With the temperatures dropping and cold weather becoming more consistent it's about time for many people to have a reckoning with their thermostat.
Every degree you turn it up is going to cost you money but the alternative is spending the next few months either shivering or cocooning yourself within several layers of clothes and blankets.
You're not going to want to spend more money than you have to so if you do need to stick the heating on you'll be faced with the dilemma of whether to put it on at a consistent level all day or just crank it up when you need it.
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On one hand you'll be having the heating on even when you're not around to use it which seems wasteful, but letting it be cold for long stretches of time and then heat blasting it to a comfortingly toasty temperature doesn't sound very economical either.
Should you leave the heating on?
Fortunately, the Money Saving Expert himself Martin Lewis has spoken about this specific topic and he's got some advice for you.
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Speaking on This Morning, Lewis said it was 'better to only put the heating on when you need it' and he recommended that you use a timer to make sure the heating goes on and off in accordance with your daily schedule.
However, over on his Money Saving Expert site the team said the matter was 'far more complex than it first seems' and they're 'not heating engineers or physicists' so giving you the scientific answer is not really their department.
They said that the 'official answer' was that leaving the heating on all day would result in more heat loss and a higher cost to the person footing the bill, since you'd be paying money for heating when you don't need it.
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On the other hand, they explained that it'll really depend on your house and heating system so if you have a modern boiler (modern in this case meaning 2005 and beyond) or a heat pump it might actually be better to try the 'low and slow' method of having the heating on for longer periods of time as the waste heat can be recovered.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a one size fits all answer for this as there's so many variables for Brits to consider and they're money experts, not home heating experts, with radiators and modern plasterboard walls better suited to shorter bursts of heat, while underfloor heating and older brick walls would benefit from going 'low and slow'.
Sadly with temperatures set to drop and energy bills expected to rise again in January there are going to be plenty of people who'll have to stick the heating on.
Topics: Home, UK News, Weather, Money, Martin Lewis
Joe Harker