How to live without heating - save £000s

masonic

For comparison, I live in a 1 bed terraced house that is reasonably well insulated and elec only. I used to heat to 18-19 C (quite often a little higher) when energy was much cheaper, but by dropping my minimum acceptable temperature to 14 C I can save about £350 per year. On days where I can get elec for free or even better get paid to use it, then of course I make hay

saveallmymoney

HertsLad said:

I'd be surprised if I could heat my house for anything like £600 a year. I think it might be nearer £2000. When the temperature dips close to 0C, I might trying firing up my gas heating for the first time in years (a) to see if it still works and (b) to knock the worst chill off the house temperature. I could increase the temperature to 12C for a few days (the duration of a cold spell) and see how much it costs. My guess is I will consider it poor value for money, i.e there won't be any improvement to my standard of living but I will be spending money.

Not a great experiment because you'll be heating up the mass of the house first so it's going to look much more expensive than it would be to keep a constant temperature.

HertsLad

saveallmymoney said:

HertsLad said:

I'd be surprised if I could heat my house for anything like £600 a year. I think it might be nearer £2000. When the temperature dips close to 0C, I might trying firing up my gas heating for the first time in years (a) to see if it still works and (b) to knock the worst chill off the house temperature. I could increase the temperature to 12C for a few days (the duration of a cold spell) and see how much it costs. My guess is I will consider it poor value for money, i.e there won't be any improvement to my standard of living but I will be spending money.

Not a great experiment because you'll be heating up the mass of the house first so it's going to look much more expensive than it would be to keep a constant temperature.

I am sure I can allow for that in my calculation. Perhaps you subscribe to the idea that it's cheaper to leave the heating on all the time, rather than only on at certain times of the day. I agree with people who say that's nonsense.

MP1995

@hertslad do you know the epc of your house and the estimated energy use for heating and hot water 

You can see it here

https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

HertsLad

MP1995 said:

@hertslad do you know the epc of your house and the estimated energy use for heating and hot water 

You can see it here

https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

Many thanks. I didn't realise the information is available online, so I have learned something. My house is not listed, I assume because certificates were not required when I bought the house in the 1980s. Several other houses for my postcode are listed and I think they are all similar in style to my house. One is 'E', seven are 'D' and three are 'C'.

By clicking on properties most like my own, I can see data of interest, such as energy required for heating and steps suggested to improve the energy rating. Once I have pulled something together, I will post my findings here.

Green_hopeful

@HertsLad EPCs appear to be some sort of dark art. We found that they are completely unreliable when we had one done last year. The assesser couldn’t explain why the house we were selling came out as an E against the neighbouring properties that were less well insulated and were either a C or D. 

Swipe

Green_hopeful said:

@HertsLad EPCs appear to be some sort of dark art. We found that they are completely unreliable when we had one done last year. The assesser couldn’t explain why the house we were selling came out as an E against the neighbouring properties that were less well insulated and were either a C or D. 

They are only as reliable as the person filing it in and the homeowner answering any questions favourably.

Green_hopeful

@swipe it’s not even that. It’s the system. The details were completely correctly but the computer program comes out with a different number. It’s like a random number generator. Everyone (including the assessor) assessed the house we were selling as a C or a very good D but it came out as an E. 

HertsLad

I haven't studied the figures for neighbouring properties yet, but I will. I am already wondering if it's worth getting an energy certificate drafted, mostly out of curiosity. Roughly what do they cost?

If a computer program generates the result, it can only be as good as the inputs from the individual doing the survey. Plus logic built into the program, of course. What would they make of my DIY, 24v solar system which meets 100% of my electricity needs but is not connected to the grid. I have above average capacity for domestic installations in terms of both solar panels and batteries. But it wasn't installed by a registered, accredited contractor and I don't have a certificate. Would it count for nothing? Solar PV is one of the ways they suggest the neighbouring properties can improve their energy rating.

Something else they suggest is solar thermal water heating. I thought it might be going out of fashion because I was able to pick up dozens of tubes (multiple transactions) at a knock down price. I have carried out tests using a few tubes in the garden. Even in December, I could boil water so it works. I was thinking of installing a house width array of tubes on my roof. A few houses have a few tubes but I doubt if the assessor would ever have seen a house with so many tubes, with anywhere near the capacity to produce bath loads of hot water. But again, as it wouldn't have been installed by registered, accredited contractor would it also count for nothing? A more pressing concern and probably the reason I haven't yet gone ahead, is the weight of all these vacuum tubes. Is the house roof likely to be able to support it? 

Green_hopeful

@HertsLad none of it is related to reality. It’s almost entirely pointless as a system. It’s quite expensive as well. Probably in the region of £100. I think the only useful element is that you can make your own assessment of the situation.