Heating Question

mukki

living in a 5 bedroom bungulo in the sticks

I was finding it very hard to get the place warm so i...


1)opened the windows and turned off the rads in all the rooms that didn't need to be warm
draght sealed these cold room's doors to keep the rest of the house seperate

2)i draght sealed the windows and doors into all the warm rooms (we open the windows for a good few hours every day) I tested all cold to warm doors and windows with a candle on a windy night

3)I insulated the attica above all the warm rooms

4) set heating to come on constant from 6pm till 10pm every day

5) house is fitted with massive single glazed windows, so i fitted roller blinds to some of these inside the curtins to help keep the cold out



now the place is sooooo much warmer that i can walk around in a pjs and slippers at night

but....... about 30mins after the heating goes of the place is freezing again,

where is the heat going

Wishbone Ash

mukki wrote:

1)opened the windows and turned off the rads in all the rooms that didn't need to be warm

Would it not be more effective to heat all rooms?

3)I insulated the attica above all the warm rooms

:eek: You should insulate all of the attic!

mukki

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Would it not be more effective to heat all rooms?

not sure, but surly heating a smaller area would be much more economical, and it pointless heating 4 spare bedrooms

Wishbone Ash wrote:

:eek: You should insulate all of the attic!

if my above point makes sense...

then there would be no benifit to insulating a room which has the windows open and the rad off

paddyp

Whats seperating the cold rooms horizontally from the warm area? A tiny bit of wood (door) and either block on edge, brick or plaster board and a bit of plaster in the walls. Your theory might make a small amount of sense if you dry lined and insulated all the walls adjoining the 'cold rooms'. As it is however you will lose copious amounts of heat into the cold rooms via the walls and door and out the window.

If there was no insulation in the attic I am assuming that its an old bungalow in which case there is probably no insulation in the exterior walls or under the floor, there is no solution in this case but insulate. I would guess you are

a) miserably cold for eight months of the the year
b) using about 3000 litres of oil per year

What you spend on insulation will be saved on oil in a short time and will add value to your property.

Wishbone Ash

mukki - why do you open the windows in the unheated rooms? I haven't opened a window in 7 years. Walls vents give adequate ventilation. My house in lovely and cosy. Double glazing, double attic insulation, wall insulation etc. It holds the heat for days also.

mukki

Wishbone Ash- their are no vents in the walls house is about 20 years old, i will close them but leave a gap for some air



paddyp-
there is insulation in the external wall cavity and the external walls are dry lined, just the attic was left out

I didn't think that much heat would travel through the walls and doors between the cold rooms and warm rooms

i will finish insulation the whole attic to see if that helps

it was impossibal to get the house warm before i divided it up so maybe the oil cooker isn't powerful enough, i'll try it again when the attic i finished