Heat in the home

[853]

We have been making an effort to use less, this is our cumlitive KWH use (gas +electric) since last week in may, compared to previous years. (that yellow line was the very hard winter of 2010) this year is the heavy red line and so far least used at this stage.

I love a graph, too, but am I reading it correctly? Does the vertical scale say that you will use between 23000 and 27500 KWH a year?

[pwa]

But the weather has been very mild so far.

O how easy life is in the mild mild west! We've already had first frost in the fen depths and a couple of mornings of cold fog.

Again, this morning, we got up to find the thermostat registering 20c with no heating being used. But it won't last, not even here. October is just around the corner and harsher weather must be on its way.

[rjb]

But the weather has been very mild so far.

O how easy life is in the mild mild west! We've already had first frost in the fen depths and a couple of mornings of cold fog.

Again, this morning, we got up to find the thermostat registering 20c with no heating being used. But it won't last, not even here. October is just around the corner and harsher weather must be on its way.

Thermostat? General advice is this should be set to 18°C.
Did you mean to say Thermometer.
Ps it's 12° outdoors and 18° indoors here with no heating on here on the Somerset levels.

We were paying £600 a year for our energy (gas + electric). This is forecast to rise to £1500 by our supplier. A £900 increase, but we are getting a £400 discount, £500 winter fuel allowance (for pension age people) so our fuel bill will remain the same providing we don't fritter the fuel allowance away on a new bike.

[pwa]

O how easy life is in the mild mild west! We've already had first frost in the fen depths and a couple of mornings of cold fog.

Again, this morning, we got up to find the thermostat registering 20c with no heating being used. But it won't last, not even here. October is just around the corner and harsher weather must be on its way.

Thermostat? General advice is this should be set to 18°C.
Did you mean to say Thermometer.

No, it is a thermostat that reads the current ambient temperature (20c), but if you turn the knob it sets your target, which is 16c overnight and 18c in daytime when we are at home. So if I look at it now, without touching it, it shows me the actual current room temperature of 20c, but its target is still set at 16c as I haven't yet bothered setting it to the daytime target of 18c. So the central heating is not active and hasn't been active since before summer began. The garden doors are open to let in fresh air.

The outside temperature is forecast to get up to 17c in the shade this afternoon, but the front of the house is south facing and has lots of glass, so unless we draw curtains, as we do in hot weather, we get lots of heat gain from the sun. The afternoon will be sunny, so the large front living room will get very warm with the curtains open, and that heat will transfer around the house. No central heating today, I think.

[Pebble]

I love a graph, too, but am I reading it correctly? Does the vertical scale say that you will use between 23000 and 27500 KWH a year?

sadly yes, current rolling 52 week total, gas 19,396, ele, 4160. (at the new prices it will add up to £3,400 per year)

4 bed detached house on a hill in scotland!

[853]

I love a graph, too, but am I reading it correctly? Does the vertical scale say that you will use between 23000 and 27500 KWH a year?

sadly yes, current rolling 52 week total, gas 19,396, ele, 4160. (at the new prices it will add up to £3,400 per year)

4 bed detached house on a hill in scotland!

Thanks for confirming, as I thought it rather high. As a check, I looked at my readings for 25/5/2021 to 21/6/2022 - so nearly 13 months. You won't like reading this but even though I'm 100 percent electric, and with no other form of heating, the figure is 2754 KWH. If adjusted to 12 months this would fit into my normal 2500-2700 KWH/year range

3 bed semi-detached house, about 20 miles north of Birmingham

[ANTONISH]

Thermostat? General advice is this should be set to 18°C.

Mine is set at 20 C

[al_yrpal]

I love a graph, too, but am I reading it correctly? Does the vertical scale say that you will use between 23000 and 27500 KWH a year?

sadly yes, current rolling 52 week total, gas 19,396, ele, 4160. (at the new prices it will add up to £3,400 per year)

4 bed detached house on a hill in scotland!

Our gas was about 28000KWH over the last 12 months but that did include a lot of AGA, so its going off from June 1st to Sept 15th which knocks off about 5000 KWH. AGA oven and hobs replaced by tabletop Belling oven and 2 ring induction hob in the summer which seem to use very little. Our electricity usage is 2400 KWH pa.
The AGA uses a lot of gas but cooks, heats the house in the Autumn and Spring, heats the hot water and gently warms two bathrooms with heated towel rails, as well as drying and ironing washing. We have a Bosch gas boiler which heats radiators in the coldest months, and an electric immersion heater for when the AGA is switched off in the summer.
I have purchased a pipe thermometer to monitor the output temperature of the Bosch boiler and try it at an output temperature of 50 degrees C which is reported to make up to a 10% reduction in gas consumption.
Unfortunately no more insulation is possible here, so judicious use of heating will trim the bill a little with 1 degree reduction in all thermostat settings

Al

[Pebble]

I love a graph, too, but am I reading it correctly? Does the vertical scale say that you will use between 23000 and 27500 KWH a year?

sadly yes, current rolling 52 week total, gas 19,396, ele, 4160. (at the new prices it will add up to £3,400 per year)

4 bed detached house on a hill in scotland!

Thanks for confirming, as I thought it rather high. As a check, I looked at my readings for 25/5/2021 to 21/6/2022 - so nearly 13 months. You won't like reading this but even though I'm 100 percent electric, and with no other form of heating, the figure is 2754 KWH. If adjusted to 12 months this would fit into my normal 2500-2700 KWH/year range

3 bed semi-detached house, about 20 miles north of Birmingham

No, I do like reading this, it shows what can be done - I'm a little embarrassed at how much we use and will be trying extra hard to improve.

Your figures are excellent, well below the average which I believe is 2,900 electric, 12,000 gas. How do you achieve this though, work away from home 5 days a week, super modern eco house, a big fan of wearing jumpers, or just a warm soul ?

I would love to be able to knock my house down and build a state of the art eco 2 bed bungalow in its place (although I doubt I would ever get my money back). It would be nice to have a carbon neutral energy use.

[Paulatic]

@pebble if you butt your house upto another and move it down the hillside you might well find your usage is then the same as @853
I spent thirty years living between 850’ and 1050’ and I reckon it’s an extra top coat for every 100’
I now live at 300’ and life is warmer. Eldest son lives a little above sea level in an end terrace heating is something only needed a couple of months a year.

[pwa]

The biggest heat loser in our house is the flat roof section, which has an insulated void between the top surface and the ceilings, but if I were making it these days I would probably increase the depth. Another drawback with our house layout is that the main roof ridge goes north-south, meaning that we do not have a big area of roof facing south to provide a surface for solar panels. In fact, the only surface really suitable for solar, from a construction point of view, only gets sun after midday. And it faces a nighbour who might get reflected glare through a bedroom window.

[Mick F]

Too many damned trees here for much sun on the house roof.
I was over at Morewell Rocks the other morning, and looked across to our house .......... but you can't see it nowadays.
20odd years ago, it was easily visible ............ but not now.

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm3 ... t_Devon_UK

[853]

No, I do like reading this, it shows what can be done - I'm a little embarrassed at how much we use and will be trying extra hard to improve.

Your figures are excellent, well below the average which I believe is 2,900 electric, 12,000 gas. How do you achieve this though, work away from home 5 days a week, super modern eco house, a big fan of wearing jumpers, or just a warm soul ?

I would love to be able to knock my house down and build a state of the art eco 2 bed bungalow in its place (although I doubt I would ever get my money back). It would be nice to have a carbon neutral energy use.

I am semi-retired, but do some work from home, so I live in the house 7 days a week

I do believe that altitude makes some difference, and I live at 96m/315ft which is probably a lot less than you, but I don't know by how much. Personally, having worked and travelled a lot in Scotland, I believe that how far north you live is more significant; the south and south-west of England is several degrees warmer than where I live, whilst 'up north' is several degrees colder.

My house was built in 1986, by a well-known house builder with a somewhat chequered reputation. The year is significant, because it was before the 1987 building regulations which introduced floor insulation. Instead, it was built to the 1981 regs of cavity wall with 75mm of insulation and 50mm or loft insulation. The house is also one of the smallest 3 bed semis you've ever seen, which helps.

I've been in the house over 30 years, so it has become something of a challenge to see how low I could get the energy usage. I had a good friend who was a chartered architect, so I got some very good advice; the first thing I did was upgrade the loft insulation (myself) to 330mm. After that it has been a collection of what Sir Dave Brailsford used to refer to as 'marginal gains'. If the interest is there, I will share

[Mick F]

Chatting to a business owner today, and he has done his sums. I know him well, and I understand him.

When the electricity prices go up through the roof next month, he's buying a diesel generator.
Cheaper to run, than buy lecky off the grid.
Cheaper than investing in solar panels.

Sad, but true.

[rjb]

Some of those generators can run on Natural gas. Gas is 1/4 the price per Kw compared to electric so even allowing for the conversion inefficiency you could make a saving and also stuff the electric standing charge of £180 per year.
Could you cope with the noise though.