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      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeSep 26th 2012
     
    Posted By: Paul in Montrealbut speaking of the country house

    Does the Butler stoke the fire with the Scullery Maid, glad to see you ex-pats are keeping the empire alive in the colonies :wink:
  1.  
    Posted By: SteamyTeaDoes the Butler stoke the fire with the Scullery Maid, glad to see you ex-pats are keeping the empire alive in the colonies


    It sounds decadent, but a very large number of people here have access to a cottage/house in "the country". Montreal is a small island near a vast area of mountains and lakes. Many people go "up north" at the weekend to The Laurentiens or head southeast to the "Eastern Townships". Our place is on a lake and we have a wooded area so occasionally burn our own wood (in a high efficiency sealed stove with its own air supply). Life in the colonies is really quite nice and more people have access to this kind of lifestyle than would be the case in the UK, as far as I can tell. Sometimes the vastness of the land here does have its advantages. Quebec alone is more than 2x the size of France and has over a million lakes so there's probably one per family!

    Paul in Montreal.
    • CommentAuthorpmusgrove
    • CommentTimeSep 29th 2012
     
    Today is a red letter day. Not only is the house still at 19.6 C without any heating on (falls to 18.6 at night) but today we became Zero Carbon as the production from a 3.8kWp PV array overtook the power we have taken from the grid since we first cleared the site 4 years ago. Wellington Carnival this evening so will go and celebrate by looking at the all the pretty lights on the hige floats that get built around these parts.
  2.  
    Does the Butler stoke the fire with the Scullery Maid?

    We always use a poker. Scullery maids burn too quickly.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeSep 30th 2012 edited
     
    Posted By: pmusgroveToday is a red letter day.

    Excellent :clap:

    Out of interest, how much do you think it cost and how much was behavioural change, can you put a kWh/day on that?
    • CommentAuthorpmusgrove
    • CommentTimeSep 30th 2012
     
    Family here for lunch so usage going up today! Will cmoe back with usage records later though.
    • CommentAuthorskyewright
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2012 edited
     
    Posted By: skyewrightI'll fess up:
    Skyewright,Yes,24/09/2012,57N,100,Electric (Funny Tariff)

    Looking at the summary data for September, I don't feel so bad abput the earlier turn on.
    The average temp for Sept 2012 was 1.5C lower than 2011, with the HDD figures for Sept 2012 being much closer to those for Oct 2011 that Sept 2011.

    Looked at as kWh/HDD, 2012 DHW & space heating energy usage was almost exactly the same as 2011 at HDD15, massively better[1] at HDD12, and 2 kWh/HDD better at HDD13 (which seems to be a useful HDD figure for our situation).

    [1] Probably a statistically silly figure because there were so few HDD12 in Sept 2011.
    • CommentAuthornikhoward
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2012 edited
     
    Mainly posted this as a celebration because the new boiler went on today for the first time ever and my wife has been feeling cold for the last week. To celebrate a had a bath - as in a long hot one as opposed to shower as we only had limited hot water for the last few months (any one want to buy a (lightly) used Redring Powerstream 12kW?)

    User,Heating On,Date,Latitude,Altitude

    NikHoward, Yes, 1/10/2012, 50.3N, 10, Gas combi, 60's bungalow 96m2 with double block walls and not much
    Insulation (currently)
    • CommentAuthorjules
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2012
     
    I succumbed last night, 4 weeks earlier than last year. Daytime temps in the last week have been about 15C lower than this time last year (when we reached 29C on 1 Oct), and there's not much sun. Once the core temp of our (quite large, very long) house gets down, it's hard to lift it without a lot of sunshine. Mind you, I've only turned on the UFH in the central third of the house downstairs. Everything else remains off. So:

    Jules, Yes, 2.10.12, 51.2N, 120m, gas condensing boiler
    • CommentAuthorGaryB
    • CommentTimeOct 7th 2012 edited
     
    Fired up the wood pellet boiler yesterday to test it after the summer layoff. The 80 litres of oil I had in February still hasn't ran out but must be on the last dregs, as the GF heating is occasionally turned on for an hour on chillier evenings.

    We have reached the point where the cumulative amount of boost heating is equivalent to 'heating on'.

    GaryB, Yes, 6.10.12, 54.4N, 30m, oil & wood pellet boilers
  3.  
    jamesingram,yes,7/10/2012,51.52N,43m,MG boiler G rated/woodstove 5kW
    fire this evening as cold , approx 14kWh in wood will be burnt
    • CommentAuthorTuna
    • CommentTimeOct 11th 2012
     
    Just spotted that this is still running..

    Well our heating is on, but we don't mind. Current estimations are that for a family of four, our total costs for hot water and heating over the last two years average out at around £200 of lpg per year at the current Calor bulk price. Plumbing in the wood stove will reduce it further, but the costs of doing so massively outweigh the savings due to a complex boiler installation.
    • CommentAuthorwookey
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2012
     
    Fire on yesterday evg (10th Oct). Cambridge. Woodstove ~5kW
    • CommentAuthorsnyggapa
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2012
     
    fire on last night (11th oct) , Essex/London border. Woodstove ~5kW but only lighly fuelled
  4.  
    Yesterday we had (for work) a photo shoot at home for our Christmas candles, to make it a Christmassy atmosphere we had the open fire going in the kitchen and the wood burner in the lounge (and a fully decorated tree). Absolutely Billy Boilers at ours last night so hot had to open doors and windows. so back to no heating tonight, Location: North Cornish Coast. Will let you know when we light the fire again (No central heating).
    • CommentAuthoratomicbisf
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2012
     
    No heating here in Bath yet in our BISF house, a 1940s steel-framed semi. The central heating isn't working at the moment as three of the six radiators are off for renovations and redecorating, but it hasn't been too cold inside.

    I have noticed quite a difference in heat retention between the second bedroom which I did IWI on in the spring and the first bedroom which so far is unimproved.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2012
     
    Had to have the 1.5 kW storage heater on yesterday (29-10/2012), starting from cold it took an extra 10 kWh.
    It is off now.
  5.  
    Posted By: atomicbisfI have noticed quite a difference in heat retention between the second bedroom which I did IWI on in the spring and the first bedroom which so far is unimproved.


    In what way - does the improved bedroom have a greater diurnal range? I have a thread running now on this one which is a big issue for me!

    As to this thread I have just put on my heating. Frost on the ground last night. Three consecutive cold and cloudy days and my house's mass is losing the battle so with internal temps dropping through 17 on it went. Full sun today and max expected of 14, so might get away with putting it off for another week or 2. I always aim for mid-Nov to be on permanently but never quite manage it and of course any 3 consecutive days without sun means my solar panels can't supply DHW so I need a burn them.
    • CommentAuthorJTGreen
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2012
     
    Would have had central heating on for a short burst to take the edge off upstairs on Sunday. Turns out the thermostat is not making any heating demand on boiler (system tested prior to thermostat being wired in - long story). So, central heating off - we've made do with the stove which was meant for supplementary heating.
    • CommentAuthorskyewright
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2012
     
    Posted By: SteamyTeaHad to have the 1.5 kW storage heater on yesterday (29-10/2012), starting from cold it took an extra 10 kWh.

    7hr x ~1.5kW?
    Doesn't it have an input control?
    Ours have a rotary controls (0 - 6). I hardly ever give them full wack on the input, only v. rarely exceeding 4.

    However, ours don't need to wait 17hrs till the next charge period, so maybe that's relevant (i.e. we can put in less energy in each charge, but more often)?

    Input settings currently vary from 1.5 to 2.5, & we've only had a couple of days so far when any of the heaters have been on for all of the 4 separate charge periods we see in each 24 hrs.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2012 edited
     
    Yes it does have an input thermostat, set at 2.5. It was charging from fully cold, so about 17°C to whatever the bricks get to.
    Off now anyway, was only because my lodger was feeling unwell and I felt that 60 pence worth of EDFs finest (and much greener than I imagined) was worth it to stop the bleating.
    Odd though, she has had a stroke with a third of her brain totally dead, another third has problems (I have seen the MRI scans and it is not pretty) leaving just the female bit at the front working sometimes. She often feels hot when it is cold and cold when it is hot, seems to me that only so much rewiring can go on until something gets connected up the wrong way.
    She can do a great trick with her left hand, if you wiggle the fingers on her right hand, the paralysed half, her left fingers move in tandem. So if she is moving a mug of tea and knocks her right hand, a not unusual happening, the left hand often opens.
    I used to be house proud :bigsmile:
    • CommentAuthorskyewright
    • CommentTimeOct 31st 2012
     
    Posted By: SteamyTeaShe often feels hot when it is cold and cold when it is hot, seems to me that only so much rewiring can go on until something gets connected up the wrong way.

    FMS can have a similar effect (i.e. the temp [& other things] apparent to the sufferer doesn't always match what appears to be the physical reality to others). Complicated, & frighteningly delicate, things humans...
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