Heating a non-centrally heated house

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Heating a non-centrally heated house
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woodyandluna

Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:19 pm Post subject: Heating a non-centrally heated house

What's the most efficient way to heat a house with no central heating? By efficient I mean energy and money efficient!!

We live in a victorian 2 bed semi, with a storage heater and an open fireplace in both the dining room and living room. Each bedroom has a convection heater also.

Can't help thinking this will cost me a fortune in electricity, and I'm not sure whether an open fire in the living room will heat the whole house much or not yet, we move in on saturday.

Any thoughts/ideas?

Thanks

Brica

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:29 pm Post subject:
Insulation, insulation, insulation. And draught-proofing. And installing a woodburner.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:30 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

Insulation, insulation, insulation.

Beat me to it.
Check out your power supplier for grants.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:32 pm Post subject:

we live in an old cottage and had oli heating put in

don't gasp

we have an open fireplace in the living room as well

it's not a big house and we are on the warm side

we put in 1000 litres of oil in aug and set the thermostat no higher than 15 EVER, 10 degrees at night and when we aren't there

this makes it no more expensive to run than gas and that oil will last us a year (because i am going to make sure it does!)

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: Heating a non-centrally heated house

brica wrote:

... Can't help thinking this will cost me a fortune in electricity ... we move in on saturday.

Item 1 - Insulation. There are grants available. You *need* the best insulation possible. There are particularly generous grants available when the house hasn't got central heating. Local council's not a bad starting point. Local insulation co's should know too.
Don't forget to attend to draughtproofing (although open fires need an air supply).

Buy an electric blanket for the short term. (I'm serious!)

Research your options. These will depend on things like availability of mains gas, firewood (& storage & delivery access) - if you are putting in a new hot tank and/or doing any roof work, then fit solar thermal panels. (Note that because 'combi' boilers don't use a hot water tank, most cannot be used with solar thermal.)
Re the storage rads for the interim - investigate an "Economy 10" tarrif rather than the usual "Economy 7" one. 10 gives you an afternoon booster.

The reason for the popularity of "central heating" is not just convenience and cleanliness, but also fuel efficiency, not least from the employment of proper controls.

Last edited by dougal on Thu Jan 12, 06 2:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:38 pm Post subject:

We lived in a two bed bungalow with only an open fire, a fan heater and one of those electrical oil heaters.
An awful lot of the heat from the open fire does go strait up the chimney and coal is creeping up in price with most other fuels. Can you get free wood or cheap firewood from the surroundings? As stove would be more efficient but a large cost. But an open fire certainly warms the heart.

Not sure about the efficiencies of the electric heaters but I suspect they are similar as the more heat you get the more it will cost.

How drafty is the house? Draft proofing (take care if there are any gas appliances that need outside air or if there is a need for ventilation to remove water) may be the most cost effective method, good curtains if they can be found cheaply and a warm OH and spaniel.

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: Heating a non-centrally heated house

brica wrote:

Any thoughts/ideas?Brica

I agree absoutely with the insulation, insulation, insulation post.

Also, we live in a part-restored Welsh farmhouse, which although has oil heating at last (bliss), it's still very drafty at the moment (gaps everywhere). So you could also do what we do which helps - have heavy curtains on rails behind the main doors front and back - you'd be amazed at how much heat escapes through uncovered entrance/exit doors.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:43 pm Post subject:

Hot water bottles ! Edit : I'm absolutely serious, short-term.

Also if your families have any 'old-fashioned' sheets and blankets (as opposed to duvets), use them and put the duvet on top. The tucked-in sheets round the edges keep the heat in much better.

re hot water bottles - the rubber kind you fill with hot water off the kettle are good, but if you're prone to power cuts and can get hold of those old-fashioned china 'pigs' cheaply (i.e. no more than �5-

, you can fill them with cold water and put them in a (non-electric) oven to heat up, then carefully transfer using oven gloves to the bed.

Last edited by gil on Thu Jan 12, 06 3:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 2:44 pm Post subject: Re: Heating a non-centrally heated house

dougal wrote:

Buy an electric blanket for the short term. (I'm serious!)

We did that. Best thing we ever did - particularly as we had no bedroom ceiling for 14 months (it was finally completed on Christmas Day). We just used to lie in bed looking straight up into the attic - interesting, but bloody ffffffreezing and very noisy -especially when the crows and seagulls land on the roof in the morning as the light comes up!

nora

Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 1539
Location: West Yorkshire

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 3:04 pm Post subject:
We had no central heating for 4 years so had a woodburner in the living room and used the gas rings on the cooker to heat the kitchen. The bathroom was cold and I never found a way to warm that unfortunately. At night we had hot water bottles if we were cold. I don't know how energy effecient this was but it cost less than the central heating I have now (gas)

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 4:57 pm Post subject:

As others else have said, insulation and draughtproofing are top of the list! But don't eliminate all ventilation. Start the storage heaters on a low setting to see how you get on with them. Personally I hate them 'cos they heat up at night when I want the house to be cool.

This kind of halogen heater is very effective for quick warmth and cheap to buy. www.ajmshopping.co.uk/listing.asp?Category=MarqueeHireEquipmentSales&SubCategory=MarqueeHeater&gclid=CNPR6ua6xYICFTxqEgodlAZCsw . Similar running costs as a fan heater, I guess, but the glow is more comforting somehow.

Carpet the floors - any old carpet/rugs will do to start with. It doesn't have to be properly fitted, just whack down a piece of secondhand carpet that roughly fits the room. The furniture will hold it in place.

Wear plenty of warm clothes, get some really good bootie-type slippers and wear a woolly hat if it's really cold.

This type of microwavable hottie is great www.airandwater.co.uk/product_details.asp?pid=555. Don't know how heating it in the microwave compares to boiling water for a rubber bottle, though. Lasts for ages, but worth making a washable cover for it as they get filthy (and a bit whiffy) eventually. I often use mine as a bit of extra warmth in my lap when I don't want the CH on, but sitting at the computer is chilly.

A few blankets between the mattress and the bottom sheet add cosiness if you don't fancy an electric blanket. Flanelette sheets are nice in winter. Wear pyjamas and buy really cosy long dressing gowns - fleece ones are cheap.

You can get special heaters for bathrooms which are combined with a light fitting - can't find one right now, but I know they exist! Cold bathroom is the pits. Have good thick bath mat and try to ensure towels are at dry before having a bath.

Have a rug or two available to tuck round your knees when you are sitting down to do something.

Keep active and eat well. The first two weeks will be the worst, after that you'll have adapted.

Your youth and love will keep you warm too

.

I lived in an unheated detatched house as a young adult and don't remember it as cold at all - we had a gas fire in the living room and a wall-heater in the bathroom. There were storage heaters, but we couldn't afford to use them. There were usually at least half a dozen people in the house (3 beds, 2 recepts) so I expect we generated a lot of hot air between us

.

Happy new house

Naomi

Joined: 26 Mar 2005
Posts: 1945

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 8:39 pm Post subject:

A woodburner with backboiler or better still a solid fuel Rayburn (so you can cook on wood energy too) and with a back boiler ,will not only heat the room it is in, but will also feed radiators in the other rooms too. Open fires can also have back boilers in them too, but they tend to eat the fuel quicker than a sealed burner and are harder to get to stay in overnight or if you go out for extended periods.
Really good insulation and draught proofing will keep in the heat that the rayburn or woodburner produces.That way you will not be paying for lost heat.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 9:42 pm Post subject: Re: Heating a non-centrally heated house

dougal wrote:

Buy an electric blanket for the short term. (I'm serious!).

I'd agree with that too - we don't heat our bedroom at all, and it's a really nice feeling to get into a warm bed, when it's freezing outside.....

It only needs to be on for a short time, once you're in, you create your own heat.....

woodyandluna

Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 71
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 06 11:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks everyone. Woodburner, good idea. I'll look into that. Insulation eh? How about using old clothes earmarked for the charity shop in the loft between the rafters? Can't hurt I suppose, so long as they're not too heavy!!

Noticed this morning that all of the windows were really condensated, is this a sign of drafty windows? Or something else? We're not living there yet so the house is still pretty cold inside.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 06 7:07 am Post subject:

brica wrote:

Noticed this morning that all of the windows were really condensated, is this a sign of drafty windows? Or something else? We're not living there yet so the house is still pretty cold inside.

I would say that's the sign of a damp house that is still hotter on the inside than the out. Worth checking the air bricks are completely clear to that the underfloor is well ventelated. When we bought our house the previous owner had sealed all the air bricks up.

Loft insulation is still reasonably cheap plus there may be grants for it. I'm not sure how well old clothes would work but they might attract vermin.

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