Not putting the heating on – how’s it going…?

Want to enquire about fitting a wood burner,

They’re an environmental disaster, they just spew out PM10s into the environment.

We’ve had ours on in the new house now maybe 3-4 hours in the last 2 weeks since we moved in. Installed curtains a few days ago and that has definitely helped. Looks like the rest of October could be cold so I guess we will give in soon enough.

Is it my maths or is that a hell of a lot?

I’m on about 1/4 of that I think in a 3 bed house. Is yours big and draughty?

Just checked mine, yesterday 55kWh.

Yes draughty & it’s not even that cold yet.

Are you comparing m^3 to kWh? Or are we using that much more?

Stat set to 15 degrees. Not come on yet in Glasgow.

Well, ecotricity have ballsed up my bills something rotten so I cannot really compare. I’d guess my boiler would be running for no more than 2hrs a day in winter unless it’s a cold snap and it’s 12kW, so 25kWh seems reasonable at max.

That was last winter though, we will be making serious cutbacks this winter as I have learned a lot about heating – thanks to this thread.

I will post here when our first full month of heating happens.

Is 1m³ on a gas meter around 11kw in kw? That’s my usual conversion rate that I use when trying to make sense of my gas bill.

Electricity meter is much easier to understand 😂

Stat set to 15 degrees. Not come on yet in Glasgow.

…well 15 degrees is positively tropical in Glasgow! 🙂

Is 1m³ on a gas meter around 11kw in kw?

It varies based on the composition of the gas at the time and the temperature – because 1m3 of cold gas contains more actual gas than 1m3 of warm gas, of course. This calcualtion is on your bill.

[smug]Suns out so the conservatory is currently keeping the house lovely and warm today 😎 [/smug]

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It varies based on the composition of the gas at the time and the temperature – because 1m3 of cold gas contains more actual gas than 1m3 of warm gas, of course. This calcualtion is on your bill.

It also varies by your supplier. I’m with SO Energy and their cubic metre of gas has more kwh than some others – consequently a cubic metre costs me a little more from them than from, say, Scottish Power.

Just put ours on for an hour or so to warm the house through as we’ve been away for a week and the bedroom radiator seems blocked 🙄

Cold at bottom,warm at top. Bled it to no affect, so assume we’ll have to get the landlord to get it flushed out 😣👎

20KWh gas has been last week with heating on 2-4 hours a day – we’ve been using about £15-£20 a month at the 7p KWh rate. Kwh based on the formula the gas company uses as it’s measured in cubic m. We’re way below average gas use, but have been way over on electric – that’s been majorly changed to about 12KWh a day.

Heating still not on in the south Midlands/north Southwest borderlands. SWMBO has agreed that we won’t even consider it until we get back from Spain in a week. Hopefully it’ll still be warm enough to hold off a little longer.

Our rented flat is, like so many Spanish properties, great for summer but cold in winter. We have a couple of portable Calorgas heaters that come with the flat – possibly the least healthy way ever to heat a building – but they’re our only option other than plugging in electric radiator type heaters, which use a lot of power if you turn them up high enough to be useful. 9kg gas bottles were costing us 17 Euros two years ago, 21 Euros a year ago… no idea what they’ll be this year.

We’re away at the moment enjoying an extended summer in the States but we’ll almost certainly be putting on long pants and some heating when we eventually get home in early November! We always try to keep it to a minimum, opting for “more layers” before turning on any heating, but there inevitably comes a point . . . .

Calorgas heaters that come with the flat – possibly the least healthy way ever to heat a building – but they’re our only option other than plugging in electric radiator type heaters, which use a lot of power if you turn them up high enough to be useful. 9kg gas bottles were costing us 17 Euros two years ago, 21 Euros a year ago… no idea what they’ll be this year.

I was thinking of getting a Calorgas heater. They used to be everywhere back in the day. What happened to them? How much is a bottle of gas and how long does it last for? And how come they’re unhealthy?

Its been surprisingly refreshing getting used to not having the heating on in the evenings after work. a few simple measures like keeping internal doors shut, making sure enough sunlight gets in during the day, and just heating the one room we are sitting in for 30 minutes when it dropped to 16deg last week, has hopefully saved us a lot of money on our bills compared to this time last year.

Cold at bottom,warm at top. Bled it to no affect, so assume we’ll have to get the landlord to get it flushed out

Warm at top means there isn’t air in it, so bleeding won’t make any difference. Could just be lack of flow meaning there isn’t enough water flowing through it to heat the whole thing up. If it’s significantly cooler than all the other rads, I would open up the restriction valve* half a turn at a time and see if that makes a difference. If it becomes the only warm radiator in the house, you’ve gone too far!

*The one on the opposite side to the thermostatic valve, if you have one. Normally has a small square key thing sticking out the top under a plastic cover.

I’ve got a SuperSer Calor gas heater that’s easily 30 years old. Not sure if I’ve got any gas for it but it’s probably going to be 50 quid for a refill.

@jambourgie

Portable gas heaters are potentially unhealthy because they produce water vapour. So prolonged use in an unventilated space could cause damp. No idea running costs but this link suggests no cheaper than electricity.

https://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/info/200376/preventing_hazards_in_the_home/1611/condensation_damp_and_mould/2

That said I’m thinking of buying one as both a heating source if we get a power cut and for use in shed while working on bikes. Though I guess for the latter I would need to check that it wasn’t more expensive than just running a fan heater

longdog

Just put ours on for an hour or so to warm the house through as we’ve been away for a week and the bedroom radiator seems blocked

@longdog – shut all the TRVs on the other rads and fully open that one for a while.
It will push all the flow through that radiator, which might help to give it a clear out.

We put the heating on, on the 29th Sept. It ran for an hour and we got too hot, so we adjusted the thermostat by a small amount.
It then ran for 30mins on the 30th and 15 mins on the 1st Oct.
It’s not come on at all since then and not really felt cold.

Problem is drying towels in the bathroom especially if I shower on the morning and then after some exercise in the evening.

Cheers will give that a try tomorrow 👍

So after having the boiler turned down for a week I have turned it back up yesterday and already noticed a difference in hot water temperature. Should make it go further.
As an aside we have just had it confirmed that we are having our solar PV system installed in Nov. Not the best time of year to really notice the gains but should help keep the hot water warm so saving some gas there.

Edit: we have our ‘stat set to 17 for an hour in the morning and the same for about 4 hours late afternoon into evening. Set to 15 rest of the time. Only time it ever come on is first thing. The sun is keeping the house warm enough for the evening.

When we used a Super Ser years ago as back up in a cold draughty farmhouse everyone thought the air got very dry and complained of prickly eyes and drowsiness but the additional heat was very welcome and dogs lay in front of it when they couldn’t get near the fire for humans.
PS our CH is set at 50’c at the boiler and HW at 40’c, rads are all off at the moment, is this unsanitary? It is very economical since I lowered it without telling anyone and they have neither noticed nor complained , YET!

Still doing nothing more than firing up the system once a week for a quick blast.
Bike ride, walk, pushing a few weights or gardening gets the metabolism working – I’m fortunate in that I can do any/all.
Porridge to fuel the day.
Winter wear still a long way off.
Am just about to assemble a stages smart bike to complement my home fitness stuff; will be in an insulated shed so the build and using it will stoke up the system!
EDIT – posted from balmy/barmy Newark in the East Midlands; positively Mediterranean!

Not even close to being cold enough to even think of putting the heating on. Bedroom window still open 24/7.

HW at 40’c

Way too low, that’s within perfect bacterial growth temperature! It’ll be even cooler once distributed through your pipework.

Being unsanitary to save a few quid is ridiculous. spend about 30 quid less on beer this winter and put it towards the cost of keeping your water at a safe temperature…

yeah Calorgas heaters are great for taking the chill off quickly, but they do produce water vapour which will lead to damp. We’ve found the best way to use them is to have all the windows open a crack while they’re on.

First nippy overnight in North Somerset last night. 5 degrees. Dropped to 18 degrees indoors, except for the snug, which has three exterior walls and a big set of older patio doors in one of them, and that reached 16.5 degrees.

So far, solar gain in the mornings is bringing the house up to c.20 degrees most days, but as the weather worsens that is going to become less and less reliable. Sustained colder nights and worse weather will make it more difficult to achieve a decent into temperature, so the need for heating is coming this month I suspect.

Winter wear still a long way off.

Blimey! I’ve been in “winter wear” indoors already this week. Not this weekend though. House up to normal temperature by about 10am thanks to the ball of fire in the sky. Just need to have an extra layer on first thing (and last thing).

Ours is regularly topping up 18 to 20 degrees in the morning now, then 20 is maintained naturally through the rest of the day. The long range forecast for London is that the current temps will mostly be maintained until first week of November, so we are building up a nice line of credit in case of a very cold winter.

We are £700 in credit after this months £66 Gov credit which I can’t see us using tbh, but who knows – as tempting as it is to be extra warm and toasty my thoughts are with saving the fuel so people don’t have blackouts/the environment. I’m taking screenshots due to the pending takeover of Bulb by Octopus.

Way too low, that’s within perfect bacterial growth temperature!

But, as Edukator mentioned earlier – the water doesn’t hand around I the pipes or tank for long does it?

That’s kinda what I was hoping , it’s an enclosed system and legionaires relies on a semi stagnant set up doesn’t it ?

Not even close to being cold enough to even think of putting the heating on. Bedroom window still open 24/7.

3 degrees in Derbyshire Dales at 8.30am. How cold does it have to be before you give in?

Ours has been on for weeks, Mrs STR feels the cold and we have two Devon Rex, which have to have a warm environment (or so I’m told)

We’re looking at a Devon Rex… what are they like to live with? Are they cuddle up cats, or bugger off cats?

Still no central heating on here so far… BUT, there will be fire and crumpets tonight. The anticipation is great.

How cold does it have to be before you give in?

No idea. When I’m too cold I guess. There hasn’t even been a frost in Macc yet.

That’s kinda what I was hoping , it’s an enclosed system and legionaires relies on a semi stagnant set up doesn’t it ?

If you don’t have a hot water tank it’s fine. You don’t get legionnaires disease from drinking water straight from the cold tap either.

It’s only if you have a water tank where it can sit for extended periods of time.

What’s an extended period of time? Our tank probably gets emptied every few days.

2-10 days .

Depends how lucky you feel I guess.

Solar thermal is our next venture due to the fact that we have used half a tank of oil just on hotwater this year according to the Watchman….since the boiler stats been on frost mode.

And the solar PV/battery sometimes gets on ok with the electric shower….but mostly doesn’t so moving to an unvented tank and a pumped shower. Move the redundancy to the tank which can be heated by solar thermal /solar PV /grid feed /oil.
I hopefully get our dependency on burning dinofuel down since our car milage is minimal such that spending the same cash in an electric car made no sense.

Oh and the boilerss still not been on again since the firing earlier Inn the week when it was 3 degrees …. But the stove is going on this afternoon. The north winds blowing and it’s blowing hard

We’re looking at a Devon Rex… what are they like to live with? Are they cuddle up cats, or bugger off cats?

Ours are very cuddle up cats. When THEY decide they want to of course. Have some real charachter though, rather than just being aloof cats

Solar thermal is our next venture due to the fact that we have used half a tank of oil just on hotwater this year according to the Watchman….since the boiler stats been on frost mode.

@trailrat – I thought your pv panels heated your hot water? Why the need for oil heating?