Switching off radiators…or not?

markin

Mstty said:

@k_man

Those are definitely factors into how well the home heats up without any heating for sure.

Haven't looked into heat exchange is this a good option to consider?

Yesterday as an example it was overcast for the morning which meant the front of house (East facing) didn't get its normal amount of free solar energy that gets trapped inside due to good insulation on colder days.

Luckily the afternoon the sun came out and heated up the South and West facing rooms which in turn heated the whole house nicely for free.

So it seems the ability to leave the heating off at this time of year depends on. Personal tolerance to temperature changes, free solar gain and position of property, energy produced by other internal heat sources and insulation to keep the heat where it is and not lose it through walls, floors and roofs.

Nothing magical about it @Reed_Richards just free solar gain in the main and insulation keeping the gain in.

Unlike our house in Spain where it's designed to be 5oC-10oC cooler than outside and painted white to reflect heat rather than dark brick to absorb and use the heat here in the UK. 

From reading RR post history its an 80's timber frame bungalow with concrete floors, So far less Mass to store heat over days, and the insulation could even be damp a common problem.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240076/i-bought-a-heat-pump/p1

Reed_Richards

markin said:

From reading RR post history its an 80's timber frame bungalow with concrete floors, So far less Mass to store heat over days, and the insulation could even be damp a common problem.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240076/i-bought-a-heat-pump/p1

No mass at all to store heat, apart from the concrete floor which is insulated with about 1 cm of polystyrene so stores heat very badly.  Where do you think the insulation might be damp?  All the walls are insulated with Rockwool; the exterior walls have foil-backed plasterboard instead of the regular kind.   

markin

Tar paper is a poor barrier inside and out, but if you know you have rockwool and foil-backed plasterboard im guessing you gutted the place?

Reed_Richards

markin said:

Tar paper is a poor barrier inside and out, but if you know you have rockwool and foil-backed plasterboard im guessing you gutted the place?

No, we have done some refurbishment of rooms with tiled walls where it was easiest to remove the plasterboard and the tiles together - so I could see what was behind.  Fitting a drain to a new shower involved digging down far enough through the concrete that we struck the polystyrene layer.