Cheapest way to heat your home

RebekahR

Sooo what is the cheapest way to heat your home? ... Looks like we need to move away from gas but how? What's best to go to?

LadOnTheHill

You might have more luck posting this on the Energy board, the folks who post there are very genned up on this sort of thing.

My thoughts are as follows:

Cheapest would be free wood scavenged from skips, neighbours cutting trees down, building sites, etc. Wouldn't cost money, might cost petrol and would definitely cost time and labour. If you don't have a stove already,  you'd need one fitted, obviously, which will cost more money.

Using electricity to heat is going to cost a lot more than gas, I'd reckon at least 3x as much. One benefit is the ability to heat a particular area, such as with a fan heater, or even use an electric throw to heat just yourself. That brings the cost way down, but you then have the problem of cold rooms in the house leading to damp.

Air/water/ground source heat pumps sound good, in that for every kW of electricity you spend, you get several kW of heat back. They're not cheap to buy, even with the grants available, and it's likely to mean you need to upgrade your central heating system.

Heating yourself rather than your living area is the best way forward.
Your own body generates heat, wearing enough clothing to keep yourself warm and turning your heating system down a degree or three is a good first step.

Admiral_Barbarossa

I would not burn scavenged wood from skips. Most could be treated with chemicals that are harmful.

ladyholly

I am making sure we have sufficient thermal underwear for next winter. The highest warmth level for himself as he feels the cold badly. Then hopefully we can turn the thermostat down or leave the heating off. 

Slinky

ladyholly said:

I am making sure we have sufficient thermal underwear for next winter. The highest warmth level for himself as he feels the cold badly. Then hopefully we can turn the thermostat down or leave the heating off. 

You need to have some heat in your home otherwise the fabric of the building will begin to deteriorate. We cannot stop breathing out damp air, plus washing etc will all introduce moisture into the air, leading to mould etc. Plus it's a miserable existence - I know from having spent my childhood in a poorly heated badly insulated home with all those problems.

TheAble

You can definitely adapt yourself to lower temperatures over time. We tend to keep the therm at 15c, 16c tops. Any higher feels too hot.

Exercise as well is great "free" heat. I do a 5 mile run 2 or 3 times a week which warms me while I do it and I find the burn extends a good couple of hours or so afterwards.