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We're off for a long trip soon (4 months+) and have decided to drain the bungalow hot and cold water pipes down and turn off the water at the mains but leave the hot water tank full as we have solar panels on the roof that heat the water.
I'm thinking its best to leave the central heating (oil fired) on low, to click in maybe twice a day but whats the best temp to set the thrmostats at, I was thinking about 6c but is that too low?
We have neighbours and family visiting about once a week to check the property for any potential disasters.
Any suggestions/advice either way would be appreciated...
I presume your insurance is ok for longer absences Pete?
I would say the heating would be fine at 5-6, it will keep the frost away, any higher would be wasteful.
Don't forget to turn off any outside taps if they are outside the mains cut off.
Check with barryD as to what he did, but that was the summer period last year....
______________________________________________________________ Still sat here in front of the computer - it may be in the office, or on the laptop if I manage to get away from the office.
As far as I know, the only motorhoming Oxford United supporter in Bognor.
Pete; won't there be some water loss from the tank if it is heated up every day ? If you've turned the mains off then this water loss can't be made up.
I presume your insurance is ok for longer absences Pete?
Yep, thats all sorted Mike.
6c sounded about right to me as well.
Quote:
Pete; won't there be some water loss from the tank if it is heated up every day ? If you've turned the mains off then this water loss can't be made up.
This what i'm not 100% sure of, I was thinking it best to just leave the tank full and the solars aren't going to produce excessive power at this time of year and just keep the tank ticking over without any water loss, apparently even if you isolate/switch off the panels there will still be a substantial amount of heat soak into the tank which could cause tank damage if its empty. Also I don't want to leave the mains water on in case of any leaks.
Peejay,
If you are leaving the heating on what is the point of turning the water off? I think Griz is right, if you have a header tank you could have problems with it running low. I usually unplug all electical appliances and set the heating to come on twice a day 0600/1000hrs and 1700/2100hrs with the thermostat set to 17C. I have not had any problems but I guess it all depends on what confidence you have in your house and pipe insulation.
When my parents died I had their house on the market for two years and it was a condition of the insurance that the heating was on between 1st Oct and 31st March. I did the same there and had no problems.
If you are going to drain down the water and turn off at the mains then I cannot see any point in leaving the heating on unless it is a condition of the insurance but in my experience it is usually either or.
peedee
______________________________________________________________ The best journeys are not always in straight lines
For an account of our journeys click >here< (Last updated 1st March 2012)
If leaving the heating set it would make sense to have it come on over night, say 01.00 - 03.00 when the temperature is likely to be aat the lowest. That will give the best chance of preventing frozen pipes. Oh and make sure the family and friends wwho are coming in know how to alter the settings so that if Britain gets a long cold spell they can increase the time when the heating is on to prevent freezing pipes.
We've just gone through a hassle with house insurers over absence more than 30 days - we've moved to NFU Mutual, who insist for absence over 60 days Nov-Mar that you leave water and electricity on and heating set to 10 degrees. Don't know if that's of any help, but clearly they want a higher temperature than 6 degrees.
______________________________________________________________ Autotrail 635SE
No longer quite so new to all this but still loving it!
Get a frost stat fitted, and switch heating off. It will come on only if the temp falls below 5 degs.
Reasonably easy DIY job but give some careful thought to its location.
Dick
I have a frost stat but never really trusted it to cover all the cold spots which is why I leave the heating on for set periods albeit with the thermostat turned down. Mrs W may have a point about the coldest period but I would leave it on longer that suggested.
peedee
______________________________________________________________ The best journeys are not always in straight lines
For an account of our journeys click >here< (Last updated 1st March 2012)
If you have TRV's on your radiators then turn them right down. The lowest setting is basically a "frost stat" which will only open if it gets close to freezing.
Likewise most boilers have a frost stat setting so they will ONLY come on if the temp gets near to 0 (bit like the auto boiler dump valve fitted to so MH's only it works in reverse)
I certainly wouldnt bother to heat the house to anything approaching 17 degs !!!
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