Central Heating

[spanner570]

Chris, don't mention 'Creatures' to me!

Our old oil boiler packed up (Black smoke coming from the flue pipe) a while back.
Thinking it knackered, I disconnected it and dragged it out into the yard.....
Only to spot a little foot sticking out of the air inlet fan! A mouse had got in the fan and have been minced up when I switched the boiler on. thus totally blocking the air intake which caused the black smoke.
I cleaned up the fan housing, and after dragging the boiler back into the garage and re-connecting the thing, it fired up first time!

So, I feel your pain (Sting)!

[Ian M]

Heating has been on since late September. Runs from 0700 to 0900 and then from 1800 to 2200. Now retimed in the afternoon to 1600 to 2200 and will add in a spell at 1200 to 1400 when it gets really cold. Need the heat with the RA, unfortunately, because I get stiff very quickly in cold conditions. Won’t go off now until April. Unused rooms don’t get heated though, unless we have guests, and the wireless thermostat gets kept in whichever room I’m spending the most time so it is most effective. Best saving I’ve made is splitting the hot water off and timing it different to the heating :thumb2:

Would it not be better to have it on continually but at a lower temp. It normally costs less to keep a building warm than it does to keep warming it up all the time. having said that we have yet to turn the heating on in the "main house" the price of electic is still stupid at the moment. So watching that. I swear that the meter whizzing round could heat the house at times.

We light the wood burner in the afternoon and sometimes befor if really cold. Minus 2c today, the first real cold of the season.
Firewood costs a fortune as well these days though. HAve a bit left in the shed but not that much.
Looking forward to next year. New Roof and Solar panels on and a battery ! It wont kill the leccy bill all year. Summer yes but it will only reduce it in the winter..
IF we can really get the bill down we might put the Central heating back in the main part of the house. Well down stairs at least. Not a fan of heated bedrooms.

[Mark1]

Thinking it might be cheaper to run my electric off a diesel generator at the moment! Living in a flat i would have to put it in the bathroom,not sure that would work out to well lol. Got a plug in radiator in the living room and a heated blanket for the bed,best £25 ive ever spent, just cant commit to firing up the storage heaters yet even if i have just managed to blag a healthy payrise at work:tongue-out3:

[Tim Marlow]

Would it not be better to have it on continually but at a lower temp. It normally costs less to keep a building warm than it does to keep warming it up all the time. having said that we have yet to turn the heating on in the "main house" the price of electic is still stupid at the moment. So watching that. I swear that the meter whizzing round could heat the house at times.

We light the wood burner in the afternoon and sometimes befor if really cold. Minus 2c today, the first real cold of the season.
Firewood costs a fortune as well these days though. HAve a bit left in the shed but not that much.
Looking forward to next year. New Roof and Solar panels on and a battery ! It wont kill the leccy bill all year. Summer yes but it will only reduce it in the winter..
IF we can really get the bill down we might put the Central heating back in the main part of the house. Well down stairs at least. Not a fan of heated bedrooms.

Doesn’t really work like that for us. I’ve tried it and it just burns more oil for no real benefit. We have poorly insulated solid stone walls and solid floors, and an unheated ground floor room, so trickle heating at a lower temp just means the cold spots stay cold. During the day we are quite busy on household chores or out and about, so it seems pointless to heat the house when we aren’t there.

[Ian M]

Doesn’t really work like that for us. I’ve tried it and it just burns more oil for no real benefit. We have poorly insulated solid stone walls and solid floors, and an unheated ground floor room, so trickle heating at a lower temp just means the cold spots stay cold. During the day we are quite busy on household chores or out and about, so it seems pointless to heat the house when we aren’t there.

A valid point. I thought you where also retired lol. I'm home and the good lady works from home (hence the heating in the annex/"office wing" lol

[peterairfix]

I am quite lucky when it comes to heating in January the council kindly got rid of the night storage heaters and replaced it with and entirely new air source heating we had a week of mess and noise but it was worth it because it also does the hot water instead of heating the water for a couple of hours each day it just heats up once a week thanks to a 200 litre tank.

[colin m]

I am quite lucky when it comes to heating in January the council kindly got rid of the night storage heaters and replaced it with and entirely new air source heating we had a week of mess and noise but it was worth it because it also does the hot water instead of heating the water for a couple of hours each day it just heats up once a week thanks to a 200 litre tank.

These air source things are quite interesting, how is it with the electricity consumption ? I've heard sometimes, they can be a bit heavy on the 'lecky'

[peterairfix]

These air source things are quite interesting, how is it with the electricity consumption ? I've heard sometimes, they can be a bit heavy on the 'lecky'

Being an up to date system it very low as we have a smart meter as well its less than a pound a day as its on constantly the radiators don't pump out much heat but it takes about a week to get up to temperature when it put on.

[Tim Marlow]

A valid point. I thought you where also retired lol. I'm home and the good lady works from home (hence the heating in the annex/"office wing" lol

I am retired Ian. I just took it a few years early so try to keep active while I can. Her indoors makes sure of that :tongue-out3: On the days I don’t go anywhere I just turn the heating on if needed……

[dave]

Heating has been on a month, as is common in Belgium we have a communal system for the block. But our radiators are still on low, we are pretty well insulated and get good solar gain if the sun comes out.
problem with air source heat pumps is the efficiency drops as it gets colder outside, ground source heat pumps are better in this regard as the soil temperature at the depth needed doesnt vary as much.

[AlanG]

Heating and wood burner been on today. We had 10cm of snow yesterday/last night. Also the main road between our two local villages was blocked and impassable for about 6 hours. All the schools were also shut. Oh the joys of home schooling lol

We're expecting more snow tonight as well.

[stillp]

problem with air source heat pumps is the efficiency drops as it gets colder outside, ground source heat pumps are better in this regard as the soil temperature at the depth needed doesnt vary as much.

I have a friend in the Borders with ground source heat pumps who tells me the input temperature (ground temperature) has dropped by 3 degrees in 5 years, so it's getting less efficient every year. Something to do with the local ground conditions I think.
Pete

[Ian M]

These air source things are quite interesting, how is it with the electricity consumption ? I've heard sometimes, they can be a bit heavy on the 'lecky'

When we changed from oil to Air source heating our electricity bill did go up a bit but we where still paying a lot less than we used on oil.
If you are considering one, go for one of the German or Scandinavian makes. We have a Swedish brand which should still work down to -20c to -25c !
It will pay dividends if you sort Insulation and draft-proofing first.

[Guest]

Seems very cold this morning here in South Lincolnshire. Once up I'll be in the cave in the warm .

[boatman]

Seems very cold this morning here in South Lincolnshire. Once up I'll be in the cave in the warm .

VERY senceible mr J/R at race towers an i'll be doin the same in the bullock man cave working on the tiger lol
chrisb