Big, cold, expensive house!

Moneysavingdoc

Thanks All for the useful suggestions. I did pick up a couple of Radfans which seemed to have helped in the bigger rooms. Managed to balance a couple of radiators so they get hotter. 

InvertedVee

With such high costs you may have potential for some big savings. But instead of trying this and that, why not spend on an independent professional energy auditor?

You'll pay a big fee but this won't be anything like your gas bill. And they'll know the risks of creating condensation and damp through poorly thought- through insulation and where to access grants etc. Forums like this are great for ideas but there are times when professional help is best.

dunstonh

External solid wall insulation looks very expensive for a big house...Although the outside could do with a spruce up. I'll struggle to save up for it with these bills though!

Often with older large houses, you go for internal insulation instead.  i.e. the external walls have the internal plaster removed, installation put up with stud walling on top.  You lose about 1.5cm but it avoids making a mess of the outside.   We have it in three of our lounges and plan to do it with a couple of the bedrooms.  Luckily we don't need to do all the rooms as it's only the ones that someone in the past stripped out the old horsehair/lime plaster and replaced with modern plasters (of the time) which are less efficient at keeping the heat in.    It's not that expensive but it is messy.     For a reputable builder, its pretty routine work.  Certainly, a cost but a room a year helps spread the load.

Moneysavingdoc

dunstonh said:

External solid wall insulation looks very expensive for a big house...Although the outside could do with a spruce up. I'll struggle to save up for it with these bills though!

Often with older large houses, you go for internal insulation instead.  i.e. the external walls have the internal plaster removed, installation put up with stud walling on top.  You lose about 1.5cm but it avoids making a mess of the outside.   We have it in three of our lounges and plan to do it with a couple of the bedrooms.  Luckily we don't need to do all the rooms as it's only the ones that someone in the past stripped out the old horsehair/lime plaster and replaced with modern plasters (of the time) which are less efficient at keeping the heat in.    It's not that expensive but it is messy.     For a reputable builder, its pretty routine work.  Certainly, a cost but a room a year helps spread the load.

This is what we should have done. But only had a limited amount of time before needing to move in. Now the house is freshly decorated. But yes- we could start doing a room at a time!

Moneysavingdoc

Is it normal for the boiler to run continuously at maximum output for > 1hr without pausing/cycling? Its the £4/hr thats racking up the energy bills...Seems pointless switching off lights etc when the gas bills are dwarfing the electricity!

Effician

High ceilings can hold a vast amount of warm air while you shiver at lower levels & your boiler is having to do a lot of work to heat air you'll get little benefit from , our ceilings are only 9ft but with ceiling fans in winter mode we can get the warm air down to where we reside.

Magnitio

Moneysavingdoc said:

dunstonh said:

External solid wall insulation looks very expensive for a big house...Although the outside could do with a spruce up. I'll struggle to save up for it with these bills though!

Often with older large houses, you go for internal insulation instead.  i.e. the external walls have the internal plaster removed, installation put up with stud walling on top.  You lose about 1.5cm but it avoids making a mess of the outside.   We have it in three of our lounges and plan to do it with a couple of the bedrooms.  Luckily we don't need to do all the rooms as it's only the ones that someone in the past stripped out the old horsehair/lime plaster and replaced with modern plasters (of the time) which are less efficient at keeping the heat in.    It's not that expensive but it is messy.     For a reputable builder, its pretty routine work.  Certainly, a cost but a room a year helps spread the load.

This is what we should have done. But only had a limited amount of time before needing to move in. Now the house is freshly decorated. But yes- we could start doing a room at a time!

Although it depends very much on the property, externally insulating the walls is a lot less intrusive. A decent installer will deal with issues around doors, windows, downpipes etc. The resulting finish is often far better and provides much protection to the fabric of the house. If you have any windows or doors that need replacing, it is best to do those first as it can be more of a challenge afterwards.

RelievedSheff

I think the key here could be to not let the house get so cold in the first place.

You mention 10 degrees, that is really cold. Your boiler will be working flat out to try and get the fabric of the house warmed through before it starts to heat the space in the rooms.

Once the boiler has heated the house it will throttle back and be using less gas to just maintain a temperature.

EssexHebridean

Apologies if this has already been mentioned - your home presumably would originally have been heated using open fires - does it still have its chimneys in place to make using that form or heating viable as a backdrop to the GSH? Particularly if the chimneys are in the centre of the building this can be a great way of heating the fabric of the building.

Moneysavingdoc

There are 3 gas fires in the property but not suitably situated (especially with 3 young children). I imagine they would have been pleasant when gas was v cheap! Thanks