Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

Frugaldom

spanner_man wrote: »

....also keep your own chickens - you could even put a stall by the road with an honesty box for the surplus eggs! tasty

you could also scavenge the hedgerows for free food!

What if your road's a single track leading to nowhere with no passing traffic and over a mile from the nearest main road? :rotfl:

I now have 50+ jars of preserves in my cupboards mostly made from foraged & free foods. I gather cones and fallen twigs & sticks for kindling.

Bonsibabe, I'm interested in what type of heating system you have, as it sounds like storage heaters. I have neighbours who spend £200 - £300 per month on theirs and that IS using the cheap rate electricity. On top of that, they also have an open fire to feed. There is no fault in the heaters, it's because they like their house to be warm and in rented accommodation you are at the mercy of the landlords as far as choosing what type of heating you have. If you have storage heaters and you're on Economy 7 or Comfort Plus meter rates then any daytime boost to the storage heaters is charged at the cheap rate.

Lotus-eater, we've already had a touch of frost here and summer was a washout, so there's no other way to dry clothes without a tumble drier other than airers and the fire lit to take the damp chill off the air. I've had to light the occasional fire since August because of the weather we've had. :rolleyes: I'm reserving my paper bricks for winter use, though, so I can stretch out the free papers.

harryhound

zarazara wrote: »

mambury, very good post and mariat, i agree, i went down that road once, lovely lamb but twice the price as something from NZ. I dont understand it. My B-in-law farms,he had 175 acres so a small farm. He gets £18,000 in subsidies a year,and yet he moans...............,he was left the farm in someone's Will so he didn't even have to pay for it! unbelievable.

http://vimeo.com/6184633

bonsibabe wrote: »

I called the energy saving people the other day and found out that my "environmentally friendly" experimental heating system is actually one that uses massive amounts of peak electricity to run! No wonder our leccy is £200 a month!!!! Half hubbys benefits gone every month! So they got a guy out from the council to look at it. He came and said "well what do you want us to do about it?" The flamin cheek!!! My hubby said give us a heating system that doesn't cost the blooming earth to run and then got told that the energy saving people didn't know what they were talking about. when we questioned the council guy he finally admitted that he didn't know anything about our heating system!!! So he was talking out of his behind!!! So we are now waiting for someone else to come see us about it. I said to hubby we would be better off with solid fuel central heating as it is more economical. Yes we would need to buy fuel, but we could easily take a drive to the local forest and pick up loads of free fuel from the forest floor! not to mention the fact that this heating system we have doesnt even have a timer!!! If it did we could set it for the off peak leccy so it would be cheaper but i'm going to see if the council will actually do anything or if i will have to goto the papers about them ... yet again!!!

Would I be right in thinking you are renting from a private landlord?
New tenants have to be provided with an energy performance certificate these days. It is part of the EU undertaking to build a database of the energy performance of every home (and make the UK look pathetically backward compared with the Scandinavians etc.)
Mind you prospective tenants like prospective purchasers have to learn to be bothered to read the thing.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5510005&highlight=#post5510005

bonsibabe

Hi all, nope we are council tenants harry, and its a air source heat pump system that uses the hot air from the kitchen and bathroom and recycles it to heat the hot water and the radiators. The problem is it has no timer and it uses massive amounts of peak electric (we are on economy 10 supposedly) to run.

Lotus eater, I realise that it is not just twigs that run a woodburner, but surely solid fuel would be more economical than this. The council installed the heating system as an experiment which clearly is not a good one! Funnily enough, the experiement has resulted in the fact that no other house in our area is getting this heating system now as the council no longer use the company!!!

We have been looking as other ways to heat the house, but I have a medical condition which requires me to have a warm house, and two young children, one has a different condition which also means that she needs to have warmth. The conditions arent life threatening but if I get too cold, I can't move so we need to find a heating system that is cheaper to run than this.

Hope you are all well

rhiwfield

bonsibabe wrote: »

Hi all, nope we are council tenants harry, and its a air source heat pump system that uses the hot air from the kitchen and bathroom and recycles it to heat the hot water and the radiators. The problem is it has no timer and it uses massive amounts of peak electric (we are on economy 10 supposedly) to run.

Lotus eater, I realise that it is not just twigs that run a woodburner, but surely solid fuel would be more economical than this. The council installed the heating system as an experiment which clearly is not a good one! Funnily enough, the experiement has resulted in the fact that no other house in our area is getting this heating system now as the council no longer use the company!!!

We have been looking as other ways to heat the house, but I have a medical condition which requires me to have a warm house, and two young children, one has a different condition which also means that she needs to have warmth. The conditions arent life threatening but if I get too cold, I can't move so we need to find a heating system that is cheaper to run than this.

Hope you are all well

Bonsibabe, what isnt clear is whether your system is uneconomical or whether there are other reasons for the high cost. Maybe an expert on here can tell us but I'm surprised that your system is taking heat from one part of the house and moving it elsewhere, that makes no sense to me as there is no net heat gain. ASHPs normally operate by transfering heat from outside to inside. The method of transferring the warmed air is important too, because the temperature is not as high as conventional boilers so old radiators dont have the surface area to warm the house thoroughly. There are much more knowledgeable people on ASHPs on the utilities forum.

The most important thing you could check is the level of insulation you have. If you're going to use a fairly low input system like an ASHP then you probably need excellent insulation (cavity wall, loft insulation, double glazing plus add ons like thermal lined curtains, thick floor coverings, radiator heat reflectors).

You can calculate the heat loss of your house (LINK) as it is at the moment and flex the results to show insulation impact. If the house isnt fully insulated its almost certain that the cheapest way of making the house more comfortable is to add insulation.

rhiwfield

campbellt wrote: »

Those of you with Oil or lpg heating have you read about infrared heating? check out heatandenergy dot org (wont let me add link?) they guarantee a minimum 50% reduction in energy costs.
Also they have limited funding for a interior solid wall insulation solution like wallpaper. It is Energy saving Trust reccomended, I have used this and found it very easy and quick to apply and it made a real difference!

While I have no idea whether infrared heating reality matches the claims, I note that the poster has recommended this company in numerous posts.

bonsibabe

rhiwfield wrote: »

ASHPs normally operate by transfering heat from outside to inside.

Thats a laugh as we live in the north of scotland, practically on the water, so there's not much heat outside for it to transfer inside! This system was put in as an experiment and they are now no longer using the company as the council have decided not to install this heating in any other houses.

We do have cavity wall insulation, (dodgy) double glazing and no insulation in the loft. The previous occupants had insulated the whole loft, including the eaves, but the council in their ultimate wisdom ripped it all out before we moved in and with hubby being out of work just now, we can't afford to replace it.

We are waiting for a guy from the council to come out about it, so will just have to wait and see what they say about things. We are hopeing that they will decide to sort out the insulation and then hopefully give us a decent heating system that doesnt cost the blooming earth!

ixwood

bonsibabe wrote: »

Thats a laugh as we live in the north of scotland, practically on the water, so there's not much heat outside for it to transfer inside! This system was put in as an experiment and they are now no longer using the company as the council have decided not to install this heating in any other houses.

We do have cavity wall insulation, (dodgy) double glazing and no insulation in the loft. The previous occupants had insulated the whole loft, including the eaves, but the council in their ultimate wisdom ripped it all out before we moved in and with hubby being out of work just now, we can't afford to replace it.

We are waiting for a guy from the council to come out about it, so will just have to wait and see what they say about things. We are hopeing that they will decide to sort out the insulation and then hopefully give us a decent heating system that doesnt cost the blooming earth!

Even if it's cold outside, it can always get colder. Basically ASHP are air con units running in reverse, so they're cooling the outside and transferring the heat inside. As they're taking advantage of heat already present, they give better returns on the power used.

I have to say you seem very demanding of your council. Nobody else can demand their landlord gives them this or that, so seems a bit unfair that you can be so pushy/extravagant with our taxes.

bonsibabe

ixwood wrote: »

I have to say you seem very demanding of your council. Nobody else can demand their landlord gives them this or that, so seems a bit unfair that you can be so pushy/extravagant with our taxes.

No offense meant here, but if you had to deal with our local council, you may understand why it seems that we are demanding. Our council is very lax in its attitudes to its tenants and people have to pester the council to get urgent repairs done, let alone the routine ones. We waited 7 months to get a window fixed as an example!

And as for being pushy with your taxes, I pay tax, I pay rent, and I pay council tax, I live in Scotland, and the money I pay my council is what is used to fund the repairs that tenants need. I have paid my taxes since the age of 16 so I think I have the right to want the best for my children. We have been assessed as being in fuel poverty as we are spending so much money on heating ... I think it is only fair that we have a heating system that we can afford instead of some failed experiment that is costing us more money than we can afford.

What has gotten my goat in my area is the fact that there are people on our street, not far from where I live, that have deliberately damaged their kitchen and bathroom and have had these replaced as a priority, while we have been waiting almost a year for this to get sorted out.

Hopefully this has explained why it may seem that I am being pushy.

Hello

ixwood wrote: »

I have to say you seem very demanding of your council. Nobody else can demand their landlord gives them this or that, so seems a bit unfair that you can be so pushy/extravagant with our taxes.

That's not fair ixwood and an apology is called for. The council put in the heating system as an experiment, if it doesn't work they should put it right, it is the council you should be upset with, not the unfortunate tennant stuck with a heating system that doesn't.

This topic is about money saving in rural areas, which Bonsibabe is trying to do, not an arguement about taxes, please don't allow a great thread to go off topic.

Thanks

Lotus-eater

Hello wrote: »

That's not fair ixwood and an apology is called for.

I don't think that....

ixwood wrote: »

I have to say you seem very demanding of your council. Nobody else can demand their landlord gives them this or that, so seems a bit unfair that you can be so pushy/extravagant with our taxes.

needs an apology at all.

It was said in a very fair and normal way. Bonisbabe was coming over in a way which I'm sure grated on alot of people.
She has explained it a bit more now, which helps to explain to people the way it is.

Nothing wrong with council houses btw, before you jump on my back. Or most of the people that live in them.

rhiwfield, has some interesting points. I don't know that much about ASHP's and have not heard of a heat recovery system that takes heat from certain rooms, built in with them, but it's possible I suppose. You can get heat recovery systems that take heat from expelled air, but I doubt this was put on a council house.

I'm wondering if the system was either installed (in)correctly/in the right house, or is being used in the right way,