Is your heating ON or OFF?

prepareathome

For those scared of prepayment meters costing more check out each company - we pay the exact same for both gas and electric as the normal tarriff, we are with BG. They, I have been told are now even offering a capped rate for prepayment, I want to look into it but cannot change my tariff until they pay the £120 discount as had to be with through certain dates to qualify ( we are getting it due to low income). That will mean I won't really need to buy electric for months so will use the money towards building up credit for next winter as its something we have not done yet. The rate you pay really does depend on the company, some charge the same but have a standing charge so that makes it cost more, other do charge more per unit others have a meter charge, its just wading through everything. For me the fear of getting a big fuel bill has always made it worth me paying a bit more on prepay for the peace of mind but thankfully this is no more. CH is gas as is hob but the combi boiler really has cut down both electric and gas and we are paying less now than we were before it was fitted. We use if not to cold about £10pw but if it gets colder then gas is about £15 and this is with leaving the thermostat on 18 all the time, I really need to get the company out to explain how to change it as when we try it defaults back to factory settings which is coming on in morning and evening to 18, so now it will just come on when temp drops below that, rather than having it come on at certain times.. Radiator in study is not on as that is where we store my food supply.

Before the CH we had a gas fire in LR and used a calor gas heater upstairs and that was it.

Stay warm

lostinrates

Stupidly we have come in and sat down after working too hard all day....we should have got the woodburner on first. We are both trying to gather the strength to do it. The dogs have heat though.

We worked so hard today outside at one point i was down to my vest and dh was in a tshirt.

shegar

lostinrates wrote: »

Stupidly we have come in and sat down after working too hard all day....we should have got the woodburner on first. We are both trying to gather the strength to do it. The dogs have heat though.

We worked so hard today outside at one point i was down to my vest and dh was in a tshirt.

I expect having you being out in the fresh air all day you are flat out on the sofa.:D and not lit the woodburner yet, its going to be cold again tonight with a frost, ive got my heating on now , but it has been a super sunny day and the birds are singing away, and had 2 blue tits looking into 2 diferent boxes , so fingers crossed there.:D "Dont forget to do the garden bird watch count this weekend.".........You get more birds the colder it is......

lostinrates

shegar wrote: »

I expect having you being out in the fresh air all day you are flat out on the sofa.:D and not lit the woodburner yet, its going to be cold again tonight with a frost, ive got my heating on now , but it has been a super sunny day and the birds are singing away, and had 2 blue tits looking into 2 diferent boxes , so fingers crossed there.:D "Dont forget to do the garden bird watch count this weekend.".........You get more birds the colder it is......

We had no frost this morning, which surprised me as the raio weather told me while i was in bed it was below freezing and there was a hard frost. Even our coldest troughs hadn 't frozen, but it does feel very cold tonight, and the wind is from the north and countered the lovely warm sun very effectively as the day went on.



Brrrr. Yes, on sofa, but sitting up.....now looking at the woodburner, so one step closer to getting up and lighting it. Its times like this i really miss the ease of 'proper ' heating.

Kirri

lostinrates, I would love to live somewhere I could have a woodburner, sure they are hard work though but must be lovely once it's going.

Shegar, I need to get and feed the birds with this weather coming...


Down to 16.9 in here today, just seen forecast, doesn't look like the snow will reach London but they don't seem too sure themselves yet!! Temps definitely looking cold though either way... I will probably have to put the heating on by Monday I think, will see how it goes tomorrow.

Kittenkirst

Its 2 degrees outside at the moment; not sure on temp here but we're watching Angels & Demons snuggled on sofa under blankets with the heating off. We've settled on the heating bejng on for 45 mins in the morn to take the chill off (or we'd never get up!) and then off thr rest of the day. I have a random question: our boiler doesnt seem to have a timer for hot water (always semms to be available) does that mean we are using lots of energy without knowing? (have to admit to not knowing how boilers/hot water works)

lostinrates

Kirri wrote: »

lostinrates, I would love to live somewhere I could have a woodburner, sure they are hard work though but must be lovely once it's going.

Shegar, I need to get and feed the birds with this weather coming...


Down to 16.9 in here today, just seen forecast, doesn't look like the snow will reach London but they don't seem too sure themselves yet!! Temps definitely looking cold though either way... I will probably have to put the heating on by Monday I think, will see how it goes tomorrow.

While i know to many thiis is sacralege, i hate the woodburner. Its in an ingle nook and most of the heat stays in the inglenook. Its not much less hungy than an open fire, depite having it looked at by a professional, and repeated attempts at re roping And sealing with ceramic paper. It very rarely damps down enough to still be ignited in the morning, it never throws out the same heat as an open fire. Ours is meant to be a reasonably good model, but in the refurb it will be going in to a smaller room and the inglenook returned to an open fire. Woodburners are safer, cleaner and generally more efficient, but i just do not get on as well with it.:o

Kirri

lostinrates wrote: »

While i know to many thiis is sacralege, i hate the woodburner. Its in an ingle nook and most of the heat stays in the inglenook. Its not much less hungy than an open fire, depite having it looked at by a professional, and repeated attempts at re roping And sealing with ceramic paper. It very rarely damps down enough to still be ignited in the morning, it never throws out the same heat as an open fire. Ours is meant to be a reasonably good model, but in the refurb it will be going in to a smaller room and the inglenook returned to an open fire. Woodburners are safer, cleaner and generally more efficient, but i just do not get on as well with it.:o

That's very interesting to know for when/if I ever get into my ideal house/cottage type place. We had an open fire when I was growing up that was so hot, didn't realise the woodburners wouldn't throw out so much heat though safety would be important.

prepareathome

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Its 2 degrees outside at the moment; not sure on temp here but we're watching Angels & Demons snuggled on sofa under blankets with the heating off. We've settled on the heating bejng on for 45 mins in the morn to take the chill off (or we'd never get up!) and then off thr rest of the day. I have a random question: our boiler doesnt seem to have a timer for hot water (always semms to be available) does that mean we are using lots of energy without knowing? (have to admit to not knowing how boilers/hot water works)

If you don't have a hot water tank then your water is being heated as you want it - when you turn on a tap, if you do have a hot water tank then you should have a switch to put it on when you want hot water and if you don't have one for it then you will be paying more by keeping tank on all the time, so first thing check if you have a hot water tank or not.

Kittenkirst

Thanks Prepareathome; we live in an apartment block so assuming we dont have a tank (not sure where it'd be if we had one) so hoping that means we're not paying for hot water all day every day which was my worry! :0)