Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

Primrose

Now that gas prices have risen so much more steeply than electricity, I'm wondering how much more econical it would be to switch on an electric fire for the main living room, rather than using central heating. It would mean the rest of the house being cold and if the living room door was kept open heat would escape, but has anybody done the sums on how much this action would reduce the gas bill in the average house by?

Magentasue

Primrose wrote: »

Now that gas prices have risen so much more steeply than electricity, I'm wondering how much more econical it would be to switch on an electric fire for the main living room, rather than using central heating. It would mean the rest of the house being cold and if the living room door was kept open heat would escape, but has anybody done the sums on how much this action would reduce the gas bill in the average house by?

This comes up a lot on the Gas and Electricity board - fast becoming my second favourite board - and the mantra seems to be 'Electricity expensive, Gas cheaper).

I think this year, once the cold weather hits home, I'm going to do some daily gas meter readings to work out how much our heating costs on home days/ work days in cold/very cold days. Nobody seems to be able to tell you this because there are so many variables.

Primrose

ceridwen - As a very small child I remember my mother using a haybox during the war and immediately afterwards when fuel was scarce and the country suffered from continual power cuts. I seem to remember that it would take most of the day to cook a meat caserole in one of them. I had to make one once for one of my Girl Guide's badge. The meat stew I produced waspretty "chewy" ! I think the secret is to ensure that meat is cut up very small to ensure it gets cooked properly. I've never used once since but feel I ought to try one again, just as a "survival" technique. I imagine that stews with finely minced beef, lentils and other small pulses would cook more successfully than large pieces of braised steak. Liver cooks fairly quickly so braised liver & onions would probably be fine.

ceridwen

Primrose wrote: »

Now that gas prices have risen so much more steeply than electricity, I'm wondering how much more econical it would be to switch on an electric fire for the main living room, rather than using central heating. It would mean the rest of the house being cold and if the living room door was kept open heat would escape, but has anybody done the sums on how much this action would reduce the gas bill in the average house by?

Cant recall the figures - but, when I worked this out, I came to the conclusion that it was noticeably cheaper to have one electric fire on than the gas central heating - even when it is a warmer day, so apparently the central heating would cost noticeably less to run than the coldest days going. I think it was about half the price per hour for the one fire as compared to all the gas central heating (even on the warmest days).

'Course someone may come on here and tell me my maths is all wrong;)

mardatha

Isnt it mad ?? my son once rented a local lodge house, with 1887 carved above the door. It had the original fire, with a cast iron oven on either side. One was used to dry firewood and the other was used for casseroles This also heated the water.. It was quite a small fire but if they kept it on the place heated up ok, and the stone walls got warm. Why did we get all modern and fancy ? LOL

ceridwen

Primrose wrote: »

ceridwen - As a very small child I remember my mother using a haybox during the war and immediately afterwards when fuel was scarce and the country suffered from continual power cuts. I seem to remember that it would take most of the day to cook a meat caserole in one of them. I had to make one once for one of my Girl Guide's badge. The meat stew I produced waspretty "chewy" ! I think the secret is to ensure that meat is cut up very small to ensure it gets cooked properly. I've never used once since but feel I ought to try one again, just as a "survival" technique. I imagine that stews with finely minced beef, lentils and other small pulses would cook more successfully than large pieces of braised steak. Liver cooks fairly quickly so braised liver & onions would probably be fine.

Thanks for that. Errrr...I'm a vegetarian actually....so its that sorta thing I will be aiming to cook in it:D . Dont suppose anyone has any idea what its like with beans, lentils, cereals, etc? I was thinking I could do traditional type porridge in it overnight for instance and wondering about soups, stews, roasted vegetables.... In fact I'm basically assuming that I could just take any recipe I pleased from a vegetarian slowcooker book and do that if I want.

ceridwen

On a different tack - just unwrapped the wind-up lantern I sent off for and thought "Oh.....1 minute winding only gives 5 minutes strong light" - I thought it would be a lot longer than that. Quick checksee through descriptions of various different wind-up lanterns later - and yep - the hours and hours of light for a few minutes winding is only the case for nightlight strength light (not the strong lightbulb replacement light I have in mind). HMMM...duh! Not pleased with that. Figure I might as well keep it as emergency lighting - but take the charge it up with a 6 volt charger option. There isnt one of these supplied with it - can I assume its okay to use the electric charger thingie I have with the wind-up radio I have?

belfastgirl23

ceridwen wrote: »

I've just been promised a haybox cooker from a friend who used to make them - had given up hope, as I'd not heard from her whether she still had that last one she made! Yay!:T Does anyone use one regularly? What is your experience of it purlease?

On the decorating front - I've got a bit of painting to do soon. I've seen a couple of mentions of Thermilate - apparently an energy-saving coating one mixes into paint before applying to walls/ceilings and its supposed to reduce heat loss by up to 25%. Has anyone tried this? What do you think of it?

I'm getting our hall stairs and landing done in September and have asked the painter to quote for using thermalite - it's basically one huge outside wall (and we have solid walls so can't use insulation) so I'm hoping it'll make a difference. I did ask someone who works in a related field whether he thought it would make a difference and his view was that the technology is there to develop something effective (although he wouldn't be drawn on this particular brand). Will be very interested to hear how you get on..

annie123

ceridwen wrote: »

On the decorating front - I've got a bit of painting to do soon. I've seen a couple of mentions of Thermilate - apparently an energy-saving coating one mixes into paint before applying to walls/ceilings and its supposed to reduce heat loss by up to 25%. Has anyone tried this? What do you think of it?

Never heard of the paint mix thing, found it for £10 goes in with 5 ltrs. I am doing more research on this now about to decorate bedroom, after having cleared all the junk out:rolleyes:
it sounds very interesting stuff if it works, thanks

DdraigGoch

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