Energy crisis

[Harry]

It is alot. Its my own fault. Bought a house that needs a lot of work... more than can chew.
Single glazed all round old wooden sash with draft and probably not much insulation anywhere

Something like Magneglaze secondary glazing is a cheap quick fix and makes a tremendous difference. I’ve just installed it on a georgian sash window and a couple of lead light windows.

Magnetic Secondary Double Glazing | Magneglaze®

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[flexwing]

Interesting reading the comments on this thread. I live in a 1950s detached bungalow with cavity and loft insulation plus double glazing. A rated boiler and out of a deal and on the standard tariff. Heating on twice a day for 7 hours in total. Combined cost of £17 per day. By the way, temperature reduces to around 11°C during this cold snap inside the house. I've just increased my monthly direct debit to £400 and that won't cover it if the cold snap continues. At best with the heating on we get around 15°C. Bloody old houses!
My mate with an older, larger house pays didly squat as he has a large PV array on the original feed in tariff.

 

[flexwing]

Our Barn was built in 1667 and we are the first humans to live in it 4 years back. 2ft stone walls and then water/vapor barrier and then 18" of herdwick wool insulation betwen the interior metal skeleton which has all the interior floors and walls fitted to it. So inside it is square and outside is just a facade.

The only room that ever gets cool is the main bedroom as one side is made of glass, so that and the dining room (lowest floor) are the only ones that ever have the underfloor heating used, and that's turned off now it's above zero.

Wood burner is all we need to keep the whole house hot... but 19° is the max I will ever set it to... any more than that and the Golden Retriever passes out!

Sounds great. Passivehaus, fabric first is the way to go. Retrofit to this standard is tough and expensive to achieve and requires excellent ventilation. You need to gut the place to achieve the required air tightness. Maybe worth it now. Selling old houses will be a real problem going forward.

 

[montravia]

Our EDF electricity is price capped, praise be.
Our Flogas LPG isn't.
No LPG suppliers are.
A winter's stock of logs, but up here, one needs some heat

 

[mjheathcote]

We dont have a thermostat , house was barely earm enough last week with boiler on max

Our previous home for 10 years was a grade 2 weavers cottage.
Our central heating was always on max, no radiator stats because we needed every radiator red hot to keep warm. We couldn't do any more to insulate the house.
Didn't miss all the character etc when we moved into a modern built house to be honest, after 10 years of big bills. Had to have a dehumidifier on permanently on the ground floor to fight against the damp, being partly built into the hill side, over 200 years ago.
Defo a case of done that, tick!

 

[Scaf]

We're around £30 for the week and have the heating on all the time (set at around 13 and up to 15 in the evening) and all radiators on (except for those under a window when the curtains are open). We've got little heated throws, so heat the person, not the room.

Lol - I dont think our heating would ever come on if it was set that low, ours is set to 15 at night but rarely kicks in. (Should change it really given the current situation).

 

[Zep]

I’ve been running at around 110 KWH a day through the cold spell, about £10 a day at my current rate. It’s more like £4 a day when it’s above zero. Still well down on last year as I had new windows in the summer.

 

[drellis]

Sounds great. Passivehaus, fabric first is the way to go. Retrofit to this standard is tough and expensive to achieve and requires excellent ventilation. You need to gut the place to achieve the required air tightness. Maybe worth it now. Selling old houses will be a real problem going forward.

Will look into magneglaze and do solar,but the cold snap we have had is every 10 years plus, so yes it costs a fortune this month, but most of the time be ok so not going to spend vast sums for a once every 10 years event, and maybe less with global warming

 

[drellis]

Anyway, have a new axe after wooden handle snapped, so has been good exercise

 

[D Walker]

Saturday morning and the Smart Meter is reading just under £64 of gas usage since Monday 00:00 and that's having the central heating on only 2x times a day... No idea how people can afford this who don't have properly insulated houses and higher earnings.

Blimey. Guess we’re quite lucky that we’re 1 year into our 2 year agreed deal. Next November will be a shocker I guess.

 

[FIFTY]

Blimey. Guess we’re quite lucky that we’re 1 year into our 2 year agreed deal. Next November will be a shocker I guess.

It is just under £80 now so roughly £11.40 per day in these -0C conditions

I have a 4 bed semi detached townhouse style property with two floors with a garage door acting as a gaping hole in the front of the house. I have insulated the door and blocked gaps around it... renewed all of the draft excluders on the front door which has made it considerably better than previous years however it is not the most efficient layout.

 

[D Walker]

I’ve been insulating our loft as someone previously had boarded the central section out. Without any insulation. The eaves are 100mm so I’m adding 170mm on top. We have triple glazing throughout but some of our room radiators are too small. Kitchen has a tiled floor which is just a big cold sink. I’ll come back when we put the readings in but we were £360 in credit but the heating must be on close to 10 hrs a day now. We have 3.2kw solar array which helps to dent the electric. Think we get about £600 a year back but I’m on a waiting list (2024) to change the inverter to a inverter / storage system as buying I a double supplying.

 

[Oneball]

We’re in a bungalow and our floors are the killer for drafts. All the boards are nailed down so taking them up and insulating underneath would be a bit of a nightmare. Heard of a company that puts a robot under there and sprays foam. Quote was £10k-£12k.

 

[D Walker]

We’re in a bungalow and our floors are the killer for drafts. All the boards are nailed down so taking them up and insulating underneath would be a bit of a nightmare. Heard of a company that puts a robot under there and sprays foam. Quote was £10k-£12k.

I feel your pain. I’m also in a bungalow. Concrete floors tho. The boards in my loft are nailed down with 2.5” nails. I was having to claw them out until someone pointed me in the direction of a plug drill so I’ve been coring around them. It’s back breaking but has to be done. Kitchen is a nightmare. 9 spotlights, so I’ll have to box round them before adding the extra insulation. Found wasp nests (abandoned) and all sorts.

 

[Oneball]

I feel your pain. I’m also in a bungalow. Concrete floors tho. The boards in my loft are nailed down with 2.5” nails. I was having to claw them out until someone pointed me in the direction of a plug drill so I’ve been coring around them. It’s back breaking but has to be done. Kitchen is a nightmare. 9 spotlights, so I’ll have to box round them before adding the extra insulation. Found wasp nests (abandoned) and all sorts.

Thanks that sounds like an idea worth trying. I think I’m just going to try and do a room at a time this summer.

 

[D Walker]

Thanks that sounds like an idea worth trying. I think I’m just going to try and do a room at a time this summer.

Indeed. Especially if your floorboards are not exposed. I.e. you carpet over them. You end up with a 12mm hole around each nail but could go smaller if you’re brave enough. I cut a 12 mm hole in an old piece of plywood and use that as a guide for the plug drill bit. Think the set I bought are 6,9,12,15mm. .

 

[Swedish Paul]

I know the houses are built different, and energy costs are too, but we pay around 10 pounds a day for heating and electricity here this time of year with the increased prices. Comuninial heating, Triple glazed, very well insulated. Goes up to maybe 20 pounds a day when we get to the minus 40 degrees weather, though it doesn’t last long.

 

[Nibby]

Interesting reading the comments on this thread. I live in a 1950s detached bungalow with cavity and loft insulation plus double glazing. A rated boiler and out of a deal and on the standard tariff. Heating on twice a day for 7 hours in total. Combined cost of £17 per day. By the way, temperature reduces to around 11°C during this cold snap inside the house. I've just increased my monthly direct debit to £400 and that won't cover it if the cold snap continues. At best with the heating on we get around 15°C. Bloody old houses!
My mate with an older, larger house pays didly squat as he has a large PV array on the original feed in tariff.

Scandalous, they need to get a grip on this energy con.
Am I right in thinking the green brigade were moaning about wood burners? These energy companies and green fascists need to be reined in, your can't have people scared to turn the heating on.

 

[safrane]

What a change in less than 24 hrs - Yesterday walking the dog at this time it was snowing and 1, now I have the windows open at the house and its 14 outside! English weather.

 

[RoaryRati]

What a change in less than 24 hrs - Yesterday walking the dog at this time it was snowing and 1, now I have the windows open at the house and its 14 outside! English weather.

Yes - we'll have to open the windows to warm the house up!