Would room thermostat save me money?

Turning a room thermostat to a higher setting will not make the room heat up any faster. How quickly the room heats up depends on the design of the heating system, for example, the size of boiler and radiators.

Neither does the setting affect how quickly the room cools down. Turning a room thermostat to a lower setting will result in the room being controlled at a lower temperature, and saves energy.

The heating system will not work if a time switch or programmer has switched it off.

The way to set and use your room thermostat is to find the lowest temperature setting that you are comfortable with, and then leave it alone to do its job. The best way to do this is to set the room thermostat to a low temperature – say 18oC – and then turn it up by one degree each day until you are comfortable with the temperature.

You wo n’t have to adjust the thermostat further. Any adjustment above this setting will waste energy and cost you more money.

If your heating system is a boiler with radiators, there will usually be only one room thermostat to control the whole house. But you can have different temperatures in individual rooms by installing thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) on individual radiators.

If you don’t have TRVs, you should choose a temperature that is reasonable for the whole house. If you do have TRVs, you can choose a slightly higher setting to make sure that even the coldest room is comfortable, then prevent any overheating in other rooms by adjusting the TRVs.

The main problem is installing and labour cost, they are about £10 each to buy.

If you have 12 radiators in your home, that’s about £110, its normal to flush out your old heating system when fitting them, another £60, and then its about £25 per radiator to fit.

Then theirs another £25 to re fill and treat your heating system.

So for 11 radiators you are looking at £500 to install and fit. (Why only 11 out of the 12? one is a by pass radiator and is always on)

I think TRV’s will save you some money, but no more that about £50-100 per year.

So what can I say about these?

If you have them use them, but if you are only going to be in your current home for less than 6 years, don’t bover with them.

Remember insulation is cheap and can be installed “DIY” and does save you money, in the short run you would be better off buying that.

But in the long run you would be better off installing a new boiler that has a efficiency rating of A (90% and over), TVR’s and lots of insulation.