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No heating here, not had any on for months. That said we did notice the radiators had come on in the hot spell we had a couple of months ago - the motorised valve had stopped working, and left the circuit open for heat and hot water. Fortunately, only had to replace the motor and not the whole unit - £25.
Cloths drying done on a couple of racks and a dehumidifier.
I had the hood down on the soft-top on the way into work this morning - bit fresh, but refreshing also! 🙂
On the heating cost front my DD with Shell has come down from £215/month to £151.00/month. Two bed semi with two people living in it.
Our heating is turned off so it won't kick in unless it drops to 5 degrees.
Not needed here in the sunny South east, having been only as low as 19 degrees during the recent lull in temps.
Neverthe ess, Octopus want to put my monthly payment up from £226 (dual) to £238 because "...despite falling prices our calculations show you will have a shortfall for Winter 23/24..." WTAF!
Neverthe ess, Octopus want to put my monthly payment up from £226 (dual) to £238 because “…despite falling prices our calculations show you will have a shortfall for Winter 23/24…” WTAF!
Are you in credit by a few hundred at this point of the year? If not they will raise your DD.
We've finally got Scottish Power's algorithm to reduce ours to £230 a month and we're about £300 in credit. that's after withdrawing £400 last summer, and another £400 in Spring as we were overpaying but the DD algorithm wouldn't let us reduce it - overpaying by nearly £100 per month. No smart meter but I send readings in every month.
Thing I did notice recently is the combi boiler had taken itself off eco mode, and was firing up to keep a bit of water hot ready for use. Think it's done this before when we've had a brief power cut/dip. Anyway, soon pressed that Eco button once I heard the boiler come to life with no demand from me!
as per earlier posts, our Hive pops the heating on temperature dependent, regardless of the time of year. It was rarely on here in west of Scotland through May and June, but has been on a few times in the past month. Quite nice to wander into a warm ensuite for morning shower !
We are on a standard Scottish Power tariff and pay a bit over £300 a month and as usual are a couple of months in credit at the moment which will reduce as we come into winter. Having just last week picked up an EV, which will be charged at home probs once a week, at a cost of £27 for a charge, I'll be intrigued to see how long it takes SP to clock it and increase the monthly DD !
Are you in credit by a few hundred at this point of the year? If not they will raise your DD.
Yes, about £300.
Weird then - have you started growing any medicinal plants in the attic!? 🙂
our Hive pops the heating on temperature dependent, regardless of the time of year.
Our non-smart thermostat does the same. Mrs S commented the other day that the radiators were on in the morning. It had been down to about 3C overnight so no real surprise.
House hasn't got cold enough despite outside being grim and cold thanks to the significant insulation done over winter. Mostly the last 10% of the insulation detailing that usually gets missed.
Neverthe ess, Octopus want to put my monthly payment up from £226 (dual) to £238 because “…despite falling prices our calculations show you will have a shortfall for Winter 23/24…” WTAF!
Login to the website, they have a nice graphical representation of what your usage and account balance will be for the next 12 months. The longer you have been with them, the more accurate that is.
We are deliberately £700+ in credit and it is forecast to be +£400 by March still. This is because we have been on a silly cheap fixed rate for the last two years which runs out first week of September and we know that we are at least +40% on costs - but buy having headroom in money there we can delay upping our direct debit just yet.
Fingers crossed for some slightly cheaper rates soon....
our Hive pops the heating on temperature dependent, regardless of the time of year.
One of the best things we ever did was install an outside temperature sensor as well as internal thermostat. It is not a 'smart' thermostat per-se, but it has 'learned' how the outside temperature affects indoors, and with a fully modulating boiler it just reduces use.
We also turn off the heating at the boiler until we really do need it.
Fingers crossed for some slightly cheaper rates soon….
There is prediction by cornwall insight that gas and elec prices will drop by 5% on oct 1st. I read an article on it yesterday (cant remember where)
I now come down every morning to a ****ing oven, radiators on since 05:00 and woodburning stove on. Then she'll spend half the day moaning that people dont take the climate emergency seriously.
There is prediction by cornwall insight that gas and elec prices will drop by 5% on oct 1st. I read an article on it yesterday (cant remember where)
Indeed, Money Saving Expert site is suggesting the same. I think we will drop onto a variable for a few weeks and see how it goes.
Of course the energy companies are all happy with the (huge) increases in standing charges which will not come down if energy costs come down.
We stayed in a 3 year old house on holiday. It was properly airtight, properly insulated, short pipe runs, air source heat pump and solar panels (no battery or MVHR). It was amazing how warm it was and how much we needed to keep windows ajar as we are used to a cooler building. The owner said that they have been amazed how cheap the three cottages have been to run - and are looking to rebuild their own home to a similar standard.
I do wonder how long we will hold onto 'old' houses that are inefficient. Even our 1970's house is a real issue - some narrow cavities, existing wider cavity 'has' insulation in (a mm or two thick of dusty white foam patches inside), floors which all need insulating from below etc.
Last week has renewed my intention to either self build or buy a newer build property soon.
So, Octopus are offering a fixed deal for a year (with exit penalties) with prices of about 6% lower than cap. Anyone jumped on it?
I'm considering it.
I do wonder how long we will hold onto ‘old’ houses that are inefficient.
While they are building shoddy hen boxes crammed onto featureless estates I'll hang on to my 1920s house thanks! 🙂
Colleagues moaning the office was 'cold' this morning. They need to cycle to work and generate some heat !
We've moved into a new build, which is significantly more airtight and better insulated than our old Victorian semi.
We've spent £110 this first month, which is exactly the same as the old house, but the bulk of it is for electricity and £9.60 is for gas, which is basically hot water as the heating hasn't been on. Frustratingly of that £9.60, £9.15 is the standing charge for the pleasure of having a mains gas connection.
Will be interesting this winter as we were easily spending £300 month on gas and electricity last winter.
But the house is noticeably warmer and we keep having to crack the windows open even with all the trickle vents open.
@trail-rat what was the last 10% of detailing?
well the last 10% of my install will likely be different to yours - but minimising cold bridging, draft exclusion, insulating the coombs of the eaves while retaining required airflow. the scuttery bits that take for ever that people never get round to (me included) i found those made more difference than the bulk of the insulating i did sooon after i moved in 10 years ago.
So, Octopus are offering a fixed deal for a year (with exit penalties) with prices of about 6% lower than cap. Anyone jumped on it?
We have been offered the same. Renewal is 21st September, so I plan on watching the next few weeks before I sign up. Besides which, they will transfer me off my uber cheap deal from the day we sign up - so longer I can push it the more savings.
Still have our upstairs windows open, they have been since early April. Heating may go on in October if it’s cool one.
I've had to start paying for electricity again as the £400 government payment has now run out. Bit of a bummer as I haven't got a job at the moment. Hopefully it'll be a mild autumn and I won't have to turn the heating on.
So, Octopus are offering a fixed deal for a year (with exit penalties) with prices of about 6% lower than cap. Anyone jumped on it?
Hugo sent out an email earlier this week suggesting this was not a good deal as the cap is due to fall again at the next revision.
Text of the email below.
A lot of users have been asking why Hugo is still not showing new tariffs under the TARIFFS section in the app.
Whilst wholesale energy prices have fallen significantly from their winter highs, the options are still limited, and fixed deals are mainly only offered to existing customers.
Of those suppliers offering fixed deals for 12 months, the deals are between 1% or less cheaper than the current energy price cap. The concern for us at Hugo is that these now come with a £150 to £200 exit fee.
From 1st October, all the signs are that the new Energy Price Cap will be lowered to 6.7p per kWh for gas and 27.2p per kWh for electricity. With standing charges staying the same.
This represents a 5% reduction in energy costs as opposed to the 1% being offered. The £150 -£200 exit fee makes this, in our opinion, not worth taking the fix until the 1st October Energy Price Cap announcement is made. Then, fixed deals will likely be offered on or below the October price cap rate.
In effect, fixing now could mean you £300 worse off (including the exit fees). But the security and peace of mind of a fixed rate for 12 months at the current price cap could bring peace of mind. However, the chances of the current government increasing the Energy Price Cap during the cost of living crisis and an election cycle remain very low, in our opinion.
So, we think it is worth holding on until the 1st of October price cap announcement before fixing. Fixing before winter for 12 months is on balance, though, a sensible thing to do. As wholesale rates are more volatile during winter as opposed to summer. We will keep you posted throughout August/September on this position.
Been quite pleased that our June gas + elec bill was £87, July has been £79.
DD was set at £130/month but energy provider has allowed me to now reduce it to £98/month, ~£230 in credit currently.
1930's semi with double glazing, combi boiler. Just me and my wife and we're pretty eco minded but use the heating when we need it.
This is possibly a question for a fresh thread... but how I do I go about finding out what needs insulating on my 1974 house? Are there reputable experts out there than can come round and tell me where my heat is going, what insulation methods are suitable etc?
Engage one of those bods who do an EPC rating on houses when they are put up for sale?
Been paying £40pcm after the government loan over last xmas.
Still £222 in credit so hopefully can keep it at that level for the rest of the year.
This is possibly a question for a fresh thread… but how I do I go about finding out what needs insulating on my 1974 house? Are there reputable experts out there than can come round and tell me where my heat is going, what insulation methods are suitable etc?
Ideally you'd want a PAS2030/5 survey completing. Not cheap, but it will give you a specific list of items to increase the energy efficiency of your home.
Alternatively you can look up your EPC rating here:
https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate
This will give you some generic items to implement to improve the rating
This is possibly a question for a fresh thread… but how I do I go about finding out what needs insulating on my 1974 house? Are there reputable experts out there than can come round and tell me where my heat is going, what insulation methods are suitable etc?
Its easy enough to look for yourself - get up in the loft and see what insulation is in place - measure how thick it is, or if any is there at all. If the loft is boarded out then either lift a board to see if there is any at all, or just measure the height of the gap between ceiling of the room below and the loft.
Current recommendation is for 27cm of insulation in the roof, I would guess that its likely you have 10cm right now .
While you're in the loft , go to the edge of the building and shine a torch in the wall cavity and see if you can see any existing cavity wall insulation.
on a cold day go round the house feeling for drafts, and fix them as you.
Presume you windows are double glazed? if not , then swapping to double glazing could be worthwhile, but not cheap.
While you’re in the loft , go to the edge of the building and shine a torch in the wall cavity and see if you can see any existing cavity wall insulation.
Cavities? Luxury!
This is possibly a question for a fresh thread… but how I do I go about finding out what needs insulating on my 1974 house? Are there reputable experts out there than can come round and tell me where my heat is going, what insulation methods are suitable etc?
What Julians said.
Start by just going round and blocking up any drafts that shouldn't be there (e.g holes drilled by BT/sky for their cables and not finished neatly), adjust windows so they seal properly, fit draft excluders to doors if needed, renew the rubber/foam seal on exterior doors, replace extractor fan exterior louvres with ones with flaps that close, put foam draft excluder strips around the loft hatch, etc. Those will make the biggest difference.
Loft can be DIY'd, Step 1, top up the existing insulation along the joists, so if you have 6" joist and 50mm insulation, add another 100mm between each one. Then add a layer of 30cm rockwool over that running perpendicular. It's a faffy job and the biggest source of heat loss so IMO not worth just doing the minimum, may as well go as deep as you can.
Cavity walls need a contractor to do it, depends on the condition of your house and location. There are internet horror stories of damp worth less houses after insulation, but most seem to have been damp beforehand, if the cavity is already damp then insulation will be a disaster, if the house is nice and dry, pointing is in good condition, etc then it should be fine (as long as you're not in an exposed location). Ours came with a survey of itmes to fix at some point e.g. none of our windows have trickle vents which will probably never get done.
So, Octopus are offering a fixed deal for a year (with exit penalties) with prices of about 6% lower than cap. Anyone jumped on it?
Yup, I did yesterday. 6% less than current, cap forecast to drop 5% but that still means the fix is cheaper than the cap.
The advice above only seems relevant to the other fixes on the market which are more in the region of 1% below. 6 below is pretty attractive for certainty if nothing else.
A couple of questions for the masses.
We're in the very lucky position that we fixed our gas/electricity for 2 years in August 2021. Our fixed deal is just about to come to and end and we're looking at around a 75% price hike. I guess we can't complain too much as most others have been stuck with this for a long time.
We're now rolling onto Eonnext's variable tariff. In Glasgow for Electricity this is 29.67p/kWh and 61.67p standing charge. I've searched a few suppliers and they all have standing charges of around 60p. Our current standing charge is 12.39p.
I can understand the standing charge increasing with inflation but this is somewhat more. Any idea what the rise in standing charge is paying for (I'm assuming this is actually us paying back the energy loans from last year or is it something else)?
According to ofgen the standing charge is capped at 53p. Why then is the standing charge in the Glasgow area above the price cap?
Ours still isn't on, naturally, but with the realisation that type 21 rads are basically the same size as type 11 I have started to upgrade them. I've done 2 today and have one more. I may do others later in the year. As well as slightly improving the efficiency I want to be in a position to install a heat pump when the gas boiler eventually fails. Apparently with the grant they can cost the same for the unit, other required upgrades notwithstanding.
Adding about 1.2kW of nominal heat output
Mine's been on several time already. Just for 30 mins or so to take the edge off. I'm feeling the cold at the moment clearly. 🙄
Windows still open here and wearing shorts. Heating a long way off yet.
Mines been on to make sure it all still works! Don't leave it till a cold day or your plumber could be busy! 🙂
I do wonder how long we will hold onto ‘old’ houses that are inefficient.
While they are building shoddy hen boxes crammed onto featureless estates I’ll hang on to my 1920s house thanks! 🙂
I’ll hang onto my solidly built 30’s semi, thank you, I really don’t want a cardboard house with a handkerchief for a garden. So what do you recommend we do with with those ‘old houses? Especially when they’re semi’s?
The double glazing does need an upgrade, and better radiators in most rooms, but not affordable at the moment. I’m about £350 in credit at the mo’, I put the heating on the other evening, ‘cos it felt a bit chilly, but only after replacing the batteries in the Hive thermostat, which had died and I hadn’t noticed…
MIne has come on on the thermostat a couple of times recently for short periods.
Turned the boiler off to prevent the hot water coming on whilst I worked in the rads. Turned it back on and it's dead. Hope it's just a PCB fault since there are refurbished ones still.on eBay for £50
Nothing yet. House still at about 19def c from solar gain most of the day / night on the south side of our island.
^ sleep on it and check things again in the morning that it's not something silly
It showed this fault.last time I worked on it but it went away quite quickly. It's a flame detection fault allegedly.
Is that not the safety thingy for if the flame goes out?
My boiler often takes a couple of goes to light.
Is the pressure in the system right ?
Yeah there might be some sort of priming procedure you need to do to get the pilot flame back on.
Is that not the safety thingy for if the flame goes out?
Yes, it checks itself to see if that's in order before it tries to light. If not it immediately displays the code.
Yeah there might be some sort of priming procedure you need to do to get the pilot flame back on.
Pilot flame? How old do you think it is?!
Had the old heating on a few times. I put it on ideally just to take the chill off the house while watching tv, but then end up falling asleep in the chair, waking up several hours later to find the whole house is 25c.
That isnt going to bade well come bill time 🙁
Engage one of those bods who do an EPC rating on houses when they are put up for sale?
they don't really do much at all and make loads of assumptions do they not?
Can you not get an app for your phone that gives and infra red image of the property to see where you are losing heat?
Can you not get an app for your phone that gives and infra red image of the property to see where you are losing heat?
Does your phone have an infra red camera ?
Pilot flame? How old do you think it is?!
You know what I mean 😛
Anyway, I've not had the heating on since last winter... my theromostat/hydrometer is now reading about 17.5 degrees, and high 60's for relative humidity, at night time.Recent damp rainey weather not helping.
Daytime its more like 18-19c and high 50's RH.
So it's getting to the point I might put the heating on for an hour or two mid evening, but only with a target temp of 19c.
Pilot flame? How old do you think it is?!
Our 30+ year old Stelrad/Ideal boiler has a pilot light. I love that boiler because it's really simple to work on and you can still get parts for it.
they don’t really do much at all and make loads of assumptions do they not?
DEAs are bound by a formalised methodology dictated by something called RDSap. Its an attempt to benchmark inspection standards to the same level across the UK and make individual home energy assessments viable at a sensible cost and timeframe. They're audited pretty heavily and continuous surveying is required to maintain their accreditation.
RDsap stands for reduced data standard assessment protocol. It's a truncated version of a set of bespoke tools that assess a buildings energy performance by each individual component and the full sap process is highly detailed and complex. RDsap mandates assumptions in the survey to make this much less onerous and reach about 95% of the accuracy of full sap.
Professionally, they're as variable as anyone else.
Sitting in a 150 year old stone building in Calderdale, comfortable in a t-shirt and cotton hippie pants at 00:45. This month's gas/electric bill was £44. I wouldn't even consider putting on heating at the tail end of the warmest September in human history. I think a lot of it is acclimatisation; I work and play outdoors and am constantly amazed how many clothes people can keep on when I'm too hot in a t-shirt.
I have put my heating on a few times just to make sure it works and the switch doesn't get clogged. Can't see us needing actually heating of the house for a while yet, although I have in the last week started using a duvet on the bed rather than just a thin sheet.
I have put my heating on a few times just to make sure it works
Always worth checking this now, rather than waiting until it snows finding that its broken.
Also, if you pay by direct debit, its worth checking what balance you have on your account. If its excessive either reduce your monthly DD or ask for a refund.
I do wonder how long we will hold onto ‘old’ houses that are inefficient.
The answer is a nationwide insulation programme. I live in an 1870s building. With a lot of work and money I have insulated it as well as I can given its a listed building in a conservation are and an important building for the character of the area. Made a huge difference to energy usage
Ach we had 30c on Tues and Weds. I planned a bbq for Friday and it was freezing (22c) - we had to have the fire pit going. 🙂
19c with a 40kmph wind today so the fleece is on!
Nope not needed it as yet, bedroom window is still open too.
Boiler ok again this morning..?
Couldn't get the big rad I fitted to heat up, eventually bubbles have settled and now it's only warm not hot. There are.long runs of un lagged pipe in this house which causes problems for the rads on the bottom floor.
Did you balance the new rads?
Of course, balancing rads was the very first thing I learned about on my obsessive journey towards optimising the heating 🙂
Well you seem not to have flow to that radiator so how can it be balanced? Maybe a bit of debris? valve jamming?
Thinking about it: the hot water comes out of the boiler and up 2 floors to the airing cupboard where the two 2 way valves are, then back down to the ground floor where the heat requirement is greatest. That's a shit design.
Was the rad in there working properly before? If so then occams razer says its something you have done. did you use PTFE tape on the rad connection? could be blocking flow.
Ours has been on timed but only if the house drops below 17. Good time to ensure everything works before you need it.
We had hot radiators in June when we discovered the motorised valve had failed. Genuine part was only £24
Always worth checking this now, rather than waiting until it snows finding that its broken.
Good call. Testing now...
[ edit: all good... I think I need to dust though ]
With the outside temperature all over the place at the moment, it's hard to tell how well the improvements I've made are helping. My hallway Nest stat reads as 19.5 at the very lowest reached so far, now sitting at 20 / 20.5 without heating. I'm hoping we can delay heating for a while yet. I can't improve the house any further without knocking it down and rebuilding to near passive standards. The biggest issue is lack of solar gain during the winter. Angle of the house and neighbour's property really put a stop to that so it's out of my hands. Positive to that is in the summer it protects the house from excessive high temps.
It’s usually late October or early November for us these days with the delayed Autumn and Winter that we now seem to always have, but I’m not looking forward to the cost of heating oil this year. It seems to have stabilised at 80ppl which is MUCH higher than any price we paid prior the invasion of Ukraine. I think the most we’d paid prior to that was 47ppl. So it’s new normal seems to be settled at DOUBLE the previous high price. That’ll be us looking at £880 (1000l) to get from November to early March. £1000 with the boiler service. Ouch.
Is fine balancing actually necessary if you're running TRV's of any flavour? Barring the house having sat at in anti-frost for a week they should control everything and will balance out eventually anyway.
Even with trvs preferential flow will still occur
Yes, it still is. Rads closer to the boiler see higher pressure and their water will be hotter so they'll output the most heat. Then water will flow slower to the more remote ones and the water will be cooler before it gets there as it's been through a longer length of un insulated pipe.
By restricting the flow through some rads you force more through others so you can direct heat where you want it. We need the most heat on the ground floor so the upstairs rads are almost fully closed. However you can also adjust things so rooms with TRVs heat up first and then the room with the thermostat in it starts to get more heat only once the other rooms have turned their TRVs off.
I have put my heating on a few times just to make sure it works
Our boiler heats the HW every day, so it gets checked every day!
The only CH component which isn't tested is one motorised valve (which has a mechanical over ride and you can change the motor un 10 mins without needing to drain the system).
The answer is a nationwide insulation programme.
Seems a bit extreme. Wouldn't it be easier just to insulate all the houses instead of the entire country?
Well did another burn tonight and the hallway rad got pretty warm so I guess it's working now.
I may but some X400 cleaner in it just to make sure.
That’ll be us looking at £880 (1000l) to get from November to early March.
We are electric and wood heated with the house only heated in the evening up to 18 degCby wood with electric on towel rail and kids bed room and spend that much so that doesn't sound bad.
The answer is a nationwide insulation programme
The thing is insulation needs to be coupled with ventilation/ extraction so it's not quite the simple job of just insulation.