Combi boiler settings to lower your gas bills.
Are you one of those who always turn on the thermostats to full... thinking somehow boiler will heat up the house quicker... ?
Well ! its time to re-think that !
I too was one of those who always used boiler at max settings until i qualified as a heating engineering and gained experience in this field.
Combi boiler (also known as condensing boiler) creates plumes (smoke from flue which condenses inside the flue). The temperature of plume also determines if you wasting heat/energy/gas. Setting the "heating" dial to roughly 65 degree Celsius is generally considered a good temperature.
If you turn your heating dial on boiler to full setting, your boilers will not plume. In simpler terms the combi boiler needs to condense the plumes/smoke inside the flue. If the temperature of flue is too high the plume/smoke will not condense. The hot plume/smoke will escape to atmosphere a a hot gas, this leads to waste of gas and negative contribution towards climate change. At lower heating settings the boiler flue temperatures are less hot and you are not wasting a lot of gas/energy , hence plume/smoke can condense and become hot liquid which floes back into the boiler. Boiler absorbs the heat from this condensate liquid as well.
Before lowering the boiler temperature you must check that you do not have a microbore / 8mm copper piping as it may cause boiler not to deliver enough heat to your radiators. You can always give it a go though...
Remember, its always better to call you boiler manufacturer and take their advice too or consult a gas safe engineer.