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Ireland and the love of cold houses

Eady

I say there are many reasons for cold houses. Main reason is climate which you can't change,but onother main reason is peoples mentality.They don't understand about the buildings insulation,it is a waste of money:) One irish man few years ago when the winter was cols about -10-15 for a week,told me that he instaled a heating lamps in attic to avoid water pipes freeze:) But before he told his house is very well insulated:)) Older irish houses are drenched with water,walls are wet all the time and foundations are not waterproofed so moisture rising from the ground into the walls and wall become mouldy. Live in these houses is a health hazard, that is way so many irish suffer from astma and other lung disease. Just now irish started insulate house,but for many this is still waste of money. I know one farmers family who built new big house during boom time and now they complain about electricity bills:)) They have electric heater in every bedroom,becaus oil central heating is so expencive.To ask them about underfloor heating,about insulation,about solid fuel boiler with a storage tank or a geothermal heating is like to talk about nanotechnologies or they say it is to expencive,but years ago to spend 10000 euro for week holidays in Spain (7 people) wasn't expencive:)) It all about mentality...

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JuliusCaesar

Deleted User wrote: »

Fit a duffuser plate to the vent on the outside, get a plece of rigid material about 1 1/2 times the size of the vent and screw it to the outside of the vent but space it about 2-3cm away from the wall, this will stop the wind blasting through.

I've just realised that my bedroom is freezing cold because of a vent to the chimney (fireplace was removed and boarded up/plastered over) blasting actic air into the room from the chimney. It's just an open vent like the one on the CH boiler/immersion press cupboard. Fecken builders, it was an Irish fecken builder did it, the cheap 'ah sure it'll do' bollix.

The stuff I caught workmen on, I used ask if their wives would put up with that standard of work at home - no they blinkin' wouldn't and I couldn't see why they thought I'd put up with it. I was after all paying for the work.

force eleven

If you can't see your breath inside your house, you fail. I was away for 2 days last year over Christmas. Left the heat off and on arriving back, the temperature inside had fallen to a pleasant 8C. You 20C people are spoilt.

Alun

I think if you have fireplaces removed then you have to have vents put in according to building regs. Something to do with airing it to prevent dampness in the chimney which can result in residual soot in the chimney reacting with the damp to form sulphuric acid which can eat away at the mortar eventually resulting in a collapsed chimney. So not a cowboy after all.

JuliusCaesar

force eleven wrote: »

If you can't see your breath inside your house, you fail. I was away for 2 days last year over Christmas. Left the heat off and on arriving back, the temperature inside had fallen to a pleasant 8C. You 20C people are spoilt.

Well you would say that wouldn't you? with that username

whatdoicare

AFAIK insulation wasnt required to be fitted into houses by law until the 80's. The estate I grew up on was half built when this came in and even at that the half that got insulation had to pay another 1000 to get the second floor and roof done.

My own house is 12 years old. Its warm all year round, never going lower than 17 degrees. I turn on the heating for two or three hours at night to make sure the bedroom is warm for the baby and it goes up to 25 degrees. If I turn on my dryer its like the tropics in my house. My house is irish built on an estate...so I dont know how newer houses are cold?? Im here in a tshirt, baby only in a vest and baby gro...roasted!

[Deleted User]

This thread...

clairefontaine

Why don't Irish chimneys have flue closures? 80% of your heat goes up the chimney.

Irish houses are freezing...

conorhal

clairefontaine wrote: »

Why don't Irish chimneys have flue closures? 80% of your heat goes up the chimney.

Irish houses are freezing...

I got a chimney balloon as a cheap work around to that problem (if you're not using the fireplace obviously). You inflate it with a bycicle pump up the chimney and I have to say, it did make a big difference to heat retention in the house

clairefontaine

conorhal wrote: »

I got a chimney balloon as a cheap work around to that problem (if you're not using the fireplace obviously). You inflate it with a bycicle pump up the chimney and I have to say, it did make a big difference to heat retention in the house

I had one of those, but why don't they have the flue closures built in in the first place?

Ray Palmer

I got external insulation put on my house and it addressed the problem straight away. It used to takes 2-3 hours for the heating to warm the house now it takes about 15-30minutes. Replaced the boiler with a modern condensing one. Costs of heating dropped then too. Replaced the hot water tank with a proper insulated one. Hot water all the time.

It may not be a cheap solution but if you want Scandinavian type housing you have to build to their standards. It was more for comfort of living rather than cost in saving in heating.

As for any Eastern Block places and their great heating it is massively subsidised and uses communal boilers etc... If they paid for the fuel like us they would not have this heating.

Henwin

Owen wrote: »

It's our crappy house construction methods. Cavity blocks with no insulation, draughty fireplaces, no attic insulation, etc. My sister & brother both built scandanavian homes here in Ireland (Scanhome.ie are the distributors) - thrown up in 4 weeks, and then rarely need to heat the houses. The walls are stuffed full of sheeps wool, there's geothermal heating, boiler tanks which keep your water lukewarm for a week once it's been heated. I never wear more than a tshirt and shorts when I'm in their houses.

The bottom line is we waste a lot of energy in our crappy homes here.

What would the average price difference be between the 2 types of build

looking_around

The house here, I'd say is between 16' to 24' depending on the room/how long the heating is on etc.

We spend about 500 a year on heating now, so it's not too bad. Main problem is the old radiators and badly designed circuit.
To warm up the rest of the house, 2 first rooms have to get fairly toasty. (we often turn down these radiators, but it still gets fairly warm..while the rest of the house, will be at about 15-18'C if we're lucky. Kitchen is hell to heat, and thats where most visitors will sit for a cuppa,.. so we don't really get visitors in winter

The radiator plumbing was done by someone who "knows a thing or two", but in a essence, doesn't know much.... we'll have to sort that out eventually. (unless I convince my OH to move and build from scratch first...Did I say we're in a listed stone building too? ugh)
__
Edit:
I have a friend in Sweden, they in general seem to have a different heating system, (one that is starting to be more common here, however isn't suitable on it's own, as it only works below 0.. something like at -4 degrees and lower. ) Can't remember what it's called now, ..Is a large box outside with what looks like fans, fairly cheap to run.
So, It's cheaper for them to heat a house, if they're using that system over the oil(which mostly people will try and save and stretch).

Ray Palmer

looking_around wrote: »

Th

__
Edit:
I have a friend in Sweden, they in general seem to have a different heating system, (one that is starting to be more common here, however isn't suitable on it's own, as it only works below 0.. something like at -4 degrees and lower. ) Can't remember what it's called now, ..Is a large box outside with what looks like fans, fairly cheap to run.
So, It's cheaper for them to heat a house, if they're using that system over the oil(which mostly people will try and save and stretch).

Sounds like a heat recovery system. Instead of venting to the outside to get air circulation the fresh air is heated by the stale air and pumped back around the house. It is a secondary solution to the main heating system that keeps running costs down. It can be done here but retro fitting is a bit difficult.

Electric Sheep

View Profile wrote: »

Yeah the Irish mentality with turning the heating on seems to be pretty stingy.
Maybe its because we pay so much for oil/gas/electricity!?

I think the colder nations have better heating systems. Like heating from thermal springs and having power stations heating vast amounts of steam and pumping it into every home and business instead of having your own personal boiler.

I hate visiting Ireland in the winter. Even good hotels are stingy with the heat and look at you as if you are crazy when you ask why the radiators are not working properly.

Then you get the folks who like to build their imitation Southforks, but don't turn on the heat because it costs too much. Less house and more heat would be a lot more comfortable, but the neighbors can't see the heat so it is low priority.

OneArt

Growing up in Ireland our house was always warm during certain times of the day (mother's from SA so probably was just freaked out about how much the bill might be). My heating is a flat fee per month and included in my rent so as long as I don't go crazy with it (as in, keep it on full blast 12 months a year), I can keep my flat warm throughout winter for nothing extra. Visited Ireland for Christmas and couldn't get over how cold EVERYONE's house was.

Also, I had forgotten how much I hate immersion heaters.

Electric Sheep

OneArt wrote: »

Growing up in Ireland our house was always warm during certain times of the day (mother's from SA so probably was just freaked out about how much the bill might be). My heating is a flat fee per month and included in my rent so as long as I don't go crazy with it (as in, keep it on full blast 12 months a year), I can keep my flat warm throughout winter for nothing extra. Visited Ireland for Christmas and couldn't get over how cold EVERYONE's house was.

Also, I had forgotten how much I hate immersion heaters.

Yes, hot water seems to be an occasional extra rather than a constant in Ireland.

KungPao

Popped into the mothers yesterday at around half three. With the wind howling outside, it was freezing out. And there she is sitting in a cold house with a blanket wrapped around her, no sign of the heating.
I asked her what the hell? Turn on the heating!
She did reluctantly...sighing saying it's too early!
She seems to think of heating systems like lighting, only on when getting dark.

Also, she recently got her bathroom done, first thing the builder did was bash a big hole in the wall for a vent. I understand it's for dampness, but there is a window for that.

Big cold draft in the room now which of course spills out to the rest of the area.

Why even bother having a radiator in the room, if there's a hole in the wall?!

[Deleted User]

Am in the very early stages of planning to build a home and I am leaning towards building a scanhome pre-fab kit house or the like. Warm, bright, dry, low energy hopefully.

fryup

sure we love a drafty cold house, it reminds us of our colonial past

[-0-]

Owen wrote: »

It's our crappy house construction methods. Cavity blocks with no insulation, draughty fireplaces, no attic insulation, etc. My sister & brother both built scandanavian homes here in Ireland (Scanhome.ie are the distributors) - thrown up in 4 weeks, and then rarely need to heat the houses. The walls are stuffed full of sheeps wool, there's geothermal heating, boiler tanks which keep your water lukewarm for a week once it's been heated. I never wear more than a tshirt and shorts when I'm in their houses.

The bottom line is we waste a lot of energy in our crappy homes here.

One of the best posts on boards.ie. I wish I could use scanhome.ie to build me a house in the states.

[Deleted User]

I had one of those, but why don't they have the flue closures built in in the first place?

Probably because some gimp would try to light a fire with it closed!

323gtr

my house was so cold when i as growing up i used to sleep beside the immersion tank..

Hotblack Desiato

looking_around wrote: »

To warm up the rest of the house, 2 first rooms have to get fairly toasty. (we often turn down these radiators, but it still gets fairly warm..while the rest of the house, will be at about 15-18'C if we're lucky. Kitchen is hell to heat, and thats where most visitors will sit for a cuppa,.. so we don't really get visitors in winter

If the heating system hasn't been balanced then the first couple of radiators will always be a lot hotter than the rest. The pump might need to be turned up as well.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Balancing_central_heating_radiators

Guy:Incognito

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Probably because some gimp would try to light a fire with it closed!

And if it's cold the fire would be lit anyway.

Ruu

Moved these newer posts to its own thread since the other one was from 2009.

Mod.

Cookie_Monster

You've not experienced cold (and damp) houses till you've lived in New Zealand. Hundred times worse than the poorest Irish house.

delw

Remember growing up all we had was a coal fire,no rads until early 90s but you could hang meat it was that cold in the winter,maybe thats why i don't feel the cold as much as the wife nowadays,she gets cold in the summer for gods sake

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

sullivlo

Family home, where I live now, is toasty toasty. My bedroom has a vent in it and even with that I haven't had the rad on at all this winter. It's well insulated though. Uncle works in building trade so when we were doing work on the house after moving in we insulated like you wouldn't believe!

However I lived in an apartment on a river in cork and it was a Celtic tiger build which was thrown up. The place was an icebox. And those awful storage heaters made it expensive to heat. We would need the heat on for 2 or 3 hours before we would be comfortable in the living area.