How to efficiently run UFH?

[devs]

Hi guys, I've recently moved into a new build house that is heated via UFH. The boiler is fired by oil and I was surprised how quickly I burnt through the tank. The house is extremely well insulated and triple glazed, concrete construction with an EPC rating of 85 (B).

Its a relatively large house 4200 sqft. Each room has its own programmable stat and all are currently set to maintain a temp of 19 degrees.

I've never lived in a house with a setup like this before and am sure that there are things that I should be doing to reduce my bills.

I considered programming the downstairs stats to turn off after say 1am and come back to temp at 6am. However I'm not sure if it would burn more oil returning to temp quickly?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

Many thanks,

Devs.

 

[Agile]

To keep the cost down you need to only heat the rooms at the times they are to be occupied.

That needs an early start to accommodate the long heat up time of up to two hours.

Similarly it can be turned off early too.

You seem to be suffering from the mistake that many make of thinking that it uses more energy heating up again.

The reality is that the cost is lost heat which is proportional to the time and temperature difference.

Tony

 

[Dan Robinson]

How quick is quick?

How big is the tank?

How much Hot water is being used?

 

[devs]

Evening gents and many thanks for the helpful replies. I've been looking at the manual for the stats and plan to change each of the rooms this weekend.

@ Dan, the tank size is 1000 ltrs we put in 800 ltrs and that lasted 6 weeks. Its a family of 4 two young kids. I'd say 1 bath and 1 shower each day.. thanks.

 

[Roger928]

I think you need to hit the off switch.
Woolly pullover?

 

[snb]

don't bother trying to time the underfloor as you will find it very uncomfortable as the system will start over heat the concrete and underheat the concrete pad. you will end up with times when it is far too hot and many when it is far too cold.

Just leave it on 24hrs and it will be nice and balanced.

your consumption over the period of 6 weeks is not that high for that size house. december jan feb normally consume about 75% of your yearly oil consumption.

 

[devs]

Hello mate, I wish you would have posted this sooner I've just been round them all changing the settings (zero fun) after reading I totally agree with you and feel it's the way to go.

Many thanks and a job for tomorrow.

Devs.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Proper predictive controls would help.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Have you been there for a summer yet?

Don't judge the heating consumption until you have a full summer in hot water mode.

I think you might be in for a shock.

 

[devs]

Hi Dan, just spotted your response. No I only moved in on the 21st Dec.

When you say shock, could you explain? good or bad? Cheers.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Depends on the size of your wallet