General Chat

Patchem & DET

Thanks for your rational responses. There are in fact too many variables to be able provide a true comparison.
Just one example:
Last month I received an Annual Gas Summary from British Gas. It stated that my gas usage for 12 months was 17,553.57kw. And for the preceding 12 months it had been 21,412.04kw. Cooking is by gas, but most of that energy is heating.

1. I have made no changes to my house insulation for some years.
2. I am not certain that any 'lifestyle changes' that may have occurred could have had any major effect on gas consumption.
3. Last winter was generally much milder than the preceding one.

In my case, the thermostat is set at 16c - but it is located in the hall not the living room. Timer is set 05:30 - 23:00, but will probably be changed to 24hrs soon until end January.

Inky - lets assume that your room 'stat is set at 18c. If the CH is turned off overnight and the room temps drop to 5c, then the boiler is going to be firing up for longer than if the CH was set low at say 8c. Overnight radiant heat from the brickwork would probably have kept the temps close to that.

TBO if the house is warm during the day, it's an individual's choice whether to turn it off overnight. If the temps are set low all the time, it's probably better to leave it on 24 hours a day. Cold can be dangerous especially for the very young, elderly, ill or infirm.

A few years ago our boiler broke down and couldn't be repaired for 4 weeks. It took 3 days before the house felt warm.

Inky1

Looks like no-one can quote any sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/9831697/Jeff-Howell-can-keeping-the-heating-on-low-all-day-reduce-costs.html

Good thick lined curtains over all windows helps a lot especially if you don't have double glazing or central heating. I hate rads being fitted under windows as it means you can't use full length curtains and even sill length ones let heat from rad go behind the curtain. If you have an old house where the front door doesn't fit well a curtain helps keep draughts out. Using foil behind rads throws back heat into the room. I have interlined curtains in the past with domette, a sort of fluffy cotton fabric that you tack between curtain and lining, it's very effective. Now it's easier to make linings from thermal lining fabric that you can hook onto shopbought curtains. I think you can buy ready made thermal linings.

I love to be able to close thick curtains and shut winter out.
Lizxx

Mentioning insulation, or the lack of it, does not alter my question.

All normal homes (i.e. the sort that most of us live in - not the super insulated, modern ones) loose heat. Some loose it more quickly the others. And that heat loss is dependent on many factors - the amount of insulation being a main factor, but not the only one.

I think Shirley means Off at night,if you're house isnt insulated ie-walls and loft/attic it will quickly lose heat during a really cold night,,,,,if you have to start from a really cold house you tend to rack up the thermo to feel its benifit,,,,,but a gentle tick over is more cost effective......carpets can retain heat, where a wood floor doesnt, as dont a plain tiled floor.

All my rooms have heating and if one is on so are all the other rads but turn the bedroom down a tad so its more comfortable .and no cold draughts when you open a door.
Like Shirley we operate ours manually,we prefer it this way rather than set on the timer.

Sharron you could alway use the curtain as a wrap round to keep you toasty. ;-) :-D :-D

How can it cost more to turn the heating off at night?

I only have the upstairs radiator which I put on while I am in the bath and a convector heater which goes on when I feel cold enough to put it on.

They are rarely on if we are not in the room.

We were told it's false economy to not heat unused rooms as the house needs to be balanced . Similarly it costs more to turn the heating off at night as you them start with cold rooms that need a big boost to heat them up .

We have our heating on continuous .ie not in the clock settings , and when we go to bed we turn down the thermostat to a lowr level that won't kick in unless it's very icy cold . This way the house retains the heat we have paid for and ticks over so doesn't need a big burst of gas to heat up cold rooms :-)

I do have one of those radiators on wheels and that does all of the upstairs rooms, two bedrooms and the bathroom.

It really is not a cold house any more. It was in 1964 when we moved in and, even now, we are not perishing from the stairwell but I just resent heating it and I have a curtain rod, two in fact, going spare.

In the past you've said that you don't have any form of heating upstairs.

With the living room door now replaced, it must be cooler. If you add a curtain on the stairs which presumably runs off the hall, you could be scapping ice off the bedroom windows!

My sister's house is an Edwardian 'knock-through', with the stairs leading off the living/dining room. When she first moved in, there was a curtain at the bottom of the stairs, which she removed. She's now (after 20 years) going to replace it!

I have a bungalow and we have stairs that lead to our loft from our living room. The loft is boarded etc I might add so is like a room.
We were loosing lot of heat so I made a curtain which fits across the stairs a few steps down from the top so it can't be seen from the living area.
It is fitted to a conventional curtain rail so pulls right back when necessary.
It makes quite a difference to the warmth of the living area.
In my uncle's old farmhouse they had a door that covered the bottom of the stairwell that opened into the living area.
You could put your curtain over the front door which would help conserve some heat.
Really depends on which areas you need to heat.

We have a heavy curtain across the bottom of our stairs because the stairs are off the front room and the curtain makes a big difference.
I guess t'other half, who have halls with room off don't have the warmth going straight up the stairs.
I can't for the life of me imagine why some have the front and back knocked through with 'open plan' stairs in the middle of the room. It must cost a fortune to heat.
Get a curtain up Sharron, you'll be well snuggie. :-D

edit. We have yet to trip over ours. I'm not sure how that would be achieved.

Yes, I was wondering about the trip hazard but not sure if it would be .

Trip hazard? I know I would lol. also I suppose the heat rising does mean the bedrooms stay warmer without having to heat them .

There must be reasons against this that I have not thought of.

We had the door that opens from the front room to the front door and the stairs taken off when Fred was alive so that he could get to the washing (exploitation of the elderly).

Having recently had the door re-instated, we have noticed how much warmer the front room is now.

I now have a curtain and curtain rod doing nothing and have thought about having it put across the bottom of the stairs as I can see no reason to heat the stairwell. I am sure it would conserve even more energy.

There must be some very good reason not to or I would have seen curtains across stairwells wholesale.