What's the most cost effective way to heat my house?

sillymee

We have a ridiculously cold house and are looking at different ways to heat it which might be more cost effective. We can't get mains gas so have calor gas powered central heating and an open fire with a back boiler. Calor gas is really expensive so we tend to only use the central heating when we already have hot water from the fire. Unfortunately the open fire is not very efficient, with most of the heat going up the chimney. We had decided to change to a wood burning stove, but were quoted over £5k for installation :-( Our boiler is quite old so we were thinking of getting a new, maybe combi boiler, but concerend we'd have to loose the back boiler which gives us hot water all winter (would be nice to have hot water in summer without using immersion heater). Perhaps an electric heating system would be more cost efficient? At night we use an 'eco' (electric oil filled radiator, style) heater in our daughters bedroom, as she's only 16 months old - we just have a very thick duvet.
The situation is complicated slightly as we live next door to my Grandma, whom we rent our house from. The calor gas tank is shared, but despite us having seperate meters (one is metric & one imperial) she won't belive that she uses more gas than we do - her house is twice the size and she usually has the cental heating on a couple of hours a day, whereas we might have it on 1/2 hours a week (when the water is already warm!). She's not averse to getting a new bolier too, as hers is ancient - a combi might be better for her as she only lights her fire when it's really cold and often just uses an electric radiator (and is always forgetting to switch her immersion off)! She could go on a fixed price scheme as she's over 60.
Sorry for the long post - any ideas would be welcome!

penrhyn

What steps have you taken to insulate and draft proof the property?

sillymee

Sorry for delay, hadn't seen your response penrhyn.

Not taken many steps to insulate/draft proof since we've been here. There is some insulation in the loft, but my Dad says the roof is too low to add. We can't have cavity wall insulation as we don't have a cavity - just walls which are about a foot thick - you would think they should keep it warm, but it doesn't, although it is nice and cool in summer!

penrhyn

It might be possible to blow more insulation into the loft space, rather than using rolls.
Your walls are acting like a reverse storage heater absorbing a lot of the heat your heating system is providing
Not sure what else you can do apart from thick curtains and draft proofing.

ankspon

you could set it on fire but you won't have a house to heat afterwards