Turn Down The Thermostat For Lower Heating Bills

Given the recent financial climate people are more concerned that ever with getting lower heating bills. This is why I was particularly intrigued when I stumbled on an article comparing heating our homes today, with heating our homes 50 years ago.

Central Heating Day - 1st October

A few particular paragraphs struck me

The design of a home changed because its inhabitants started behaving differently, says architect Harry Charrington. Today the average temperature in a home is 22C, compared with 18C in the 1950s, he says, yet people 50 years ago felt just as warm as we do today. "People don't wear clothing to keep warm any more. One of the social norms is that people can go around in shirt sleeves at home or in the office. So central heating has changed the way people think about clothing.

I know I've been guilty of this at times - turning up the heating rather than putting on a jumper. I don't think I've gone as far as cranking up the heat to 22C, that would feel far too hot for my personal tastes. Until I started really thinking about the fuel I was responsible for burning, and its cost I wouldn't have given a second thought to how to get a lower heating bill.

If people 50 years ago felt just as warm as we do today then perhaps we can learn some useful lessons from them, that might just help us all get a lower winter heating bills.

First a bit of basic maths - how much do we stand to save by turning down our thermostats from 22C to 18C? Well a basic understanding of heat transfer says that the rate of heat loss due to conduction is proportional to the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. If outdoor temperatures are low single figures, or near 0C then we are reducing the temperature difference from 22C to 18C, or by 4C.

This equates to 4/22 * 100% = 18% reduction in total heating needs immediatley. We have immediately got a lower heating bill by that 18%.

In practice we expect to do even better than this. Only some of your home heating needs comes from your central heating - some comes from solar gain through windows during the day, some comes from lighting and electrical appliances, and some comes from body heat from the people inside. Depending on your home, how well insulated it is, its size and number of appliances this may be a significant proportion of your heating needs and may maintain the temperature of your home at a reasonable 14C or so.

Your central heating is then only responsible for 'topping-up' the extra heat needed. In the case of a well insulated modern home by accepting lower indoor temperatures you may only need to run your heating intermittently which may lead to drastically lower heating bills.

The calculations here are painting this issue with a very broad brush - your exact savings will obviously vary significantly depending on your circumstances but you can't deny the fact that putting on a jumper rather than cranking up the heating will save you money through a lower heating bill.

The figures quoted in the article are averages - those who run their houses hotter than 22C have most to gain by turning the thermostat down, and if you can bear it accepting a temperature lower than 18C will save you even more.

Personal story My parents have a drafty old home with massive high ceilings, lots of glass and lots of rooms - it is a listed building so double glazing is out of the question and even tightening up the drafts around the window frames is a massive job. Generally through the winter they run the building at around 14C - comfortable enough to wander round doing jobs, but a bit too cool to want to sit in shirt sleeves. They maintain this temperature through the winter by having one fire in their main sitting room, which stays snug through the evenings. On a few occassions when they have had guests staying, or it has been particularly cold out they crank the central heating up - when ever they do their heating bills go up up up!!! Running their drafty old house at a low temperature makes sense for them - could it make sense for you too?

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