2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Hopefuljoy

I've reset my boiler to 55 degrees for hot water and 60 for heating and there's a big difference in fuel consumption with no difference in overall performance. It is well worth doing. 

cw18

spudsmum said:

It's a very old house (c1860) so pre-central heating anyway and designed to survive on minimal heating. 

But has it had double glazing added?  That upsets the balance a bit...

spudsmum

cw18 said:

spudsmum said:

It's a very old house (c1860) so pre-central heating anyway and designed to survive on minimal heating. 

But has it had double glazing added?  That upsets the balance a bit...

No mostly original sash windows. It hasn't really been modernised much aside from having an inside bathroom added but to be honest I like it like that. It has character lol 

cw18

spudsmum said:

No mostly original sash windows. It hasn't really been modernised much aside from having an inside bathroom added but to be honest I like it like that. It has character lol 

I love a house with original character too

When we moved to the town where I am now, we had a survey done on an older property with high ceilings - and lots of features on those.   I totally lost my rag with the surveyor after he included a section in the report he sent to the mortgage company stating we should install suspended ceilings in order to make the property more energy efficient.    I told him that we wouldn't have put in an offer on an older property with original features if we didn't want to enjoy them - and made it quite clear that when we next needed a survey we wouldn't be using his company.    (The property needed a lot of work doing to it, and was showing signs of subsidence so we'd pulled out because of that - and as such would be looking for another survey at some point.)

basketcase

@amber03

@Hopefuljoy

Thanks for getting back.  Sounds like it's well worth doing...

spudsmum

cw18 said:

spudsmum said:

No mostly original sash windows. It hasn't really been modernised much aside from having an inside bathroom added but to be honest I like it like that. It has character lol 

I love a house with original character too

When we moved to the town where I am now, we had a survey done on an older property with high ceilings - and lots of features on those.   I totally lost my rag with the surveyor after he included a section in the report he sent to the mortgage company stating we should install suspended ceilings in order to make the property more energy efficient.    I told him that we wouldn't have put in an offer on an older property with original features if we didn't want to enjoy them - and made it quite clear that when we next needed a survey we wouldn't be using his company.    (The property needed a lot of work doing to it, and was showing signs of subsidence so we'd pulled out because of that - and as such would be looking for another survey at some point.)

That's terrible - I can't understand the amount of people who don't appreciate original features and want to rip them out or change them.

We had similar when we had the survey for selling our old house - another period property - sections about doors and windows not meeting current building regulations and windows not having a FENSA certificate etc and saying the should be replaced with modern equivalents  (and that this should be reflected in the price) - well when the windows and doors were installed there were no building regs. It was pretty ridiculous. Luckily the buyer loved the original features too and didn't want to change a thing. 

QueenJess

amber03 said:

Its currently set at 55 degrees and seems fine. Originally it was in the 70’s.

We have an air source heat pump which operates at lower temperatures, but once a week heats the hot water tank up to 60 degrees plus to ensure it kills any bugs (like legionella).

You absolutely don’t need hot water to be super hot from the tap, but if you have any water storage (rather than hot water on demand from a combi boiler), my understanding is that you do need it to heat up to 60 degrees at least once a week for safety.

cw18

My water hasn't been at that since the system was last serviced - and according to my records that was almost exactly 4 years ago!

I never run it for long enough to heat the whole tank anyway, so even if the thermostat was set to 60 the water wouldn't reach that temperature....

willow_loulou

Does anyone use timer switches? If so are they easy to use? I’m thinking of one for the kitchen light strip my son seems to leave on every other night! 

Debsnewbudget

willow_loulou said:

Does anyone use timer switches? If so are they easy to use? I’m thinking of one for the kitchen light strip my son seems to leave on every other night! 

Yes we have 3 on lamps to come on at dusk and go off around midnight.