J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Just been wondering why I spend a fortune on gas yet the house is never that warm, have (mainly) double glazing, cavity wall insulation and the loft is insulated but was after tips of anything you have done that has made any difference.

I put the curtain back up at the front door tonight, the kids were arsing about earlier in the year and pulled the rawplugs out of the wall, I noticed whilst i was doign it the howling gale coming through the keyhole, going to get a cover for it and put some insulation strip round the lock areas as there was cold coming in, will do the same at the back door.

House is 1930's detached and I am dreading the next Gas bill based on the ammount its been on and the proposed rises.

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

You probably already know this, but you can get someone round for about £200-£250 with a thermal imaging camera. What you do is turn your heating on full a while before they are due and they'll tell you exactly where your losing heat.

Aaron

what would scooby do

I've bought a hat

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Funnily enough so have I, my auntie and uncle got me a nice "Bench" Scarf and Hat set and I am quite taken with it despite me not being into labels on things, I think it lends me an air of menace, like a typical Scooby driver.

what would scooby do

Oof, just bought a bench fleece to go with me hat.

I'm officially no longer Northern.

Christ, I'll probably be turning up the central heating to 20 degrees next

jonc

Have a look outside, if you're roof is nice and clear of snow while others are covered, that might give you a clue. Loft insulation should have a depth of at least 1ft. Most heat is lost through the roof. Also check for draughts around windows and external doors. Wooden floors should be laid on top of thermal underlay. Alternatively wear more clothes!

MMT WRX

Did I notice big **** off crack in your front bay last time I was passing?
Do you have a cellar?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Biggest differnce for me in recent years was desludging the radiators and replacing all the crappy old TRVs for Honeywell VT200s. (already had loft insulation, cavities filled, PVC windows etc).

Even though the system had been "power flushed" a few years back I was very suspect; mainly because most of the system is 15mm pipe with 10mm mircobore tails to each rad; there is no way a "power fush" would flow enough water to remove said debris (and most would just clog in the valves anyway). None of the old TRVs worked properly either (stuck, leaked or simply didn't regulate temperature).

So I removed every radiator, replaced the valves (some were blocked), and removed the end caps from the top of the rads and flushed with the hosepipie in every possible direction, giving each a good shake and slosh around until the water ran out clear.

Worst rads were the lounge, kitchen and hall. Thermosat is in the hall (digital), so obviously that rad not working 100% meant I used more gas needlessly heating other rooms instead of the hallway.

Then I spent alot of time getting the system properly balanced; I found the upstairs rads in the spare bedrooms and bathroom were getting priority to the coldest rooms downstairs (kitchen and dining room), so did lots of valve tweeking so all the rooms had equal priority of hot water flow. A laser thermometer is very handy for this.

The other big improvement was replacing all the hinges on our PVC windows; the hinges had worn so the windows failed to seal tightly in the jamb. Cost was about £10 a window (local repair man).

Thermostat is set at nice and cosy 18.5degrees in the hall, which is about 22degrees in the lounge and 21 degrees in the bedrooms - perfect. And its -5 outside. Overnight, the house has never dropped below 15degrees in the hallway, so a 3.5 degree drop over seven hours (period when the heating is off 12:00 to 7:30am) is pretty good for a 45year old house IMO.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Ali, thats very useful, suspect all ours are sludged up, had a couple replaced and they are definitely better, rads dont tend to be that expensive really if you go for standard ones, trouble is the bays have big curved ones, wont be doing those in a hurry !

If nothign else it avoids having to paint the *******.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

There is a crack int he bay, last time you were passing, did I post that in a thread ?

Confused!

Doubt it casues much draught thought.

Leslie

Perhap's you should rush outside again J4CKO and do another naked dick dance to make yourself feel better.

Les

john_s

iTrader: (1)

Did the dance involve bending over? Perhaps that explains passers by seeing a fecking big crack!

tony de wonderful

Any open air bricks?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Cant get that image out of your head now can you !

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Don't worry J4CKO, it's not just your house. My central heating is ******* pathetic. Costs me around £20 a week in gas alone and during winter I need to wear 3 layers and a wooly hat inside. Why? House is 1910 mid terraced, solid walls but with PVC windows/doors and this year had loft insulation fitted professionally. It's got to be the rads and boiler, as the thermostat can be set at 30 degrees and the house inside will be about 10-15 MAX

So as I haven't the moolah for a nice full spanking new combi boiler system, I'm gradually sourcing bargains. I've got me 5 new convector radiators, 3 of which are doubles. These will go in the living room (front of two reception rooms), and the two bigger bedrooms. The bathroom will have a nice single one and the back bedroom a single too. The rads were uber power flushed about 20 months ago and are probably still full of crap. They get warm at the bottoms and slightly at the top without air lock and give off very little heat. So they are definitely going.

Next year when I have the money I'll get a new boiler as a direct replacement for the one I have now, but a big powerful bastard ( ) which can heat the house at 60% power but be economical at the same time. I happen to know a fully qualified Corgi registered British Gas engineer who will come and simply rip off my old rads & boiler and replace them with the sourced items (also have 5 sets of TRV's sourced as a bargain a year ago ready to go on), also fit me a new thermostat and give the system a good flushing.

If the house doesn't see a SIGNIFICANT improvement after this, then I will simply burn the cnuting thing down and **** off elsewhere in a warmer house

Hopefully the above will make said significant difference (for a lot less than a brand new from scratch system) so I'll be able to have the heating on all day around 15 degrees, rather than just 1 1/2 hours in the morning and 4 hours at night. Thats all I get for about £20 a week AND I am on a decent enough tariff after checking my unit costs out. My current heating is just than uneconomical

Rant over - good luck J4CKO

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Bet you are warmer already after that

Leslie

Its the sort of thing that can stick in one's mind I have to admit. Strictly from curiosity of what is the state of mind of someone who feels the need to do that!

Les

dpb

This place has full width dg window in front bedroom and full depth dg window in lounge , in fact im not sure they could have made the windows any larger around the house if they tried

Great for letting the light in , but

urban

iTrader: (1)

WTF?

urban

iTrader: (1)

Now - you say your loft is insulated.
Is the trap door secured and insulated too, as I find that can make a noticable difference.

Also window frames - check the silicone at the edges.

j4ckos mate

i reckon its the kids leaving doors open,

what about getting one of those spring clip things on the front and back door.,


i know what ours are like, they always leave the porch door open,
sam gets changed into a pair of football shorts and thats it then says he is cold.


get them all big heavy fleeces, and slippers and make sure they wear them,

keep each and every door fully shut,

my heating is on 6-30 till 9 and then 3-30 till 9.30pm,

with occaisonal use of the fire in the front room.

being a older style detached i expect you are fighting a loosing battle though

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I thought my measures had worked, no, the wife had cranked the boiler up to 11

I suspect the extra draughtproofing has helped a bit as there was a constant stream of cold air coming through the keyholes and where the existing draught excluded was cut out for the locks, putting the curtain back up has helped as well.

Kids arent too bad at leaving the door open as to be honest they arent out much, letting the dog in and out as is his whim cant help much though.

Will probably get some more loft insulation as its not that thick in places.

The kids dont really moan if its cold, its the wife that feels the cold the most, women seem to be terrified of not being on the verge of passing out from the heat.

MMT WRX

Sorry I forgot I posted that. Yea you did put a thread up once about it.

I reckon Ali is on the mark with his suggestions regarding flushing the rads. The system in my current house is all brand new and works a treat. On one of my old houses it had microbore tube feeding the rads, I ended up taking all the rads off and flushing them through with a hose pipe. The thick black slurry that came out was unbelievable. Worked loads better afterwards.

paulr

Do loads of overtime in the winter, and have time off in the summer.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Don't have overtime.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

You know what really peeves me off?

Free papers and flyers left half way though the letter box which defeats the point of my insulated letter box flap

Nothing like having a stupid 14yr old kid advertise your house is empty by half stuffing a free paper in the letter box. NOt only that, it lets the heat out and switches the heating on prematurely as the thermostat is in the hall. And if it rains? The paper acts as a water chute catching rainwater and diverting it on to my carpet.

Next time it happens I think I'll send the Editor my heating bill.