Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Thrifty tips, ideas, news & experiences on anything around the home to shopping to re-cycling etc.
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Richard
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Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by Richard »

With these, for me, unjustified fuel increases, let's have a think tank for keeping warm this winter at an affordable amount.

I know some just go on the 'wear extra clothes' stance, but should we really have to do that, should we not be comfortable without having to do that?

It comes up every year but as it appears it's going to be harder than most years cost wise plus the weather forecasts are all doom and gloom.......

HOW CAN WE SAVE ENERGY AND MAINTAIN A COMFORT ZONE ??

Your ideas, tips and thoughts....

Richard
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p.penn
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by p.penn »

I'm afraid I think I have already tried all the usual things - like you say Richard extra clothes, keeping busy etc, and I have a hot shower when I am freezing, but I too am concerned as, despite paying cash for one of my tanks of oil last winter (no mean feat I may add - thank goodness I was pie making!) I have just had a bill showing I am already £400 in debt on my oil account {cry}

I look forward to any suggestions any of you may have!
Helen xx

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perchy
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by perchy »

Ooh look forward to getting some good tips >fi<
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Brianfromdorset
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by Brianfromdorset »

Good idea!
Ive no doubt all energy suppliers with follow with an 8% rise as soon as they can (whilst announcing record profits!)
A job for me this weekend is to seal around my 1980s aluminium patio doors.
They need replacing really but funds do not permit!
Theyre terribly inefficent being ali, its like sitting next to a open fridge!
Some other measures;
Draught excluder on the letter box
Bleed radiators (often overlooked)
Try to find out the optimum time to heat and vent the bungalow
Loft insulation on the reverse side of loft hatch door!

For starters!
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Brianfromdorset
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by Brianfromdorset »

Its a real battle though to find a way of keeping a house warmfor a reasonable cost.

I live in a bungalow and find it hard to heat being on one level.

I wouldn't recommend no heat though as damp will get a grip and the resulting problems may cost more to fix than the heating bill.
Not to mention the potential health problems.

There was a phone in on radio 2 last week titled "to heat or to eat"
Some callers were in awful situations.
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mrs boodles
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by mrs boodles »

I am afraid I am not the tough old bird that used to live on Dartmoor and think nothing of living in a house with no heating apart from aga and 1 coal fire. I need heat now so although I will be putting on some extra layers of clothes and trying to exclude as many draughts from the house as possible I will still use heating.

I read somewhere about putting tin foil behind radiators to reflect heat and also cling film on windows. I will be making some of those sausage type things for bottom of doors and also contemplating a curtain for the front door.

looking forward to some more tips from other members.
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by bmpsands »

We are trying to finish work on our new (very old) house and live on my pension as OH doesn't get his for another year. Fuel costs are scary.

We have a new boiler, which should be pretty efficient and the new roof is well insulated. On the downside we have open fields behind the house and living near the east coast it can get pretty raw. Last winter was horrible in many ways.

One of the things I try to do is plan. If I need to work in the kitchen area I do it on days when the oven is on for an evening meal - and the baking goes in at the same time.

I'm trying to work out the best way to use our woodburner. It seems to stay warm for so long that I ought to stop putting wood or coal on long before I do. The temperature in our kitchen/diner was still very cosy at 8pm one day last week but we'd been in the sitting room for two hours by then.

I don't put lights on when moving about the house at night - my night vision is still very good. What was noticeable was how many little red lights were on. These all indicate some piece of kit on standby. I wonder if turning them off would help?
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
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Mo
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by Mo »

bmpsands wrote:
What was noticeable was how many little red lights were on. These all indicate some piece of kit on standby. I wonder if turning them off would help?


Trouble is you can't turn the TV box off, or you lose all the programming.
And everything has a clock now, glowing away - I can see my neighbours kitchen gleaming in the dark with the light from her cooker.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by lancashire lass »

THESE are good draught excluders for fitting to inside doors (maybe not this particular one in the link but similar) Even when I had all the doors closed, the cold (not necessarily a draught) would drop down the stairs and seep under the door and my feet/legs were always cold until I got one of these.
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p.penn
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by p.penn »

I have a wild draught through my house, but have no idea where it comes from. I think some is from the hole in the outside wall which is a legal requirement for my oli heating. }hairout{ I could shut the lounge door, but then the rest of the house would be freezing despite the heating being on, which seems silly.

I do have sofa/chair snuggle blankets in the lounge
Helen xx

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fabindia
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by fabindia »

Ours is a 'between the wars', i.e. 1939, double-fronted detached house. Over the years, we have had double glazing put, insulated the loft, etc. We do need new front and back doors though, as these are old and drafty.

We used to have two open fires, which are fine when you have them blazing away but you lose heat up the chimney when they are not on. So we have replaced these with wood burning stoves, which are far more fuel efficient than an open fire and don't lose heat up the chimney when not on. So far this year, we have managed not to have the central heating on, as just light the fire in the sitting room, get it nice and toastie, and then open the door so some of the heat circulates throughout the house.

I do worry about when I retire in a few years time and money will be really tight. Mrs Fab hates the cold and comes from generations of mining families, who if often poor in some ways, never suffered fuel poverty as they always got free or heavily subsidised coal or coke. So she has been used to fires roaring up the chimney in the winter.
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by bmpsands »

We have a multi-fuel stove in the kitchen/family room and we love it. OH kept the open fire in one sitting room but has had a metal sliding panel made that fits across the top of the open bit from front to back. That stops a lot of draught. He then made a wooden insert, covered it with a carpet offcut and that fits in the face of the opening so that the whole thing looks neat. We did this in our previous house and it worked a treat.
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
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manda
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by manda »

I can't remember if you have them over in the UK now....I used to have central heating (ahh I remember those days )grin2( )....we have a woodburner in the lounge which is the only source of heat in the house...so we fitted a heat exchange system which takes the warm air sitting in the ceiling and transfers it down to the bedrooms.
It doesn't make them hot but if does take the chill off the rooms...and it was pretty cheap to fit and we jus paid an electrician to wire it up (you have to here as everything has to be certified).

Large blankets...we sit in them at night. Means we don't have to put as much fuel on the fire...to feel toasty warm.

Curtains over doors

Close curtains before the heat goes off the sun in the afternoons and store what heat is in the house.

During the day if the outside temp is more than in the house (it often is here!!) open windows and let some of that heat into the house.

Dehumidifier...we found if we ran one of those through the day for a wee while the heating worked more efficiently so offset the course of running the dehumidifier.

Rugs....we've got them in areas we are going to be in more as they add extra insulation.

A Canlde in the evening in a small room...funnily enough can change the temp...or maybe it's just my imagination :?

Sometimes though we find even with that it's extra warm socks...PJ's to bed...electric blanket.

Might try and be frugal but the bottom line is I can't stand being cold.


Forgot to add....
Underfloor insulation if you can.
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(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda

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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by jannie »

Manda you are right about dehumidifiers making heating more efficient. )t'
I was once told by a heating engineer that if the air is drier you don't need the thermostat as high to keep warm. Since water is able to carry more heat energy than air (air is a good thermal insulator) then wet air can carry more heat energy away from the skin than dry air...more energy lost means a temperature drop and the skin reports it is cold.
With this in mind it is not a good idea to dry washing around the radiators in your living rooms.. better to put it them in a bathroom with the door closed and window open.

We have bought dehumidifiers for all our properties and the heating bills have been reduced in each of them. There is also the added bonus of no condensation problems and happy tenants. )t'
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lancashire lass
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Re: Winter Home Energy - Tightening up but keeping warm

Post by lancashire lass »

manda wrote:A Candle in the evening in a small room...funnily enough can change the temp...or maybe it's just my imagination


I think it depends on the ambient temperature - in my other house, the old gas fire before I replaced it had a pilot light and despite being a small flame, it added several degrees to the living room during a summer heatwave whereas in winter had no effect.

On the same theme, during this time of year (sliding from summer into autumn) my house can feel toasty warm especially early morning despite not having any heating on whatsoever ... and then I realise that I'm probably benefitting from my neighbour's heat coming through the walls especially from their open fire. However, when winter sets in proper, then that doesn't seem to make any difference.
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