Most cost effective heating for house?

monkey8

I had astronomical heating bills last year an want to cut down this year.
I have a gas boiler and electricity.
I also have an open fire (not gas)
Is it cheaper to burn fuel in open fire rather than using the gas?
What's the most cost effective fuel to burn.
I only have a small shed to store stuff.

Any help would be much appreciated.

cletus

What's the insulation like in your house

monkey8

cletus wrote: »

What's the insulation like in your house

Not great.
It's a two story with an attic conversion.
It's rented so cannot alter anything

Wearb

A well serviced gas boiler will be a lot cheaper than electricity.

cletus

monkey8 wrote: »

Not great.
It's a two story with an attic conversion.
It's rented so cannot alter anything

That can be one of the biggest issues with heating a house. Has your landlord given you a ber rating. I'd not ask for once as you are entitled. If its s sufficiently low you n might be able to use it as a bargaining tool re rent to off set heating costs. Other than that, have the boiler serviced, and use the open fire in the evenings

Calahonda52

monkey8 wrote: »

I had astronomical heating bills last year an want to cut down this year.
I have a gas boiler and electricity.
I also have an open fire (not gas)
Is it cheaper to burn fuel in open fire rather than using the gas?
What's the most cost effective fuel to burn.
I only have a small shed to store stuff.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Put a chimney ballon in the fireplace and forget about it
It is extracting heat from the house 24.7.365
It is about 23% efficient, boiler is closer to 80 or so.

Make all windows and external doors as airtight as possible as well as the attic hatch
DO NOT BLOCK ANY WALL VENTS

Cerco

^^^
Make sure you have a few carbon monoxide alarms.

Field east

An incredible amount of heat can be lost through windows.
(1) if Venetian blinds , then make sure that when down that they are turned in such a way that they reflect the heat back into the room as the heat rises.

(2) whatever window coverings you have , eg blinds, curtains, close them as early as is possible in the evening and pull them up/ back as late as possible in the morning. If going out to work leave down/closed all day unless the windows are generally south facing and it's going to be a sunny day.

(3) fit a plastic film over the windows. There is a plastic produce especially designed for this problem. Available from, I guess, Woodies and such outlets. It acts as a kind of 'another glaze' in the window. I have of people who fitted them and reports are positive. It is easy to fit.

shedweller

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Make all windows and external doors as airtight as possible as well as the attic hatch
DO NOT BLOCK ANY WALL VENTS

There's a thing that has me thinking. I'm sure theres a logic to it but anyway.
Say i go out and get super duper windows and doors that would be good enough to keep the sea and a hurricane out. This being to keep the heat in and eliminate cold air coming into the house. Makes sense so far to me anyway.
Then i go and drill a big 4" hole in the wall of each room to allow air in. That makes sense also. But why should i spend god knows what on windows and doors to keep out cold air that i then let in through a big hole in the wall?? It just doesn't make sense.

This has been bothering me for some time! I suppose this is where mhrv comes in eh?

edanto

monkey8 wrote: »

Not great.
It's a two story with an attic conversion.
It's rented so cannot alter anything

Damn that does drastically reduce the insulation options. Roughly, what are the heating costs per year?

Landlord is certainly the first person to talk to, and often. As poster above said, get the BER cert from them and see what it says. Is landlord approachable, would they do an insulation project? Adds value to it for the next tenant (rent shouldn't go up for you since you do them a favour by accommodating the work)

With no action from the landlord, I'd be tempted to move out; is that an option?

Maybe OT, but shedweller's point above has always mystified me too. What use is it to focus on incremental U values in windows and doors when there is a 6" square hole all the way through the wall right beside the window. Does the hole REALLY have to be THAT BIG for proper ventilation?!

I haven't changed mine, but I wish there was a way to do an experiment and know for sure if a 1" or 2" hole gives enough ventilation.

MicktheMan

shedweller wrote: »

There's a thing that has me thinking. I'm sure theres a logic to it but anyway.
Say i go out and get super duper windows and doors that would be good enough to keep the sea and a hurricane out. This being to keep the heat in and eliminate cold air coming into the house. Makes sense so far to me anyway.
Then i go and drill a big 4" hole in the wall of each room to allow air in. That makes sense also. But why should i spend god knows what on windows and doors to keep out cold air that i then let in through a big hole in the wall?? It just doesn't make sense.

This has been bothering me for some time! I suppose this is where mhrv comes in eh?

Firstly, "hole in wall" or window trickle vents are the absolute minimum backstop allowed by the b regs but are not the only way to ventilate a building - consider MEV, DCV and MVHR.

The crucial difference between a leaky building and an airtight building with ventilation is that the former's air changes are uncontrolled leading to under and over ventilation whereas the latter's should be fully controllable and designed to provide the appropriate level of ventilation at the right time.