energy certificate lies about window type?

K.S.

I rent my home from gentoo in sunderland, so i'm assuming i can't do anything about this, but can gentoo? they say my home won't be "modernized" until 2020 but anyway...

the problem i'm finding boils down to my single pane windows with plastic frames letting in the cold, cooling my home down massively and with the weather as it is, i'm forced to have my radiators on full blast to even get warm, if you can even call it that... on the energy certificate the windows section says "fully double glazed", but they are not since double glazed would mean 2 panes of glass with a gap inbetween, so what should i do?

i've tried putting draughtproofing tape around all the doors in the flat too and it doesn't help, i also have a foam strip with a folded up curtain ontop of the foam to try stop the cold getting in under the sitting room door as it's very cold in the front passage, almost like standing outside, but it barely helps

currently using a 1kw oil filled radiator but i can't feel the heat from it just a few feet away, so back to using full blast radiators at £20 a week

cheers for any help/advice you can offer

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

the problem i'm finding boils down to my single pane windows with plastic frames letting in the cold, cooling my home down massively

Whilst proper double glazing will undoubtedly improve your insulation, your windows are not the major cause of the house being cold.

You can try simple secondary glazing with Perspex taped inside the windows and thick curtains. It will help, but I fear not solve your issue with a cold house.

K.S.

cheers for the reply!

so they aren't the problem? shows what i know... just thought they were as they are freezing to the touch and i can feel a draught from the holes in the window frame that i'm told are for drainage (the windows get a lot of water build up on my side

I do have radiator pipes running around half the outer wall of the house that are covered by thin pieces of wood angled at 90 degrees, but these open up in the bathroom, and behind the units in the kitchen... could this be a cause? (it extends to the front passage too but that radiator doesn't work for some reason, the front passage being the coldest area in the house)

The floor in all rooms is concrete, with the bathroom and kitchen having thin laminate flooring, another problem?

i've had my curtains tucked behind the radiators in the sitting room and my bedroom for ages now, but they do little to help as well

what do you think the biggest problem is likely to be then?

...and is there nothing i can do about the certificate listing the wrong type of window? surely it would skew the entire evaluation, bearing in mind it's dated april 2013

CashStrapped

Plastic frames with a single glazed unit?

Are you sure these are not just very early double glazed units with a tiny gap usually around 6mm. Very early units had very small gaps which could (compared to modern DG windows) look like single glazed windows.

As Cardew points out, unless you have holes in your windows, They are not the biggest contributor to heat loss.

It is it a flat? A house? Do you have a loft? Is it insulated?

Concrete floors? Please tell me you have some good underlay and carpet down?

Pipes going round the external walls is not ideal, but they will still realease heat into the room. You could open up the wooden conduits and put pipe insulation around all of them. That will ensure more of the heat is retained untill it gets to the radiator.

Have you looked at areas you can reduce draughts? Around the front door, the letterbox etc?

What controls do you have for the boiler? How hot do the radiators get? Why is one not working?

Nada666

How many kWhs are you getting for your £20? Are you on a cheap direct debit tariff? £20 could mean anything from buying only 13 kWh per day up to 24 kWh per day.

K.S.

@CashStrapped:
Yup, a single pane of glass, there is no gap, there is no second pane of glass, it's just one pane in the center of the frame that has a black rubber seal around the edges

It's a house with bottom and top floor flats, i'm on the bottom, the loft is insulated, and the walls are supposedly "cavity filled"

I could only manage to get some underlay off a family member and it was enough to do the bedroom, it's roughly 1cm thick, as for good carpets... i don't think so, all of what i have down is quite thin and i can often feel the cold on the bottom of my feet when walking around

I already had gentoo come out 3 times to have a look at the front door, they pulled it forward slightly, tinkered with the locking mechanism, and resealed the edges of a plastic frame that goes around the wall adjacent to the door, none of this helped... the letter box has brush bristles, no draught gets in through there...

the boiler has a dial for the hot water and radiators, plus a timer... my bedrooms and the bathrooms radiators get scorching hot to the touch, but the sitting room radiator barely gets warm... no clue why the front passage one doesn't work

@Nada666:
my tariff is with Eon prepayment as that's what the flat had when i moved in... 4.358p per kWh with 31.5p standing charge per day, i think at most i can spend £20, at the least i still spend around £15 for 3 radiators, frequent baths, and washing dishes

when i'm in all week i have the heating on full whack from when i get up to when i go to sleep, when i'm at work it's on on a morning before i go out and on again when i get back to when i go to sleep

HappyMJ

If you've got gas central heating then why are you using a 1kW oil filled radiator?

Prepayment can be quite expensive compared to fixed rate, online managed, direct debit and dual fuel plans. I pay 2.924p/kWh plus 19.57p standing charge plus VAT less internet discount, less gas and electricity discount.

You get 58kWh/day for your £20 a week.

I would pay about £14 for the same amount of gas used which for a cold week is a reasonable amount to use.

You get 42kWh/day for £15/week and I would pay around £10 for that.

I would look at switching tariffs.

K.S.

@HappyMJ:

I bought the secondary heater because the radiators don't heat the property properly, it's still cold for the most part, barely warm in the rooms with a radiator... and this thing doesn't work either, same thing with the radiators, scorching to the touch but the heat dissipates too easily and can't be felt a few feet away

so are you suggesting that i switch to a smart meter and direct debit? as i've already signed up for a smart meter but no idea when it will happen... the direct debit tariff offered by Eon would apparently give me £70 in savings that would come off the bill over the year, ontop of paperless and dual fuel which i already receive, can't currently see exact tariff information as the site is in maintenance but i'll update the post when i can

Swipe

when you say you are freezing, what is the temperature of your rooms with the heating on full?

CashStrapped

Ok, for a start you will feel the cold more than anything because you do not have proper flooring. You are walking on cold concrete floors. This is the main reason you feel cold.

Secondly you need to get all the radiators working. Either the system needs bleeding or flushing.

Most importantly....who is your landlord? Is it a housing association? Or a private rental? Get onto them abut the central heating nor working properly. Ask them why you have no carpets when there is cold a concrete floor. Say it is starting to affect your health (which it will do eventually).

More than anything the cold concrete floor is the problem. No wonder you cannot get the place feeling warm

Regarding the windows, some councils did indeed install single glazed upvc. This was in the hopes they would never have to replace it again .It must be very old. Again get on to them about the incorrect energy certificate. Sounds like they may be pulling a fast one to avoid having to replace the windows.

In fact, if it is a housing association, you may want to dome some research and start quoting them the "decent homes standards".

This was a government policy to force all council properties and housing association properties to a modern standard of comfort/insulation. However the original deadline was five years ago but it was extended to this year. No doubt many have missed it again.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_social_housing/the_decent_home_standard

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/100000-council-homes-will-still-be-non-decent-in-2015/6511478.article

K.S.

There may be concrete under the carpets but the carpets are all thin, that was what i meant, i didn't intend to imply that i hadn't put carpets down in all rooms.

It's a housing association i rent from, named "gentoo", they mainly have properties in the north.

It is ironic that you mention the decent homes standards as Gentoo has a big drive to make their tenants lives better, but then many people are left in rundown homes as they simply don't have the money to fix up their properties to a decent standard.


Question though, is it the norm for properties to have concrete flooring with no insulation prior to moving in? seems strange to force a tenant to drop quite a lot of money on proper underlay and thick carpets to counter how cold this inevitably makes a property.

Cheers.