Making the best of Fischer heating

FlorayG

One of my friends rents a small bungalow with this heating and it's costing her a fortune and the house is always cold - reading threads here I can understand why.
Because it's rented she can't change the heating and the LL isn't interested because clearly it has working heating
Can people suggest any ways she can make the most efficiency of what she has? Currently she's heating only the kitchen and pretty much living in there. She's over 70 and has had the local 'energy efficiency' people in who she says were very little help and just gave her a dehumidifier for her bedroom where, of course, all her clothes are getting damp because the room isn't heated. She claims pension credit so has very little money spare

lohr500

Sadly, it's an all too familiar story. Landlord installs direct electrical heating as it is cheap to put in place, but very expensive to run.

First suggestion :
Can she rent somewhere different with a better heating system, or would that be too traumatic/difficult to arrange?

Other suggestions : 

Look to minimise any heat loss from the bungalow : 

I'm presuming the energy efficiency people looked at other easy wins like making sure doors and windows are well sealed against draughts. Cheap stick on foam type draught insulation is a quick win if they haven't.

Keep curtains/blinds closed in the rooms she isn't using as these help keep the heat in. 

If the windows are single glazed or older double glazed, then look at installing secondary double glazing. Even the really cheap stick on plastic film kits do work and have some impact. I used this method for our porch.

Get someone to check the level of loft insulation if the energy people didn't do this. The Landlord may be prepared to help with that if isn't thick enough.

It may sound counter intuitive, but she may be better having some of the heaters on in the other rooms, but at the lowest possible setting to supress the damp. The damp won't be good for her health and the house will "feel" colder if it is damp.

Then buy a low cost plug in electric throw/wrap which she can use during the day in her sitting room to keep warm. They are similar to electric blankets, but designed to be used as a wrap around your body. They are very cheap to run and work well. We have one and use it a lot.The principle being "heat the person, not the room".

There are lots of other suggestions here on the Energy forum for improving heat retention in older properties to help minimise heating costs.

Keep_pedalling

I would certainly get her to look at what is available in terms of social housing, presumably this is an older bungalow with poor insulation and she is not going to be able to do much about that. Short term if she does not already have these, an electric blanket for the bed to keep her warm at night and an electric throw for daytime use.

Newbie_John

@lohr500, 
It may sound counter intuitive, but she may be better having some of the heaters on in the other rooms, but at the lowest possible setting to supress the damp. The damp won't be good for her health and the house will "feel" colder if it is damp.

if she already has dehumidifier in that room then that's better than having heating on - dehumidifier itself is heating the room and dries the air - so it does both at the same time. They both run at the same rate

@FlorayG can you tell us how much she pays £, what's her monthly usage in kWh and what tarrif/ rates she's on (how much £/kWh) as it could be that she's on Economy7 rate but mostly heats during the day ending up paying unnecessary high costs

FlorayG

I gave her an electric throw but she says it's not really suitable as she doesn't sit still for long
And sorry I wasn't clear - I'm not asking about insulation etc. I'm asking how best to use the heating that is there for best efficiency and heat?

QrizB

I know it isn't ideal, but "just heating the kitchen" is how lots of people lived until central heating came along in the middle of the last century. I remember my grandparents and great-grandparents doing much the same.

Is she happy with this, or is it causing her problems? I know it might be better for her to be able that her whole house, but as she's living on Pension Credit it might be the best option.

Chrysalis

I think if I interpret the OP correctly, moving is not an option as is the case for many people in these situations, and obviously as a private tenant, fitting double glazing is not in the tenants control, there also isnt schemes to fund double glazing either.
I find the tip about foam type draught insulation interesting, however I remember buying something that is foam draft excluder tape, and it would stick to PVC, but not to worn out wood.
What definitely helped me in my bedroom was black out (thermal) curtains, and keeping them drawn.
In terms of being efficient on energy costs, The pain can be eased with TOU tariffs, but many TOU tariffs have to be used right, else they can actually increase cost, e.g. E7 gives you cheaper off peak, but rest of day jumps up in price.  Could consider Tomato Energy lifestyle tariff if she has a smart meter.
If dealing with damp, I also agree dehumidifier is a better bet than a heater.  Again TOU tariffs help here.

FlorayG

I can suggest she keeps the curtains drawn in the other rooms - although that's going to look a bit strange to the neighbours!
No, she can't move out and needs the house warm during the day not at night. Obviously storage heaters would have been better but the previous owners were clearly convinced by the Fischer rep

QrizB

Chrysalis said:

In terms of being efficient on energy costs, The pain can be eased with TOU tariffs, but many TOU tariffs have to be used right, else they can actually increase cost, e.g. E7 gives you cheaper off peak, but rest of day jumps up in price.  Could consider Tomato Energy lifestyle tariff if she has a smart meter.
If dealing with damp, I also agree dehumidifier is a better bet than a heater.  Again TOU tariffs help here.

If Tomato Energy can avoid going bust or losing their licence, they have a "pensioner" tariff that gives periods of cheaper electricity during the daytime. This (or a similar tariff) might work for the lady in question.

FreeBear

FlorayG said: I can suggest she keeps the curtains drawn in the other rooms - although that's going to look a bit strange to the neighbours!

If there are any south facing windows, it may be beneficial to pull the curtains back in those rooms when the sun is shining.

Yesterday, it was over 20°C in the lounge thanks to the sun, and the heating only kicked in early morning & late evening. Today, no sunshine, and already used 15kWh of gas

Gerry1

Unfortunately she's ended up in a very hostile situation.  Bungalows are very difficult to heat because of the large roof area and exposed walls.  Daytime electricity is about the most expensive type of heating available.

Three suggestions for damage limitation:-

• Very good levels of loft insulation.  I know that's not the main point of your question, but other than turning it down and using it for limited periods there's really not much she can do about the dreadful heating system and using it more effectively.  Better loft insulation would be realistic and relatively cheap to fit, stingy landlord unlikely to object if paid for by others.
• As others have stated, optimise electricity tariff.  Change to single rate if on Economy 7: most suppliers (apart from unhelpful Ovo) will happily do this without a meter change.
• Speak to Citizens Advice about hardship schemes and maximising any unclaimed benefits.  The best solution would probably be a heatpump.  IIRC costs of as little as £1500 (by Octopus, after the government grant of £7500) have been mentioned by others, and there may be ways to meet most of this from other schemes and grants.  If it's going to be her 'forever' property, it might even be worth paying part of the cost herself, despite the heatpump ultimately becoming owned by the landlord: it should make the running costs affordable and at least she'd be warm and not at risk of suffering from dangerous mould.