This page is aimed at those who have either oil
or gas central heating but some of the points will be applicable
to any central heating system that uses electricity. A simple
saving is to switch off the central heating completely at the
mains during the summer months if it is not required, saving
at the very least the cost of running a time switch. The power
used by the central heating system controller is likely to be
between 1 and 5 Watts.
Pumps
Most systems use a pump to circulate the hot water which
runs all the time the heating is operational. In a normal size
installation this will use between 50W and 200W. The amount
of power used is dependent on the pump speed which is likely
to be variable, at least on modern pumps.. From experience quite
a few are installed with the speed set to maximum (and hence
maximum power consumption). Reducing the speed significantly,
especially in a small property) may have very little effect
apart from saving electricity. There is a down side to doing
this - the heating does tend to take longer to reach temperature.
To achieve the maximum savings the central heating system must
be properly balanced.
Motorised Valves
These are a good way to save heating energy by controlling different
parts of the house BUT they do use electricity. There are some
types which draw power continuously in one position, if this is
the position the valve spends most of it's time in then you are
wasting power. Playing with these valves is only for the competent
but if you are having changes done to your heating system this
is a good subject to question the heating engineer about to find
out if he has considered this issue.
Controllers
Modern central heating controllers consume only a small amount
of current and can probably be ignored for the purposes of
saving energy however there are still a large number of old
style ones in use which from experience use up to 5W of power
so there will be scope for savings even taking into account
the cost of replacement.
