Soldato
- Joined
- 18 May 2010
- Posts
- 12,929
Managed to drop with Bulb from £167pm to £145, kind of regret it now though and might put it back up to keep this winters bills a bit lower
Combating energy prices
- Thread starter Dirk Diggler
- Start date
I mainly just fit baxi 600 open therm boilers with any open therm thermostat. if you turn down the thermostat on your boiler based on the weather outside and up if its snowing you'll not see much of a difference but a huge amount of the population just dont. The open therm is a fix for that as well as not over heating your home like an ON OFF thermostat will.so turning down your boiler temp and leaving it on thermostat at 25c ?? would be nearly the same thing ?i know not quiet .. but that's the way I've done it for yrs ..may look into this as boiler is 10+ yrs old it's a Worchester and slightly over-sized for the house.. got any links plz ?
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Making a start on my attic, got 300+mm of Earthwool in the sides tapering down to 100mm or so right at the eaves, but there is the storage bit in the middle where its been partially boarded where 100mm of wool has been compressed down, so replacing this with 100mm of celotex and finish off the bits that haven't been boarded at the ends to give a bit more storage. Probably do it in a few goes as it is really cramped up there, but have done the bits around the opening to start.
Considering insulating my extension more… it’s a 1930s house with a year 2000 extension. There’s no radiator but it’s open plan so takes the heat from the kitchen and sitting room. This area Usually sits 1-1.5c cooler than elsewhere. I’m just getting concerned about the energy cost rise over winter and would like to do what I can to save money. I’ve already done the loft when we moved in with 200mm top up where it isn’t boarded in the centre, all lights are LED, we got new windows at the front and I went around foaming around them afterwards to make sure they were tight. New front door as the old one was shot.
Anyway in the extension.
In spring when we had the storms I resealed around the double glazed window and found that it wasn’t foamed in at all, only fixed. I used some adhesive expanding foam and resealed as a quick fix.
I had the window board off internally and when the wind was gusting could feel a draft from the gap between the wall and plasterboard. There are two vents on the pitched roof quite high up but I guess it also gets air in from under the gutter, and the boards are just dot and dabbed, not fully across the width of the board so air can go down.
The light fitting we would like to move, so I took it off today and had a peek in the cavity. There was about a 50mm gap between the rear of the plasterboard and the insulation which looks like a roll out type material, perhaps 100mm thick (guess from poking it), but it’s not packed between the joists as if you tap the ceiling it sounds hollow.
To fix I would have to make at least two holes in the ceiling, cut a hole through then go up and cut along the joist and across to make it tidy then a new board could be screwed up.
I guess the best fix is to remove all existing insulation, roll out new 100mm between joists and then go perpendicular with the existing stuff over the top, or add 200mm on top. Possibly foam the plasterboard at the top of it’s obvious air is getting down between the wall and the plasterboard. The light fitting could be moved at the same time, just a junction box and extend the wiring…
Anyway in the extension.
In spring when we had the storms I resealed around the double glazed window and found that it wasn’t foamed in at all, only fixed. I used some adhesive expanding foam and resealed as a quick fix.
I had the window board off internally and when the wind was gusting could feel a draft from the gap between the wall and plasterboard. There are two vents on the pitched roof quite high up but I guess it also gets air in from under the gutter, and the boards are just dot and dabbed, not fully across the width of the board so air can go down.
The light fitting we would like to move, so I took it off today and had a peek in the cavity. There was about a 50mm gap between the rear of the plasterboard and the insulation which looks like a roll out type material, perhaps 100mm thick (guess from poking it), but it’s not packed between the joists as if you tap the ceiling it sounds hollow.
To fix I would have to make at least two holes in the ceiling, cut a hole through then go up and cut along the joist and across to make it tidy then a new board could be screwed up.
I guess the best fix is to remove all existing insulation, roll out new 100mm between joists and then go perpendicular with the existing stuff over the top, or add 200mm on top. Possibly foam the plasterboard at the top of it’s obvious air is getting down between the wall and the plasterboard. The light fitting could be moved at the same time, just a junction box and extend the wiring…
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Would always recommend celotex type stuff over roll out wool. Think it's 3x more insulating/efficient (not sure what the right word is here) could fit that in the gap you have and then leave what youve got in place. Just wondering if the gap you have is for ensuring the joists are ventilated in a cold roof setup?
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 May 2011
- Posts
- 12,521
- Location
- Woking
Can I ask what kit you actually installed on the boiler? I have a Vailant and really want to add weather comp to it, but Vailant’s £300+ kit doesn’t make it appealing.
Lower flow temp and lower flow rate = lower energy consumption.
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 3,755
it’s the 370f for the main zone and a 50f for a underfloor heating zone, I can’t remember the main wiring centre model it’s the one that supports a mixer valve for the underfloor heating zone so it can adjust to a lower flow temp than the radaitor circuit that covers the rest of the house.
We were replacing the whole system so the cost to get the Vailliant controls over a normal set wasn’t a huge amount more think it was around £120 extra.
None of mine are foamed in, only overlapped with the external render which still shows daylight in places. Cavities aren't closed in the window recesses either, just wood nailed over. How did you use the expanding adhesive foam? I guess you had to remove the window to install it?
This might give you a pointer for what can be done https://readinguk.org/draughtbusters/basic-techniques/walls-and-windows/
the external sealant had failed so I removed it all with a knife. Masked the window frame and sprayed foam into the void between the fixings and the masonry to take up the gap. Otherwise I just had cold air blowing around the frame almost into the house.
If this was right or wrong I don’t know. When they installed new windows at the front they foamed in this manner, but I probably added the same amount again as I felt they scrimped a bit with it; where I put too much in I just cut it back with a knife. I had read about under the frame, difficult one to access if it’s a tight fit.
If this was right or wrong I don’t know. When they installed new windows at the front they foamed in this manner, but I probably added the same amount again as I felt they scrimped a bit with it; where I put too much in I just cut it back with a knife. I had read about under the frame, difficult one to access if it’s a tight fit.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 7 Apr 2008
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- 26,477
- Location
- Lorville - Hurston
The best sound way to tackle energy crisis is to see if you can install some solar panels. At least during spring and summer and early autumn, you get benefits of saving a lot of energy
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
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- 17,126
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- Shepley
This is the room I mentioned previously. It was a garage that was converted at some point. I'm assuming potentially during the 80s when the house itself was converted from a derelict brewery. The "conversion" was pretty light touch given it's barely warmer than outside temperatures in there at any given time.
It's currently not in use other than housing our chinchillas and being a makeshift workshop at the moment, so I've got time to play with to improve it. My initial thoughts were to batten the walls and install 50mm Celotex followed by plasterboard, then get someone to come in and actually do the plastering. I've never done anything like that so would be a reasonable project but reckon it's doable if I take my time.
I would lose a bit of extra width in the room but I'm tempted to fit the battens so the walls are level rather than leaving the pillars supporting the roof beams sticking out as they are currently. This might take a bit of thinking through though.
It's currently not in use other than housing our chinchillas and being a makeshift workshop at the moment, so I've got time to play with to improve it. My initial thoughts were to batten the walls and install 50mm Celotex followed by plasterboard, then get someone to come in and actually do the plastering. I've never done anything like that so would be a reasonable project but reckon it's doable if I take my time.
I would lose a bit of extra width in the room but I'm tempted to fit the battens so the walls are level rather than leaving the pillars supporting the roof beams sticking out as they are currently. This might take a bit of thinking through though.
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The biggest improvement will be only boiling what you need.
Gas hob efficiency is pretty low due to wasted heat around the sides / edges. Kettles are basically 100% efficient as element is sitting in the water.
If your gas heats your water, is it more efficient to put hot water in your electric kettle, so the kettle boils faster (using less electric?)
It will not be if your tap is a long way from your tank or boiler, you’ll end up wasting way more than you use. Particularly a combi that has to fire up and heat up before the water gets warm consuming loads of gas.
The same applies to gas hobs, a huge amount of heat is lost around the pan, that said in winter that is going into your house so it’s not ‘lost’ and would offset your heating.
A lot of electric kettles will boil a tiny amount of water these days.
As other have said, the best thing you can do is only boil what you need/the minimum amount. That makes by far the biggest difference.
The same applies to gas hobs, a huge amount of heat is lost around the pan, that said in winter that is going into your house so it’s not ‘lost’ and would offset your heating.
A lot of electric kettles will boil a tiny amount of water these days.
As other have said, the best thing you can do is only boil what you need/the minimum amount. That makes by far the biggest difference.
We do only boil what we need currently but its more a timing thing, 3 different morning and afternoon schedules trying to align the cuppa timing sounds like its probably going to be the best solution. Although my sister in law (who works from our house as my wife and her are childminders) is very clueless as to the cost of these things and has much less care for what gets used in our house. TV's left on, kettle boiled adhoc, lights left on, microwave used, etc, etc.
Add to the mix a teenage daughter and you can imagine me and my wife spend a lot of time turning stuff off behind others!!!
We only flipped on to the standard tariff yesterday and managed to get through the day on £3, not that cost is an issue, its just an exercise in being as efficient as possible. Come winter im dreading the added cost of heating!
You're talking pennies though, the best thing to do is to target all of the constant low-draw devices instead e.g. Sky STB, NAS, leaving phone chargers in the wall, high-energy bulbs
Thanks those look helpful. Wish they did the same for expanding foam guns - I've been using fish tank hose + jubilee clips to seal overhead in the eaves, but the small diameter hose adds friction and the foam doesn't work if it's too long.
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- 6 Jan 2013
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- Rollergirl
Boiling 1/4 kettle instead of 3/4 kettle would save much more than switching off a standby LED and a phone charger draws zero when it's plugged into the wall with no phone connected.