Getting The Most From Your Heating System

If you have a natural gas or oil fired central heating system you should have the following controls:

• Programmer
• Room Thermostat
• Cylinder thermostat
• Thermostatic radiator valves

These controls are there to ensure that you keep warm, while keeping your bills as low as possible.  

How to adjust your controls

• Set your programmer to turn the heating on and off to only when you need it.  If you switch it on manually you may forget to turn if off when you go to bed, and this could waste fuel.
• Your room thermostat should be set at 21^oC to keep a warm, healthy atmosphere.  If you have it any higher, you will find that reducing it by just one degree could save around 10% on your heating bills.
• Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60^oC. If it is set any higher than this, turn it down but do not set it any lower than 60°C.
• Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) are attached to each radiator.  If you have an unused room, you can set your TRV at a low setting. You need to keep some background heat to avoid a cold spot which can lead to condensation, but you will save fuel by not heating it unnecessarily to 21^oC.