best form of heating for my 91 year old neighbour...

fluffpot

Hi everyone

My next door neighbour is quite elderly and I'd like to find him a better/more cost effective way to heat his home.

The set up is:

Big old house, but he tends to live in the kitchen and ground floor bedroom only. There is no central heating. He had been using the gas hob to heat his kitchen (EEK!) but when the CO alarm I set up kept going off I called in British Gas and then condemned the cooker and disconnected it. I know that if he gets a new one, he'll just use it in the same way, so I'm not keen to go down this route.

In the meantime, he's been using electric convector and fan heaters -plus some of those 'halogen' ones - which have broken. As he's old, he tends to feel the cold and so has them on a lot. His last electric bill (quarterly) was £400. He only lives in 2 rooms for goodness sake!

There is an old gas fire in the kitchen which has also been disconnected as it was not working/unsafe.

Any thoughts on what might work for him?

I wondering whether to get a new gas fire for the kitchen and keep on with the fan/convector heaters in the bedroom - possibly putting them on a timer so he can't forget to switch them off?

Thanks in advance

Southend1

Would he consider downsizing to a retirement flat? Might be a better option for him.

fluffpot

I think he's too old to cope with the move TBH - lived in the same house all his life!

nickj_2

i think i would go for storage heaters , no need for servicing etc , just set them up when it gets cold and let them get on with it

LisaLou1982

Why not ask him what sort of heating he prefers?
A new gas fire would be much warmer for him than the halogen heaters.

Some of the electric oil filled radiators can be very effective although can be costly to buy.

Would he look at having GCH installed? Maybe warmfront could help if cost is an issue?

macman

Since gas heating is about one third the cost of electric heating on standard rate, a new gas fire and sorting out the existing unsafe gas installtaion would be much the cheapest route than wasting money on expensive halogen heaters that produce no more heat than any other electric heater.
You should also make sure that he is on the cheapest tariff via a comp site-is he still paying a standing charge on his gas account?

fluffpot

thanks for replies all:

Storage heaters I think are not going to work as he needs heat to be a bit more controllable (ie on some days he needs a lot of heat and on others not so much) Also he's not on Economy 7

No point installing GCH in whole house as he only uses 2 rooms.

Had not thought about oil filled - will check out costs

I agree about the Halogens - his brother got them, but they are waste of £!
I expect he is still paying a standing charge and quarterly bills. One slight problem is that he is very deaf and finds it hard to speak on the phone, so it's difficult to get things changed as the suppliers won't generally deal with me. He won't be able to have an on line account of course - which gives access to the cheapest tariffs - very unfair this getting old business!

I don't know a friendly Gas Safe chap, so will check out how much to get the fire sorted out.

Thanks again

kara7758

Hiya,

Wow what a good friend you are!!

Really think its worth you looking at this for him

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Energyandwatersaving/Energygrants/DG_10018661

It says grants up to £3500 and he could have central heating put in through out the house. He could leave the heating on low in unused rooms as this could help the entire house keep warmer and costs possibly lower. Maybe cheaper in the long run? Also includes cavity wall and loft insulating. i had mine done last year and my house is much warmer.

Also forums on here with good suggestions for extra insulating. like bubble wrap placed on inside windows as secondary extra. door curtains etc. Have a look at ols style money saving (I think) for lots of tips.

fluffpot

Hi Kara
Thanks for that link. I think it would be a bit of an upheaval for him to have GCH fitted (lifting floorboards etc), plus I know this sounds bad, but I'm not sure how long he'll be there....and he would have to fork out some £ at least as it's London and don't think £3.5K will cover it (4 bed house)

No cavity walls I'm afraid. Not sure it's worth insulating the loft if the house isn't heated -the snow on his roof is always the last to melt in our street anyway!

Good idea about the old style £ saving - I have curtains over my front door in winter and it does make a difference. I'll see if I can knock something up for his back door this winter, plus look into the cling film type double glazing to stop drafts.

Thanks again!

LisaLou1982

Fluffpot - if he has no insulation no wonder hes cold. Get that sorted ASAP. If he doesnt have enough in there he will get it free due to his age anyway.

fluffpot

Hi Lisa
Thanks for that - but as mentioned, there's no heating in the house and he lives on the ground floor so I can't see that there's much heat to escape! The snow on his roof is the last to melt, meaning that there's very little heat escaping