Cut gas heating bills by up to 80% - here is how:

SlartibardfastUK

Our house has brick internal walls with a brick inner skin to the external insulated cavity walls, all direct plastered. Following the energy cost increases last year, I thought we would try using the Living room walls as a storage heater for the nights, so we set up the bedroom rad stats to give approx. 17-18C and the living room to 22C minimum. In the evenings we are usually in the Living room watching TV or reading, then when we retire for the night we wedge the Living room door open so the heat stored in the Living room walls can dissipate to the rest of the house via the hall where the Central Heating Thermostat is located, which stops the heating running during the night. The two graphs from our heating supplier show the difference, reducing the gas used by over 80% in December 2023. The mild weather would have helped some, but you can see that there is a significant difference.

MikeJXE

Interesting 

I know I'm in a 1 bed flat well insulated but I feel the cold so my heating is on all the time I am up at 18/20 degrees 16 when I go to bed

Last night I switched down to 16 and at 11.30am now my room is still 17.3 having not cranked it up yet 

Shedman

I would respectfully suggest something is awry with those graphs...there's no way you can go from 2500 kWh last Dec to below 500 kWh this Dec especially given the cold snap at start of Dec (and virtually the same consumption as Aug, Sep and Oct).  16kWh a day to heat to 22°C (presumably also including heating Hot Water) doesn't seem likely to me...

MeteredOut

This reminds me of the "my new boiler reduced my heating usage by 30%" thread. Spoiler: it alone did not.

I can guarantee other changes were made (our other outside influences were at play) at the same time.

Teapot55

It’s always been traditional to close all the downstairs doors at night: not sure how effective this is against any fire spreading unless they’re fire doors. 

In any case it’d be a good time to check all the smoke alarms if you’re planning on doing this. 

FreeBear

MeteredOut said:

This reminds me of the "my new boiler reduced my heating usage by 30%" thread. Spoiler: it alone did not.

I can guarantee other changes were made (our other outside influences were at play) at the same time.

December (for me at least) has been noticeably milder, and my annual estimated gas consumption has dropped by ~1000KWh (electricity is up by ~200KWh). But I've had a new boiler fitted, changed most of the radiators, and messed around with the heating temperature/timing schedules. I could make wild claims about cutting consumption by 25%, but local weather conditions are far more likely to be contributing to the saving.

MultiFuelBurner

More likely the shell energy graph is at fault and perhaps the OP should check their actual usage and meter readings?

Qyburn

One downside is overheating the living room. But anyway, if the effect is stopping the heating coming on overnight then can it really be saving that much? I find it hard to believe overnight heating made up over 80% of your consumption.

ArbitraryRandom

Teapot55 said:

It’s always been traditional to close all the downstairs doors at night: not sure how effective this is against any fire spreading unless they’re fire doors. 

In any case it’d be a good time to check all the smoke alarms if you’re planning on doing this. 

Is it? 

I don't think I know anyone who does this, but perhaps I have a disproportionate number of friends and family with pets? 

Teapot55

ArbitraryRandom said:

Teapot55 said:

It’s always been traditional to close all the downstairs doors at night: not sure how effective this is against any fire spreading unless they’re fire doors. 

In any case it’d be a good time to check all the smoke alarms if you’re planning on doing this. 

Is it? 

I don't think I know anyone who does this, but perhaps I have a disproportionate number of friends and family with pets? 

OH does it. Maybe because of firefighter brother? I don’t know. I think my parents shut the doors at night. We always had a cat growing up but guess it was always content to stay in the kitchen. 

Current family members with cats certainly wouldn’t sleep a wink from all the scratching and howling! 

SlartibardfastUK

Hi,

I take photos of the meters when I input the monthly meter readings on the Shell website. I am suprised by the results but I am happy to pay Shell the reduced amounts !

Maybe the Shell website is having a "glitch" from August onwards, something to do with the transfer to Octopus. Any other Shell customers seeing a flat graph from August 2023 ?

Smoke detectors are checked and they beep when the battery gets low. No fireplace in the Livingroom. Computers and screens heat my small home office.