kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nJ-GipabuLPWZJs.html If you need anymore energy saving tips check out this video

How refreshing to hear a person talking sense and knows what they are talking about with the bonus of explains simply to to the likes of me that have no idea. Thanks mate, your a diamond.

Great video! Down to earth help with just enough science content. Also, I totally agree with you around 16-00 minutes: “Heat or Eat” should not be a decision ANYONE in Great Britain should have to make in the 21st century! Thank you for your efforts… 🙏 👍👏

I’m from the USA just found your channel very interesting the UK has always been a head of the United States in higher efficiency equipment. Thank you for your videos very educational

Thank you so much for explaining this in plain, simple, easy to understand language. You’re a great teacher! Many thanks again🙂

Thank you so much for this - my house just wouldn't get warm and I found my boiler was set to 45° for the radiators. I've just put it up to 55° and I can feel my radiators warming up already! Thanks again!

A very useful explanation of boilers and flow temperatures, much appreciated.

Well done Derek, clear, logical and comprehensive explanation. I’m not a plumber so this has helped me a lot as I’m in the process of updating my boiler and heating system.

Well done. Very informative. As an energy saving Professional I so frequently see the important/critical bits if information left out. You covered them well here.

Battle tanks are called tanks because when Britain first made them during WWI they were labelled as water tanks for security during transport on the railways.

Thanks. Very useful information and advice for a homeowner. My gas engineer services the combi boiler every year and leaves it set up properly, but I'll be able to talk to him with a bit more knowledge next time. I am a retired Engineer but not in this field.

55 degree flow does NOT apply to replacement boilers. It applies only to FULL replacement central heating systems ie; new boiler, rads and pipework. Part L is not stupid enough to suggest anyone needing a replacement boiler needs to set their primary flow temp to a level too low for the design temp of the system. Intelligent weather compensation with internal reference should be mandatory, then the boiler will do all the hard work for everyone and run as cool as possible as often as possible. Alas, that doesn't suit Ideal and Worster does it.

Thank God! A voice of reason! Loved the clear and simple presentation cutting through the nonsense. Especially important that people listen to the safety advice!

Nice video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 People who can’t afford double glazing can always use secondary glazing …it’s cheap and will save plenty of extra cash through keeping the extra heat in the home.

30 years doing this for a living and yet the phrase Delta T is as foreign to me as blokes calling each other Bro all the time (something you couldn’t pay me to do). Delta T must be something that came in the week I was on holiday……whenever that was 😂 I feel like an analogue man in a digital age and yet I seem to be one of the few who actually knows what time it is ! 😛

Great info *BUT* you absolutely should not turn your router off, unless you want to knacker your connection speed. If you do, the system registers frequent disconnections and thinks there’s a fault and reduces your connection speed in hope to stabilise it. It’s designed to be always on.

This was not the video I was looking for but watched the whole thing. Very interesting and informative. Thanks 👍

Excellent video Derek , I can't think of anything else that you didn't mention . This is the video that should be pushed to show the public how to reduce their bills .

Put your thermostat in the room you spend most time in, NOT the hall. Keep curtains off the top of radiators, which are better placed on inside walls/not under windows. Get an intelligent stat that can vary the preheat period according to how cold the room is and chrono proportional to maintain a true steady temperature. Use programmable radiator valves that can turn on and off at different times and temperatures. Let the sun in to heat your rooms as much as possible. Beyond that, god help us all with these mad energy prices!

Many thanks for your just sufficiently detailed explanation of the ins and outs of this particular cat's backside. You guys certainly earn your money!

I like this video. It's well explained and covers all the points I make to my clients. So many installers leave flow temperatures too high and don't explain the controls to the end users. You could have mentioned underfloor heating which is one of the best ways of warming a room although most installers don't understand that the extra pump and thermostatic blender to reduce the water temperature is completely unnecessary with a condensing boiler which should (as you clearly explained) be set at a low flow temperature. Thanks for making the video and spreading good practice. John

Many thanks again Derek really appreciate your very informative videos. Awesome!

At the moment ive been seeing lots of video's on social media where people are telling other people they can save money by turning their internet router off when they go out. DON'T do this on a regular basis as the dlm (dynamic line management) sees this as a connection fault and WILL slow your connection speed down to protect the network! You would then need to contact your isp to have your dlm reset or wait ages and hope it turns itself back up again.

Thanks buddy. We all need seriously thought through help to manage our energy consumption. Your video had been a great help and incentive. Thanks again. Paul in the Mids

Great video with relatively easy to understand explanations- one missed tip that is relatively inexpensive but very effective is heavy curtains on windows ( double glazed or not) and draughty doors

Very interesting and very useful advice. I recently had a new Combi Boiler fitted and ended up using this advice. To monitor the boiler being off and on I ended up taking 2 hour videos of it and checking the switching on / off intervals. ;-/ I can be a bit of a 'nerd'. :) Your advice really is helpful. :) Thanks.

Excellent video....been doing all of the above for years ....so with near enough word for word I haven't been talking nonsense to customers 👍 On the government issue......they have no clue whatsoever.....the only solution is to bring it all in house .... whatever we produce stays in the UK and sold to the UK not on the international rip off market .

Derek, you are great at this stuff.

I'm running a 12 year old Ideal Logic Combi 30 and despite it's age, it's Opentherm compatible with the addition of a £30 harness, which is fitted to later models from the factory. It works really well with Evohome and unlike many boilers, it allows control of the maximum flow control, which I have set to 60c and was more than sufficient for even the recent cold snap. The beauty of Opentherm is it lowers the flow temperature as it approaches the setpoint and then has the boiler just tick over with perfect control of the setpoint, which makes the house very comfortable with its ability to maintain a constant temperature. When the system starts from cold, it will immediately raise the flow temperature to the set maximum (60c in my case) to bring the room/rooms up to the setpoint as quickly as possible but will then drop the flow temperature as soon as it can. It's like having someone sat in front of the boiler, constantly tweaking the flow control. We have a mixture of old and new radiators, so I would imagine Opentherm combined with a modern boiler with a better modulation ratio and new, smart controlled radiators, would be especially effective/efficient.

One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the additional run time of the pump waiting for the system to satisfy, people reducing the flow temperature to their radiators could very well end up with a system running continuously, at £0.52 per kWh for electric you could end up with no savings and actually start paying more to operate the system, pump could easily be pulling 100W. Easy and simple thing for most people to do so they are not guessing if they are doing the right thing is to turn the room stat down and ensure their timer is set correctly for occupancy.

Hurrah, at last somebody pointing out you can't just reduce flow temp without potential consequences of having a much colder house contrary to all the stuff in social media. I have seen radiators in some new builds that aren't large enough to heat the rooms properly with a flow temp of 80c let alone 55C on cold days. Ours was built in 1996 and we really need 75 C flow temp on a very cold day.

Thank you Sir, very useful and informative and delivered in a clear and concise manner.

excellent video, you've completely changed how I see my central heating system. Thank you.

Thank you. Very informative. My thermostat has been at 15degrees since February but my house is well insulated and never really drops below 18degrees. It has the additional benefit of staying cool during hot weather. I have not had any issue with damp as I do not do anything to create humidity. Internet has warned against switching off routers because of security issues. Freezers work more efficiently if they have more in them so I would recommend putting cold packs in with the food if you only have a small amount in there or alternatively stock it up with frozen veg with is cheaper than fresh but just as good for you!

Hi I have a Condensing boiler fitted to a much older radiator system. The heating setting was set to an output temp of 75deg , I measured the return Temperature at about 55deg . I reduced the output to 60 deg ( return about 42deg) this did not heat the house enough the way we use the heating normally ( 2hours in morning and 4 hours at night). Have settled at an output temp of 65 deg in winter and reduce to 60 deg in milder weather.

Thanks for this information, I hadn't realised that condensing boilers have lower flow temperature and have been trying to work out why my house isn't as warm since I had a new boiler fitted.

Excellent videos as expected from a Man U supporter. I watched the previous video when you compared a 24 with a 30kw boiier and found the idea of hiding the secret weapon in the red petty cash box very funny. Well done for knowledge AND entertainment

Surely the easiest way to determine in your rads are big enough to cope with the set flow temp and if your condensing boiler is operating in it's condensing mode is to simply measure the return temp. On a side note. There's lots of mentions of building regs but it seems that there are a lot of people ignoring them. I've seen many newly completed buildings with poor insulation, very small rads on microbore, no room stats, no thermostatic valves on baths, dodgy electrics. Building inspectors need to start checking these things.

A pretty comprehensive review.. Perhaps a warning and explanation about internal condensation forming from people totally sealing up their houses without allowing for any ventilation (to save money on energy bills) would have been a very useful tip to add; seeing as people try to seal off every possible opening to stop heat escaping which in turn doesn't allow moisture to escape or fresh air in! The best tips for saving energy not usually mentioned are : 1. Only fill your kettle (2Kw) with what you are using, i.e. one cupful on a flat bottom kettle. 2. Gas hob cooking, either use a smaller gas ring or a wider pan so the gas never flames up the sides of the pan. The hottest part of the burning gas is just above the visible flame so why have it wasted up the side! 3. Always use a pan lid. 4. With Electric hob cooking, turn off the ring about 5 minutes before the food is ready and the residual heat will continue to cook the food. 5. With oven cooking, perhaps cook more than one meal at a time for things that could be reheated in a microwave. 6. Wear jumpers inside and gradually reduce the ambient house temperature a degree a day to acclimatise. 7. Your house takes a while to warm up so on work days have the heating timed to come on an hour and a half to two hours before you get up and turn of as you get up. Again the residual heat will keep the house warm enough until you leave. 8. In the day keep the blinds/curtains up/open on any sunny windows and closed on ones that don't get the sun whilst you're at work and don't need the daylight in the non sunny rooms. This solar energy will help warm the house. 9. If you have solar panels that feed back electricity to the grid during the day whilst you're at work have a 1or 2kw fan heater on in the hallway via a plug in timer for the good daylight hours to keep the ambient house temperature up for free!. 10. Use a high TOG quilt on your bed, a 15 TOG in the winter. 11. Turn down (not off) radiators in unused/little used rooms and keep the doors to them shut. Only heat the main used room to a warmer temperature. 12 Have thermostatic radiator valves fitted on all radiators except the bathroom one which should remain open valved at all times to allow a return flow path for the boiler water circulation in case all the thermostatic valves are closed simultaneously.

Thanks Derek, great advice, I've been educating people at every job and adjusting with their permission in the past few months. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that run boilers at the max while sat around in shorts and t-shirts. Or the tumble dryer is running while dry and warm outside.

Amazing tips, concise analysis and easily understandable logical analysis, cheers ;)

I think it's worth adding that if your radiators aren't big enough to allow the return flow to be as low as 55 C while keeping you warm, then you can at least turn it down when the weather isn't quite so cold. In my last house, where this was the case, I would adjust the temperature a bit every week if necessary, and it was probably only over 55 for a month or so in the coldest part of the winter. Even better, fit a weather compensator, which does this automatically.

Great advice, well explained. Thank you.

Great information and fantastic knowledge, thank you. 👍👍👍

Great video Derek. Proper advice, from a professional who knows.

My hot water is set to 42*C on the combi. This allows for a shower without using cold water. I wanted to point out however, that it's a false economy in such a case. The reason is, when you shift the mixer tap towards the cold, 2 things happen to the boiler, first it's cold water feed pressure drops, which it senses, might not have to act on it, but it might have to back off on the burner output to compensate for reduced INPUT flow. The second thing that happens if you apply back pressure by closing the hot valve slightly. This reduces the OUTPUT flow through the boiler. Reducing the flow, reduces demand, reduces burner rates. It is very likely, if your combi is over-sized, it will be no where near 100% burner output and adjusting the heat at the tap (mechanical mixer) will have 'virtually' the same net effect on "energy consumed".... however that would be 'at the tap' consumption. Pumping 65*C water to the tap, and cooling it down there, is much less efficient that pumping 42*C to the tap. The difference is in the heat lost in the boiler and the pipes. The dishwasher is cold fill and does the "hygiene" temps. If I want to wash the floor or clean the oven I have a kettle.... or I can turn the boiler up to 65*C. ** Caveat. This all becomes far more complex if you have more than ONE demand at a time, such as in busy family homes with 2 bathrooms in the mornings.

just had a 40yr old servowarm std boiler replaced with a combi. i think the reason it lasted so long was the gas level was on minimum most of the time so it didn't constantly switch itself on and off but maintained a satisfactory warm house. in the 40yrs the pump was replaced only once (grundfoss). very understandable and informative video.

Well presented thank you. I was just about to, as you said, “rock up” and turn it down. Now, I’ll wait for my boiler service and ask the gas engineer his advice 😊. Totally agree with you about the Victorian era 😡

yeah, that 650degC water temp is a killer

Range rate where possible too, got my 28kw vaillant down at 12kw for 10 rads, 55deg flow set it to come on earlier than before but heats house no problem.

Brilliant video. Great explanation and lots of points that I hadn't thought of before but need to consider first. Thanks 👍

Great video Derek. Very informative.

Important people don’t turn off their Wi-Fi routers.. getting loads of fallout to people doing this now.. theirs a system called dynamic line management, if it can’t see the router on the other end it will slow down your internet speeds to try and “Stabilise” the line and get a connection back. The system isn’t set up for routers to be switched off.

Thanks. I’ve managed to change mine from 75 to 65 with no difference in heat so far

thank you so much for a clear and massively helpful video. I'm totally subscribed. I'm also sending the link to my kids. thanks again.

Thanks for a really helpful video. I appreciated the clear explanations!

I had a new WB system 30i last year and ran it at the ECO setting. This seemed very economical as compared to my old CF80K BTU. But I set the hot water cylinder to 70C. So the 55C is lower than the ECO setting on the boiler. The system is old 44 years but most radiators have been altered over the years mainly reducing the size as I have introduced insulation which was not evident in my 1977 house. Luckily, I installed multi fuel stove 20 years ago and I bought 4 tons of smokeless last year when it was cheap.

Great content, advice on insulating pipework etc. always a first step. Storage cylinders are where big savings can be made, only heat the water you need immediately before use. As for implementing the 55c rule, only ever going to happen on new build, a case of the powers that be meddling with things they don't fully understand in order to achieve goals that should have been set at least a generation ago.

Great video Derek!!

That, my friend, was very informative. Bravo!

I was quite interested when I listened to the bit about design tempreature for replacement boilers as I think this would be a good move but I don't think you are correct. It would only apply if replacing all of the radiators and pipe work. 5.10 Where a wet heating system is either: a. newly installed b. fully replaced in an existing building, including the heating appliance, emitters and associated pipework all parts of the system including pipework and emitters should be sized to allow the space heating system to operate effectively and in a manner that meets the heating needs of the dwelling, at a maximum flow temperature of 55°C or lower

I tried it on my combi condensing boiler and the radiators never even went warm so I reset it to 70 and it is working fine now and the house is warm again.

Thank you, I have been struggling to explain the details like this it's very helpful

Well done! Explained it all very well.

Good advice but don't turn off your modem/rouiter it will slow down your broadband speed .it only uses a small amount of electricity and you can turn any lights on display by going into its admin software.Also empty fridge/freezer of any unwanted /old items and turn it down.

Just a slight correction: temperature of water for washing up isn't to kill bugs; you'd need temperatures near boiling for that (and even then it won't kill some of the real double-nasties, like tetanus). The temperature is to make soaps and detergents work better on grease and fat, by melting it. All a soap consists of is a molecule one part of which dissolves in fat and the other end dissolves in water. Chuck soaps onto grease and agitate it and the grease forms micro-spheres in the water, effectively dissolving. This works better if the fat is liquid. As an aside, the only thing that will properly sterilise things is boiling with water inside a pressure cooker. You need 20 minutes at 120 degrees Celcius to kill all bugs; boiling water only gets up to 100 degrees at atmospheric pressure which isn't enough.

I love it everything in this video. Thank you for sharing this knowledge.

Any way to determine the flow rate off the boiler? Or work out what the flow rate will be at each rad? I'm looking to replace all my rads with convector heaters but could do with calculating what the output would be for each before I start so I don't have to add the electrics for fan assisted if I don't have too.

Another great video, very informative, but why is it that every plumber I have come across when they have either replaced a boiler or serviced it all settings are put at maximum including pump speed and all the radiator valves are wide open?

Having the boiler stat so low that the house is too cold is just as big a waste of gas as having it too high. One thing you missed on a combi is either turning the hw preheat off or installing a timer for the preheat function (if possible of course). No point having the boiler preheat at 2am or through the day if no-one is in.

Air sealing a building or at least stopping draughts is cheap and easy, if a bit time consuming. Ensure each area has some functional method of air exchange, a functional opening window or wall vent. Check how well the the window and door frames seal to the wall material both inside and out. I use Clear TEC7 along with good sticky tape to protect window frames and walls. Then seal up the gaps. Remove the tags for a neat clean edge. Typically heat is on for a few hours a day. In winter all the other hours are time for warm air inside to escape either through the walls and ceilings or through air leakage. An old pillow in a plastic bag pushed up a chimney seals the chimney which can eliminate more air flow. If you get most air leakage fixed look out for condensation. You might need to alter behaviour to open and close vents as required. These things can be part of normal routine. Lots of videos online for those who look. The move from watching to doing. I’d estimate I saved about 10 to 15 % off my energy bills. An infrared spot thermometer £20 to £30 was very useful. Hair line wall cracks can give a delta T of 1/2 deg C……but they operate for 24 hours a day and that is where small cracks add up.

Pump wise, I’ve read that setting it to a constant speed is necessary for heating water cylinders and variable pressure for combi boilers fitted directly to radiators. I have a third setting on mine for constant pressure and have an unvented cylinder. Each setting has three speeds. Any idea what it should be set to for this system? I’ve had a play and the boiler tells me flow is insufficient when set to the variable pressure mode. Thanks

Good video and I am glad you are highlighting the poor advice being given to consumers. There is one particular group on you tube offering advice from so called industry experts regarding flow temperatures and it goes to great lengths to deliver a subliminal message to consumers that we are all useless . In this video they mention more than once that most gas engineers have no idea how to commission an installation so it works at optimum efficiency. It would seem then, that we have all wasted time and money attending our local training centres to retake our acs quals and get ourselves up to speed on the latest industry updates and technical advancements. If you watch this video to the end it will lead you to links where they can introduce you to elite installers and not hairy arsed Neanderthals like us. We should all be ashamed that we have failed the general public and Derek should give us our money back. I just hope that consumers will watch a channel like this to see how knowledgeable the videos are and from the comments section how knowledgeable the engineers are.

I've never seen the logic of having a thermostat in one room that controls the heat throughout the house. All my rads have TRVs, when a new combi was installed in '20 we had to have a stat, it's been a real pain since then.

At last, some one who knows how a central heating system is supposed to work, thank you👍

Brilliantly explained! Many thanks. X

What a long complicated affair this was, I was lost less than halfway through it. It sounds to me that these laws and building regulations will just go out of the window. Most people wont be able to afford to have their house heated to 19 degrees, we usually put ours on 14 - 15 and wear a jumper. I dont care what the regs are, I have turned our flows down because we dont want a big bill

I don't recommend turning your router off. You can upset the connection to your ISP and really mess up your broadband speeds

Brilliant advise as most people get the wrong end of the stick👍🏼

Even though I have an oil fired system boiler, I have found your videos very educational. In preparation for the coming heating season, I have ordered some clip on thermometers to measure the flow and return temperature at the boiler, as the oil boiler does not have a digital control panel with built in temperature sensors. I suspect that the radiators in one of the bedrooms, and the dining room are under sized to work at a 55°C flow temperature, but I will 'try and see' before upgrading them, as that is expensive.

Turning off your Router can affect the speed of your internet connection; ADSL type Routers need to poll the 'exchange' to tune the speed, also if you have home security etc turning off the Route means you lose access to it while you are away

Remember when we had just one coal or coke fire in the living room? And if you were lucky a Valor parafin heater on the landing with the bedroom doors open. Single glazing, solid walls, no loft insulation, wooden draughty window frames and doors. How did we manage? Yer know, we were poor but we were 'appy in them days! Put a big coat on!

Great video and well explained. I've had 3 x installed due to renovation and no plumber has ever mentioned having a thermostat is part of the regs nor has any of them mentioned the fact a TRV shouldn't be in the room containing the thermostat.

I have just had a new boiler installed on an old radiator system with 15 mm pipework and single radiators. What puzzles me is reducing the flow temperature just increase the run time of the boiler. The boiler is a 2021 Worcester Greenstar 4000 30kW, it's new and is the latest model. I have thermostatic valves but don't really use them, I have the ERP Stat controller in the hall which has no thermostatic valves. My house is really well insulated. I'm still puzzled what to set the heating flow temperature to, the hot water temperature is dead easy. After watching the video, it seems likely that setting the flow temperature to comfort level is the way to go, I have mine set at 67C. Any advice would be appreciated.

Brilliant video mate, am enjoying the good effort by yourself and others like Urban plumber, Roger Bisby , heat geek , you're doing a great job between you all raising the standards, improving knowledge base and essentially helping to keep people warm, consider yourselves part of the cabinet to turn the country around. Can I just add, there is no end to excellence and ingenuity, using the acronym RCC (Radiated, Conducted, Convected ) people can get straight to work reducing heat loss, improving the energy efficiency of their homes, staying warm. Question..Where is all the left over perspex from covid? Don't throw it away, with some simple carpentry it could be used to make external double glazing or air source heat collectors, I've already done it, is working well. Anyway, Keep up the good work , and let's see a few more northerners galvanised in keeping warm, sharing knowledge and information and using their ingenuity to prosper, is what sparked the industrial revolution.

Good video Derek, but you can't turn off you router at night or during the day when at work, as your Internet connected smart thermostat won't work to turn on or off the heating.

I set my hot water to 46'c for my bath, perfect to step straight into. Baffles me why folk fill their bath at 60'c then have to add cold water

Boss video! I can’t get my head around Delta T. I’ve had external wall insulation, triple glazzing, PV storage. Next step is ASHP!!!!! Currently running the regular boiler at 50c and the house is comfortable however I would like to future ASHP flow temp as low as possible.

Thank you for an excellent explanation.

My house was built in 2014 so I'd have thought it was efficient. But the radiators are bloody tiny. And unless it's literally freezing outside the radiators are never more than Luke warm due to the stupid ambient weather temperature sensor thing controlling the flow temperature. I had to disconnect it to regain manual control of the flow temperature and can finally warm the house up.

19C room temperature would cost me a lot. Energy savings would be dwarfed by divorce costs...

Would I be right in thinking that on a system where the room thermostat is connected to the boiler via OpenTherm that this setup modulates the CH flow temperature, and in this case we are unable or do not need to change the CH flow temperature? Certainly in my case, with this setup, I am unable to adjust my CH flow temp using the boilers controls.

Good video, quite technical for a lot ppl but clear. Although focus on newer combo boilers when those with older boilers & water cylinders may be need the advice the most. My boiler (old style) seems to heat the upstairs radiators & not just the bathroom one when we put hot water on. Awful in heatwave & waste of heat through summer. Tried to turn radiators off but can't get them completely off. New to us rented house.

I removed the outside condsate pipe so it won't freeze in the winter , it's now going to the sink waste pipe I am in a 2nd floor flat..my combi boiler is a main eco 30 from 2012 , I bought the flat back in Dec last year, had all my rads flushed, new honeywell thermostatic valves, fitted and my plumber balanced all my radiators, and finally had hive 2 fitted all done ready for this winter 2 years left cheap fix for gas and electricity from last October 5p khw gas 22p khw Electricity till October 2024 ..my average bill so for from Jan to September average £51.18 svr would be £124 this October with out the fix ..very scary people without a fix....thx to Derek I have chose to have all the work done to maximise energy savings

Thanks for the information, It's just what I was looking for.

Thanks for the detailed information i have a pre heat switch should be off or on ( combined boiler) ?

Brilliant thanks for your efforts 👍 very well put

Derek, Brilliant! Thank you. How do the regs cover Warm Air boilers and separate hot water direct instant heaters if at all. Thanks for the video as I keep being pushed to get a combi and rads?

Great presentation as always. Any ideas....I have a Worcester Bosch condensing boiler that started doing short cycles. Goes yo to the required temperature and turns off. The display shows the temperature decreasing to about 39 / 40 and turns on again.. this cycle goes on continually.

Thanks great video got my heating working now.