Is your heating ON or OFF?

TheCheerleader

custardy said:

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.. yes welcome to Britain, the comment is wide of the mark, sadly it’s a case of heat or eat for a lot of people.

TheCheerleader

Weather sunny today in mid Wales.
 We have under floor heating, vaulted double height ceilings and open plan with thick stone walls. It’s lovely to look at and great in summer, but it can take hours to warm up in the depths of winter and that’s with using the wood burner. We have two boilers for the house and even scrimping ( hot water bottles filled from stove, throws, electric blankets all in use)  we were using £7-£8 during the day, it’s a real issue for us.

maisie_cat

We had this conversation this morning, it was chilly at 6am, we have a 1950s Rayburn on oil so we can't turn it off and on as easily as a modern boiler. It only heats 2 radiators anyway but the large lump of cast iron heats the centre of our stone cottage. We opted for fleeces and using the small woodburner if necessary. Now of course the sun is out and I'm wearing shorts to do the veg garden!

Rosa_Damascena

TheCheerleader said:

custardy said:

**********************

.. yes welcome to Britain, the comment is wide of the mark, sadly it’s a case of heat or eat for a lot of people.

Irony is not your thing? I am fortunate that I can afford both but choose to waste money on neither. The post will resonate with plenty of people in the same position.

I want to do a load of laundry ahead of winter but generally pick days when the sun is out so it dries fast in the conservatory. Although it's sunny, this morning it felt like summer was well and truly over.

Greenglockenspiel

Still off here and about to hang washing outside in the sun. I still haven’t even got socks on!

greenbee

Greenglockenspiel said:

Still off here and about to hang washing outside in the sun. I still haven’t even got socks on!

UFH doesn't go on until floors need socks AND shoes! But then it's electric and wildly expensive. The oil-fired CH/HW is currently cheap (based on lockdown oil prices) and the stove is free (other than the cost of cutting the trees down, the chimney sweep and my labour chopping logs). So I'm lucky enough to have options. 

Rosa_Damascena

It seems I spoke too soon because it's actually been lovely here all day. I mopped the floor and it dried in seconds. Laundry tomorrow now.

Living_proof

Central heating fixed with just a couple of new parts for the boiler so we now  have the security of warmth and hot water. Typically today has been lovely with the sun streaming through and temp without heating 21C in the house. The heating will only come on now if it goes under 19C first thing in the morning and late evening, all on a timer. My heating bills are very modest but I still try and use as little fuel as possible.

Rosa_Damascena

greenbee said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

Still off here and about to hang washing outside in the sun. I still haven’t even got socks on!

UFH doesn't go on until floors need socks AND shoes! But then it's electric and wildly expensive. The oil-fired CH/HW is currently cheap (based on lockdown oil prices) and the stove is free (other than the cost of cutting the trees down, the chimney sweep and my labour chopping logs). So I'm lucky enough to have options. 

How expensive is it, exactly? Can you give me an idea of your usage and its incremental cost on your electricity bill? Was looking at getting it installed in a new orangery but if its prohibitively expensive to run there is little point.

Greenglockenspiel

greenbee said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

Still off here and about to hang washing outside in the sun. I still haven’t even got socks on!

UFH doesn't go on until floors need socks AND shoes! But then it's electric and wildly expensive. The oil-fired CH/HW is currently cheap (based on lockdown oil prices) and the stove is free (other than the cost of cutting the trees down, the chimney sweep and my labour chopping logs). So I'm lucky enough to have options. 

I’m also interested how expensive it is - we were thinking of getting it in our bathroom. We just have gas central heating otherwise, a previous owner of the house took the chimneys out.