Gas Boiler - Leave on when not used?

C

Conshine

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Hi
I have an Ariston gas boiler for the central heating and water.
I only use it in the winter, as we use the immersion to heat the limited amount of hot water that we need in the summer.

So the boiler is sitting idle for a number of months in the year.

Is there any problem in just turning it of when its not required for a long time?

I understand that the clocks will need resetting and the timer on the wall may use the battery up etc, but apart from that, any problems?
 
I have a different brand of boiler but do the same, it's not used during the summer except on the odd very cold day in our so called 'summer', I turned in on about two weeks ago for a few hours as it was very cold. Doing that for past 20 yrs without any issues.

I also use the immersion for hot water, the gas may be cheaper but if I want a little hot water to wash dishes in 10 mins then immersion is more practical than turning on gas and waiting until tank heats.

(Actually just wonder what exactly you mean by turning if off? I just leave mine alone, I don't turn on or off anything, the thermostat is turned down very low which means it just doesn't come on with the timer as it would in winter when the thermostat is set higher)
 
Exactly, using the immersion on the 'sink' element to heat small amounts of water in most cases will cost less than using the gas to heat it to the same temperature.
 
How about the fact that you need to heat the entire tank if you want a bath or shower? You'll need to heat the entire tank at least once a day for that (I hope), and that's cheaper to do using gas than with the immersion.
 
Seagull said:
How about the fact that you need to heat the entire tank if you want a bath or shower? You'll need to heat the entire tank at least once a day for that (I hope), and that's cheaper to do using gas than with the immersion.
Click to expand...

Unless they have an electric shower, which I'm assuming the OP has based on the 'limited' comment.
 
Yes, we have an electric shower and a dishwasher.
So all we need is water for washing hands.
So we use the immersion / sink setting for 10 mins AM and PM and that does us.
The occasional bath just needs to pop the immersion of for 30 mins.
Gas will heat the whole tank and takes one hour to heat it.

Regarding turning off, I mean at the power switch - It seems a waste having power going to the boiler when it s not in use for 6 months or so per year.
There are a couple of lights on it that show things like status and water temp.
In the same way I would not leave a TV on standby for that period of time, I am thinking I should turn it off at th epower when not in use for long periods.
 
Had to go and look at mine now and sure enough there is a switch under it, I never noticed that before or gave it any thought. But there are no lights or anything on my boiler, I presume the switch would turn off the little timer unit which is separate and as the only thing working on that for the summer is the clock I can't imagine it is using much power. I think I will leave well enough alone, would be afraid if I turned it off at this stage it might not come on. My brother is an electrician and wired the house, must ask him next time he visits.
 
We have a combination gas boiler (mains gas) which only fires up when we turn on a hot tap and/or put the central heating on via the thermostat.
 
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