Away over Xmas and new year and talk of return of arctic weather

newseeker1

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Hi
With all the talk over last few days or possible artic conditions over xmas and new year, we are going to be away over the Christmas and new year period. I was thinking of leaving the radiator heating on 24-7 while we away in case the snow hits so as to avoid burst pipes.

Question i have is that we only have 1 stat in the house. Its in the hall. We are not sure what temp to leave the stat in the all set too - would 12 degrees be ok or should we set it higher?

Similiarly the same question for the stat on the boiler in the boiler house outside. Would it be ok to have it set to about half way or should we leave it higher

I know chances are snow and artic conditions wont hit but in case they do while we away we figure the figure cost of having to get a extra fill of oil(tank is full at present) would be less coming back to possible burst pipes, flooded house and collaposed ceilings

Was also thinking of turning off the stop cock under the sink to limit amount of water that would flood the house to what in the tank
What do people think?
Thanks

P.S Seen another thread similar to this from years back but it closed and I wasn't sure how to re-open it or if can do that
 
Does the stat have a frost setting? It certainly doesn't need to be as high as 12d, 5 would do the trick.

Are pipes in the attic lagged?

Yes, turn off the mains stopcock to limit damage. This will not affect your ability to have the heating running. Depending on how the rest of your plumbing is configured, you may have other valves that could limit water from the storage tank also.

You have a link to the closed thread? Had a quick look didn't see it. Some previous threads here though.

If there are enough other pieces of advice or tips on winter prep, I can compile them into a key post.
 
Those newspaper headlines are completely irresponsible. They are quoting quacks and charlatans. Nobody is able to predict the weather more than ten days ahead at the outside.

If you do want to leave your heating on, you need to have some idea how the temperature at your thermostat location responds to outside temps. A sunny room might never fall below double digits even when it's well below zero outside. But generally twelve sounds like more than enough.
 
I think this Christmas is to be very mild but a possibility of being very cold in January. Ultimately I don't think they can accurately predict what is happening tomorrow never mind in a few weeks.

If you were worried, change the hall stat to a digital stat with a battery if there is no neutral to it the existing one (something like a Horstmann HRT-4B). Then set to between 5C - 10C and leave programmer set to on permanently.
 
Polar Vortex is supposedly to hit Ireland and England in early January.
Freezing temps with ice and snow for about 3 weeks.

Dont know if it will happen,but Met Eireann are saying that Christmas will be mild and wet.
 
Those newspaper headlines are completely irresponsible. They are quoting quacks and charlatans. Nobody is able to predict the weather more than ten days ahead at the outside.

+1...too many 'experts' from around the world making predictions and those who make the most extreme, then get picked up in the national media here....with the ever more tabloid Indo being by far the worst culprit
 
Unfortunately this rubbish sells, and for as long as it does, they'll keep printing it.

Pick a week a few months out and follow the various long term forecasters and watch how their long term forecasts change significantly from week to week.
 
There are some sites devoted to tracking the forecasters' (lack of) success. There's a Facebook page about the guy whose forecast the Indo were quoting. He forecasted the same Arctic conditions for November of 2013, and also for this week. He carefully controls any feedback on his own sites, disallows negative comment, and cites newspaper articles that reported him on the occasions he happened to be approximately right. It's the same sort of confirmation bias exploited by mediums and psychics. It's utter quackery.

Ask yourself -- what sort of insight are these people likely to have, over and above the normal forecasters with their super-expensive super-computers. The Indo guy says he doesn't use any weather models. That's like the bank saying they invest your money at Paddy Powers. It's not something to be proud of. I don't know if the Indo was reporting him correctly, but they mentioned the blizzards would be due to a "polar vortex". That was meaningless. The polar vortex is there all the time. Strong ones mean less blizzards.
 
Heating - stat

Hi,

I wouldn't worry about what the Daily Mail says - it always predicts an 'Arctic storm' this time of year.

Lagging of pipes in the loft and an external tap cover (bought from B&Q should do it).

Regards


Matt
 
Put YRNO into Google and you will get a fairly good 10 day forecast.
I think YRNO is Norwegian Gov funded so have no headline seeking agenda.
 
Yep it's not bad. however have used it as a predictor in heading off to play golf a couple of times and have been let down!!
 
Yep it's not bad. however have used it as a predictor in heading off to play golf a couple of times and have been let down!!
.....................

Yup , blame the weather!
You may just have LOT syndrome . ( lack of talent)

Have a good Xmas
 
You've obviously sen me play Gerry. Best wishes to you and your over the holidays as well!!
 
Put YRNO into Google and you will get a fairly good 10 day forecast.
I think YRNO is Norwegian Gov funded so have no headline seeking agenda.

We use the Norwegian Forecast for when we are heading out to sea for our angling trips.

Its far more accurate than any Irish forecast.
 
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