Most economical way of heating my flat (old gas fire or old central heating)?

kissinger

I've noticed that my gas bills have gone through the roof since winter really kicked in in December and I was wondering if I might be able to save a few quid by using my old gas fire instead of my central heating.

My gas fire is one of those with the dial at the top which you turn, wait for a spark and then pump the gas. My central heating is done through a back boiler behind the gas fire and it's pretty old too. The radiators it uses are all quite small TBH and it takes quite a long time for them to heat up the larger rooms in my flat (mainly the living room).

good_advice

Kissinger - anything that heats up costs megabucks :0(
That is why many of us sit in a cool/cold home.
My north facing front room is 16.4C at the moment. No heating on.
Roll on Spring on 20th March :0)

Move around, go out for a walk. Put a throw over your lap. Slipper boots and fingerless gloves.

Sad as it is if you want any heat you pay high.
I know, I paid £19.56 for CH & HW last week. Trying to lower the cost this week:0?

You could try tariff surfing? = changing your tariff with Scottishpower to a cheaper one can be done at no extra charge and online. I have just saved our family £47 per year changing tariff. Small fry but it saves some pennies.

Good luck on your heating journey.

CashStrapped

You need to give us a bit more information about what you are using at the moment.

How big is your house?
How many bedrooms?
How many occupents?
Are you in all day? Just in the evening?

Depending on your answers, this will determine which heating method is cheapest

Have you taken and recorded your meter readings over the period of a day, a week, a month? What is your actual usage.

Regarding your radiators taking a while to heat up. Is your boiler set up correctly? What temperature is it set at? Do you have a room thermostat, what is that set at? When was the system last serviced?

Your radiators may be out of balance hence the long heat up times. Do they need bleeding?

Hopefully that will help

prosaver

wood burner boiler connected to a radiator system and getting the logs or wood free. simples.
thats my dream...
http://www.fhtstoves.com/
bye

kissinger

It's a 1 bedroom flat, but the ceilings are quite high because it's an old converted building. Sometimes I'm in all day, sometimes I'm at work. I mainly stick to the one room though (the living room).

The radiators heat up quite quickly. What I meant is that they seem underpowered for the circumstances. The high ceilings and lack of double glazing means the rooms lose heat quite quickly.

CashStrapped

One bedroom flat, is quite small so should not cost much to heat. It would also depend on the type of boiler and its age. how many radiatos do you have? Radiator size depends on the size of the room. How hot do you have the boiler set? How hot do they get to touch?

If you just spent all day in that one room, it may indeed be cheaper to just heat that one room with the gas fire.

However, gas fires do put out a lot more water vapour as they burn the gas with a naked flame. Therefore you may notice more condensation on your non-double glazed windows. You may get damp issues if you do not manage this correctly.

Another option is to invest in some thermostatic valves and use them to turn the radiators down in the rooms you do not use.

What are you using at the moment in Gas units (readings from your meter),. Don't forget to check if your meter m3 or ft3, it will say on it

prosaver

try and get false ceilings in, as you heating the air above you.
the old Victorian houses go very cheap cause they are expensive to heat.

kissinger

CashStrapped wrote: »

One bedroom flat, is quite small so should not cost much to heat. It would also depend on the type of boiler and its age. how many radiatos do you have? Radiator size depends on the size of the room. How hot do you have the boiler set? How hot do they get to touch?

There's a radiator in each room plus the hallway, so that's 6. But the radiators in the 'big' rooms are the stubby kind (i.e., about 30cm tall). I have the boiler set so that the hot water that comes out of the tap is hot but not unbearably hot to the touch. The radiators get got to the touch, although I'm fairly certain they aren't balanced perfectly because I (rather stupidly) messed around with them when I moved in, not knowing anything about radiator balance.

gwynlas

I've lived in rental flats with just gas fire and others with storage heating which I have supplemented with LPG heaters(masses of condensation) If you are happy with just main room heating then use gas fire otherwise central heating. Unfortunately it is just personal choice as landlord will not care either way