Our house is so cold, what can I do?

pinkpinkfizz

Hi,
We own an ex-council 3 bedroomed house and about 5 years ago had total heating with total control installed instead of the warm air central heating (no gas option at that time). Our house is all electric and our current direct debit is set at £150 per month, but scottish hydro want to put it up to £220 per month. I wouldn't mind paying out that kind of money if my house was tropically warm... but its really freezing.

We normally have a deficit over the winter of about £250 and usually clear that over the summer months.

The problem is that our house is freezing cold. Of the storage heaters we had installed we only have the one large heater in the sitting room turned on (set to input 4) and we keep the doors of that room closed so it gets a chance to heat up. As for the rest of the house, the 2 main hallway heaters ( 1 upstairs & 1 downstairs) are not turned on, as I cannot afford to increase our monthly payment. we also wasted money by having convector type heaters fitted in the bedrooms but we've never even turned them on, as we've heard they are so expensive to run!

I signed us up for the "better plan" and we have an energy monitor and since getting it, we are much more vigilant of the energy we use but I don't understand the monitor all that much. I just watch the level of bars on the graph and can see when we've had a good day (1 or 2 bars on the graph) or a bad day (all 5 bars). I also don't understand how we can use all 5 bars, just running a normal household... without any heating on??!!

I'm hoping that someone can give me advice on how I can make my house warmer, and perhaps explain the energy monitor?

Thanks in advance,

p.s We all do wear our fleeces in the house,and have extra blankets on the beds but our house is so cold it feels horrible and unwelcoming and I feel guilty that my children have to be cold.

penrhyn

Have you insulated the loft, had cavity wall insulation installed?
Draft proof the doors and windows, if not double glazed use the cling film type and /or heavy curtains.

tkwad

hun, i feel your cold lol
i have lpg heating and it costs me 130 a month for that and it just hetas the breeze i have to pay 50 a month on top for electric and that aint going to cover it at all. I hate being so cold, and i have a 4 month old baby too . Not any amount of money will heat this house and the condensation already is causing mold. HOw can i have condensation and not be warm!

prosaver

we had storage heater and ther'e useless....
radiant heaters are the best sort of heater as they heat the room not the air.
get rid of you lgp heaters as you will have air vent (loses heat).
Radiant heaters are the most efficient and effective method in which to deliver "heat" under the diverse
conditions present in warehouses, garages, storerooms as well as the largest facilities imaginable.
Thats why industry chooses them as they are the cheapest form of electrical heating.
OSCILLATING HALOGEN HEATER - 1200 WATT google it. Is our favorite as it has Produce a warm light and heat in seconds . The lowest setting is 400watts Which is about the same as 4 light bulbs.
get a fire alarm
Anyway apply for a grant from warm front or similar and get the house insulated
Have a snug room dont heat the whole house up.
If you feel cold at daytime go for a walk and hang round the library or go shopping

st999

The problem is that our house is freezing cold

That is because you are only heating one room.

Years ago I lived in a house where the only source of heat was an open coal fire in the living room. No central heating in those days. The kitchen was heated by putting on the gas oven and the bedrooms weren't heated at all.

A one bar electric fire was put on in the bedroom long enough to take the chill off the air before going to bed then it was moved to my older sister's room because she went to bed later than me.

My mother and father kept each other warm.

I used to make ice lollies on the window sill in the winter.

I never lived in a house with central heating until I was in my 20's.

If you want heat you have to pay for it.

Oh! and the little dome paraffin heater under the toilet waste pipe to stop it freezing.

dunloadin

If you have THTC then you should have two meters, one for the domestic supply and one for the heating. If you only have one and it's eco7 (or worse still single rate) then it's no surprise your bills are so mutch.

DO NOT buy plug in heaters, they will be on the domestic meter and you'll be paying the much higher rate.

Does your energy montor clip onto both meters....if you have THTC you'll need a minimum of two connections to the monitor (4 if its a fully wired up system!)

Have a trawl through some of my older posts on THTC, theres a few on how to get the best from your storage heaters as well.

pinkpinkfizz

penrhyn wrote: »

Have you insulated the loft, had cavity wall insulation installed?
Draft proof the doors and windows, if not double glazed use the cling film type and /or heavy curtains.

Our Loft has been insulated. We can't get cavity wall insulation as we are single brick and our windows are double glazed already! I have bought thermal linings for all curtains but still need to get a heavy curtain for the porch door. thanks for the suggestions though.

st999 wrote: »

That is because you are only heating one room.

Of course I realise that I am only heating one room and therefore the rest of the house is going to be cold. I couldn't possibly expect anything else. I was simply pointing out the problems we are experiencing in the hope that someone would have some helpful advice... (and no I can't afford to heat more than one room) I also remember ice on the inside of my bedroom window when I was little,and being wrapped up to stay warm & cosy through the night. I guess I'm expecting that "these days" things should be better, more comfortable. It doesn't seem that much to ask?

dunloadin wrote: »

If you have THTC then you should have two meters, one for the domestic supply and one for the heating. If you only have one and it's eco7 (or worse still single rate) then it's no surprise your bills are so much.

DO NOT buy plug in heaters, they will be on the domestic meter and you'll be paying the much higher rate.

Does your energy montor clip onto both meters....if you have THTC you'll need a minimum of two connections to the monitor (4 if its a fully wired up system!)

Have a trawl through some of my older posts on THTC, theres a few on how to get the best from your storage heaters as well.

I'll check out my meter style/types tomorrow, thanks for the pointers. Our meter only clips onto 1 meter and from memory its the last cable on the right that I attached it to. Your explanation could perhaps be why I can't make sense of the useage?!

I had already seen a couple of your previous posts but had a re-read of them again to see if I could understand it better.

So if I have the 2 meters then a single clipped monitor is of no use to me, would that be right? and I think you mean that my convector heaters (fitted at the same time as the storage heaters) would be using the same rate as the storage heaters, so would cost less to run than the main usage meter appliances? Could you estimate what that would be an hour? I have no clue about that sort of thing.

thanks for the advice..