Competitive austerity/poverty

[mik]

I have fantasies about well-insulated properties, it's almost like a kink. For the last ~20 years I've only lived in Victorian conversions that are draughty af, my kitchen here has solid walls and drops to within a few º of outside temp if the heating is turned of. It's getting boring, regardless of how much 'character' they've got.

My heating (set to 21DegC) clicked off at 07:40.

At 16:30 when I checked, it was 19.2 DegC in my home office.

[duncs500]

I'm bloody loving this modern insulated house - £4/day in gas (inc. gas hob cooking) to keep the whole thing at 21/22 degrees 24/7 throughout december.

This. I think ours is something similar.

We have south facing bifolds in the kitchen so once the sun is up the heating doesn't appear to have to work very hard to keep the downstairs warm. Upstairs is probably a bit cooler at 19ish, but I'm the only one who spends any time up there during the day, and at night that's the job of bed covers.

[Simon]

I'm bloody loving this modern insulated house - £4/day in gas (inc. gas hob cooking) to keep the whole thing at 21/22 degrees 24/7 throughout december. I was burning 4-500l of oil a month at this time of year in the old place, and it struggled to reach 20 degrees.

According to my reporting I spent £51.98 in gas for all of December, which was 1,350kWh. That's having the house at 20 degrees from morning to night then 14 overnight (but never actually got down to that). Not too bad but will look to redo the loft insulation this spring or autumn.

[ZedLeg]

I always have the thermostat at 16, do I win a prize?

I am amazed at the amount of people I work with who turn up on calls dressed like they’re going on an arctic expedition. Just put your heating on for a bit and dress normally. None of us are on minimum wage.

[Carlos]

I'm bloody loving this modern insulated house - £4/day in gas (inc. gas hob cooking) to keep the whole thing at 21/22 degrees 24/7 throughout december. I was burning 4-500l of oil a month at this time of year in the old place, and it struggled to reach 20 degrees.

According to my reporting I spent £51.98 in gas for all of December, which was 1,350kWh. That's having the house at 20 degrees from morning to night then 14 overnight (but never actually got down to that). Not too bad but will look to redo the loft insulation this spring or autumn.

Usage is low but isn't Gas over 10p kWh ? So circa £165 including standing charge !

[Simon]

I'm bloody loving this modern insulated house - £4/day in gas (inc. gas hob cooking) to keep the whole thing at 21/22 degrees 24/7 throughout december. I was burning 4-500l of oil a month at this time of year in the old place, and it struggled to reach 20 degrees.

According to my reporting I spent £51.98 in gas for all of December, which was 1,350kWh. That's having the house at 20 degrees from morning to night then 14 overnight (but never actually got down to that). Not too bad but will look to redo the loft insulation this spring or autumn.

Usage is low but isn't Gas over 10p kWh ? So circa £165 including standing charge !

I have a fix from 2021 so paying 3.84p/kWh...

[Swervin_Mervin]

I have no idea what we get through in our '30s semi but I bet it's way more than that.

Despite now having underfloor heating in half of downstairs, zoned rads everywhere else, new front and back doors, all new alu double-glazed windows (and one triple-glazed), double-glazed bifolds in place of a drafty single ply secondary back door, re-tiled front bay with new insulation...it still loses heat fairly quickly when properly it's properly cold out.

I also know it has cavity wall insultaion as during all the works we've had done I've seen the kingspan panels that the previous owner put in when he practically rebuilt the place. We lose a lot in our hallway, which is just stained floorboarding - it's a sprung floor in the front half of downstairs and you can see the airbricks on the front elevation - when it's cold it's fairly draughty in there. That's the next job - get it overboarded and a new floor covering down.

[Jobbo]

According to my reporting I spent £51.98 in gas for all of December, which was 1,350kWh. That's having the house at 20 degrees from morning to night then 14 overnight (but never actually got down to that). Not too bad but will look to redo the loft insulation this spring or autumn.

Usage is low but isn't Gas over 10p kWh ? So circa £165 including standing charge !

I have a fix from 2021 so paying 3.84p/kWh...

How long does your fix last? Make the most of it. My standing charge for gas and electricity for the month is nearly £25, so without consuming anything it costs half your total gas usage

[Gavster]

For December I used 20% less gas than the previous year, so at least I'm helping to save @Mito Man's skiing trips if nothing else by turning everything down.

[Gavster]

I have fantasies about well-insulated properties, it's almost like a kink. For the last ~20 years I've only lived in Victorian conversions that are draughty af, my kitchen here has solid walls and drops to within a few º of outside temp if the heating is turned of. It's getting boring, regardless of how much 'character' they've got.

My heating (set to 21DegC) clicked off at 07:40.

At 16:30 when I checked, it was 19.2 DegC in my home office.

I'm crying. Firstly, I can barely get to 21º when it's below zero outside. Secondly, even if I did, 8 hours with the heating off would leave me around 14º in the main flat and 10º in the kitchen.

<cries in rockwool>

[Simon]

Usage is low but isn't Gas over 10p kWh ? So circa £165 including standing charge !

I have a fix from 2021 so paying 3.84p/kWh...

How long does your fix last? Make the most of it. My standing charge for gas and electricity for the month is nearly £25, so without consuming anything it costs half your total gas usage

Till October this year. The day before it finishes I'm gonna whack the thermostat up to 32 degrees and see how long that lasts before I have to turn it on again.

[Sundayjumper]

I'm crying. Firstly, I can barely get to 21º when it's below zero outside. Secondly, even if I did, 8 hours with the heating off would leave me around 14º in the main flat and 10º in the kitchen.

<cries in rockwool>

If it's any consolation, even though my place is newer (sixties) it's no better than that. The hallway never seems to achieve more than 20º above ambient. So yesterday morning when it was -5 outside the hallway was 14 and only crept up very slowly through the day. It won't ever get to 20 at this time of year.

We run the gas fire in the lounge in the evenings so that we've at least got one room that's warm.

[Beany]

On the negative side - this place is old and badly insulated so it gets really fucking cold in winter cold snaps without the heating running near 24/7.

On the positive side - I've had a nasty flu (not covid) the last couple of days and I know my fever is gone because I can actually feel it being cold in here.

Pretty sure this boilers control module is plug 'n' play with other Worcester units, I might look at getting a temp control one over the current on/off/manual timer one, then I can be middle class and have thermostatically controlled heating!

[Swervin_Mervin]

Pretty sure this boilers control module is plug 'n' play with other Worcester units, I might look at getting a temp control one over the current on/off/manual timer one, then I can be middle class and have thermostatically controlled heating!

I assume it's a rental Bean? If so I wouldn't go arsing about with the boiler - aren't they supposed to be inspected annually and signed off as being safe? I'm not up onthe regs really, but I woul've thought a tenant doing anything to the boiler might put either tenant or landlord, or both, in a tricky position if something were to go wrong.

[240PP]

Pretty sure this boilers control module is plug 'n' play with other Worcester units, I might look at getting a temp control one over the current on/off/manual timer one, then I can be middle class and have thermostatically controlled heating!

I assume it's a rental Bean? If so I wouldn't go arsing about with the boiler - aren't they supposed to be inspected annually and signed off as being safe?

Correct. Have a word with the agent/landlord.

[Beany]

I thought the same, and did check that the last time I looked at it - but as it's outside the mains power/gas/water loops (it's a low voltage panel that's explicitly designed to be a zero-config pluggable module) apparently it's not a problem.

I'd double check a bit more closely, and let the landlord know before I did anything, obviously.

He's been fine with the idea of me paying for, say, an induction hob, and him paying to get the installation signed off, etc in the past so he's got a bit of common sense about him in that respect.

[jamcg]

The problem you’ll have with the older worcesters is that the case has to be removed to swap the module. The case is also your secondary seal- this means removal of the case should only be by gas safe registered tradesmen.

If it’s a modern one around 2 years old it’ll be fine as you can swap it from underneath, however I guess it’s older as anything new would have had to have a thermostat installed under boiler plus regulations

[Beany]

The problem you’ll have with the older worcesters is that the case has to be removed to swap the module. The case is also your secondary seal- this means removal of the case should only be by gas safe registered tradesmen.

If it’s a modern one around 2 years old it’ll be fine as you can swap it from underneath, however I guess it’s older as anything new would have had to have a thermostat installed under boiler plus regulations

Ah, interesting. I might just wait till next inspection time (which will be springtime) and get the module swapped the same time as the inspection is done then, and it's a two minute 'while you're in there' job after all.

[Carlos]

The problem you’ll have with the older worcesters is that the case has to be removed to swap the module. The case is also your secondary seal- this means removal of the case should only be by gas safe registered tradesmen.

If it’s a modern one around 2 years old it’ll be fine as you can swap it from underneath, however I guess it’s older as anything new would have had to have a thermostat installed under boiler plus regulations

Ah, interesting. I might just wait till next inspection time (which will be springtime) and get the module swapped the same time as the inspection is done then, and it's a two minute 'while you're in there' job after all.

Have a chat with the Landlord to see if he will fund it as it will help his next EPC rating as well ?

[Beany]

The way this place is insulated it'd be like throwing an ice cube at the sun in terms of effect in the real world, but right enough, it might have more of an effect in terms of box-ticking.