How to live without heating - save £000s

matt_drummer

Air to water

3,000 Kwh per year

Givenergy lithium batteries, probably £1,000 a year over their lifespan

Nelliegrace

The roads are being left unsafe due to deep pot holes.
The water mains are leaking. The sewers are overflowing.

Here the gas pipe connections to over a dozen houses in the street were corroded and leaking. One street in a typical 1970s housing estate, built by one of the big firms. The teams of workmen were racing around digging up drives and garages. 
Perhaps the financial penalty might not be the only way people are to be discouraged from using gas.  

Scot_39

dealyboy said:

'Oh I know what it is, it's me on my laptop early in the morning. I am a one-fingered typist and mouse user, all right handed', ... typing my replies to moneysavingexpert ... doh!

Fingerless gloves for next winter then ?

HertsLad

matt_drummer said:

Air to water

3,000 Kwh per year

Givenergy lithium batteries, probably £1,000 a year over their lifespan

I guess you are probably assuming a 10 year lifespan for a Lithium battery bank costing £10K  I have never spent as much as £1000 a year on energy, let alone batteries, even including decades when I heated my property. I can't understand people's enthusiasm for Lithium when lead acid seems to offer much better value. I expect my lead acid battery bank to last at least 10 years. It cost well under £1000.

matt_drummer

HertsLad said:

matt_drummer said:

Air to water

3,000 Kwh per year

Givenergy lithium batteries, probably £1,000 a year over their lifespan

I guess you are probably assuming a 10 year lifespan for a Lithium battery bank costing £10K  I have never spent as much as £1000 a year on energy, let alone batteries, even including decades when I heated my property. I can't understand people's enthusiasm for Lithium when lead acid seems to offer much better value. I expect my lead acid battery bank to last at least 10 years. It cost well under £1000.

I won't be spending £1,000 a year on them though, as I have income from the system that pays for them.

They are free, I spent the money now and will get it back over the next ten years.

Lithium have many advantages over lead acid, I can't see my Tesla working quite as well as it does with lead acid batteries and my model aircraft would be unusable on lead acid.

I don't particularly know how lead acid batteries would perform in my house, I suspect I would need quite a lot of them!

bob2302

HertsLad said:

  I buy several holidays a year, including skiing. They probably add up to about £2500, which happens to be the average amount the energy regulator reckons a household spends on energy.

That's an unrealistic comparison. You are comparing no heat with fairly profligate usage and you are using an abnormal year to justify a long-term lifestyle.  I do what many do, I wear warm clothes, I turned the temperature down and concentrated most (but not all) of the heat in my living room. For a three bedroom detached bungalow, with mediocre insulation, my gas usage is about 3800 kWh pa.  Currently that's barely more that £1 a day, hopefully less next year.

 I suspect this £2500 figure is so large because families find it hard to reach a consensus that they should all dress for winter and spend their evenings in the same same room. 

HertsLad

bob2302 said:

HertsLad said:

  I buy several holidays a year, including skiing. They probably add up to about £2500, which happens to be the average amount the energy regulator reckons a household spends on energy.

That's an unrealistic comparison. You are comparing no heat with fairly profligate usage and you are using an abnormal year to justify a long-term lifestyle.  I do what many do, I wear warm clothes, I turned the temperature down and concentrated most (but not all) of the heat in my living room. For a three bedroom detached bungalow, with mediocre insulation, my gas usage is about 3800 kWh pa.  Currently that's barely more that £1 a day, hopefully less next year.

 I suspect this £2500 figure is so large because families find it hard to reach a consensus that they should all dress for winter and spend their evenings in the same same room. 

I agree it's not a precise comparison but why is it unrealistic? I didn't come up with the figure of £2500 for average energy usage per annum by the average household. Sure, many people including you, avoid spending that much by taking some steps but not going as far as I do. How is it an abnormal year? The Government's figure of £2500 is for 12 months. And I spend roughly that much over 12 months on various holidays.

How do you get on at the coldest time of the year when you leave your warm living room to visit other rooms such as the kitchen, bathroom or bedroom? If you wear appropriate (minimal) clothes in the lounge, you will get cold fairly quickly in the other rooms. Or maybe heat from your lounge spreads around, and the other rooms are also quite warm.

HertsLad

I had a bit of luck in a branch of Sports Direct last week, while I was on holiday, camping in the UK. It's mid summer and I didn't have thermal base layers on my packing list. On the first night, the temperature dipped to 10 or 12C and I wasn't as warm as I always like to be. So I visited Sports Direct to see if they had any of my favourite Campri brand garments. Prices have gone up a lot over the years. Mens sizes are now £16 for 2 but womens sizes were still at £12 for 2 so I selected those. I know there's no practical difference. At the till point, it must have flashed up £16 because the lady hesitated, then input £12 per the label, and that's the price I paid. It worked because the next night, and for the rest of the week, I wasn't the slightest bit cold. I'm almost looking forward to next winter.

dealyboy

HertsLad said:

I had a bit of luck in a branch of Sports Direct last week, while I was on holiday, camping in the UK. It's mid summer and I didn't have thermal base layers on my packing list. On the first night, the temperature dipped to 10 or 12C and I wasn't as warm as I always like to be. So I visited Sports Direct to see if they had any of my favourite Campri brand garments. Prices have gone up a lot over the years. Mens sizes are now £16 for 2 but womens sizes were still at £12 for 2 so I selected those. I know there's no practical difference. At the till point, it must have flashed up £16 because the lady hesitated, then input £12 per the label, and that's the price I paid. It worked because the next night, and for the rest of the week, I wasn't the slightest bit cold. I'm almost looking forward to next winter.

Thanks for the update  ... are they the same shape? do they have the same sizes, as in S, M, L, XL ... ?

HertsLad

dealyboy said:

HertsLad said:

I had a bit of luck in a branch of Sports Direct last week, while I was on holiday, camping in the UK. It's mid summer and I didn't have thermal base layers on my packing list. On the first night, the temperature dipped to 10 or 12C and I wasn't as warm as I always like to be. So I visited Sports Direct to see if they had any of my favourite Campri brand garments. Prices have gone up a lot over the years. Mens sizes are now £16 for 2 but womens sizes were still at £12 for 2 so I selected those. I know there's no practical difference. At the till point, it must have flashed up £16 because the lady hesitated, then input £12 per the label, and that's the price I paid. It worked because the next night, and for the rest of the week, I wasn't the slightest bit cold. I'm almost looking forward to next winter.

Thanks for the update  ... are they the same shape? do they have the same sizes, as in S, M, L, XL ... ?

Thanks for your interest. The womens sizes are marked 12, 14, 16. etc. The mens sizes are S, M, L, etc. They may be a slightly different shape or cut but it's not obvious and any extra fabric is completely hidden by whatever you wear on top. I bought two packs of tops in sizes 12 and 14 because they were the ones still marked £12 for two. Other womens packs were variously marked £14 and £16 for two. All the mens packs were £16 for two.

I only needed one top to go from warm to toasty warm in my 3 seasons sleeping bag at the end of July. I think it's because my arms are not always within the sleeping bag while sleeping. When I camp using my tent in winter I use a 4 seasons sleeping bag and wear two layers of thermal base layers, top and bottom (i.e. 4 garments). That way, I never get cold even at temperatures below freezing.