is it cheaper too leave under floor heating switced on or too turn it off when you go out?

is it cheaper too leave under floor heating switced on or too turn it off when you go out?
if i keep switching my underfloor heating on and off every time i go out for work and then back on when i get in, is this cheaper than to lkeave it on?


Answers:

Chosen Answer
zen522:  No leave it on.
It takes far more power to reheat everything. By the time you would start to feel the warmth you most likely will be turning it off.
2006-12-29 13:42:28
garfeldt:  no leave it on. it uses less energy keeping a room at a set temperature than having to warm it up again every time you come in.
2006-12-29 13:45:44
mark405995:  No leave it on it will be cheaper than reheating from the start when you get in from work or whatever and nicer to walk into a nice warm room, but maybe if you set the temperature to a slightly lower setting. You wont notice much difference when you first come in!
2006-12-29 14:11:25
roadlessgraveled:  Once again the popular myth about "it takes more energy to heat it back up than to shut it off" is being heard.
But it is simply wrong.
To be comfortable when you come back will take some experimentation to see how much in advance you need to turn it back up to be warm when you get home (assuming you have a timer) but if you just switch it on and off, and can live with it colder while it heats back up, all the better.

The hotter something is compared to what it is losing heat to, the faster it loses that heat. So it loses heat the fastest when you are trying to keep it the hottest.
This is why you save energy keeping your water heater, central heat or the like at a lower temperature all the time, because the hotter you keep it, the faster the rate of heat loss, and the more heat has to be added to keep it at that temp.
2006-12-29 15:42:50