Result!

All my effort to reduce energy usage and cost has paid off. This morning I got a cheque from Scottish Power for =A3375 for overpayment of gas and electricity charges.

Ours is a large 4 bedroom 1990s house which I had cavity wall insulated and extra loft insulation added last year. We already had double glazing.

This together with reducing HW temperature slightly and replacing light bulbs (I know, I know) has had no appreciable reduction in comfort over the winter.

We have a gravity fed Gloworm boiler which is the same age as the house and gives no trouble, so I don't think it is cost effective to change the boiler.

What can I do now to further reduce the energy usage? Moving supplier will have lttle effect as I am already on a very good tarrif.

Reply to
chudford
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How is the CH controlled? Do you have TRVs on all but one radiator? Are you using a programmable room stat so as to have different temperatures at different times of the day? Could the system be zoned if it isn't already? Do your controls provide a boiler interlock - such that the boiler turns off completely rather than cycling on its own stat when both HW and CH demands are satisfied?

Are there any electrical devices which are left on all the time but which needn't be? Computers, perhaps, or older TVs left on standby? Do any members of your family only know how to turn lights *on* - but not off again?

Reply to
Roger Mills

Thank you Roger

We already have TRVs on all but one radiator and we control the temperature at different times of the day using the room stat. The idea of the boiler interlock is attractive, how do I retrofit this into an existing boiler and what controller do you recommend? I will have to investigate the zoning but I suspect this might be difficult as we have microbore pipes installed behind the plasterboard.

Reply to
chudford

Kill the family.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

It rather depends on what you've got already. In your first post, you used the term "gravity fed". I'm not sure whether by that you meant that the HW circuit used gravity circulation or whether you simply meant that it was a vented - as opposed to pressurised - system. Which is it, and is it fully pumped or not. Do you currently have any motorised valves - driven by room and tank thermostats - controlling the flow in the HW and CH circuits? If so, how many, and what sort? [Most likely to have either one 3-port valve, or two 2-port valves] Can you currently have just the CH on without heating the DHW at the same time, should you wish to do so?

Zoning means providing independent control over groups of radiators so that - for example - you can heat just the upstairs rooms without having to heat downstairs at the same time, or vice versa. Whether or not an existing system can be zoned depends on the layout of the pipework. If you already have separate circuits for up and down, it's relatively easy to insert zone valves. In my house, it's virtually impossible since I have a single circuit between the floors with up and down rads tee'd off it in a more-or-less random sequence!

Reply to
Roger Mills

All the boring stuff like turning the room stat down a degree, only boil the water you need not a full kettle, use all the shelves in the oven, turn the telly off and have more sex, have a shower not a bath, put lids on saucepans, use a pressure cooker, short the meter, etc.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I think perhaps persuading the SWMBO on most of these (with the exception of the shower) would require more energy than I'd save.

Reply to
Clint Sharp

Sorry I should have described it as a vented system.

It is fully pumped with motorised valves controlling the HW and CH.

We have a Danfoss 7 day timer with separate HW and CH switching.

I have found this:

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experience of these more complex controllers and at about =A3400 is it worth it?

Thanks Richard

Reply to
chudford

I very much doubt whether it's worth spending £400 on a controller.

It sounds as if what you've already got is pretty good. If your system is either an S-Plan (2 x 2-port valves) or a Y-Plan (one 3-port valve) you will already have boiler interlock.

In your position, I would consider the following:

  1. Replace the room stat with a programmable stat such as the Honeywell CM67 (or whatever the equivalent current model is - should cost about £50). You then use the Danfoss controller to time just the HW, and set CH to 'constant'. The CH is then actually timed by the programmable stat, allowing different temperatures at different times of day and/or different days of the week. It can also provide 'optimum start' which some people find useful.

  1. Investigate the feasilibilty of dividing the CH into 2 or more zones, each controlled by its own programmable stat and motorised valve. You can then be more selective about which parts of the house you heat at any given time. [You may need to ensure that you have adequate capacity in all your radiators because the heat losses in a heated room will be a bit higher if the adjacent rooms are not heated].

Reply to
Roger Mills

We've got the Honeywell programmable stat (the wireless version) and I would recommend it.

Don't forget that you can save a fair bit of unnecessary heating, and achieve the same effect as zoning without the replumbing, by turning off rads manually when you don't need them. In the winter before we go to bed I turn off the rads in our living room (large and rather drafty) so that it doesn't get heated in the morning before work when we don't go in there. I turn them back on again before I go out to work so they come on in the evening.

Reply to
martin_pentreath

If done properly your wife need not know about having more sex. Turn the bit on the side's thermostat up full as you are not paying for her gas bill. If the bit on the side complains then dump her.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

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