Gas Safety in Winter

C_Mababejive

We have had a relatively mild Autumn and it is still mild now but there is a definite change in the weather. People are starting to put their heating appliances on and close up their homes.

There is no doubt that there is a greater incidence of gas safety related issues in colder weather be it gas leaks inside and outside the home or incidents relating to fumes and/or Carbon Monoxide.

As customer demand for gas increases, so the volume and pressure of gas in the gas network has to be increased to meet the demand. There are thousands of kilometres of buried pipes in roads and streets across the country made of various materials,running at different pressures and of varying ages some as old as 1930. Increased pressure in the network equals increased leakage.

Many people sit and worry about calling the Gas Emergency Service. They worry that they may be wasting their time or calling them when nothing is really wrong.

No one should worry about this. That is what the service is there for. It is a legal requirement ,it is free at point of use and it is eventually paid for via gas transportation charges.


So if you think you smell gas in side your home or outside in the street tel 0800 111 999


http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Safety/Gas-emergency/

captainhindsight_2

Maybe one day we will scrap individual gas boilers In every house and catch up with the rest of europe and have district heating networks.

Remove the need for these massive gas networks, and run of biomass.

matelodave

The last thing I'd want is a district heating system where you have no option but to use them for your heating.
My brother has it where he lives and is just being screwed for the costs and when it breaks down he has to wait until they get around to fixing it.

captainhindsight_2

Modern District heating systems are reliable often have over double capacity in case of breakdowns and are significantly cheaper than what they would be paying on gas.

Having experience of one poor installation doesn't mean all are the same. Some countries in Europe have 90% of there heating on district networks so they must work....

Richie-from-the-Boro

District heating I'm all for, in the UK its a complete disaster, Scotland has most of the entire UK's new install district systems. Add to that the inventive mathematics that are the RHI (see below) and district heating does not bode well for the UK.

Small scale & large scale district heating is an inefficient con. Incentive by assumptions of 90% per cent efficiency, where in fact only 50-60% of the heat reaches the houses. From Easter this year ofgem decided that RHI would be available only for ‘useful’ heat. So again an industry is able to claim RHI on a heat load that is created artificially. If its created at 90% and paid at 90% but delivered at 55% why are we paying 35% more for what we use ? If I buy a tank of water / petrol / milk / beer why do I have to pay full price when we only get to use 60% of it ?

What I'd like to know is what is 'useful heat ?
__________________________

From spring 2014 for all eligible installations made on or after 4 December 2013

Solar thermal collectors less than 200kWth 10p / kWh
Air source heat pumps 2.5p/kWh
New deep geothermal 5p/kWh
New solid biomass CHP systems 4.1p/kWh
Medium biogas (200kWth up to 600kWth) 5.9p/kWh
Large biogas (600kWth and above 2.2p/kWh

captainhindsight_2

The usefull heat is measured by having heat meters on each building the district serves. So anything lost in the district network cannot be claimed for.

The heat meters are also there so who ever owns the district can bill the individual buildings.

I would be surprised if the losses were that great in a modern installation, the pipes are very heavily insulated and more losses mean less profit for whoever owns it.

Richie-from-the-Boro

captainhindsight wrote: »

The usefull heat is measured by having heat meters on each building the district serves. So anything lost in the district network cannot be claimed for.

The heat meters are also there so who ever owns the district can bill the individual buildings.

I would be surprised if the losses were that great in a modern installation, the pipes are very heavily insulated and more losses mean less profit for whoever owns it.

- """surprised"" in Green Deal terms is a word used in equal frequency by both you and I

- apportionment by heat meters was only undertaken in the UK in 2011 and they were both voluntary and retro fitted
- there is as far as I'm aware no mandatory legislated for retro fitting UK heat meter requirement
- so 'district' is less than 1% of the UK, most were built before 2011, almost none are no heat meter retro fitted
- """unsurprisingly""" DCLG who own most of the schemes quote 25% of the existing 1% DHS have heat meters installed
- so """unsurprisingly""" the charging mechanisms for the remaining 75% are points based on the apportioned 90% not the delivered 55%
- so """unsurprising""" it is that only 1% of DHS exist and almost no new since the 'useful' metering raised its head a couple of years ago

- """surprised"" in Green Deal terms is a word used in equal frequency by both you and I

Sept 2014

C_Mababejive

If you think you smell gas in the street or in your home or your gas pressure appears low at this time of year just ring 0800 111999

welshbookworm

I hate District Heating!
I had it in a house I rented from the council.
21 years ago my heat and hot water bill was £10 a week every week and the council choose when it was turned on and off which seemed to have no relationship with weather. My electric bill was huge in sudden cold spells as I would have to use electric heaters to keep the house warm.
It broke down one winter and we didn't have heating or hot water for two weeks - but we still had to pay £10 a week.
I would never move into a home with this sort of heating again.

C_Mababejive

I hate fried liver..