't let temp get below around 15 deg as it takes too long for the heating to recover to comfortable levels what with solid brick walls and stuff.

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