Gas bill when you have a log burner

[treemonkey4]

Today I phoned swalec as they owe us an estimated £530 and asked for it back

He then replied it's an estimate,

I then gave him current readings

he types away and said it will take quite a few minutes and comes back with we now owe you an estimated £298.

I asked for this back

He said if you take all money back our payments will go from £58 to £75 a month

I replied we are already paying to much

He said it's our system

I said I would rather the money in my bank and earning me money not swalec

He replied we don't earn any money from interest

This is where I bang my head against the wall!!!

I have now asked for a bill to see how they come up with these crazy figures.

Either way we are getting shafted by utilitiy companies and today they announce bills are to go up again.

Rant over

[Stu3k]

Bit of a side track but my best purchase ever has to be the ebac 6200 dehumidifier ,well paid for itself and any Leccy it uses . Prob now have gas thermostat 1.5 degrees cooler, it pulls about 1.5 to 3 litre's of water a day out a two bed 1960's bungalow

[skyhuck]

Bit of a side track but my best purchase ever has to be the ebac 6200 dehumidifier ,well paid for itself and any Leccy it uses . Prob now have gas thermostat 1.5 degrees cooler, it pulls about 1.5 to 3 litre's of water a day out a two bed 1960's bungalow

 

Not sure about that, where is that water coming from??

 

When we moved into this house (10 years ago), it was very,very damp. It have never been heated properly. It has solid walls with no cavities, these walls were sopping wet all the way through, when it rained the water was just pulled in by capillary attraction. I heated the house 24/7 for over 3 years, this dried the walls to a point where when it rains the water only penetrates the first few inches of the walls and then in dry weather the water goes back out side.

 

Our house is probably dry for the first time in its 200 year history, because of being heated. If I had used a dehumidifier I think it would have just kept drawing more water through the walls.

[Big J]

Bit of a side track but my best purchase ever has to be the ebac 6200 dehumidifier ,well paid for itself and any Leccy it uses . Prob now have gas thermostat 1.5 degrees cooler, it pulls about 1.5 to 3 litre's of water a day out a two bed 1960's bungalow

 

Have you considered a heat recovery unit for moisture control in winter (less effective in summer due to temperature differential indoor/outdoor being smaller)?

 

A HRU like this one:

 

Vent Axia Manrose Heat Recovery Ventilation Fan Unit - Bathroom Shower Kitchen | eBay

 

On trickle setting will pull out quite a bit of water with almost no electrical cost. You also get decent ventilation with 70% heat recovery.

 

For instance, if the outdoor temperature is 0 celcius and 80% humidity and indoor temperature is 20 celcius and 50% humidity, there is 4g/cubic metre water coming in for every 10g water going out. At 43 cubic metres an hour, you are going to extract just over 6 litres of water a day for a cost of 12w (a daily electrical saving of 5.71kw/ 68 pence).

 

Just an idea - it's the same principle I kiln my timber on. I like heat recovery units as they are so simple - very little to break down.

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

Not sure about that, where is that water coming from??

 

When we moved into this house (10 years ago), it was very,very damp. It have never been heated properly. It has solid walls with no cavities, these walls were sopping wet all the way through, when it rained the water was just pulled in by capillary attraction. I heated the house 24/7 for over 3 years, this dried the walls to a point where when it rains the water only penetrates the first few inches of the walls and then in dry weather the water goes back out side.

 

Our house is probably dry for the first time in its 200 year history, because of being heated. If I had used a dehumidifier I think it would have just kept drawing more water through the walls.

 

In older houses, they were never constructed to deal with the amount of water that we now use in our houses. So washing machines, dishwashers, showers, baths, indoor bathrooms etc. This is where you get moisture from in a house, as well as human/animal respiration of course.

 

Modern houses are constructed better in terms of moisture management with moisture permeable membranes such as Tyvek. In older houses, a lime or clay plaster is a very useful tool for moisture management.

 

The difficulty that we have personally is that we like in an old rented estate cottage, and due to the damp crappy summers we have had lately, there is almost no way to keep the house dry in summer except for dehumidification. When it's 18 degrees and 80% RH outside, it's going to be the same inside. A clay or lime plaster would really help, but it's not our house.

 

Generally speaking, the housing stock in this country is very poor, whether it's old or new.

[Stu3k]

Most of water prob comes from wifes 25 min long showers and from drying clothes, will deffo look into heat recovery fan as bathroom extractor is pants and needs the bin, Cheers for advice folks

[skyhuck]

Most of water prob comes from wifes 25 min long showers and from drying clothes, will deffo look into heat recovery fan as bathroom extractor is pants and needs the bin, Cheers for advice folks

 

I guess you have cavity walls, so probably very different to my home.

[Big J]

Most of water prob comes from wifes 25 min long showers and from drying clothes, will deffo look into heat recovery fan as bathroom extractor is pants and needs the bin, Cheers for advice folks

 

Showers aren't too bad as you can contain the moisture within the bathroom, but indoor drying of washing is a tricky one. Unless you have a well ventilated room with a good heat source, you can cause a lot of issues with damp, mould and breathing related illnesses. At 250w (the rating of your dehumidifier), you are using 70 pence of electricity a day to keep the house dry - another option would be a tumble dryer, which uses 4-5kw (44-55 pence) and doesn't create the same indoor air quality issues.

 

Jonathan

[Stu3k]

I guess you have cavity walls, so probably very different to my home.

Yup had them filled with with cavity wall insulation and that made condensation a bit worse, but most of the wood i burn is oak ,barrel staves from used whiskey casks makes house smell :blushing:great

[codlasher]

Untouched 1859 Victorian farmhouse. Open on all sides to the elements & 9" solid walls.

We had a grant to insulate the roof-space so there's 300mm (a foot in old money) in there. Cat slide roof now has 75mm thick cellotex/ecotherm/kingspan foil sheeting, foamy glued to the underside & likewise all the upstairs walls. Super warm. Love the silver as it reflects all the daylight colours:001_rolleyes:

3610 Morso wood burner in the old dairy room with a hole cut into the ceiling above so the heat rises & providing the stairway door is open a 'heat circuit' operates. This hole has a grate over to stop the children falling through, likewise all the floors upstairs are covered with plywood as the woodworm have been active for many a year and we fell through on several occasions:thumbdown: Funny that the staircase has none at all, which is good.

Tasteful concrete fire surround (Not!) in the living room housing a open Baxi type fire with back boiler for all our hot water needs. Works well and no issues with power failures as it is on a 'direct' gravity circuit

£65.00 per year for the gas cooker (one 47kg propane bottle) and 15 odd tons of cordwood to heat for the five of us here at present. Nothing else!

codlasher

Edited December 17, 2012 by codlasher