Best way to run a gas central heating system?

[jtcedinburgh]

Hi, I posted this as an 'aside' within another topic but it got lost.

Basically, I want to know whether a modern condensing combination gas boiler (with 92% efficiency) would be better operated for longer periods at a lower level or for shorter periods at a higher level.

The house is Victorian and can take a while to heat due to moderately high ceilings (11') and reasonable room dimensions. The central heating is modern, and I have TRVs on all radiators except the towel rail in the bathroom, though I don't have a room thermostat as yet (I may add one).

Anyone know anything about this kind of thing?

thanks,

john

 

[Corey]

You would probably be best off to do your own experiment to take into account your personal 'comfort' preference, house layout, insulation, heating needs, etc.

Take one month and run the system at a low constant level and record your gas use. Take another month and run for short, high energy periods and record that gas use. Now you can directly compare your gas use from month to month. (Ideally, the boiler is the only gas appliance, or all other gas use is relatively constant across the two months) The last piece of info is the 'heating degree days' for each month. Here in the states, the national weather service has a lookup page, maybe you have something similar covering Scotland?

Once you calculate that in, you would have a pretty fair assessment of fuel consumed per heating degree day bor both modes of operation.

Corey