Best advice on heating please

Quex

Hi - I live alone in a well insulated two bed flat, and both need and want to keep heating costs down. I spend much of the day in one place, so is it better to heat that one room with an electric fire with a fan, or the whole flat with gas central heating, probably on a lower setting. Advice gratefully received.

Gerry1

Welcome on board !

Don't even think of electric heating: you're probably paying 13 - 16p/kWh for electricity compared to about 3p/kWh for gas. Turn off the radiators you're not using and / or fit TRVs. It's like asking whether you should shower by turning on the tap or using bottles of Perrier water.

Talking of showers, don't have an instantaneous electric shower and turn off any immersion heaters as well.

Quex

Thanks Gerry1. Nice and clear - just what I wanted.

FreeBear

Gerry1 wrote: »

Turn off the radiators you're not using and / or fit TRVs.

But that depends on where your thermostat is located. If it is in the hallway and you've turned off the radiator out there, the thermostat will just keep calling for heat. If you have one of these new fangled wireless thermostats that you can move from one room to another, then you can heat just one room at a time economically.

If you have the top floor flat, well worth adding more insulation to the loft space if you have access to it. Of course, if it is a flat roof, then there isn't much you can do..

Gerry1

FreeBear wrote: »

But that depends on where your thermostat is located. If it is in the hallway and you've turned off the radiator out there, the thermostat will just keep calling for heat.

Agreed; I was thinking of the bedrooms where only a low level of heating is required to prevent damp, condensation, mould etc.

Do they still fit thermostats in the hall? Sounds like a throwback from the days when there was one black telephone in the hall and you used it only to call the doctor or for the groceries to be delivered.

t0rt0ise

Gerry1 wrote: »

Agreed; I was thinking of the bedrooms where only a low level of heating is required to prevent damp, condensation, mould etc.

Do they still fit thermostats in the hall? Sounds like a throwback from the days when there was one black telephone in the hall and you used it only to call the doctor or for the groceries to be delivered.

Yes they do fit thermostats in the hall. Ours is, in a recently refurbished Housing Association property. The radiator in the hall cannot be turned down or off. We also have TRVs on the other radiators.

Quex

Yep - same set-up as t0rt0ise's - Housing Association property with the thermostat in the hall and TRVs on each radiator. The property is prone to damp and also has an envirovent unit in the hall. It's been suggested that I should run the heating at at least 20/21c to avoid this, but !) I can't afford to do this and 2) I just don't like it that warm. I'll have to return to running the heating more of the time, but low I think and adjusting the TRVs. Thanks for all your help.

Robin9

Quex wrote: »

………... It's been suggested that I should run the heating at at least 20/21c to avoid this, but !) I can't afford to do this and 2) I just don't like it that warm. I'll have to return to running the heating more of the time, but low I think and adjusting the TRVs. Thanks for all your help.

Just a double check - when did you last change suppliers of gas and electric ? If some time ago there may be savings to be had.

Do you know what your actual annual consumptions are - taken from your meter readings, not the estimate which the supplier will give you ?

Gerry1

Don't forget to get quotations for separate gas and electricity suppliers - dual fuel isn't necessarily the cheapest.

Quex

Thank you for asking that. I do check with USwitch every 6 months or so to check that I'm on a good deal with suppliers for both gas and electricity. Same supplier for both presently. I've never paid an estimated bill, always pay slightly over the odds each month for my own reassurance and now have the new type of meter, the name of which escapes me but you'll probably know the sort I mean.

Robin9

Quex wrote: »

Thank you for asking that. I do check with USwitch every 6 months or so to check that I'm on a good deal with suppliers for both gas and electricity. Same supplier for both presently. …………..

Do try the exercise of different suppliers for gas and electric - it is generally thought that dual fuel is not the best way.