Cheap heating options

Lord_Azrael · Cheap heating options

Just a thought, what are the cheapest ways of heating the house?

I have an open fire, which is OK if you can get loads of free wood, which I can't and coal and wood prices are very high now.
I also have a calor gas fire, and gas has shot up recently.

I was wondering how everyone else managed?

IainC

An open fire is one of the fastest ways to LOSE heat from your house. With the glass in our fire front being damaged we noticed a HUGE difference, even with the fire on. The whole house felt a lot colder straight away.

Couple of years back we put that fire front on, basically lets you turn an open fire into a closed one. Gives you a lot more control over the fire and stops all the heat going straight up the chimney.

I reckon that by having the closed fire we have saved the cost of buying and installing it already. We're lucky though in that we are able to get wood easily via my dad (from time to time).

Bear in mind we used to use the open fire before we had the fire front fitted, but I reckon in the last year alone we've saved ~ £700-800 in oil costs.

Martin

I'd agree, a woodburning stove will knock spots off an open fire for efficiency every time (by miles). If I had the same choices as LA, I'd probably opt for a woodburner. Essentially, space heating IS expensive, unless you've got a source of something like free wood

Thought it worth mentioning - just come across the latest "green con" - "ethanol burners". These are essentially a steel box, with a brick in them, being sold as a safe and green heat source (there are several on offer on THAT dodgy "auction" site, at prices from £300 to nearly £2k). Words of one syllable - they are a con! Ethanol is NOT a green fuel to start with, the inputs are greater than the energy contained therein, the fuel is colossally expensive (somewhere in the £3-£4 litre region), is dangerous (it's essentially high octane motor fuel)......... The adverts suggest that you can use them without a flue, which has got to be dangerous........ From my calculations it would be loads cheaper and safer to use an electric fire
by a factor of several TIMES...........

lachlanandmarcus

We are lucky in that we are renovating a house from 4 walls up, so are installing 3 woodburners and an Aga/Rayburn. Two of them are in the cottage renovation part we are just completing (the rest in the barn/steading conversion still to do).

So altho we have oil central heating (underfloor downstairs, rads upstairs) installed, we have an esse ironheart cooker/woodburner downstairs too with a back boiler which is connected into the hot water system and thru the heating system. Plus another normal woodburner in the other living room downstairs. And the house has been super insulated cos of the building regs that apply these days.

The house is really hot inside as the man is coming to fit the thermostats on Friday so its on max all the time til then! But even so the snow didnt melt off the roof at all, so I think it is v well insulated.

So I am hoping that I wont use very much oil once I can turn the heating down! and my lovely Esse plus the insulation should do most of it!

IainC

JamesB · passiv solar

well i thought i mention this but i realise its not an option for a lot of people.
The cheapest way to heat a house is passiv solar. You need to have large south facing windows, triple glazing, airtight structure, heat recovery ventilation, super insualtion (double the current uk building spec).

We have noticed that on sunny days such as yesterday, the sun is actually better at the heating the house than the stove! (and its heats the whole house) We still use the stove in the evening for a few hours to make it really cosy ie 20C but even without the stove then its still ok.

Obviously not every day is sunny (although aberdeenshire is one of the sunniest regions in scotland!) and we have been surprised how many days of passiv solar gain we get. when its not sunny we use a high performance stove The key to using wood efficiently is burning dry seasoned timber, even if its stored dry outside, its best to store inside for a few days if possible to remove as much moisture as possible. I keep thinking about getting a moisture meter to see how dry it really is.

James

Martin

Absolutely right James - what we can do is to try to aim in the passivhaus direction - before heating the house, work out ways to minimise the heat losses.
The grants systems for renewables are usually farcical (it ends up costing considerably more for a "grantable" scheme), but there are several grants available for home insulation which are well worth having. Word is that the schemes to upgrade/change boilers are going the same way as renewables grants - be VERY careful, there are several dodgy companies who will demand loads of money over and above the grant award, you should be able to get it done for the price of the award.........

IainC

Problem we have with out house is that you could whack in as much insulation as possible, but you'd still have solid external walls... you'd very nearly need to completely re-line the insides to insulate it enough.

And that's before having to change the "cheap" double glazing that someone put in (which still seems to condensate on the inside).

lachlanandmarcus · Re: passiv solar

Lord_Azrael

Thanks for all the info. Unfortuantely I'm fairly limited by the fact my cottage is rented and, primarily, by lack of money.
Being an old stone built cottage it has very thick stone walls, a tin roof, and no easy loft access to put insulation in. The windows are also old sash ones that I'm slowly repairing.

I have got the back boiler on the fire, which is a big advantage, and an electrical immersion back-up for water.

If I was financially fortunate I'd love to stick in a huge turbine, solar water heating and stick my fingers up at the electric board!

However, the lottery numbers just aren't the right ones yet.......

My parents are in the cottage next door and have exactly the same setup, but as my Mum reaches 60 in Jan, I was told by a chap promoting energy conservation at RAF Kinloss a while back that she would be able to claim to have some free work done to insulate and update heating. Does anyone have first hand knowledge of this at all?

I don't see the landlord minding, any free improvement is a benefit, and the chap did say that it was OK for a rented property too.
Thoughts?

baldowrie

Yes once she reaches 60 she can contact care and repair services at the council for help with repairs, also if she is on certain benefits she can now.

In Scotland once she becomes 60 she can also have her heating sorted, or reinstalled. In England anyone on certain benefits can have that service . It is unfair in Scotland because I know a chap living on £5000 a year and can no help with his no existing heating at all because he lives in Scotland and is not 60!

JamesB

sounds a good idea. I just thought I'd point that im not suggesting solar water or turbines, the plan is to not use the energy in the first place. I appreciate its really hard in rented properties, a friend staying in a rented cottage decided it was still worth getting the loft insulated even if he had to pay some of it. It did make a difference.

Another few tips,
1) when not using the fireplace, fill a binbag with newspaper and stuff up the chimney to reduce drafts.
2) draft proof doors and windows as much as possible. Ive actually taped up the windows at work for the winter since they are so drafty!
3) lag the got water tank if not done already. worse happens, you can take the insulation with you!
4) go round the house with a candle or insense stick to detect the worse drafts

IainC

Cheap heating options

passiv solar

Re: passiv solar