Central heating...

[DovertheRoad]

Some heating questions...If anyone can help?

- Its mid October. Has anyone turned on their heating yet it is it just my missus?

- Is a combined electric and gas bill of ?200 a month for a 4 bed with two babies and a heavily used tumble dryer a lot?

- We have a brand new eco Valiant eco boiler and linked to a single wireless thermostat...house heats unevenly as a result. Is there a more intelligent way to get even temps in each room? We've got thermostatic radiator valves but not sure how they work in combo with the main thermostat?

Any help/advice/tips appreciated.

[siousxiesue]

My heating's been on and off for quite a while-we've had a rubbish summer.

Try www.moneysavingexpert.com for a price comparison calculator, it sounds like a lot to me!

[Loz]

Turned the CH on two days ago. I like to hold out for as long as possible, but I finally relented.

?2400 a year is quite a bit, but whether this is 'right' or not depends on two things: your usage and what you pay per unit.

Usage: Do you have the CH/HW on all day? Can you lower the usage of the tumble dryer (they are expensive to run)? For gas, what is your summer usage vs winter?

Charges: What company and scheme are you on.

I was a bit concerned at what we were paying, especially for gas in winter. I adjusted the timer and thermostat settings, plus changed our supplier and have cut the bill quite significantly. Electricity I lowered by turning lights off! (I was really rather bad at this). I looked into putting LEDs in, but decided that the cost/benefit wasn't as good as I'd hoped plus the fact we have a lot of dimmers also put me off this idea.

[ed_pete]

It's difficult to say whether your gas and electric bill are unreasonable as there are many factors: provider cost, insulation, temperature you find comfortable, how long your heating is on for etc etc and as Loz says Tumble Driers are notoriously pricey to run. You could check one of the price comparison sites (e.g. Uswitch) to see if there are cheaper deals out there).

With only one thermostat it sounds like your home's heating is all being treated as a single "zone" i.e. when the thermostat turns the boiler on, the water is pumped round all the radiators in the house. Although you can control the temperature in individual rooms by going round and altering the TRV's that isn't necessarily the most user friendly approach. You need to do a bit of research on "zoned" heating systems and maybe get a heating engineer round to talk through the options. There are systems out there that provide individual timers and thermostats on each radiator (essentially zoning each room) but this is probably an overkill and is expensive.

HTH

[red devil]

Loz Wrote:

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> Turned the CH on two days ago. I like to hold out

> for as long as possible, but I finally relented.

Same here, I think if you can get to the end of Sept without switching it on you've done well.

Re. Comparison sites...found lower tariffs using Uswitch.

Re. Tumble Drying...definitely an expensive way to dry clothes. If you're using it to dry 'wet' clothes, let them air dry first, then a quick tumble dry for anything that needs softening/fluffing up.

Re. Thermostats and TRVs...this is difficult to say what's right and what works best. Most therms are situated in a 'neutral' area like a hallway. If it's in the main living area, which tends to be the warmest part of the home due to lights, appliances and body heat, then you will get problems with the rest of the home feeling colder in comparison. If this is the case in your situation I would try setting the TRVs in the living room lower, thus giving the other areas of the home more time to warm up.

As well as switching off unused lights, switch off appliances instead of leaving them on 'standby'. Simple draughtproofing might help too. Or you could always get a Onesie...

[Pickle]

I never officially turn ours off - thermostat set to 20 degrees mornings (6 till 9) and evenings (5 till 10), so if it needs to come on it will. Generally it doesn't ever come on until the end of September, but the last week or so it's kicked in as the temperature has dropped.

If you've got small children I think it's pretty necessary.

We pay ?205 per month, gas & electricity combined. Family of five and I work from home. We don't have a tumble dryer, but over winter I often put the heating on in the middle of the day if I'm working.

[uncleglen]

I put mine on for once in the morning because my daughter gets up early and has a bath. It is set for 17 degrees anyway. Our bill for the same house size is ?190 a month and we have an electric cooker. We very rarely have the heating on during the night, as the last few winters have been mild ( I was around to remember 1963 so that's my reference standard!)

[KidKruger]

I make a fire when get home in evening or put jumper on.

Chopping wood warms me up anyway and once fires on we hang out in lounge.

Will put central heating on when it gets propa cold.

[red devil]

I've always 'seen' you as an Urban Woodsman KK, this merely confirms it :)...

[Loz]

We have a 4-bed (1920's build - three bed + loft extension) and I've got our gas & electric costs down from about ?2000 to under ?1100 for the year. A combination of moving from a poor tariff rate (saving about ?300) and fiddling with the CH controls.

Things I did:

- In summer, the HW is on for an hour a day, as the tank can keep the water hot for up to three days. We used to have it on for four hours a day (2 hours AM and 2 in the evening) in summer, but the boiler broke down and I discovered that it took a few days before I had to put the immersion heater on.

- In winter I have the CH/HW on for two hours in the morning and four in the evening. I am at home during the day and as long as I keep the room doors closed then I only occasionally need to switch the CH on manually (and I am the sort that refuses to wear a jumper in the house!)

- Turned the radiators off in the spare room and only turn them on when we have guests.

- Moneysavingexpert also had a deal for free sheets of aluminium stuff to put behind the radiators to stop you losing heat to the outside. Not sure how effective these are, but you can't argue with 'free'.

- And, as I said before, started turning lights out. Our kitchen, especially, as it has dozen or so recessed ceiling spotlights, each chewing up 40w.

[KidKruger]

Thanks RD.

I'm actually a city bwoy who's too tight to fork-out the mental money these suppliers charge.

Nicking pallets off skips and bashing them up in my front yard is all !

[Sue]

Yeh I've had the heating on. It's been cold. I succumbed to temptation :(

[Blah Blah]

I second Loz post. We too have a routine (around the kids) and work.

Just on tumble dryers. They do eat a lot of power. Our home still had a little pantry in an extended kitchen when we bought it. And we turned that into a drying space by installing a low powered extraction fan in the window. So we hang washing in there (straight out of the machine), turn on the fan, and it's pretty much dry by the next day. I'm pretty sure the same would work in a small bathroom. Much cheaper alternative to a tumble dryer in the winter.

[uncleglen]

If it's any consolation, the weather reporter said yesterday that it is cool for the time of year....

[DovertheRoad]

Thanks for the helpful posts guys...some good tips there.

[*Bob*]

?100 / year 'not' to have to look at clothes draped over every radiator in the house every day day, pumping moisture into the air? .. I'll take the tumble dryer these days.

[Mustard]

I have one of those heated dryer affairs from Lakeland which I use instead of a tumble dryer.

[Sue]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> ?100 / year 'not' to have to look at clothes

> draped over every radiator in the house every day

> day, pumping moisture into the air? .. I'll take

> the tumble dryer these days.

I find they dry really quickly on the rads though so they're not there for very long .....

[*Bob*]

I'm a modest person, Sue. But I really feel I have earned the right not to see underpants steaming in every room six days a week.

[Loz]

Blimey. How many pair of underkeks do you get through a day, *Bob*?

[Sue]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> I'm a modest person, Sue. But I really feel I have

> earned the right not to see underpants steaming in

> every room six days a week.

In every room six days a week?!?!?

How many pairs do you have?!?!?!?!

:))

ETA: Or if so few you have to wash them every day, maybe buy some more and wash them once a week? :))

[red devil]

Not even when you've got the mask on?...

[Sue]

red devil Wrote:

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> Not even when you've got the mask on?...

:))

[*Bob*]

Well, let's say for example there are four of you in the family. Each family member wears a fresh pair of gruds every day. That's 7 * 4 = 28 pairs of undercrackers. Add to this the extra pairs you might need when you play sports or there is some other form of light soilage rendering the briefs useless. Let's be generous and throw in two extra pairs per week - per person. That comes to 36 pairs.

Assuming an average victorian radiator of 1.5m in length and allowing for the difference dimensions of thongs / boxers etc perhaps each radiator can accommodate maybe six items at once - unless you're really determined and have those plastic things that attach to your radiator and get more stuff on so you can really maximise the amount of water you evaporate into your rooms day by day.

So you need SIX rads just to get the PANTS done - before you've even started on the things that are larger and take longer to dry.

In addition, one should consider that rarely are all pants available to launder on one day and therefore, due to the cyclical nature of the wash - and if you insist on drying on radiators, the chances are that every day - you're going to have top see your pants steaming in one room or another.

Pop them in the tumble dryer. The dryer removes the water, which is the bit you don't want in your house all the time if you can help it. Enjoy the warm, dry air and that comes out of the tumble dryer - that's a bonus.

Of course I recognise that to some - a tumble dryer might not be affordable. However, the majority of people I know can well afford them but for some reason are determined instead to have their houses full of drying underpants - but then go and spend ?40 on a round of drinks without a thought. They have lost their perspective.

[Sue]

:))