Conversion to multi fuel

[Rob_the_Sparky]

and naff all insulation

[Cath11]

14 hours ago, scbk said:

See I would look at it the other way round, looking at that, mains gas is currently cheaper, the cost of smokeless will be going up, and you've got the hassle of having to carry it into the house and the ash out (with all the associated dust and mess!). Wood ash you might spread in the garden, don't think you would want to do that with smokeless. Never mind the environmental side of it.

Rather than spend money on the stove, insulation is a better investment, so you use less energy

But those prices for Gas are pre the rise in April and pre the next rise in October. My gas will be too expensive to use for heating. The current fuel cost, April not too cold outside, is nearly £8 a day and there will be a 50% rise on top of that in October to a min of £12 a day or £360 a month.  

[Cath11]

14 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

My heating goes to 10C from 11pm to 6am, would be much cheaper to get a really good duvet than heat the house.

 

Trying not to sound like a Yorkshireman but I do remember when we had naff all heating upstairs as a kid.

I have switched mine off on a night now as I refuse to pay the huge increase. I am a Yorkshire woman and also remember when the only heating we had was a coal fire in one room. I put the heating on for one hour a day now and I’ve got the burner going more and leave the doors open for the heat to travel 

[Cath11]

29 minutes ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

and naff all insulation

I have cavity wall insulation and partial loft insulation. That’s the next job before winter, insulate the loft sides 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

20 hours ago, Cath11 said:

I have cavity wall insulation and partial loft insulation. That’s the next job before winter, insulate the loft sides 

Sorry wasn't aimed at you.  I remember back in the day occasionally having ice on the inside of the single glazed windows and it being cold in most of the house but the reason was back in the day we had naff all insulation, not that we were putting less heat into the house.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

  I remember back in the day occasionally having ice on the inside of the single glazed windows and it being cold in most of the house but the reason was back in the day we had naff all insulation, not that we were putting less heat into the house.

Not at all unusual, I grew up in a new build (1953) 4 bed detached with  single glazed, Crittal windows, 2" cavity, no loft inulation till I helped my dad put 2" rolls of fibreglass in about 6 years later, I have disliked handling the stuff ever since. and the only heating was a rayburn with one radiator and an open fire in the lounge. Average house temperature in winter other than the lounge or kitchen was about 13C and my sister and I would scratch pictures in the ice formed on the windows from our breathing.

There was only one house in the street with central heating and that was coal fired, even though that house had town gas piped in.

[Cath11]

2 hours ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

Sorry wasn't aimed at you.  I remember back in the day occasionally having ice on the inside of the single glazed windows and it being cold in most of the house but the reason was back in the day we had naff all insulation, not that we were putting less heat into the house.

Yes I remember those days too! Ice on the windows, getting dressed in front of the oven with the oven on and the door open as the only other heat in the house was the open fire.  The front of my house is south facing so solar panels are on my radar too

[Peasgood]

It puzzles me that there is so much outrage over suggesting you put a jumper on if it is cold in the house.

I don't actually own a jumper but that's besides the point.

My house has lots of insulation, I did all the external walls with battens and slabs then plasterboarded over. Roof space has double requirement and the house is nice and warm, has been all winter with no overnight heating on.

Been in for 12 months now and prior to that was 3 years in a static, plenty of winter nights with frost on the bedclothes but very rare to feel cold under the covers. A lot of people are just too soft these days.

[neiln]

On 05/04/2022 at 09:45, Paul in the woods said:

I was going to ask if running smokeless coal overnight would be any cheaper than gas, even after the gas price rises as I expect coal price rises as well.

 

 

Smokeless coal is actually a petroleum product, so look at the oil price.

[Steven P]

Back of my mind says that some smokeless coal is an anthracite dusk and brown coal is made from house coal dust. I used to get PET coke (my coalman can't get that now) which is petroleum and has a feint smell of oil if you sniff it (it also eats through fire bricks but does burn quite hot). Might be the cheaper stuff is oil based, but looking at the ash I suspect it is mixed with a lot of sand too.

 

Cheaper living is kind of enforced with an open fire which says that don't run the heating when you are asleep and out the house - can't with a wood burner, it goes out. The theory is that heat loss isn't a linear thing, that 20 degrees above the outside temperature loses more than double the heat energy as a 10 degree difference would lose.

 

Ice on the windows? Yup, been there. Had my desk by the chimney breast in my room so I could keep my feet warm in the evenings too.

 

I agree with the above posts, insulate and insulate again, checking every ones favourite warehouse DIY shop just now the prices are about what they have been for the last few years, loft insulation is a simple job to top up just lay it on top and roll it out for 'wool' insulation (the common ones), go above the recommended minimum if you can (think it is 270mm now?). I think about about 360mm though the return on your outlay reduces, like the heat loss thicker and thicker insulation doesn't correspond to the same saving (so 200mm will save '1' lot of heat loss, 400mm will not save '2' heat losses, more like '1.5' heat losses). Better to spend the money somewhere else. Next simplest job I did was a pain in the butt, under the suspended floor, using the holes cut when the house was rewired I can access the whole under floor without lifting floorboards, got some of that orange barrier plastic you see on building sites, held up the insulation with one hand, the barrier with another hand, the torch with my spare hand and stapled it to the joists.. but it also worked... and pain but possible. (100mm, the depth of the joist, there just now, going to work out how to go to 200mm).

 

There are still offers out there to get insulation done and for free.

 

Final thought on energy saving, your biggest costs are anything that makes heat - so tumble drier is going off soon to use the line outside, kettle only has enough for what I need to use (Mrs Steven doesn't, boils a full 3 litres for a half cup), shower a minute quicker (it costs me about 4p a minute to shower at 30p a kWH and 9kw shower) (or more, internet reckons on 5 minute showers), baths... yeah they eat up the heat.. little changes. One I haven't done is switch to 30deg C laundry, I have a feeling in the back of my mind that the energy savings for that will be eaten up by more expensive detergent. Similarly lighting doesn't worry me - all LEDs now - for any savings made against the stress of running round the house chasing The Boys.

 

 

 

Me? Not a Yorkshire man (by nearly a mile), but just as tight at times.