Welsh farmhouse converted as self catering for up to 30 people

bucksman

I am a trustee of a lovely old Welsh farmhouse near to Brecon, Powys. Schools, clubs, youth groups and more recently extended families use this as a base for canoeing, walking, and time out in the countryside. We rent it out, and this is how we pay for the upkeep/decoration and modernisation, it is a registered charity.

The walls are around 75cm thick and solid, made of stone/slate. It is a listed building. Our dilemma is that the heating costs are now becoming unmanageable. We, for the moment, only heat the place (night storage heaters) and central log burner when we have bookings 2-3 a month, for a few days at a time. Would we be better advised to keep the heating on (12-15 degrees) or to continue to heat it just when it is needed? Will this be more economical? We are also concerned about damp in the building.

Any ideas and thoughts would be appreciated.

grumpy_codger

MSE: Should I keep the heating on all day?

bucksman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927786#Comment_81927786

I had a look atthis before posting - I feel it is more about a traditional family home with cavity walls etc. The farmhouse strucutre and usage is not a normal dwelling

GrumpyDil

If the place is often not being used I suspect heating only around the period of usage would make most sense.

As regards damp, aside from seeing if there is anything that can be done to resolve that using a specialist in damp/old buildings have you considered any form of dehumidifier?

WIAWSNB

Hi Bucksman.

How often is the building left unoccupied? And how 'quickly' can it be brought back up to living temp from cold?

Damp? Not a problem - if you ventilate it thoroughly it will not suffer from damp.

In general, as said above, you only heat a building when it is needed - with some flexibility around this depending on convenience, etc. But the thing to bear in mind is, the higher the heated temp inside, the greater the loss.

15oC internal will be a lot more costly than 12oC. 5oC - effectively anti-frost, if needed - will be a lot cheaper still.

Yes, it'll be faster to get it up to, say, 18-oddoC when needed, but that won't compensate for the huge loss of heat whilst it's unoccupied and heated.

I would find out how quickly it can be brought up to 'living' temp from 'cold', and shut it all off until that time before the next booking. Meanwhile, make sure that every window is cracked up to, at least, 'vent' setting. All internal doors opened, upstairs windows opened a bit more (if security is ok) to allow a chimney venting.

A couple of days - or whatevs - before the next booking, close all windows to just 'vent', and put on a roaring fire. Heat it solidly for a half-day or so, and then turn the storage heaters back on too.

Andy_L

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660209/welsh-farmhouse-converted-as-self-catering-for-up-to-30-people

Can you not pass the "becoming unmanagable" heating costs onto the users?

Albermarle

 Our dilemma is that the heating costs are now becoming unmanageable

Why has it been getting more expensive? Heating/energy costs have dropped considerably since a peak around three years ago.

bucksman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927897#Comment_81927897

Thank you for this, its a good point, we are looking at the letting periods an perhaps including a minimum hire period over the winter and yes looking at the rental costs being higher in the winter.

bucksman

We are looking at dehumidifier solutions for both upstairs and down stairs, thank tyou for your comment

bucksman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927895#Comment_81927895

A good point regarding the fire - this will help to dry out the atmosphere and make general heating easier.

WIAWSNB

The most important thing is to VENTILATE the building THOROUGHLY!

Please don't waste your money on a dehumidifier until you have at least tried passive ventilation. It really is that simple.

Your barn will not be damp if you ventilate it. It'll be cold, yes, but dry :-)