Heat in the home

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.

My central heating is set for what range?

I don't have central heating
8
13%
below 18
22
37%
18-20
23
38%
21-22
2
3%
23-25
2
3%
25-plus
3
5%
 
Total votes: 60

User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56349
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

I sweep our chimney every couple of months.
It doesn't matter how dry your wood is, creosote still builds up.

What comes out of ours, is black crystalline crumbly stuff, and most of it from the non-insulated parts of the flue - ie the chimney pot at the top and the 6ft long flue up from the fire to the chimney breast.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
al_yrpal
Posts: 11526
Joined: 25 Jul 2007, 9:47pm
Location: Think Cheddar and Cider
Contact:

Re: Heat in the home

Post by al_yrpal »

To provide a Heatas certificate for a stove the installer must have suppied and fitted a Carbon monoxide alarm. You try selling a property with a woodburner with no Heatas certificate!...Impossible!

A few months ago when selling our cottage we had no Heatas certificate because the installer had neglected to supply it several years ago and hadnt provided the alarm either. Phone calls to him were ignored. He was Heatas registered so we complained to them. In a few days a very sullen installer turned up with an alarm which he fitted and scribbled out a certificate. He left with hardly a word.

We had no actual certificate in this property but searches with the local authority revealed that one had been issued to the owner who had sadly died. The house was cleared and of course the certicate had disappeared along with all other documentation. With the house empty for a year lumps of soot were falling down onto the registration plate from the old chimney 220 years old. Its still a bit of a problem.

I was really worried about heating when we bought this place because it has solid brick walls and huge single glazed windows. But, it fine. The AGA is wonderful, as well as being the only cooker it warms the whole house in cool weather, heats the water, dries out clothes and saves ironing if you fold clothes neatly and put them on the hob lids. The woodburner provides a bit of toasty sitting room heat in the evenings if needed and the gas boiler is only really needed in bitter cold weather.
All in all its much more expensive to heat than a modern house but theres nothing much more we are allowed to do.

Al
Last edited by al_yrpal on 2 Dec 2021, 10:28am, edited 1 time in total.
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Jdsk
Posts: 24478
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:44am To provide a Heatas certificate for a stove the installer must have suppied and fitted a Carbon Dioxide alarm.
Is that carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. please?

Thanks

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 2 Dec 2021, 10:01am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20297
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Heat in the home

Post by mjr »

al_yrpal wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:44am All in all its much more expensive to heat than a modern house but theres nothing much more we are allowed to do.
Who's not allowing you to fit wall, floor and roof insulation? Is your local planning department insane?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56349
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

We have solid floors, solid walls, and the loft is floor-boarded out and used as a store room.
Best thing that could happen to this bungalow, is for some entrepreneur to buy it, then demolish it, then build something modern. :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20297
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Heat in the home

Post by mjr »

Mick F wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:59am We have solid floors, solid walls, and the loft is floor-boarded out and used as a store room.
Best thing that could happen to this bungalow, is for some entrepreneur to buy it, then demolish it, then build something modern. :lol:
You could probably still fit bolt-on insulation, which might not be worthwhile or might be prevented by physical constraints, but Al put "not allowed" which suggests some legal bar. That's intrigued me.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 7993
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Heat in the home

Post by simonineaston »

Around a decade ago, there was a scheme to insulate the Edwardian housing stock across Easton, here in Bristol. Organised and financed by local government, headed at the time by an architect-turned-entrepreneur - one George Ferguson. Bloke came and 'surveyed' my house and also my plumber commented too, that the wall area of my own house, mid terrace, was such that there would be limited value, whereas a neighbour who lived in a corner house at the end of the street had a much larger proportion of wall area. He had the conversion done and pronounced it a great success.
Said conversion conisted of light-weight foamed plastic panels attached to the pebble-dashed exterior with mushroom fixings, the whole being rendered with traditional cement-based coating. Once done the results looked and by all accounts felt very effective.
At the time I reviewed the existing arrangments at the house and considered adding to the roof insulation but was told that once the thickness reached a certain value, there was limited effect in adding to it. It was around that time that I concluded, what with one thing and another, I would be better off moving to a more modern dwelling, one that benefitted from modern material and construction, which I did. And hohoho I've bee stiffed by the insurance industry on account of the cladding used for the exterior - might keep me warm OK but boy am I paying for it! The money saved on moving to a building with a B efficiency value (from D) has been gobbled up by the massive hike in the cost of building insurance...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
User avatar
al_yrpal
Posts: 11526
Joined: 25 Jul 2007, 9:47pm
Location: Think Cheddar and Cider
Contact:

Re: Heat in the home

Post by al_yrpal »

mjr wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:48am
al_yrpal wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:44am All in all its much more expensive to heat than a modern house but theres nothing much more we are allowed to do.
Who's not allowing you to fit wall, floor and roof insulation? Is your local planning department insane?
We have good roof insulation solid floors and if we tried to put up wall insulation it wouldnt be allowed because it would destroy historic interior features. On a listed building thats not allowed. The biggy is the huge single glazed sliding sash windows but...we have air pocket insulated window blinds which are dropped at dusk and work really well. All that said I believe its time the listed building folk became more flexible.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20297
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Heat in the home

Post by mjr »

simonineaston wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 10:07am The money saved on moving to a building with a B efficiency value (from D) has been gobbled up by the massive hike in the cost of building insurance...
Is it flammable or nickable?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 7993
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Heat in the home

Post by simonineaston »

Is it flammable or nickable?
That is a good question, as the building insurance premiums have shot up this year, prompting an conversation between us, the residents and the property managment company. When asked to explain the colossal hike, the pmc replied that there has been an industry-wide reaction to the Grenfell tragedy. Our response has been for them to prove that the risk associated with the building, which has not physically changed since it was built in 2013, has increased since last year. As an aside, this has brought the performance of the pmc into focus and we are making a move to change from the existing pmc to one with a better reputation.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
francovendee
Posts: 3145
Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

Mick F wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 9:18am I sweep our chimney every couple of months.
It doesn't matter how dry your wood is, creosote still builds up.

What comes out of ours, is black crystalline crumbly stuff, and most of it from the non-insulated parts of the flue - ie the chimney pot at the top and the 6ft long flue up from the fire to the chimney breast.
Blimey! Every couple of months makes me think if you left it a year you'd have trouble. Once you get deposits start to form it will continue to build up.
As a lad we used coal fires as did everyone we knew. A neighbour never had the chimney swept. He used to stuff loads of newspaper up the chimney and set fire to it. We saw his chimney pot ablaze one night, it looked like a Roman Candle.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56349
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

Trouble?
The problem is that the fire doesn't draw as well as it could.

We live in a bungalow and there's a flat-roof extension that is easy to get onto. Walk across, then walk up the sloping roof to the chimney stack. Take a box with you and the brushes, stand on the box and you're level with the chimney pot.
Push down the brush and connect the rods. Only need four plus the brush rod.

Extract it all, get down, and open the doors on the internal flue pipe top and bottom, and the stuff - not much - from the chimney stack is there, so scoop it down the flue. Rod and brush the 6ft of internal flue and it all drops into the ash can.
Clean out the hearth, put the flue doors back on, tidy up, and job's a good 'un.
Half hour, and all done.

The taller/higher the chimney, the better a fire draws, especially if the chimney pot is open to the wind. Bungalows have an issue with that.

Just lit it, and it's settling down nicely.
IMG_0914.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56349
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

Mick F wrote: 30 Nov 2021, 9:15pm The farmer dries it.
He has piles and piles and piles of it. Tons and tons. Sells it by word of mouth, no adverts.
Here's his piles. No doubt he transports it into a barn or something.

Walking the doggie earlier, and saw it all in the field. I could hear his tractor nearby.
IMG_0912.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
PDQ Mobile
Posts: 4657
Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Heat in the home

Post by PDQ Mobile »

Mick F wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 4:09pm
Mick F wrote: 30 Nov 2021, 9:15pm The farmer dries it.
He has piles and piles and piles of it. Tons and tons. Sells it by word of mouth, no adverts.
Here's his piles. No doubt he transports it into a barn or something.

Walking the doggie earlier, and saw it all in the field. I could hear his tractor nearby.IMG_0912.jpg
I bet he doesn't!
Otherwise he would process it by the storage barn and save a load ( no pun etc) of labour.

Because he could carry the wood unspilt and put it into store, under cover, direct from the splitting machine.
Done like that (in the pictures) he has to move the small logs twice if he really seasons it.
They look typically UK short which makes even more in field work.
"Nice dry Xmas logs for an open fire, Mrs"!!


Straight to the punter from the field I reckon.
He's likely flogging wet wood which I think became illegal recently.
Last edited by PDQ Mobile on 2 Dec 2021, 5:08pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56349
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

You could well be correct regarding what and where he keeps the logs.

Is it illegal to sell them though?
Somehow, I very much doubt it.

You can buy anything you want. No laws about that.
It's what you do with it afterwards that's the issue here.

Just say you buy a freshly felled tree, and ask the person to log it up for you and barrow it to your home.
You get the (wet sappy) logs home and dry them yourself.

Come here, and pay me a few quid, and you can cut one of our trees down, log it up, and take it home.
In fact, I would welcome it! :D
Mick F. Cornwall
Post Reply