HUGE gas cost savings

scattycat_3

c'mon george your deletions have highlighted your complaint even more, and made the thread a little puzzling to first time readers. Please re-list your six savings for dicussion.

I cannot remember them all, but from memory.

1. Use gas stove to heat water for hot beverages.
2. Turn off boiler pilot light in summer, and use immersion heater for bathing.
3. Reduce room temperature to save fuel, keep comfort level by wearing thicker/more clothes.
4. When replacing boiler make sure replacement one is Sedbuk A rated and has electronic ignition
5. Insulate hot water tank as much as is physically possible, and only heat when and as required.
6. errrrrrrrr (edit, added 24/06) Oh wasnt it to change to a cheaper supplier, e.g. Ebico ?

E&OE, apologies if incorrect, Scat.

robowen

@scat

You did well to remember the one's you did !

I can only remember the bit where he welded the kettle on the ring after boiling it dry ! :rotfl:


I remember my mate telling me about his dad.
My mate boiled some eggs dry in a pan and welded the pan to the stove. My mate had fallen asleep.
When his dad came into the fog filled room, the first thing he did was to remove his glasses..wipe them and put them back on....... :rotfl:
He obviously thought his glasses had steamed up. :rotfl:

rob

Cardew

I suppose if a room is cold some physical activity helps.

My son used to throw his teddy bears into the corner.

Woby_Tide

Cardew wrote:

I suppose if a room is cold some physical activity helps.

My son used to throw his teddy bears into the corner.

ahhh....so you're suggesting that throwing toys out of your pram could be a way to ward off the cold and save gas?

George_Bray

scattycat - you did well to list the items you did. But I note that the room temp point was number 1 on your list, which is the issue, because most people fixed on that, and perhaps my kettle glowing red hot, rather than taking on board any of the ideas which could surely benefit many people:

1. Turn off central heating pilot light for the duration of the summer when you don't need the heating. You may be surprised how much gas this uses.

2. Never use the immersion heater! Swap electric heaters and cookers for gas types. Avoid dual fuel coookers. Electric energy is so much more expensive than gas.

3. Try using the hot water pilot (alone) to keep water warm for summer washing and one shower a day - only if you live alone, probably.

4. Switch to equipower.co.uk if you are a low/medium energy user.

scattycat wrote:

c'mon george your deletions have highlighted your complaint even more, and made the thread a little puzzling to first time readers. Please re-list your six savings for dicussion.

I cannot remember them all, but from memory.

1. Reduce room temperature to save fuel, keep comfort level by wearing thicker/more clothes.
2. Use gas stove to heat water for hot beverages.
3. Turn off boiler pilot light in summer, and use immersion heater for bathing.
4. When replacing boiler make sure replacement one is Sedbuk A rated and has electronic ignition
5. Insulate hot water tank as much as is physically possible, and only heat when and as required.
6. errrrrrrrr (edit, added 24/06) Oh wasnt it to change to a cheaper supplier, e.g. Ebico ?

E&OE, apologies if incorrect, Scat.

Cardew

George,
I cannot remember details of your original post, but the thrust was that you should not use electric devices if at all possible, and that your annual gas bill was/will be £25. How you wash dishes and clothes I do not know.

The most important saving tip, much as you might not like it being raised, was your suggestion that to save gas, room temperatures of 12c were adequate.

However when I raised the dangers of Hypothermia if living in a room at 12C you stated:

B"To suggest I am endangering lives through hypothermia is absurd, and insults my intelligence. How many people enjoy skiing in temperatures way below 12C [/B] "

Well a simple search on the internet will reveal countless sites pointing out the dangers if the temperature in a room falls below 18C let alone 12C. Try this site:

http://www.day-impex.co.uk/hypothermia_thermometers.asp

Perhaps you should write to Age Concern and the many other learned bodies and complain that they are insulting your intelligence.

Or simply admit that particular bit of advice was unwise.

George_Bray

Cardew -

>I cannot remember details of your original post,
>but the thrust was that you should not use electric devices
>if at all possible.

True

>and that your annual gas bill was/will be £25.

Hopefully, yes, as incredible as it may sound.

>How you wash dishes and clothes I do not know.

To wash dishes I use hot water in the wash basin, like most people do. But not out of the tap from the hot water cylinder. So inefficient and not hot enough. Instead, I boil water in a kettle on the gas hob. I use an electric washing machine, or boiling water from the kettle for hand washing. Perhaps someone makes a gas-powered washing machine but I've never seen one.

>The most important saving tip, much as you might not like
>it being raised, was your suggestion that to save gas,
>room temperatures of 12c were adequate.

I don't see it as the most useful to the forum as a whole because most people are too soft to want to reduce the temperature below 21C or whatever. But a reduction to even 18C would surely cut costs by a fairly significant amount.

>However when I raised the dangers of Hypothermia if living
>in a room at 12C you stated:
> "To suggest I am endangering lives through hypothermia is absurd,
>and insults my intelligence. How many people enjoy skiing in
>temperatures way below 12C "
>Well a simple search on the internet will reveal countless sites
>pointing out the dangers if the temperature in a room falls below
>18C let alone 12C.

Both your web links relate to elderly people. I would, of course, exclude them, if they don't feel up to living at 12-18C, but many probably could if they wrap up well, not that I'm in a position to recommend it for elderly people.

If someone asked for advice on roof ladders at this forum, you wouldn't call any debate irresponsible just because roof ladders probably shouldn't be used by your average 90 year old.

Regards
George

Plasticman

George_Bray wrote:

If someone asked for advice on roof ladders at this forum, you wouldn't call any debate irresponsible just because roof ladders probably shouldn't be used by your average 90 year old.

PMSL !!!! :rotfl:

scattycat_3

Welcome back George, and thank you.

Apologies, the room temperature one as you say, provoked the most comment, and thus was the easiest to remember, list edited in hindsight.
Though it is Numero Uno on the govs enerygysaving list, as it is the easiest to accomplish, though obviously difficult for some. :rolleyes:

I remember ice on the inside of our windows.
:beer:

PS I take it you have a seperate gas water heater, penny (my) just dropped?

George_Bray

scattycat wrote:

I take it you have a seperate gas water heater, penny (my) just dropped?

Scattycat - thanks for the thanks! Yes, my set-up is as follows:

1. Gas-fired warm air central heating. I swear by this, for the rare occasions when I turn it on. It warms up a room so quickly. Actually, I just thought of another modification I made, which also helps keep my heating cost way down. The following modification is based on my preference for a cool bedroom at night. I simply don't need general warmth upstairs. It's cheaper and more snug to invest in a good quality down-filled duvet which will keep you perfectly warm even if the bedroom temperature drops below freezing, which it probably never has. Before anyone protests, this economy is NOTHING, compared to people sleeping in down filled bags on Everest or on a trek to the North Pole. The warm air heating is brilliant for heating downstairs but only gets the upstairs slightly warm. I figured, why bother? It's inefficient sending warm air through large tubes into the loft. So I physically blocked off the master tube at ground floor level. Now the only room to be heated is the lounge and the system now does that in about two minutes flat.

2. A separate warm water system with its own pilot and burner. This has no timer and no electronic igniter, so it's wasteful, in my opinion. The water circulates through an indirect coil in the main water cylinder. The pilot alone is enough to keep the water warm in summer. No need for a 'main burn', ever, with only one person in the house. Remember, the water feed is from a plastic tank in a very hot loft, during the summer. So the pilot is good enough to get that water up to shower temperature.

3. An electric immersion heater in the main cylinder. I never ever use this.

4. An old fashioned kettle on the gas hob, which I use in preference to an electric kettle, to boil water for tea, washing up, etc. I haven't used my electric dishwasher for over 5 years. It's a waste of energy. e.g. Pour boiling water over cutlery in a bowl, together with a squirt of washing up liquid. Slosh around a bit, without touching the water with your hands, obviously. The cutlery comes up like you have a mini-dishwasher.

Regards
George