On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:36:41 +0000, John Hall wrote:

As for the boiler, I leave it on - and the central heating at about 19C
overnight - not to prevent freezing of the pipes but the freezing of me!
I like it not to be too perishing when I get up.


I suppose I really ought to invest in a time-clock that I could use to
switch it on an hour or so before I get up.

Much better new fangled things than simple time clocks available now
called "programmable room stats". They enable you to set specfic
temperatures for programable periods of the day and/or day of week.
Decent ones allow 6 periods/day and different programs every day of
the week. You don't *have* to have different settings each day, ours
doesn't and it has a "copy" function so set up one day then copy it
to all the others. And some will start the heating cycle the correct
amount of time before the first set point such that that set points
temperature is reached at that time.

If your heating really is on 24/7 I suspect you would see a noticable
drop in your fuel bill after fitting a programable stat and setting a
night temperature of say 15C. 61 maybe still working, heating the
house to 19C during the day, if there is no one there, is wasteful as
well.

--
Cheers Dave.
Nr Garrigill, Cumbria. 421m ASL.