The energy crisis

[Chrysalis]

I know my house was pre WW1. So yes very old.

Insulation wise its horrid, grade F on certificate, single glazed wooden framed windows, and no wall insulation.

Like Chris said, people make assumptions that every home is equal when they talk about types of heating and heating costs, those all go out the window in my home (along with the heat).

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I know my house was pre WW1. So yes very old.

Insulation wise its horrid, grade F on certificate, single glazed wooden framed windows, and no wall insulation.

Like Chris said, people make assumptions that every home is equal when they talk about types of heating and heating costs, those all go out the window in my home (along with the heat).

Edwardian terrace with high ceilings, cast iron guttering, damp and dry rot you'll find one day? On Homes under the Hammer, they'd say you have a home with period features and character. They never mention they are freaking freezing.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Kursk

Edwardian terrace with high ceilings, cast iron guttering, damp and dry rot you'll find one day? On Homes under the Hammer, they'd say you have a home with period features and character. They never mention they are freaking freezing.

When I came back from a weekend away during cold spell early December my room temp was 3C, I felt a gust of cold air walking in to the property.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

When I came back from a weekend away during cold spell early December my room temp was 3C, I felt a gust of cold air walking in to the property.

I know that feeling . I moved.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

When I came back from a weekend away during cold spell early December my room temp was 3C, I felt a gust of cold air walking in to the property.

I highly recommend getting a smart thermostat fitted, you may be able to do it yourself.

I have the basic setup of a Tado which just replaces the thermostat in my hall, this lets me turn the heating off and on when away from home, so when i went away at Christmas for a week it was set to away mode which is basically off until the house temp drops lower than 10c and before a 3hr drive home i switched the heating on from Wales.

I fear you will get burst pipes if you let your house get that cold!!!

Yeah, my hive has a "frost" setting, so if the temperature falls below a certain level, the heating will trigger, even if its turned off.

[ I can also control it remotely, via the App, Web or Alexa ]

[GrimUpNorth]

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

I highly recommend getting a smart thermostat fitted, you may be able to do it yourself.

I have the basic setup of a Tado which just replaces the thermostat in my hall, this lets me turn the heating off and on when away from home, so when i went away at Christmas for a week it was set to away mode which is basically off until the house temp drops lower than 10c and before a 3hr drive home i switched the heating on from Wales.

I fear you will get burst pipes if you let your house get that cold!!!

Originally Posted by Paul

Yeah, my hive has a "frost" setting, so if the temperature falls below a certain level, the heating will trigger, even if its turned off.

[ I can also control it remotely, via the App, Web or Alexa ]

When I was selling my late mum's house, the insurance we got to cover it while it was empty required the heating to be set to 10c.

[Ms NTL]

Yesterday's lecky prices, free 0p per unit during some of the night, Tonite they will probably be negative. What can we turn on to make money? Isn't it crazy?
Too much wind at the north sea...

[ianch99]

Has anyone switched to an Air Source Heat Pump (from a Gas boiler) and if so, what can they advise in terms of lessons learnt, pros & cons, etc?

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Has anyone switched to an Air Source Heat Pump (from a Gas boiler) and if so, what can they advise in terms of lessons learnt, pros & cons, etc?

We certainly haven’t. What happens when you go awy for 2 weeks in January? Temperature outside is sub-zero. House cools down to not much above zero; temperature outside rises to the same. There is no heat to transfer into the home.

I believe this is frustrating technology - you’d need a backup heat source- like the one you’ve just switched from.

Like EVs, we’re not there yet., imo.

Originally Posted by ianch99

Has anyone switched to an Air Source Heat Pump (from a Gas boiler) and if so, what can they advise in terms of lessons learnt, pros & cons, etc?

I did extensive research into heat pumps before eventually installing a wood pellet biomass system because the heat loss at my old house was awful and remedying it was non-trivial due to its construction. At the time I was looking at ground source with a borehole and sealed loop collectors due to lack of available land for trenched ground loop collectors and the relatively poor efficiency of air source heat pumps at the time.

However, that was 15 years ago and in that time, air source heat pumps have become as efficient as ground source pumps were back then. So I’m guessing what I learned then pertains to what you need to do now, which is get a surveyor out who is qualified to do a full heat loss survey on your house (ideally the one where they tape up your front door with plastic sheeting and blow warm air into the property). Find out exactly what the heat requirement for your house is, then get a heat pump installer to specify and cost quote a system for you based on that precise requirement.

Discuss with them whether you’re sticking with radiators, and how much larger the panels will need to be in each room (if at all - if your rads are very old, simply replacing them with super-modern efficient ones *might* be enough). Consider whether you’d like to switch to underfloor heating, downstairs at least. This is the most efficient way to heat a home and is ideally suited to the lower heat output of a heat pump.

As I said, all of this research led us not to go ahead with it, as we learned our house was particularly ill suited. So I can’t advise you on what actually happens when you put one in. But it is definitely worth doing the research.

[amyjones]

Anyone here received any insulation grants yet? I understand it's quite a slow process, but I'm getting impatient! Has anyone else applied and heard anything back yet? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Waiting to hear back about my insulation grant application and it's been a few weeks now. I've heard that some people have had success, but I'm not sure what criteria they used. Has anyone else received grants or know what factors are taken into consideration? It would be really helpful to hear other people's experiences!

Cheers

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Ms NTL

Yesterday's lecky prices, free 0p per unit during some of the night, Tonite they will probably be negative. What can we turn on to make money? Isn't it crazy?
Too much wind at the north sea...

Was even windy here today, when its windy in my part of the country you know its very windy elsewhere lol, as we very rarely get wind.

Will take the cheap/free energy thanks.

Love the agile tariff.

---------- Post added at 16:52 ---------- Previous post was at 16:50 ----------

Originally Posted by amyjones

Anyone here received any insulation grants yet? I understand it's quite a slow process, but I'm getting impatient! Has anyone else applied and heard anything back yet? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Waiting to hear back about my insulation grant application and it's been a few weeks now. I've heard that some people have had success, but I'm not sure what criteria they used. Has anyone else received grants or know what factors are taken into consideration? It would be really helpful to hear other people's experiences!

Cheers

I am waiting for double glazing grants, but it feels like the government assumes everyone already has double glazing. Its the only way my LL will fit it, if its been paid for him.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Has anyone switched to an Air Source Heat Pump (from a Gas boiler) and if so, what can they advise in terms of lessons learnt, pros & cons, etc?

Have two , it's what the expert abvised , and have no problems at all , best advise I can offer is to check out the company that puts it in. Caveat it's not cheap nagged by eco set of girls !!!

[SnoopZ]

Wouldn't it be easier to rent a place with double glazing than than wait for it to get fitted, unless your rent is cheap?