And talking of heating the van.. (1 Viewer)

[MitchandJenny]

Just had the woodburner plumbed into the hot water tank and central heating.. Then paid a fortune for a "clever" control board which balances it all. So when the oil boiler goes off at 22.00hrs, the woodturner keeps the upstairs rads at a nice temperature to hop into bed.. It has worked well so far ((2 months in)) And every log we throw on is money saved on oil..
Look at the effect 'we' have had on the price of oil.. Teeehee...
As for the van, gas fire with blown air until my lady says she is warm enough !!!

 

[MitchandJenny]

Our 2 bed cottage, about £400 on oil a year..

 

[gus-lopez]

Thermostat in the house is on 16 but keeps getting turned up and down. Car is set to 20 and haven't got one in the campervan

16º!!!!!!!! Dear lord. I remember phoning my brother once who lived about 100kms east of Frankfurt & him telling me that he rarely had the stat above 16º. & that in a place where the outside temperature was -20º in winter. You knew it suffered from snow etc ; just by looking at the 4 x 1000litre oil tanks under the house complete with a bund wall around them & a boiler that looked like a mini industrial unit.

Do you live in a stately home????!!!!!

We live in a 3 bed semi and use £600 of oil a year.

have you tried turning it on ?

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[Robert Clark]

Do you live in a stately home????!!!!!

We live in a 3 bed semi and use £600 of oil a year.

Not a stately home, but it's a big old place. It takes about 25kw per hour to hear the place under normal circumstances. We also had an oil fired Aga at the time. I remember the cost of oil doubling overnight from about 45p to about 80p or 90p a litre. Plus you couldn't get any either. It was then that we decided to release ourselves from the grips of the oil companies.

 

[Allanm]

We used to have the heating on all the time controlled by a programmable thermostat. We were working at the time so daytime temps were reduced as were overnight temps.
Still cost us a fortune to run even with double glazing and a new gas boiler and a wood stove. Luckily, we got free Astra van size loads of wood from our neighbour every few weeks.
In our new ( bigger and very old) house, we have an oil boiler and 2 ft thick walls. Heating is on all the time but I drop it down a few degrees overnight.
The house feels warmer overall and it seems cheaper to run. So far. It's not cold yet!
Van is set at 21 in the winter and 17 overnight. Cosy toasty!
Allan

 

[The Wino]

Was in a pub in Whitby lately they have a heating system with individually controlled radiator valves radio linked to a central controller. .It is possible to set different temperatures for different days of the week at different times for each room. So bedrooms on in the morning off all day then on an hour before bed. If out at work no heat but on an hour before coming home unless really cold then on 2 hours so has time to warm up. Must be the way to go .

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[ABZSteve]

Don't have the Moho yet but it will be set to suit her not me. Medication means she gets very hot on occasions but hopefully we will find a happy medium. Heating at home is on pretty much constantly when the temperature drops significantly. I subscribe to the theory that it takes longer and costs more to heat a house from freezing to a comfortable temperature than it does to keep a constant temperature. Something from my thermodynamics course tells me that is true. However, although degree ( no pun intended ) acquired I was rubbish at it so could be wrong. Also use the 2 months of non council tax payments to cover any additional winter fuel costs.

 

[scotjimland]

we have electric night storage heating and it's not easily controlled.. also expensive.
it's either too hot or too cold.. must be the very worst type of heating ever ..

no town gas so the only other options would be very expensive oil.. or a log burner which doesn't appeal.. messy and expensive unless you live in a forest..

 

[Robert Clark]

we have electric night storage heating and it's not easily controlled.. also expensive.
it's either too hot or too cold.. must be the very worst type of heating ever ..

no town gas so the only other options would be very expensive oil.. or a log burner which doesn't appeal.. messy and expensive unless you live in a forest..

How about something like this
Broken Link Removed

Uses off peak electricity to heat a thermal store.... Which can be used to heat radiators and hot water. More controllable plus you could add some solar panels too for free hot water for much of the year. No mess either

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[lorger]

Thanks, that's great - we are quite close to a few forestry sites but I've never heard of them doing these sort of sales (and I'd have thought I would have) only the christmas tree sales.
This is our second winter and so far we've managed with free wood from various sources but will be getting a couple of bags of smokeless fuel this week, just in case my dads newspaper was right and we do get a really bad winter.
I'll make enquiries this week.
Cheers
Deb

Forgot to mention you can also buy a scavengers ticket, this allows you to collect any fallen wood for 3 months and cost around £60. If you have a trailer then this can be a good if they have just cut down a load of trees as the amount of branches and cuttings left over can mount up. The only thing is you can't use a power saw and it must be on the ground can be hard work but you could collect quite a bit of wood.

 

[Debs]

Forgot to mention you can also buy a scavengers ticket, this allows you to collect any fallen wood for 3 months and cost around £60. If you have a trailer then this can be a good if they have just cut down a load of trees as the amount of branches and cuttings left over can mount up. The only thing is you can't use a power saw and it must be on the ground can be hard work but you could collect quite a bit of wood.

Thanks will pass this onto Les to ask them tomorrow - our fc area office is quite close.
It'll be interesting to see what they say as in one of the areas we like to take the dogs there are quite a few fallen trees.
The neighbours have a trailer which I'm sure would be negotiable.

 

[ROB1CHELSEA1]

Our central heating indoors is set at 70f and comes on an hour before we're home from work 16.00hrs and is off at 22.00hrs.
Motorhome heating is whiskey summer and winter months.

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[Daz n Tina]

I keep the house at 12 deg, and the mototorhome slightly warmer. When the wife moans I say put the kettle on soon warms up

 

[mjltigger]

16º!!!!!!!! Dear lord.

I know.. it's a tad too warm really but I have to think of the kids...

 

[AuldCodger]

No need to worry - One of us is there all day
On a serious note though.... Our house is really well insulated and I'm of the belief that once you've warmed the internal walls up, they act like a storage heater so it's better to leave the heating on from morning to evening rather than heating up from cold twice a day. I've got no evidence to support this other than to say that our house feels much more snug since we left the heating on all day.

Totally agree, I know the experts don't but in the big freeze up here in November 2010 we resorted to having the heating on from 7.00am 'till 9.00pm bills no higher than expected and a house far more toasty.
I am a strong believer that a lot of heating is initially used in heating the fabric alone.

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[gus-lopez]

I know.. it's a tad too warm really but I have to think of the kids...

As I told my brother,You could sleep outside here for nigh on 10,1/2 months of the year !

 

[Drive]

Best loan your partner a jumper

 

[mjltigger]

As I told my brother,You could sleep outside here for nigh on 10,1/2 months of the year !

I'm constantly telling my OH that 10 degrees is not cold.

In the summer she sets the air con in my car (if I let her) to 16 so she obviously finds that a comfy temp.. if be happy at 16 all year at home. Its the best temp to sleep at for a start

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[Bulawayo Lass]

House 16 up from 15 last year and in summer was stable at that with no heat on. Last year winter l had out of control T2 and hot flushes l thought was menopause this year back under control and back to normal ...body cold l added 1deg to make it warmer than summer temp.
Car 20 to 24 varies
CB hot no gauge

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

18/20 at home , thermostat temp radiators in all rooms. Only time it's off us if it's cracking the flags outside.
We turn it down to around 15 when away from home. It comes on when it's needed.
Webasto in Motorhome . So we just have the thermo set to the same 18/20 temp. At bed time we turn it right down.
( Warm feather quilt , and me and my hormones )
Then when Ralph gets up for a wee in the morning , he puts it up again , so it's toasty for when we get up.

 

[Bulawayo Lass]

Forgot to say temp is on from 06:30 - 08:30 & 16:30 - 21:30

l have showed hub how to click it on outside those hrs as l work away from ho.e and he is home all day but he prefers to just pull on a jersey and wolly hat and snuggle under a duvet

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[houdini]

I've been rubbing these two sticks together for what seems like ages - how long does it usually take to get a spark? I am so cold ........

 

[funflair]

I've been rubbing these two sticks together for what seems like ages - how long does it usually take to get a spark? I am so cold ........

dont think you ever will but keep rubbing and you will be toasty warm soon.

 

[jemhorn]

Spending a few days at Baltic Wharf. Alde heating set 22 deg and she's still cold! At home have underfloor running 24/7 set at 22 deg. I think it's the faster cooler down time in the van once the temperature has been reached before heating clicks back on again. Real shame this site will close, arrived yesterday at 1 and nipped next door for a roast 'proper'

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[gus-lopez]

28ºc in lounge just now. 3 dogs all asleep ? I think they are putting logs on without me noticing ??

 

[motorhomer]

No need to worry - One of us is there all day
On a serious note though.... Our house is really well insulated and I'm of the belief that once you've warmed the internal walls up, they act like a storage heater so it's better to leave the heating on from morning to evening rather than heating up from cold twice a day. I've got no evidence to support this other than to say that our house feels much more snug since we left the heating on all day.

I'm inclined to agree with this, in fact if this logic is true then it also follows that its best to leave it on 24 hours per day so its not heating up from cold at all.
Which is what we do. But our heating is underfloor and takes ages to warm up - although its nice when it does and I do not think it takes much to keep it warm.

 

[Jaws]

I've been rubbing these two sticks together for what seems like ages - how long does it usually take to get a spark? I am so cold ........

Try a couple of boy scouts instead of sticks.. They will soon get fed up and go buy some matches for you !

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[houdini]

At home we have the usual Battle of the Thermostat, when I am freezing (most of the time) and want to turn it up OH says 'its not cold' - so apparently that is a fact. I usually wear two t-shirts, jumper and fleece gillet - well, it is a 400yr old terraced cottage with solid walls - and the thermostat is kept on 17C! To be fair to OH, the other reason we don't turn it up too much higher is because the boiler's reaction is - oh no, aaaaaggghhh and lock out!

Haven't used the MH heating yet in the winter. Can't really remember the five second explanation of the complicated-looking heating controls of the Truma on our nine year old Adria (have seen the video and not sure it relates to our model). Could do with a full English written translation of the workings. Not sure if we have to have full water tank to run the heating and whether we can run it on EHU.

Happy Christmas to everyone, particularly all the brave souls in their MHs in winter. ️

 

[vin0114]

No need to worry - One of us is there all day
On a serious note though.... Our house is really well insulated and I'm of the belief that once you've warmed the internal walls up, they act like a storage heater so it's better to leave the heating on from morning to evening rather than heating up from cold twice a day. I've got no evidence to support this other than to say that our house feels much more snug since we left the heating on all day.

Agree with you as our main living area is kept permanently around 20-21C. I do keep a weekly record of our home usage and we use far less kWh's of gas with a noticeable difference in living room temp after cavity wall insulation (free) to 3 of its external walls! Over the 10 year period Oct'03 to Oct'12 our gas usage has gone down by 50% but our gas bills have still risen by 62%

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Wow £90 - that's a great price!

That is three trees complete do the work to cut them up.
I take all the fallers from my wood cut them leave a year split, leave again then she puts them on the stoves like the Titanic being stoked. Gas cost £8 per year chainsaw chains , fuel and splitter expenses £2300????? cost of woodland £30000?? At least it keeps on coming everytime the wind blows.
Van heating unknown I haven't been in it during really cold weather, but have good sleeping bags, ex army arctic ones if we got stuck and the Truma gets a Trauma.

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