Gas bill when you have a log burner

[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.

[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

[mechtrev]

£86 a month on gas and electricity and approx 15 cube of stacked logs with a villager log burner, burns 24/7 mostly from September till April. Only use gas for hot water and cooking and the occasional night when sub zero. Large 3 bed detatched 9" solid walls, double glazing, virtually no loft insulation as loft is compound floor so absorbs heat before it escapes. Gas boiler is a combi so too expensive to combine wood burner into ch. House is pre 1780 we can only trace that far on deeds to a change of ownership. Yes eco fans do help.

I get all my wood from local farmers and friends who need a tree removing.

[Stephen Blair]

Lovely stove !

[Steve999]

That is unfortunately normally the case. You may get slightly better thermal properties in the wall, but the foam that is injected isn't moisture permeable meaning that moisture is unable to escape through the wall.

 

To anyone thinking of getting cavity wall insulation, don't! There are much more effective ways of insulating your home. The government have jumped onto the green wagon with this one though and offer grants for something that generally creates more issues than it solves.

I hesitated about cavity wall insulation for the reason you've given here, plus the cavity is there for a purpose is it not. When you say there are more effective ways of insulating, what do you have in mind. Apart from loft insulation, double glazing and curtains what else?

[Robert_S]

I've hade the walls off my cottage cavity insulated, it made a difference and it was not a foam its like loose fibreglass.

[Woodworks]

That is unfortunately normally the case. You may get slightly better thermal properties in the wall, but the foam that is injected isn't moisture permeable meaning that moisture is unable to escape through the wall.

 

To anyone thinking of getting cavity wall insulation, don't! There are much more effective ways of insulating your home. The government have jumped onto the green wagon with this one though and offer grants for something that generally creates more issues than it solves.

 

Steady there Big J

 

I have heard of a few places that have had damp problems after cavity wall insulation but have seen and and visited many more that have been totally satisfactory. My in-laws had it done in their current house and it cut their gas bill dramatically and it is cheap in comparison with EWI or IWI and far less disruptive for the home owner. I would have thought most insulation systems for walls inhibit the movement of water.

[Steve999]

Thanks Big J. I've had a number of so called professionals around offering cavity insulation (should diminish now the subsidy has been removed). When asked about bridging the cavity and transferring damp to the inner leaf, and just as bad or even worse, damp to the joist ends ( we have suspended ground floor) he could offer nothing to satisfy my curiosity so I declined. Like you I'd prefer a colder house than a damp house, and once in the stuff would be very difficult to remove.

[mixedangased]

3 bed semi dont use the c/h cant stand it ,just cook on gas about 12 quid a quarter