Martin Lewis finally settles debate if it’s better to leave heating on all day | Personal Finance | Finance

The time has arrived to switch on the heating, which brings back the perennial debate about whether to keep your heating running all day or not.

The theory behind the “low and slow” approach suggests that maintaining radiators on a constant low heat will warm your home more efficiently.

However, others strongly dispute this method.

Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert has now unveiled the optimal strategy.

Drawing on expertise from the Energy Saving Trust, British Gas, an independent plumber, and MoneySavers social media feedback – this represents the most thoroughly researched guidance available.

The verdict appears to be that “leaving the heating on all day leads to greater heat loss and means higher cost”, according to MSE.

Nevertheless, the reality is that both sides of the heating debate have merit – though there is some flexibility depending on your specific circumstances.

The Energy Saving Trust maintains that keeping heating on continuously is less efficient.

It recommends the superior approach is to simply deliver warmth to your home precisely when required – ensuring you only pay when necessary.

Utilising a programmable thermostat proves most effective for maintaining your desired home temperature exactly when you want it.

However, Heat Geek suggests that if you have a modern boiler or heat pump, are at home all day, or spend most of your evenings and weekends at home, the ‘low and slow’ method is the way to go.

Heat pumps, a low-carbon form of electric heating, capture heat from outside the home, while modern condensing boilers recover some waste heat before it’s lost – these boilers were installed post-2005. In such instances, maintaining your house at a steady 18 or 19°C could be more efficient.

Low temperatures and slow heating responsiveness – meaning you don’t crank up your heating when you’re cold – allows the boiler to recover more waste heat.

However, this may not be the best approach if you’re frequently away from home or if your walls are made of plasterboard (which heats up quicker). But if you have cavity wall and loft insulation or underfloor heating – ‘low and slow’ is optimal.

Some argue that the case for ‘low and slow’ is that it prevents condensation from accumulating within the walls each time the heating is switched off, which can conduct heat outside your home and potentially encourage damp and mould.

Given there’s no definitive answer, MSE recommends a trial and error approach – comparing energy usage with each method.

Take meter readings at the beginning and end of each experiment and compare them – but aim to match the temperatures of the weeks you are testing in.