Freezing house | How to improve heat

Arsenal2019

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:

The inner leaf is probably an aerated cement block (often called breeze block) - If you drill in to the wall, a grey powder comes out, and it is relatively soft.

In theory, your walls will have a much better thermal performance than my 1920's mix of cavity & solid brick. The two biggest areas of heat loss that we both suffer from is loft and windows/doors. I've got 300-400mm of loft insulation, and new (most dating from 2020 or later) windows & doors. No patio doors though (huge heat loss through those things). Having the biggest windows facing South helps when the sun is shining.

Replacing doors & windows is an expensive undertaking. although you could replace the sealed units with modern high performance ones for a lot less - Most of the heat loss is through the glass, and the frames contribute very little in comparison. But if the rubber seals are damaged, any cold draughts will make matters worse. You can get cheap secondary glazing that sticks to the existing frames for not a lot of money - That will help on the bigger chunks of glass. Perhaps pick one room as a test subject before doing all the others ?

Loft insulation, as has been mentioned, is a low cost fix, and most able bodied people can lay a few rolls. But if your loft is boarded out and/or filled with "stuff", it can be a bit of a challenge (you also need to be very careful where you put your feet lest you go through the ceiling).

Replacing the door next month so I hope that helps. I know i won’t know for certain Until next winter now as due to the temperatures slowing increasing.

My loft is not boarded and I only use it for storage: there’s also a water tank up there and I could definitely look at putting more insulation up there as the current insulation does appear to be quite thin.

Both B&Q have 200mm thick rolls at £27 each. I've used Wickes before and had free delivery (not sure if B&Q will charge as a bulk delivery).

Adding Insulation to a loft usually returns the biggest improvement for the lowest cost. But don't forget to wrap a load of insulation around the water tank so as to minimise the risk of it freezing. Also worth adding some loft legs and boarding so that you can get to the tank to do routine maintenance (greasing the pivot point on the ballcock being one such task). Wickes do XL loft legs at a reasonable price, so grab a few boxes when ordering the insulation.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the maintenance of the water tank. I suspect that the previous tenants didn’t even maintain it 

but I’ll deffo look into insulating it as you say

FreeBear

Arsenal2019 said:Honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the maintenance of the water tank.

To be honest, they require very little maintenance. An occasional drop of oil on the pivot point on the ball valve and a check that the lid is in place once in a while. Very rarely, the washer needs replacing, although sometimes it is easier to put in a new ball valve.

I maybe looked at my tank(s) a couple of times in ~30 years (now have a combi boiler and the tanks have been removed).

Arsenal2019

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:Honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the maintenance of the water tank.

To be honest, they require very little maintenance. An occasional drop of oil on the pivot point on the ball valve and a check that the lid is in place once in a while. Very rarely, the washer needs replacing, although sometimes it is easier to put in a new ball valve.

I maybe looked at my tank(s) a couple of times in ~30 years (now have a combi boiler and the tanks have been removed).

Okay thank you! I’ve got a baxi boiler and still have the tank in the attic. I was surprised when I saw it up there to be honest. But it’s good to know the services don’t have to be that frequent 

FreeBear

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:Honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the maintenance of the water tank.

To be honest, they require very little maintenance. An occasional drop of oil on the pivot point on the ball valve and a check that the lid is in place once in a while. Very rarely, the washer needs replacing, although sometimes it is easier to put in a new ball valve.

I maybe looked at my tank(s) a couple of times in ~30 years (now have a combi boiler and the tanks have been removed).

Okay thank you! I’ve got a baxi boiler and still have the tank in the attic. I was surprised when I saw it up there to be honest. But it’s good to know the services don’t have to be that frequent 

Model of the Baxi ?

If there is a small header tank as well as a big one, it wouldn't hurt to empty a bottle of corrosion inhibitor in to it (the smaller of the two). Heck, even with a sealed system, a dose of inhibitor wouldn't go amiss. But it is a little more difficult to do.

Arsenal2019

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:l

Model of the Baxi ?

If there is a small header tank as well as a big one, it wouldn't hurt to empty a bottle of corrosion inhibitor in to it (the smaller of the two). Heck, even with a sealed system, a dose of inhibitor wouldn't go amiss. But it is a little more difficult to do.

It’s a Baxi 830 combi

there is a Magna Cleaner which is connected. Is this what you’re referring to?

ThisIsWeird

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:l

Model of the Baxi ?

If there is a small header tank as well as a big one, it wouldn't hurt to empty a bottle of corrosion inhibitor in to it (the smaller of the two). Heck, even with a sealed system, a dose of inhibitor wouldn't go amiss. But it is a little more difficult to do.

It’s a Baxi 830 combi

there is a Magna Cleaner which is connected. Is this what you’re referring to?

It will be.
That's a good thing to have. It should help collect any old sludge in your system before it gets to your boiler. When it's checked to see what - if anything - it has collected, it'll also give you a good idea of your system condition. And, when you need to, it's an easy way to add inhibitor.
When was it last checked? Did you do this, or the service fellow? Any idea what it was like?

Arsenal2019

ThisIsWeird said:

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said:

FreeBear said:l

Model of the Baxi ?

If there is a small header tank as well as a big one, it wouldn't hurt to empty a bottle of corrosion inhibitor in to it (the smaller of the two). Heck, even with a sealed system, a dose of inhibitor wouldn't go amiss. But it is a little more difficult to do.

It’s a Baxi 830 combi

there is a Magna Cleaner which is connected. Is this what you’re referring to?

It will be.
That's a good thing to have. It should help collect any old sludge in your system before it gets to your boiler. When it's checked to see what - if anything - it has collected, it'll also give you a good idea of your system condition. And, when you need to, it's an easy way to add inhibitor.
When was it last checked? Did you do this, or the service fellow? Any idea what it was like?

Okay that’s good to know. Thank you. I believe the boiler was last checked around 2 years ago by the previous people who were here. So I would like to presume that the Magna thing was also checked too.

i plan on having the boiler and that thing serviced this summer too

FreeBear

Arsenal2019 said: i plan on having the boiler and that thing serviced this summer too

Get the engineer to add corrosion inhibitor to the system when he does the service. Filling the MagnaClean pot with inhibitor before screwing back in to place will probably be the easiest way to dose the system.

If you have a combi, any water tank is likely to be redundant and (hopefully) disconnected & empty. If so, I'd suggest cutting it up and disposing of it. That way, you can get plenty of insulation under where the tank currently sits.

A little bit of technical info - The Baxi 830 has a modulation range of 6.2kW to ~20kW. Running a high temperature regime (80°C flow, 60°C return), efficiency is quoted as 88%. With a low temperature (50°C flow, 30°C return) at 30% load (or 6.7kW output), efficiency is given as 97.8%. The number and size of the radiators will limit the amount of heat that the boiler can generate, and most homes in the UK only need 5-7kW.

If this particular boiler is a recent installation, then it appears to be OpenTherm compatible - With a suitable (programmable) thermostat, you can set the boiler up to run at different flow temperatures depending on room & external temperatures. This will improve efficiency and save a pound or two on gas.

Arsenal2019

FreeBear said:

Arsenal2019 said: i plan on having the boiler and that thing serviced this summer too

Get the engineer to add corrosion inhibitor to the system when he does the service. Filling the MagnaClean pot with inhibitor before screwing back in to place will probably be the easiest way to dose the system.

If you have a combi, any water tank is likely to be redundant and (hopefully) disconnected & empty. If so, I'd suggest cutting it up and disposing of it. That way, you can get plenty of insulation under where the tank currently sits.

A little bit of technical info - The Baxi 830 has a modulation range of 6.2kW to ~20kW. Running a high temperature regime (80°C flow, 60°C return), efficiency is quoted as 88%. With a low temperature (50°C flow, 30°C return) at 30% load (or 6.7kW output), efficiency is given as 97.8%. The number and size of the radiators will limit the amount of heat that the boiler can generate, and most homes in the UK only need 5-7kW.

If this particular boiler is a recent installation, then it appears to be OpenTherm compatible - With a suitable (programmable) thermostat, you can set the boiler up to run at different flow temperatures depending on room & external temperatures. This will improve efficiency and save a pound or two on gas.

I haven’t had a proper mess around with the water tank yet as I’ve only recently moved in. I’ll be sure to have a proper look next time around: fingers crossed it’s empty and disconnected. It is quite large so it would be good to dispose of this and get it down (somehow) as like you say, I can put more insulation there and store more stuff up in the attic 

I spoke to a engineer a couple weeks back regarding a service and he said he would do what you’ve said too 

thanks 

FreeBear

Arsenal2019 said: I haven’t had a proper mess around with the water tank yet as I’ve only recently moved in. I’ll be sure to have a proper look next time around: fingers crossed it’s empty and disconnected. It is quite large so it would be good to dispose of this and get it down (somehow)

After fitting a new loft hatch, my old CWS tank wouldn't fit through the hole. Being plastic, a circular saw quickly reduced it to manageable sized chunks