Heating on?

[Kim]

Put a cat flap in the window or teach them to tap on the window/ring the bell?

I'm sure I've previously mentioned Postman Piers's cat^[1] who worked out that - in the absence of a cat flap - the best way to get his attention was to take flying leaps at the window (which didn't quite have enough external ledge to accommodate a cat doing anything more dignified) by way of visual attention-getting.  The noise scared the crap out of me the first time I encountered it, as it sounded like an albatross had flown into the window.


_{[1] Royal Mail standard issue black & white, naturally.}

[Mrs Pingu]

My brother's first cat used to leap at the handle of the back door, which swung out, back in the days before burglars. So he put the handle on upside down, at which point the cat launched himself at the window in the door, dangling by the claws from the frame.

Our cats have a doorbell 

[ian]

Ours do like the window in my wife's office as they can walk out to sojourn on the kitchen roof, surveilling their territory, safe from the curiousity of the foxes and where they can beat a quick retreat from their magpie nemeses. Alas, it's now time for the window to be closed, which results in a period of feline bemusement.

[quixoticgeek]

Still 23° in my flat. Passive solar gain from the unseasonable sunshine is keeping it nice and comfortable in here.

Which is good. Cos I need to move the junk I have stored up against the radiators before autumn arrives properly.

J

[L CC]

Put a cat flap in the window or teach them to tap on the window/ring the bell?

We rent. They shout. Mr Smith's office is downstairs, so he gets most of it.

[SoreTween]

Which reminds me I need to buy new batteries for the Shelly Death Star.

Can I suggest:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143887826995
plus
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386144549277

Doesn't last as long as a disposable naturally but who cares when it's only 80 mins to recharge.  Do you run them on hourly or daily updates?

[Mrs Pingu]

Which reminds me I need to buy new batteries for the Shelly Death Star.

Can I suggest:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143887826995
plus
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386144549277

Doesn't last as long as a disposable naturally but who cares when it's only 80 mins to recharge.  Do you run them on hourly or daily updates?

Hmm, not sure if our charger would take them, will have to look. When you say updates, you mean how often it reports the temperature? If so I've got it set to wake and report with every change of 1C.
I do have a USB power hub for one of them but I've not got it working yet, suspect it might be precious about the charger used.

[SoreTween]

When you say updates, you mean how often it reports the temperature? If so I've got it set to wake and report with every change of 1C.

I'd forgotten you can do that, I have mine on periodic updates. Daily at the moment, hourly in winter.

[rafletcher]

Heating properly on for the first time this morning. First fire of the season will be this evening.

[JefO]

Yep. First time (other than preventative maintenance firings) since the Spring.

[Polar Bear]

I fired up our hearing yesterday evening to give it a check over.  No issues so I have turned it off again until required.

[MattH]

I enabled ours a month ago, mainly to check it's all ok before it's really needed. Since then it's only run 3 or 4 times first thing in the morning, and only for a short period (15 mins or so) as the temp has dipped just below the threshold overnight. This morning is the first time it's run for any length of time, and that was only 30 minutes.

Homeassistant is good for logging these things, so I know that enabling the heating hasn't cost me a fortune.

[rafletcher]

I enabled ours a month ago, mainly to check it's all ok before it's really needed. Since then it's only run 3 or 4 times first thing in the morning, and only for a short period (15 mins or so) as the temp has dipped just below the threshold overnight. This morning is the first time it's run for any length of time, and that was only 30 minutes.

Homeassistant is good for logging these things, so I know that enabling the heating hasn't cost me a fortune.

Precisely. I don’t understand the “until it’s required” thing. We have a thermostat set to a modest (given my wife is a stick thin 79 year old) 17.5C. It comes on when that condition is met, simple.

[Mrs Pingu]

Do you never get the heating come on in the spring when the condition might be met but you feel like it's too warm to be on? This is why I set the heating to 'away' mode during the warmer months.

[Kim]

All the time, because of the temperature difference between upstairs and downstairs.  Feeding the thermostat the average of occupied rooms helps.  But I still find myself jibbling the daytime setpoint over the year (it's currently 19.5, it'll go up to 21ish as it gets colder).

Heating came on properly when I got out of bed today, rather than a token 5 minute while I was in the bathroom.  This time of year is really annoying: Too warm for much in the way of heating, but >70% humidity means nothing dries out.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Today the heating is on at last..

[orienteer]

Heating on today. Not totally necessary, but to ensure it works tomorrow morning when temperature drops to almost zero. Outside temp now in west London is under 12C.

[Basil]

*Wanders out to dip the oil tank*

[Polar Bear]

What is so difficult to understand about "until it is required"?

Our heating has no smart gadgets nor a room thermostat.  The Vaillant pre-condensing combi boiler measures water temperature and all the radiators have trv valves.  The boiler has off, on and timer settings for the hot water and the central heating circuits.  It will heat the water to the preset max temperature and the pump will run whilst any radiator demands it.

I don't know the full technical operating detail but sometimes the pump is running whilst the boiler is not heating water, sometimes both are operating simultaneously and sometimes there is a minute of two of silence.

I generally don't need the heating at all and mllePB will simply get up, walk to the boiler and turn it to the timer setting and press override if it doesn't come on.   It will run on radiator demand then until the next timer off which is already programmed into the boiler.

If she wants more heat she will simply repeat the above.

Hence my comment, "until it is required".

[Cudzoziemiec]

I put the heating on last night, mostly in a vain attempt to dry my clothes which were soaking from getting caught in drizzle that turned into really heavy downpour. It didn't really work, of course.

[SteveC]

The Oodies have been taken out of summer storage.

[Giraffe]

On for this morning, as only 4C and I need some warmth or I can get seriously chilled (~45% of circulation).

[Polar Bear]

I put the heating on last night, mostly in a vain attempt to dry my clothes which were soaking from getting caught in drizzle that turned into really heavy downpour. It didn't really work, of course.

We have a dehumidifier which deals with wet laundry on cold, damp days.

The heating at the Bear-o-drome has just been switched on.   

[Wowbagger]

I have to check that there is water in the loft tank, which I shall do tomorrow. For now, I've switched on an oil-filled radiator in the kitchen, and we have the door into the lounge open. The temperature n this room is currently 19°C, but my fingers are quite cold. I feel age-related decrepitude advancing upon me rather faster than I would like.

I'm also heating up a saucepan full of beef stew which I extracted from the freezer yesterday.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Talking of stew, make sure the loft tank has a good lid! As a student I lived in a house with an open loft tank when feathers started coming out of the hot tap..

Are those heated clothes driers worth having?