Archived Entries - Heating
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Fuel Bills
A sure way to end light-hearted conversation is to mention household fuel bills and their meteoric rise over the past seven years. According to the comparison website moneysupermarket.com household bills have doubled since 2003. With record low temperatures in December, my heart goes out to all of you who rely on oil to heat your homes who have seen unfair and exorbitant price rises as demand for oil has soared. Fuel poverty is a real issue amongst the vulnerable and occurs when more than 10% of household income is dedicated to paying fuel bills. However, with a degree of guile and imagination, we can do our best to reduce our energy consumption in the following ways:-
- Be savvy and search out competitive deals from other suppliers. There is nothing a service supplier likes more than a customer who is compliant and loyal to them. One thing I have begun to recognise in life is that there is little personal gain in being a loyal customer. Make your supplier be it your telephone provider or utility supplier work for their money and above all, take the time to search out more competitive deals. Also, avoid being caught in the trap of thinking that you have to stay with a supplier for a certain period of time. You can in some circumstances, change supplier after as little as 6 weeks for example but do check that the tariff you are on does not incur any penalties for doing this. I changed my dual fuel supplier last year and was rewarded with a more competitive tariff and Nectar bonus points which paid for my turkey!
- Be Proactive and submit your meter readings. Again, we are all too comfortable in paying estimated bills which falls right into the hands of the utility supplier. If your gas and electricity meters are not regularly read, estimated readings mean that you could be paying more for gas or electricity than you actually use. More importantly, if you do not submit your own meter readings, you will not be entitled to a refund should you find you have overpaid.
- Take the exercise and switch your appliance off at the plug. It is something we all do with unerring regularity and will ultimately cost us in the long run. Leaving appliance on standby is a real no no and can cost us up to £10 per month per appliance.
- Invest in Mastic and Foam. If you feel a draught, that will often indicate a potential heat loss source. In this case, try if possible to seal any gaps by either using mastic or expandable foam. By doing so, you would not only reduce the draughts but also your carbon footprint by approximately 15-20%!
- Get those Curtains lined or shutters ordered. Sadly windows are one of the most efficient ways of losing heat from your property. This is a real issue if you live in a listed property with single pane windows and the potential to have them replaced not possible on historic building grounds.
- Last but not least, wrap up warm and turn that thermostatic control down by 1 or 2 degrees.
If you have imaginative ways of reducing your fuel bills, we look forward to hearing them in the comments.
Underfloor Heating
Talk to any interior designer, and it is without doubt that if they could have their own way, conventional radiators would be consigned to the science museum. Yes, they can be considered ugly given the blank panels hanging to walls but also the pipework that feeds them. When compared to underfloor heating, a properly laid system can provide consistent warmth as opposed to the hot and cold spots of conventional radiators and free walls from clutter.
Whilst some systems use electric-powered underfloor heating, this tends to be energy hungry and in these days of high energy prices, can equate to expense. Instead, the reality of underfloor heating is that it is likely to be a wet system of pipes filled with circulating hot water.
Yes, you have guessed it; it works very much on the same principle of a conventional heating system with pipes buried in a solid floor or between the joists of a suspended timber floor.
The system is very much favoured by green builders who use it for its energy saving potential. Underfloor heating works by creating a giant radiator from the floor. This has the effect of warming you directly rather than the air around you for which I am reliably informed means it can run on lower temperatures.
When compared to underfloor heating, radiators work on the principle of giving off only around 20% of their heat by radiation, the rest by convection. The hot air rises from the radiator then flowing across the room and drawing up cool air in its wake. Not only is this extremely inefficient with the warmth located invariably at ceiling level but it also means that the temperature of the water in the system has to be much higher. It is believed that the water temperature has to be in the region of 80 Degrees C as opposed to 45-55 Degrees C. Moreover, if your room only has one panel, think that single panel has to heat the entire room.
The benefits of underfloor heating include its ability to run off any type of boiler, and that it can be bolted onto any existing central heating system. For most of us, the last thing we really want to be doing is lift existing floor slabs. However, if you are considering an extension or converting your loft, why not install this type of system? Additionally, it runs at low temperatures making it an ideal for renewable energy sources such as solar panels or ground source heating, which are unable to provide water at high enough temperatures for traditional heating systems.
Whilst the benefits of underfloor heating cannot be denied, the system has drawbacks and these are largely to do with installation and the flooring beneath which you wish to install it. Should you wish to choose this form of system, you will need to compliment it with high levels of insulation at floor level. Additionally, if your floorboards are prone to warping or shrinking, this may also affect the efficiency of the system. Some say that underfloor heating is best avoided beneath timber flooring and others believe that if the floor is properly seasoned, there should be no issue.
When considering any alteration work, there is more to heating than simply panels.
Panel Radiators
Are you looking for an effective way to keep your home warm? The answer could be right beneath you...
Talk to any interior designer and it is without doubt that if they could have their own way, conventional radiators would be consigned to the science museum. Yes, they can be considered ugly given the blank panels hanging to walls but also the pipework that feeds them. When compared to underfloor heating, a properly laid system can provide consistent warmth as opposed to the hot and cold spots of conventional radiators and free walls from clutter.
Whilst some systems use electric-powered underfloor heating, this tends to be energy hungry and in these days of high energy prices, can equate to expense. Instead, the reality of underfloor heating is that it is likely to be a wet system of pipes filled with circulating hot water.
Yes, you have guessed it; it works very much on the same principle of a conventional heating system with pipes buried in a solid floor or between the joists of a suspended timber floor.
The system is very much favoured by green builders who use it for its energy saving potential. Underfloor heating works by creating a giant radiator from the floor. This has the effect of warming you directly rather than the air around you for which I am reliably informed means it can run on lower temperatures.
When compared to underfloor heating, radiators work on the principle of giving off only around 20% of their heat by radiation, the rest by convection. The hot air rises from the radiator then flowing across the room and drawing up cool air in its wake. Not only is this extremely inefficient with the warmth located invariably at ceiling level but it also means that the temperature of the water in the system has to be much higher. It is believed that the water temperature has to be in the region of 80 Degrees C as opposed to 45-55 Degrees C. Moreover, if your room only has one panel, think that single panel has to heat the entire room...
The benefits of underfloor heating include its ability to run off any type of boiler, and that it can be bolted onto any existing central heating system. For most of us, the last thing we really want to be doing is lift existing floor slabs. However, if you are considering an extension or converting your loft, why not install this type of system? Additionally, it runs at low temperatures making it an ideal for renewable energy sources such as solar panels or ground source heating, which are unable to provide water at high enough temperatures for traditional heating systems.
Whilst the benefits of underfloor heating cannot be denied, the system has drawbacks and these are largely to do with installation and the flooring beneath which you wish to install it. Should you wish to choose this form of system, you will need to compliment it with high levels of insulation at floor level. Additionally, if your floorboards are prone to warping or shrinking, this may also affect the efficiency of the system. Some say that underfloor heating is best avoided beneath timber flooring and others believe that if the floor is properly seasoned, there should be no issue.
When considering any alteration work, there is more to heating than simply panels.
