SupraAyf Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 Hey Supra-buddies, ........just thought I would start a home heating thread to see what temperatures you've all got your thermostats set at these days? Before the various price rises we were a typical user family (2-adults only) with a £100 monthly bill so about 1200-quid a year for our leccy and gas bill combined Since then the missus has decided that she wants to prove a point to the energy companies by not using their products so, consequently, we've turned down the heating 'kick-in point' to 13.5C and, this morning, I awoke to find the house temperature at 14.5C which for a modern insulated home was chilly to say the least. By my reckoning our standard annual bill should have increased to £2,500 before being reduced to £2,100 following the £400 Govt allowance scheme but at this rate I think our bill will be much less than £2,100 and in the meantime I'll have succumbed to either a dose of hyperthermia or severe arthritis. What are your temperatures, costs and do any of you have a wife like mine, lol? Cheers all, Andrew P.S. I'll be digging out the ski hats and gloves from the loft over the weekend so that I can watch my evening telly programmes in relative comfort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabella Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 Good thread! We haven't used the central heating yet, fleeces are on now! During Covid we got the double glazing sorted out and a very leaky office/conservatory area completely redone with a proper insulated roof etc. That has made a big difference. We used the wood burner last night for the first time since spring, and that pumped out enough heat for the living areas and kitchen. The wood comes from our own trees and is 'renewable', as in from diseased or reduced height trees. Sorry, being a bit green there. Now two of the kids are back at uni, we're not using the dishwasher, and lights are not being left on all over the house, which is what they seem to do without thinking about it!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabella Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 Oh and stopped charging mobiles overnight, as that costs more, as the charger is constantly topping up when at 100%. The Microwave is switched off at the wall when not in use, as they are quite high in consumption on standby. PC's shutdown or sleep when afk. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 My missus pays the leccy bill so she is on an eco drive. I bought a usage monitor and ran that from socket to socket. So interesting results. Fridges (we have knocked a couple of those on the head) and TVs (are all now switched off at the mains) are bad news. As are PC's and my wife has(d) 4 fish tanks. I've changed the cooker for a new induction one and bought an air fryer that uses half the power of a cooker and is on a lot less time seeing its smaller. We were on target for a £16k electricity bill so it'll be interesting to see how the efficiency measures take effect. This is the usage I recorded on our appliances: It should be obvious which things wouldn't be on full 24hrs a day, every day. Others would 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc92 Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 I've got one of those heated vests from Makita, the batteries last for hours and they're warm enough for sitting around at home if you wear a thicker jumper over the top of it. I'm pretty cold tolerant and don't have a wife so I don't run the heating much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted September 29, 2022 Author Share Posted September 29, 2022 7 hours ago, Annabella said: Good thread! We haven't used the central heating yet, fleeces are on now! During Covid we got the double glazing sorted out and a very leaky office/conservatory area completely redone with a proper insulated roof etc. That has made a big difference. We used the wood burner last night for the first time since spring, and that pumped out enough heat for the living areas and kitchen. The wood comes from our own trees and is 'renewable', as in from diseased or reduced height trees. Sorry, being a bit green there. Now two of the kids are back at uni, we're not using the dishwasher, and lights are not being left on all over the house, which is what they seem to do without thinking about it!!!! Some cracking ideas there Annabella. I've just checked the temperature on our house and it's 15.5C so I've made a coffee and I'm clutching at the cup to get some warmth. I might ask the missus if we can have a couple of days of heat in October Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted September 29, 2022 Author Share Posted September 29, 2022 5 hours ago, rider said: ........We were on target for a £16k electricity bill so it'll be interesting to see how the efficiency measures take effect. I'd be interested to see how it goes too, good-mate. That's a shockingly high figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 You need to put your heating on despite the layers, a cold house gets damp. A cold damp house gets mouldy, mould is bad for your health. Single guy, no kids, terraced house, fixed last December with British Gas at 114 a month for both for 2 years, basically double what I was paying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 I'm wearing a hoody indoors hood up and furry slippers. No problems just yet, aiming for at least the end of October before the C/H goes on 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Raven Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 (edited) I have multiple heating methods. first off is the oil boiler a new blue flame combi. I paired this with a tado system on all the rads. It will only fire to rads needing heat instead of all the rads. This has resulted in huge savings. I have a 7kw log burner in the living room. It’s so good it more or less heats the whole house. Wood is 60 quid a ton. Working with the tado my heating rarely comes in and when it does it’s just to heat a bedroom. All tados are set to 15 no higher. I also have two air source heat pumps. The bedroom one and living room one are set to come on an hour before up time. This warms it up before I light the fire. The heating hot water is about 1000 per year based on oil being 89p a ltr. In covid it went to 20p!!! my electric was 350 per quarter. Everything in the house is hue bulbs on timers and scheduled. I also invested in a heat pump tumble dryer and a rated appliances. next year I will look into solar and battery storage Edited October 1, 2022 by The Raven (see edit history) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuneR Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 On 10/1/2022 at 1:28 AM, The Raven said: first off is the oil boiler a new blue flame combi. I paired this with a tado system on all the rads. It will only fire to rads needing heat instead of all the rads. This has resulted in huge savings. Working with the tado my heating rarely comes in and when it does it’s just to heat a bedroom. All tados are set to 15 no higher. Interesting, i assume you need to put them on all the rads otherwise the old dumb thermostats will still fire the rad? I've a Netatmo controlling the boiler but haven't pulled the trigger on the smart rad thermostats yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Raven Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 5 hours ago, TuneR said: Interesting, i assume you need to put them on all the rads otherwise the old dumb thermostats will still fire the rad? I've a Netatmo controlling the boiler but haven't pulled the trigger on the smart rad thermostats yet. Yes. That said I leave the bathroom one off. Apparently the boiler engineer said to allow an open rad to help the boiler. the boiler will fire when ever the main stat says it’s to cold on a traditional boiler most stats are wall hung in the living room or hall. Firing a boiler when hall gets cold is pointless chances are the other rooms are fine. So you end up heating the whole house. Old Rad valves will then stay open until they get to a certain level and shut. The tado will only turn the boiler on when one of the rooms hits its min temp. The rest stay shut. Boiler fires all the heat to said room until it hits its setting and turns boiler off. if your like me I like the bedroom cool at night so I knock the rads down to 14. If you pay extra it will ring fence and detect when your out and turn the system to away mode then when your close to home switch it back so your house is warm when you come in. I do it via the app instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 (edited) Our heating is set to 15 over night, 21 during the day. We have a Tado thermostat and switches off if I leave the house automatically. If it produces heat, or cools, it uses a lot of electricity (so heaters, freezers, etc.). Don't worry too much about other devices on standby, anything in the last decade or so won't use very much just on standby. You're probably talking a couple of quid a year. There's been a lot of scaremongering articles lately about electricity usage on stand-by, but they get the figures wrong by a factor of 10 or more. Devices will use a few more watts if they maintain a network connection to check for updates etc. (Games consoles, smart TV's etc.) but it's not a lot, and there should be options to turn that off. Replaced the seals on our Windows last year, that made a big difference to heating, they were quite drafty! Our combined bill just went up to £175 a month, two bedroom house, two fish tanks, two freezers, two home servers, lots of smart home devices on all the time. Edited October 4, 2022 by Thorin (see edit history) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 On 9/29/2022 at 3:15 PM, rider said: We were on target for a £16k electricity bill Are you running a large scale cannabis farm? Those lights must use a lot of electricity. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted October 5, 2022 Author Share Posted October 5, 2022 5th Oct - and still no gas usage. @Dnksaid he's not putting his heating on until the end of October so I'm going to try and match him, lol However it would be easier if I lived in the warmer south of the country and not the cold and windy NE. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Raven Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Lol ok I will attempt to not put mine on till November 3rd any rise? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabella Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 4th 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted October 8, 2022 Author Share Posted October 8, 2022 Are you two trying to kill me off I'm not sure if we can make it to the 3rd and 4th Nov but I'll have a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formatzero Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 Up north its getting a bit chilly but no central heating on yet.I come from a generation who had coal fire in living room and that was it,bath night was sunday and during the week stand in the kitchen deep sink for my mother to scrub my legs but i have become a bit soft as i got older I think a lot of folks dont understand that the the £2,500 cap isn't a cap on your total useage but a cap on your unit rate.Have to wait and see how long i can resist the heating urge !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Raven Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 How we all doing. Been warm as down south. No sign of needing the heating yet. I have fully stocked the log store ready tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabella Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Been burning some wood, hope we have enough...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 No problem here yet November should be a doddle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 We're still going strong here and I have to admit that we've saved a fortune in fuel costs so far. Here's a funny one for you though: EDF has written to us to ask for an updated gas meter reading as they don't appear to believe that we've only used one unit of gas in 50+ days. I'm determined to keep this going for as long as possible P S. I'm not doing this for bl@@dy Ukraine or to help with power blackouts either; It's just part of my OCD!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabella Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) Had EON here today, 2nd visit to get the smart meter display working, all good now. The Mrs has had me switching stuff on and off to see how much appliances are costing, beginning to wonder whether to break it. ...... Edited October 20, 2022 by Annabella (see edit history) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraAyf Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, Annabella said: Had EON here today, 2nd visit to get the smart meter display working, all good now. The Mrs has had me switching stuff on and off to see how much appliances are costing, beginning to wonder whether to break it. ...... That made me smile EDF want us to fit a smart meter but we've so far refused. I can't be bothered to move all the stuff out of the garage for them to gain access, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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