Is your heating ON or OFF?

BitterAndTwisted

I agree, someone coming in and turning the heating on and then going out for hours would make my blood boil. What does this idiot think timers are for? An hour before you come home should be adequate. Why heat an empty house?

Sunnyday, I think your logic is wrong about keeping the heating on 24/7. Power is used a long as the boiler is working and it won't cost more to get the place heated up to temp compared to it being on all the time. At the very least I would turn it off at night during the hours you're in bed or even turn the thermostat down to 14 or 15 degrees. Once you're warm and snug in bed even an infirm oldie shouldn't need that much heat.

Sunnyday

B&T - Thanks for wanting to save us some of the paper stuff

Our old house is a bit strange in how it heats up although i have come across others in the same situation.

It takes ages - and i mean over 24 hours to heat up these rooms as they have high ceilings and it does cool down very quickly despite insulation. We have an old back boiler and i do mean old lol, its the old mechanical kind - no digital doodahs here. The boiler is great although less efficient than the new models but we`ve tried different things over the years and it does seem to work best this way.

Luckily it is only turned up like this between 8 weeks and 12 per year so its more cost effective than having a new boiler and all the additional gubbins installed, the service guy said its a great old girl and hopefully should run indefinitely. In the last 6 years its cost us just over £20 in parts and is the most reliable thing in the house lol.

Next door have a new fangled combi that has broken down each year for the last 3 years and has cost them lots, they turn theirs off at night and limit the daytime usage and their bills are on a par with ours :eek:

Can you tell i love mine

Gotta run.

SD

FrugalLina

Poundstretchers have some at good prices:

Small uncovered: 1.99
2L uncovered: 2.99
covered: 4.99

HTH!

cleggie wrote: »

Hi guys,
I am just de-lurking to ask where you have found to be the cheapest place to get hot water bottles from?
I need to buy 3 (1 each for me and my chidren) and cant afford very much, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

FrugalLina

My gas and elec bills came yesterday and I am in a state of shock. Have had a house guest for 2 months and she works different shifts to me, so the heating has been on much more, plus she did a lot of washing and cooking. She has moved out now, so everything is being turned off!

Fortunately, I am used to the cold and have plenty of warm clothes to layer up in.

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, in my world house-guests stop being guests and start becoming lodgers at the end of the second week. Considering how long they have stayed, how much your bills have gone up and where you live in these isles I'd be asking for a contribution. A substantial one, like the difference between last year's plus 20% for the latest increase in autumn and what the bills are now.

FrugalLina

Thanks B&T - she did make a contribution, but probably not enough as I just guestimated, not really realising quite how much she used

No more guests for me unless it is summer (and they bring muchly food)!

BitterAndTwisted

In which case contact her and tell her your guestimate was miles off. I'd be mortified if I knew a friend had suffered as a consequence of their lovely hospitality. Two months in winter is not a summer's fortnight holiday

SailorSam

I've got my heating on at last, the men have just left after fitting a new boiler.
It broke down about 3mths ago and they kept coming and going away for more parts and finally wrote it off.
It's going to be nice to turn the tap on and find hot water, and i can give up wearing a woolly hat in the house.
On the bright side i've not used as much gas as you'd normally do.

Kirri

I've been out and bought a £20 2kw fan heater to see if I can improve on the 12.3 degrees in my flat! I don't like the fact they all have thermostats now and judging from reviews they seem oversensitive so switch off too quick, so will see how the new one goes as the old one was off more than on and so couldn't get the heat up.

Also if anyone needs them, Primark have the ladies fleece pj's reduced to £4.90 - snow forecast for the weekend in London looking at the met office website, so I gave in and bought another pair while the storage heater is broke!!

Temp up to 15.3 in here now Am trying not to think about the next bill though!!!

cleggie

Thanks everyone for the advice re where to buy HWBs.
Am going to look in all the places you mentioned and find the cheapest.

I am SO glad i downsized to a tiny house in August last year, as my old house had really high ceilings and the rooms were massive, so cost a small (or not so small!) fortune to heat. I was putting £40 a week credit in my meter when it was this cold. Now i am putting in £40 a month (and am a bit in credit)!!

I am hoping to make my own draught excluders using an old pillow case as the cover, but not sure what to use to fill them with- any suggestions?