Should I turn my boiler off in the summer?

Is it safe to turn off a combi boiler in the summer?

Is it safe to turn off a system boiler in the summer?

Is it safe to turn off a open vent boiler in the summer?

Should I turn off my boiler completely in the summer?

Should I turn off my boiler whilst on holiday?

Does turning your boiler off save money?

Installing a heating control

Should I get my boiler serviced in the summer?

Is it safe to turn off a combi boiler in the summer?

Whilst it is safe to turn off your combi boiler during the summer months, there are some things you need to consider. Because combi boilers take care of your hot water as well as your heating needs, you’ll need to leave it switched on during the summer. Even if you don’t need to use your radiators, you’ll still need hot water for everyday use.

Combi boilers offer hot water on demand, meaning that instead of being heated and stored ready for use, the water is only heated as and when it’s needed. This makes the standby operation of a combi boiler incredibly efficient as leaving them on all the time doesn’t have much of an impact on your energy use.

Is it safe to turn off a system boiler in the summer?

It can be a good idea to turn system boilers off in the summer as it will reduce energy consumption. System boilers are connected to a hot water cylinder, which is used to store a large amount of hot water at temperature to ensure there is a constant supply of hot water.

This means that if your boiler was switched off, your household would still have a supply of hot water, this would be limited to the cylinder’s capacity, and this wouldn’t be topped up until the boiler was switched back on.

If you have appliances such as electric showers or a dishwasher, you might choose to use these instead as they will heat the cold water for you without the need for hot water from your cylinder.

You could consider turning down the boiler thermostat as this will help you save money on your energy bills. However, it’s important to note that water stored in hot water cylinders should be maintained at 60°C to avoid the growth of legionella bacteria which can lead to legionnaire’s disease.

Is it safe to turn off a open vent boiler in the summer?

Regular boilers (also known as open vent boilers or heat only boilers) which are heat only can be turned off in the summer, but it’s much easier to simply turn the heating control or thermostat to a minimum.

Like system boilers, conventional boilers are often connected to a hot water cylinder. The hot water in your cylinder will not be topped up if you decide to switch your boiler off. For this reason, it can be a good idea to turn your boiler’s thermostat down rather than switching it off completely to ensure you have a constant supply of hot water.

Should I turn off my boiler completely in the summer?

It depends entirely on what type of boiler you have and if you require hot water in the warmer months.

Whilst this is dependent on which boiler you have installed in your home, thermostat or smart control can be used with any boiler and will typically provide much greater control of your energy usage.

If you do plan on turning your boiler off over the summer, it’s important to turn it back on for a short time period every so often. This prevents the valves and pumps from seizing up and to ensure that your boiler is in good working order for the winter.

Should I turn off my boiler whilst on holiday?

This largely depends on the time of year you expect to go away. If you are on holiday for a couple of weeks in the summer, it can be a good idea to switch your boiler off. However, it’s not advised to do this in the winter.

During the winter months, it could lead to the pipes freezing over which could cause lasting damage to your pipework.

Does turning your boiler off save money?

There has been a lot of debate over this for the past few months, particularly with the rising costs of energy. Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer as it depends on what kind of central heating system you have as well as the age and efficiency of the boiler.

It has been suggested if you have a combi boiler, an alternative way to save money is by reducing the heating flow temperature on your boiler rather than switching it on and off as you need.

What temperature should my boiler be set at in summer?

If you decide to keep your boiler on in the summer but you’re looking for ways to save money, then turning down your boiler temperature can be an efficient way to do this.

However, as mentioned before, this shouldn’t be set lower than 60°C as Legionella bacteria thrive in temperatures between 20-45°C. Keeping your hot water stored at 60°C will ensure the bacteria doesn’t grow and safe.

Heating controls

Boilers that are paired with smart heating controls offer many more capabilities for controlling your boiler and energy usage throughout the year, without the need to turn it off and on. This includes holiday mode functions as well as load compensation and weather compensation.

Holiday mode (or away mode) is a feature on many of our heating controls which allows you to set your control to turn your heating off whilst you’re away and back on upon your return.

This must be set manually, however, app based controls such as the MiSet will usually allow you to adjust this on the go via your mobile.

Controls with the weather compensation feature use an outdoor sensor to monitor the external temperature around the property to adjust your flow temperature and keep your boiler working at optimal efficiency.

Another excellent control feature for improving general boiler efficiency is load compensation. This helps your boiler to adjust the boiler output and modulate the temperature to only use the energy that is required. This is instead of using large amounts of energy to get your boiler up to temperature over and over again after it drops.

Most Glow-worm heating controls offer these features and can help you better manage your energy usage throughout the year and keeping your boiler operating at its most efficient.

Should I get my boiler serviced in the summer?

Yes - we recommend having your annual Glow-worm boiler service during the summer.

A summer boiler service allows you to learn whether there are any issues that need to be addressed before the cold weather sets in. A summer boiler service will give you plenty of time to get any maintenance and repairs taken care of before it becomes a problem. You book a service online through myGLOW-WORM Web.