Avoid using Gas and Electricity

northwest1965

Annie2008 wrote: »

Thanks for all the great advice here.
A quick question. Does anybody know whether heating using a gas fire is cheaper to run than the central heating system? My boiler and gas fire are about 12 years old.

Yes I am interested to know this aswell. I'm guessing the fire?

A_fiend_for_life

Annie2008 wrote: »

Thanks for all the great advice here.
A quick question. Does anybody know whether heating using a gas fire is cheaper to run than the central heating system? My boiler and gas fire are about 12 years old.

I think trying central heating only, fire only and a combination of both with CH on a lower setting and keeping track of gas used for heating would be the way forward. You'd need to take account of gas used for water and cooking.

I suspect the central heating is to provide background heating where as the gas fire provides more localized or top up heating. It might be you only need the fire on the coldest of days.

From what I gather heating efficiency and needs can vary from house to house and it is best to see what works best for you.

Bear in mind if you keep a diary different ouside temperatures and windspeeds can sway the results.

I only have central heating and keep it on a low setting when needed and dress up warm.

At the moment the heating is off and I have my feet on a hot water bottle on a blanket in a bowl.:cool:

clutterydrawer

I love this thread, and the previous one - i thought I was quite clever with my fuel usage but I have found loads of new ideas.

I was just wondering - has anyone, or is anyone considering, collating all the individual tips into one document? I cant see why anyone would volunteer for that task tbh but it would be really useful now the other thread is 140 pages long and has a lot of chat/repetition in it....I keep meanign to read right through it but it's too daunting.

thanks again everyone for your ingenious ideas

BigMummaF

Oh my! The weather has definitely NOT been user friendly for us has it but it's amazing how many of the tips I've learned on here have quickly become the norm for us. The Offspring now automatically grab for a fleecy throw when they're settling down in front of the telly & are more excepting of my 'creative' freezer menus
I'm trying to decide if it's in my best financial interest to sign up for the bills where you submit your own meter readings & they send a bill every month, as opposed to quaterly. Probably won't make a terrific difference to usage but will prevent heart failure four times a year Anyone else tried it, cuz I can't make head nor tail of what the different tariffs are Where are the Plain Speaking brigade when you want them

mardatha

BMF, I don't know if this is any help but this is what we do .. read the meter every morning and write it down. At the end of the week total it up and work out the cost. When you get your housekeeping, take that week's elect money and put it aside.Then when the bill comes in you have the cash to pay it there.

gizmocoe

Hi all, :T
We had been on economy 7 forever. Last year I enquired about it and was told that to make it worthwhile we needed to use something like 25% of our electric overnight.
With (2 adults & 2 teens in the house) these going overnight -
- washing machine,
- dishwasher when full
- plus any phone charging, slow-cooking and breadmaker when needed

we were still only averaging 22% of our consumption on E7 tariff (Southern Electric). They suggested we revert to a normal rate (on E7 you pay a lower rate overnight then a MUCH HIGHER RATE DURING THE DAY!!!!! :eek:) Not a lot of people know that.......
With 2 teens in the house their bedrooms are full of tv's, dvd's, hairdryers, phone chargers etc! so more is being used during the day. :cool:
We had to have a new meter put in (at no extra cost). Our bills have definitely dropped, and it is sooooo nice to be able to switch on the washing machine whenever I want to!!
Thanks for the tips - keep up the good work guys.
Giz

saorsie

Just been reading this fabulous thread after being signposted from another and it has so many wonderful tips in I thought it deserved a bump!

Am on a mission to cut my monthly fuel DD from £89 so will definitely be taking on board some of the really useful advice on here

Thanks peeps

-s-

strawberrypud

This week I have had to put the lights on in the house when I get up and in the evening as the nights start to draw in. Today I have had to put 3 loads of laundry into the tumble drier :eek: This act really gives me the shudders...the cost of using the tumbly is evident by how much our bills shoot up! We don't need the heating on yet but soon will I'm afraid. So I was wondering if I could get some tips from you OSers on how to keep my fuel bills as low as possible. Bearing in mind I have 2 young children in the house.

Is it more cost effective to take wet laundry to a launderette and use the big driers there?

Pink.

Hi strawberrypud,

These threads have lots of ideas for saving money on fuel bills and should help:

Avoid using Gas and Electricity

Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

I'll add your thread to the most recent of those later.

Pink

Changingme

I do this in winter ,I have to airers that I put the lighter wieght washing on then will take heavy clothes,towels,bedding to laundrette £1 each for 3 machines some times a bit more for towels,just so there is not much washing all over the place.Haven't had the lights on yet though,well not till about 9 when youngest goes bed.