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what do you class it as then? Decoration? Entertainment?
A small off duty Czechoslovakian traffic warden
17 degrees! I our house is regularly down to 16 in the day
It might be in our house but no one is in and the heating is off
IT's not toasty here this morning... but i bought some Decathlon fleece lined trousers i've been wearing... i can get hot in just about bloody freezing conditions in these, so i'm not too worried.
I don't think we'll get many more days/weeks before it magically gets turned on, but as it's Mrs Weeksy who pays the electric, i'm not being the one to do it.
The wood burner doesn't count as heating 🤣 reminds me of the people who used to ask me if they got hot!
I read yesterday that actually and due to the fact the most major countries have now topped off their reserves, gas prices are tumbling. And guess what, it’s true.
Reports in various papers suspected the average joe won’t reach the cap amount if it continues, which is surely better news for people who are struggling.
Unless individuals have an energy deal below the unit price cap, they will be paying the energy unit price cap? Only hope is that the price cap is reduced at the next point that it is set by ofgen? That would then leave everyone who has fixed their unit costs above the current unit cap at a disadvantage unless they can exit their 'deal' without penalty.
Indeed. If you fixed you might have issues. If your on a variable we should expect to see costs coming over the next few months as current supplies are replaced with cheaper source fuels.
What’s the betting we won’t. We’ll be exploited by the energy companies as always.
I'm variable tariff (Bulb direct debit), and noticed their app says my electricity tariff is 34.23p, so 0.23p over the 34p October price cap 🤔 The standing charge is under though, 44.41p. Cap is 46p.
Then I noticed this disclaimer on the Ofgem site...
'Rates are averages and will vary by region, payment method and meter type. '
So you can pay more than the cap anyway?
Minor variations exist near the unit cap price.
I doubt any huge shifts in day to day wholesale prices of gas will trickle down to the consumer quickly because all the retail suppliers have probably already committed to buying the gas at the higher price anyway?
At home we're managing OK without the heating on, front room gets quite warm with three of us in there of an evening, the bigger worry is damp from drying clothes inside, however we do have a dehumidifier running.
Work on the other hand, jesus wept. We've got 6k litres of kero doing nothing in the tank and my boss insists on only having it on in the morning for an hour. Also turns the lights out in the office which is seriously pissing me off (yes, I've mentioned it more than a few times, if it continues I'll be working from home). My work colleague in the same office then decides that running a 3kw fan heater every 30 seconds is the answer, but seems to be incapable of shutting the damn doors behind her! When the fan heaters on it's at 27C, currently the fan heater is off and it's 24C. We're in an old house with a bloody great gap under the front door which I keep asking to get sealed up, but nothing doing. It's driving me mad!
I caved in last night and stuck the heating on. Our house runs pretty cold at the best of times and sits at the bottom of a hill = no sun until mid morning. With no heating on before a cold night is expected, it can be properly chilly when you wake up.
Installing a big log burner a few years ago and ash die back disease have saved me a few quid. Got loads of free wood to burn in that thing all winter.
Log burner was lit last night. Noticed a fair chill to the air this morning but house ok. I'm in the office today so house will probably be chilly by the time I'm home to sort the stove but we are in the routine now, stove will be running all winter.
I put the heating on to test that all the radiators heated up OK and then turned it off again.
Is this the right thread for hot water chat?
I set the little knob on the front of the tank to 45C, and was worrying it was too low. The actual water is 68C!
If you are with Octopus Energy, they have just opened up there FLIR camera borrowing scheme again for this year. I've not had one before but looks like it could be very interesting. You can get more information here Flir Camera
1880 stone flat in Southern Scotland. Had the fan heater on in the bathroom for the first time last night, cold when I’m wet but otherwise OK with ajumper.
Similar vintahe house here on the Fife coast, flat roof so limited for insulation options (although it has had insulation put in by raising the roof height)
Managed to not use the central heating so far, although the wood burner has been on and Ive bought my first Dressing Gown.
A) How much are you actually saving?
No idea
B) Is it worth it?
Yes, if nothing else it's making me pay attention to how the house temperature reacts relative to the weather outside which will payback in the long run. That and it's a good reminder to make the most of it's passive heating from the conservatory during the day.
It was <3C and frosty here last night, house is still pleasant. Not quite shorts weather still, but have only had to put a jumper on a couple of times.
If you are with Octopus Energy, they have just opened up there FLIR camera borrowing scheme again for this year.
This is brilliant.
It was <3C and frosty here last night, house is still pleasant. Not quite shorts weather still, but have only had to put a jumper on a couple of times.
As a long term minimal heater putter oner you will probably notice as the Sean goes on it gets worse as the house and soil looses more of its latent heat. Add in the shorter days and and the house drops a lot more December - march. I find it doesn't take much to stop the house dropping below 15 Deg c as long as you get it up to ~ 18deg c one a day.
insulation. Bloody hell its got expensive.
Needing 75mm rigid batts to replace the ill fitting(poor access) celotex between the rafters on the sloping celings and dormers - i need 25SQM at roughly 40 quid per SQM
trying to get some superquilt to make the kneewall devils triangles in the corners of the upstairs wall air tight and stop the movement of air around the existing glass fibre and round the front of the dormers too keep the airflow that is neccesary inside the roof space in the roofspace when the northwind starts blowing .... looking at 3 rolls @120 ish quid
Likewise rockfloor for gluing to the underside of the concrete floor.(cant use rigid PIR due to access issues) - 48 sheets required - 1500 quid.
I had to buy some bog standard 100mm glassfibre for the attic to finish off a bit to 300mm - 25 quid a roll .... i remember they were practically giving that away when i moved in.
sure i can get someone in to foam it up on a government grant - help them meet their target (although then never be able to sell my house) I see the benefit in spending the money over my life time but its a bitter pill to swallow especially for those who don't have the capital available.
- although seeing some of the internal temperatures being quoted - it seems im currently better insulated than most even if it is just a post war corporation farmers semi detached.
insulation. Bloody hell its got expensive.
Yeah I looked at insulating the inside of my airing cupboard. Was going to be about £200 worth of Kingspan! I think I'll revert to £5 Ikea duvets and bacofoil.
Likewise rockfloor for gluing to the underside of the concrete floor
I'd love to insulate under our ground floor, but I've no idea how I'd access it besides chopping a big hole in.
As a long term minimal heater putter oner you will probably notice as the Sean goes on it gets worse as the house and soil looses more of its latent heat. Add in the shorter days and and the house drops a lot more December – march. I find it doesn’t take much to stop the house dropping below 15 Deg c as long as you get it up to ~ 18deg c one a day.
Technically, that would be sensible heat, not latent heat, unless you live in Hawaii or Iceland.
But yes, you're correct it'll feel colder indoors at this stage in spring in March, when it's 3C overnight.
I put the heating on to test that all the radiators heated up OK and then turned it off again.
Me too. I'll probably do that every morning and evening from now til March. Just to test it, you understand
insulation. Bloody hell its got expensive.
Yea, need some celotex/kingspan to do the loft hatch (~120cmx80cm and 60x30cm) and thinking it might be cheaper just to build it as a wooden box and empty a can of fireproof foam into it!
I set the little knob on the front of the tank to 45C, and was worrying it was too low. The actual water is 68C!
Our HW tank has a thermostat 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. I've never actually checked, but I assume the temp at the top is higher....
insulation. Bloody hell its got expensive.
Yep. We have just got permission on roof rails loft conversion and things like the cost of insulation are making the entire thing seem unfeasible, but we need the space. Torn as to what the solution is.:/
Yea, need some celotex/kingspan to do the loft hatch (~120cmx80cm and 60x30cm) and thinking it might be cheaper just to build it as a wooden box and empty a can of fireproof foam into it!
facebook market place seems to be where to find the offcuts and odds and sods of celeotex for peanuts.
No one seems to ever be selling any of the more specialist products ive identified as fitting my needs best ..... silly house design - worth it in the long haul at least.
Just to continue the water temperature discussion from the weekend.......I said I'd lowered the HW to 40'c and the CH to 50'c ( at the boiler via illuminated dials), got nervous after talk of legionella and cold water out the taps, not worried about stagnancy (sic) as wife and daughter both shower in the mornings and I do so in the evening. Wife stubbornly has all room stats set at 5'c ! So I decided to do a few simple tests, borrowed a decent thermometer from work and this is what I found......water from all the hot taps (upstairs and downstairs sinks) issues at 48'c. Water in the showers (measured using the overflowing jug technique) also issues at 48'c at the highest setting. Water from the cold taps issues at 20'c before dropping to around 15'c . Sink taps are hot enough for hand washing, the showers at 48'c are uncomfortable on the naked body I found 45'c was as hot as I could stand, I think children would find it too hot. How come, I thought so like Molgrips I had a poke about round the small cylinder and sure enough low down out of sight is a thermostat which looks to be set around 55'c. This poses the question who or what is controlling the temperature of my water. We are in Yorkshire and enjoying the challenge of holding the bills down for as long as possible. To be fair this is a very well insulated house and we can make use of a fire if the evenings get too chilly but at the moment it's a fleece and a blanket over her legs on the sofa for telly watching.
I rigged up two thermocouples on the in and out flow pipes from the boiler. Seems to be at most 9C difference between the two when it's not on maximum output. I've noticed that turning it down from full to the second highest pip does reduce the flame (judging by the sound) but the flame can't go any lower, so it just reduces the point at which the burner turns off.
However, the gap between when it turns off and on seems huge, about 20C. Presumably to prevent the boiler cycling on and off all the time. But it feels a bit too much I'd say - I wonder if it's adjustable?
Good vid on legionalla. Your tank doesn't need to be as hot as everyone says. I'm going to set my water temp low so I can set my boiler temp low, then use a timer to bring the tank up once a week using my off-peak leccy.
This poses the question who or what is controlling the temperature of my water.
I would have thought that it's the tank thermostat as the boiler would have no idea what temperature the tank is at without a temperature probe in the tank.... Which I doubt it has.
We've given in; an hour on a morning and an hour around tea time. The morning hour would do me, but there's only so many layers it's reasonable to expect my wife to wear in an evening 🤣
My heating is still not on but WFH today in a jacket with a rug over my knees. I think the log burner will be going on this evening as I have three hours in a stable to look forward to this afternoon and I'll be pretty cold by the end of that.
So on the back of some of the comments on this thread I have turned down the dials on my combi boiler. Not sure how much effect it will have but I will keep an eye on my consumption.. There are no useful markings on the dials other than a wedge shape indicating "more" the further clockwise they go so it's trial and error I guess.
I have got the water at 50C (I may further reduce it if poss). The rads are not as hot to the touch it seems but that's about as scientific as it gets without buying something to check the temps. I don't know if having the rads cooler will just mean the heating is on for longer and therefore negate any saving to be had by running them cooler...🤷♂️Again, trial and error I suppose....
I don’t know if having the rads cooler will just mean the heating is on for longer and therefore negate any saving to be had by running them cooler…
No. Watch the videos. The efficiency gain from running cooler is more than the extra time they are on.
The efficiency gain from running cooler is more than the extra time they are on.
Condensor boilers only get the gain from the condensing as a certain temp range and it's always lower than the max setting.
Condensor boilers only get the gain from the condensing as a certain temp range
I read recently that the heating flow return temperature needed to be 57 degrees or below for a condensing boiler to enter its condensing phase, which is where it is most efficient due to latent heat absorption.
Twiddling knobs for the sake of it is probably not that useful.
Laser thermometers are about 10 to 15 quid. Get one and the test your own flow and return primary pipework.
It also bears pointing out that the colder it gets outside the more a low temperature system needs to rely on larger emitters to meet the heat loss of the structure.
If your radiators are relatively small and it gets cold, you might need to turn your flow temperature up to increase ∆T into the house.
The advantage of weather compensation with a smart boiler is that it will do this for you, all the time, to keep itself in the most efficient burn.
Heating on in the morning now with the occasional evening and I finally caved had to swap my shorts for joggers from about midday onwards when WFH.
I've been in long trousers in the evenings for about a week though.
Its been below 15deg in the house here in the South Cotswolds the past few mornings. At least another few weeks before I allow any heating.
Is this going to be a fight to the death? With the last couple of posters sat at their computers with coats and fingerless Scrooge gloves insisting that it's fine and they can go another few days, as the snow starts to settle on the roof..
Lol. No challenge without heating on in terrace house in east Kent yet. Even OH hasn't complained. Bigger challenge is resisting long leg wear on the morning cycle commute to work.
sat at their computers with coats and fingerless Scrooge gloves insisting that it’s fine and they can go another few days, as the snow starts to settle on the roof..
Were you in my house last year??? 🤣
Bought a digi thermometer. Its currently telling me that my living room is 16.9° which is OK, but the humidity is 68%. I'm fairly sure that's a bit high??
Woke up 10 minutes ago, room thermometer says 13deg…. Caved. Heating on for the first time this year. Nice and toasty in bed but the thought of being up and about in a cold house does not fill me with joy.
At the risk of invoking the spirit of the 4 Yorkshiremen you were lucky ! Growing up in the 60s our house didn’t have fancy things like central heating , an open fire in the kitchen diner that our dad 😬 used to light on his hands and knees using newspaper ( I don’t think it was rolled up 😉) because of a kink in the chimney flue all the smoke would billow back out into the room ! No heat in our bedrooms ice on the windows made you hurry up and get ready for school ! The one ( bloody) luxury they gave into was to put an electric wall heater in the bathroom. The only problem with that was as it was about 6 ft up all it heated was the ceiling 🙄 I still remember the sensation of standing up in the bath with the top of my head all toasty frantically hurrying up to dry myself before I lost the feeling from the neck down!
When we got married we had a choice in our new Wimpey home £600 extra would either get central heating or a garage ! We opted for the soft option of warmth 😬 Dad said “ I don’t like central heating it’s a dry heat “ it’s funny whenever he came over he’d forget himself and say how cosy it was 😬😬😬😬😬
Try telling the young ‘uns that today guess the rest 😉
Most I’ll wager are southern based and live in well-insulated houses.
yes, let’s continue with predjudice or jealousy. I dunno some people.
Amazing how houses make a difference. We are outer London set to 18 at night and 20 during the day, unlike others the heatings been on/off regularly over the last week. The thermostat is in the hall I’m going to stick my head unit on the coffee table where we sit and see what the real temp is in the living space.
Mrs K with all the disadvantages of being Afro Caribbean, having Lupus and Cranes disease is feeling the cold and wearing her electrically heated Gilet.
Tested ch last night for 15mims, was expecting to have to bleed the rads but no, all good.
Still weeks away from running it of the timer, but will fire up the wood burner if it drops to single figures outside.
South Coast so always warm, even if the riding isn't so hot.