A young member of the family might be good at on-line sales?

You may find you need to fine-tune the weather compensation settings as time goes on.  If I recall correctly you have a Vaillant which has preset curves, so this shouldn't be necessary,  but its just possible you find you need change the curve a tiny bit from midwinter to spring.  You will soon work it out, the key thing is not to fiddle constantly and for the most part leave it to do its thing. 

For what its worth the night time set back may be costing money (counterintuitive I know).  The way Vaillant does setback this it less likely than the way some do set back, but it may well be that you could run 24*7 at a lower flow temperature still without it.  It wont make much difference either way so if its more comfortable with setback my advice is leave it on.

If you have any further questions please ask.

The house has warmed up considerably! The electricity usage is still making our eyes water a bit but when we average it out, it’s probably costing what oil plus firewood would have cost. So… we are much warmer and not so scared!

Good news, well done!

it is indeed very important to average costs over a season. Heat pump running costs are disproportionately high in cold weather because of the double whammy of more energy needed just as performance (COP) drops significantly, but equally the running costs become disproportionately low in moderate to mild weather when the energy demand falls and performance (COP) increases. Neither looking at a cold month nor indeed a mild month will give you an accurate picture of overall running costs, you have to look at the whole season.

Finally, some good news to report…

Radbots disabled with the exception of 2 in bedrooms

Flow temp reduced to 35 degrees 

Heating and HW on 24/7, set at 18 degrees by day and 15 at night. HW set at 45 degrees

The house has warmed up considerably! The electricity usage is still making our eyes water a bit but when we average it out, it’s probably costing what oil plus firewood would have cost. So… we are much warmer and not so scared! And much greener which definitely warms the cockles too. 

Huge thanks to everyone who has taken the time to offer advice and words of encouragement - in particular @jamespa @cathoderay @toodles @judith 🙏

Finding this forum has been amazing. 

Now to my next question - what to do with the now defunct oil boiler that is only 2 years old..? But that’s for another thread! 😁

If you are one of the scammers, vodka and orange over ice, garnished with a slice of orange.

What is a screwdriver?

There is then no hope for you!