keeping a 3 bedroom house warm whilst it is vacant

[robbie]

Is it feasible to use a oil filled heater in eachof the rooms. My only concern is the cabling in the house. It does have a trip switch so I am not too bothered.

Should the existing wires to the power sockets be 2.5mm or could they be 1.5mm??

If there is a possibility that they could be 1.5 then I will have to run some temp wiring for a socket in each room I guess

[Nick Trollope]

If you are worried about the wiring, then I wouldn't use oil-filled radiators plugged into dodgy sockets!

How warm are you trying to keep the place, and why?

Yes, power sockets can be wired with 1,50mm, but only if protected by a 16A breaker (not a fuse).

I'd reconsider your options, TBH.

[robbie]

I am trying to come up with a way of ensuring the cold winter temperatures in Limousin dont cause issues with the heating system during the winter months. The house has an oil fired boiler and central heating. One of the rads doesnt work as the inlet valve is stuck shut but the pipes go through this room and air it anyway (a job marked for the summer).

It might be more feasable to install a timer on the oil boiler somehow (I have posted the question on here). The problem is that it might run out of oil as I am unsure how much the system takes to run it. If I set this with a thermostat too (one that has a frost setting), then it should stop it coming on if the heat is warm enough in the house so even if I dont go back until spring, the boiler wont keep kicking in just because the timer is set and the temperature is warm.

I am of course open to suggestions to resolve the dilemma :)

[RicandJo]

if you're worried about pipes freezing (I presume that's the kind of damage you refer to....) why don't you have a freeze protection thermostat connected to the boiler?  It senses when the temperature is approaching freezing and automatically fires the boiler to heat the place just enough to prevent anything freezing up.

 

Just a thought.

[robbie]

I think I will go to my local plumber/heating place and have a word with them. I am sure they can sort something out for me

Thanks for your comments though, very interesting

:)

[lacote0_0]

Have you not thought of adding antifreeze to the system?

We did this and left the boiler off for several years with no problems.

[Deimos]

Or a frost stat (activates the boiler only when it gets cold outside).  When mine activates everything it runs in a slightly different mode and the circulating water runs much cooler than when heating properly (to be even more economical whilst protecting against freezing).

Ian

[robbie]

I think the route is to fit a frost stat and timer. I am looking to seeif they are as simple to install as th eones in the UK. I am sure they will be. I will probably buy one from here anyway and install it, at least the instructions will be fine for me to follow :)

Thanks for your advise guys

[robbie]

Frost Stat and Pipe Stat in series wired across the timer unit will solve the problem.

Be careful if you go down this route as there are two type of piep stat, one for 10-40 degrees and the other for 50-95 degrees. Obviously for the frost protection, you will need the one which operates 10-40 degrees

[robbie]

someone has suggested that 5 degrees may not be warm enough to reduce the risk of damp and mould.

What do you think?? The house is sound and I have not seen areas of damp/mould so far.

Do you think it needs to be warmer?? The other guy said he leaves his at 10-15 degress and his problem went away

[WJT]

For what it's worth, we have a stone house that is very prone to damp but we turn everything off and have always drained the system in the past. However, the plumber is going to put anti-gel (anti-freeze) in our system to keep it from freezing so it will no longer be necessary to drain the central heating . He did suggest that we drain the water in our bathrooms and will show us how to do this. We would feel very uncomfortable leaving the water, heating and electrics on while we aren't here.

The first time we returned from leaving the house vacant,  it was very damp, however, I had closed all of the vents to keep the spiders out. [blink] The next time we left the vents open and it was perfectly dry. Personally I don't think that the cold is the problem for damp if it is well ventilated.

By the way, we have now replaced the vents with ones that can open and close as well as having a mesh screen, so the spiders and other insects can't get through. [:)]