Some families have very strict rules about the central heating. They refuse to turn it on in specific months in an attempt to save money. Typically, they will turn it off in April and will not turn it on again until October or November. But is it really a good idea to turn your heating completely off for such a long time and could there be advantages to turning on the heating in the summer?
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Turning Off the Heating in Summer
According to the Energy Saving Trust, an average household in the UK spends around half of its fuel budget on heating and hot water, so there are clearly huge potential savings to be made.
Therefore, it is understandable that some people opt to turn it off completely in summer. However, the UK climate is notorious for being very variable and unpredictable. Temperatures can vary greatly from week to week, and cold snaps can happen in the middle of summer.
Rather than shivering and being miserable just to adhere to an arbitrary rule, it may be more sensible to use the inside temperature as a guide. If it drops below a certain temperature, the heating comes on, irrespective of the time of year.
Advantages of Switching On the Heating
Central heating systems are designed to be operated frequently. Any machine with moving parts is the same. They work best when they are turned on and off on a regular basis.
Water pump valves often seize up when a system has been turned off for a long time. You may need to find someone who can help with Cheltenham Boiler Service such as http://www.blu-fish.co.uk to get it running again. The cost of turning on the heating for a few hours is a lot less than the cost of getting a new pump fitted!
Do you really want to find out that your heating system is not working just as the first cold snap of the autumn kicks in? This is when you really need it and is when all the Gas Safe engineers are going to be very busy.
The best plan is to test it out on a few of the cold days during the summer, and then you can be sure that it will be working correctly when you really need it.