Working from home - how to avoid excessive gas bill this winter?

BUFF

Apologies if already mentioned as I have not read the whoe thread - you don't have TRVs downstairs but do the rads have manual valves? If so, you could turn those down/off when not needed - less convenient than using TRVs perhaps but also no extra cost to buy.

[Deleted User]

Be positive: think of it as preparation for the 3 day heating week that some of us are old enough to remember. I was fortunate enough to have three cold days at work followed by three days at home every two weeks. I recall, it was a very cold Winter.

k_man

macman said:

The cost of the TRV's is trivial, maybe £12 each, and you can fit them yourself very easily. Ten minutes each?
They'll also save you money outside of office hours with their greater controlability.

Are they really very easy to fit yourself?
I thought it required draining the system.

kingkano

Consider getting a smart thermostat system with wireless trvs.  Then you can set programs not just for the whole house but on a per room basis. You can also easily override anything from your phone.

There will be an upfront cost but I strongly believe it will be recouped either this winter or over next winter.  And you can enjoy better comfort and lower bills.

Many systems exist - tado, Drayton wiser, Evohome. Varying costs and abilities. I'm going for Drayton wiser because it still works if internet is down, no monthly fee, reasonable price to get setup, and lots of extra bits available should I want them (control for UF or electric heaters for example)

It will require trvs on the radiators missing them for best control. Might need a heating engineers help for this.

thescouselander

ariarnia said:

i agree with victor about considering the thermostatic room heater. before now i've used an oil filled radiator (only about £20 for a small one) to heat one room. its got a thermostat so if the room is warm then i turn the heating off when the kids and OH go out then it only pops on every now and then (which is actually normally just often enough to remind me to go make a cup of tea and stretch my legs
)

I was just discussing this with Mrs thescouslander.   We both work at home in separate rooms so I'm trying to work out if it would be cheaper to just heat the rooms we work in with an oil filled radiator during the day.     Any  idea how much you saved doing this? 

Raxiel

k_man said:

macman said:

The cost of the TRV's is trivial, maybe £12 each, and you can fit them yourself very easily. Ten minutes each?
They'll also save you money outside of office hours with their greater controlability.

Are they really very easy to fit yourself?
I thought it required draining the system.

It does, and depending on the age of the system it can be a real pain beyond that too. When I fitted mine the existing tails didn't match the valves - not a problem, we had a set that fit, except one odd tail that just wouldn't come out no matter how much we hammered, twisted, and swore at it. Needed an adaptor in the end.
It's not a massive job if you're handy, but it's not trivial either.

k_man

Raxiel said:

k_man said:

macman said:

The cost of the TRV's is trivial, maybe £12 each, and you can fit them yourself very easily. Ten minutes each?
They'll also save you money outside of office hours with their greater controlability.

Are they really very easy to fit yourself?
I thought it required draining the system.

It does, and depending on the age of the system it can be a real pain beyond that too. When I fitted mine the existing tails didn't match the valves - not a problem, we had a set that fit, except one odd tail that just wouldn't come out no matter how much we hammered, twisted, and swore at it. Needed an adaptor in the end.
It's not a massive job if you're handy, but it's not trivial either.

Thanks, thought/hoped I had missed a trick to do this in ten minutes without risk of flooding the house.

BUFF

If you have an annual service for your boiler it's a good time to do the valve change..

BUFF

kingkano said:

Many systems exist - tado, Drayton wiser, Evohome. Varying costs and abilities. I'm going for Drayton wiser because it still works if internet is down, no monthly fee, reasonable price to get setup, and lots of extra bits available should I want them (control for UF or electric heaters for example)

tbh this is also true of Tado ( & no doubt some others). Tado only has monthly subscriptions for automating a couple of functions (without subscription it will push notify you but not actually actuate the function itself) which I would say are debatable if most people actually need automated. 
https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3387221-what-is-auto-assist

kingkano

BUFF said:

kingkano said:

Many systems exist - tado, Drayton wiser, Evohome. Varying costs and abilities. I'm going for Drayton wiser because it still works if internet is down, no monthly fee, reasonable price to get setup, and lots of extra bits available should I want them (control for UF or electric heaters for example)

tbh this is also true of Tado ( & no doubt some others). Tado only has monthly subscriptions for automating a couple of functions (without subscription it will push notify you but not actually actuate the function itself) which I would say are debatable if most people actually need automated. 
https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3387221-what-is-auto-assist

It's true tado sub isn't necessary. It can make things easy for some people who go out of the house lots.  But if your internet goes offline the tado completely breaks from what I read.  All of your programs and settings are stored in their servers and that's what triggers the boiler etc.  I still very much like it and considered it though.

Evohome is very expensive but very nice. Can operate completely offline if necessary.

Hive is expensive and push the sub pretty hard from my reading.

Wiser will still work even if the internet fails, but you cannot access the app features like turning heating off from work.  But your heating will follow the normal program and carry on.  However, it's not as modern as some others, app is a bit dated etc.

Those are the main players that do wireless trvs I believe.  It's a rabbit hole though that's for sure!