I would guess that while insulated to a reasonable standard, the real mechanism of heat loss in the house has yet to be addressed. I suspect you have a decent wooly jumper but missing the wind-cheater.We have oil-fired central heating in a 1960s bungalow. Despite having decent attic insulation, double glazing and the cavity walls pumped, the house still gets cold fairly quickly when the heating goes off.
Because Mrs. Cricketer is now retired and really feels the cold, last winter we tried an experiment. We changed from having the heating on an average of 6/7 hrs per day to 16 hours per day, though at a much lower temperature.
Pros: house much more comfortable, less prone to damp in the coldest spots (i.e. north-facing ensuite).
Cons: we naturally used more oil; average consumption in previous winters 6/7 hrs per day 1800 litres v. last winter 16 hours per day 2600 litres. Not sure if it's good for the boiler to run at a lower temperature.
Winters vary; it will be interesting to see how this one goes. Has anyone else tried it and have you a comment?
I was happy with last year's result and hence am trying it again. How sustainable it is to be increasing oil consumption (albeit not pro-rata) remains to be seen .He did it for one winter !
I'm not actually referring to more insulation at all. The fact that your house cools quickly after heating is turned off suggests to me that air leakage may well be the culprit here so adding insulation will be of little to no benefit.Thanks Micks'r, I know this is your area. I investigated external insulation but demurred for two reasons:
1. I was told the house didn't qualify for grant because insulation wouldn't go completely around the house (some nice stone work which would be a shame to cover),
2. It's so expensive I reckoned it might be worth holding off a while longer - technology will improve and cost may fall (ha!). You'd buy a lot of extra oil for €25,000 or so.
I agree you should chase down the air leakages. What sort of doors have you? You’d be surprised how much you can save just by going around with expanding foam sealing leaks. If you don’t use the fire shove a pillow up the chimney. If you do use it maybe get a stove. Curtains and draft excluders will help out too.
Particularly if you're currently heating the whole house all of the time. I don't know how technologically savvy the OP is but you can get a smart heating control system with individually controlled room thermostats to go on your rads for less than 500e with no plumbing required. Handy to have different temperature set points in different rooms on different times of different days dependent on your usage pattern for the house. There are a few other quick wins like attic insulation also, €1,000 would do a good job here.Thermostatic valve on the main radiators will save a fortune in oil, especially if you leave the boiler on for long periods
you can get a smart heating control system with individually controlled room thermostats to go on your rads for less than 500e with no plumbing required.
YEs fair enough but even that is minor plumbing as opposed to redoing pipework to make physical zones.only if you already have TRVs on your rads. Otherwise there is definitely plumbing involved.
Years ago I removed carpet and varnished the floorboards in a north facing bedroom. I then noticed the draught coming through the gap between the floorboards and the skirting so I plugged the gap with thin strips of cork and the difference was noticeable. If I was doing it again I'd probably use something like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6lZXjRR-1kI agree you should chase down the air leakages.
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