House Losing Heat Fast -

[GeddyMortgage]

Every home in the country is going to be cold in the morning, with no heating on overnight.

Sure, though the rate of which it’s dropping and the fact I can feel a breeze is enough for me to want to see what I can do.

We’ve a 42kw boiler costing a good £5 per hour to have on (11p per kw hr or so). And within a few hours of being off we’re almost back at the temperature we were before putting it on. Feels really wasteful and inefficient to me (lived in many homes over the year)…something definitely doesn’t feel right to me here. Certainly the option of leaving it and doing nothing feels less viable. Hence this thread

 

[big-all]

General comments
thermostats will only measure heat in one area
where you have a large volume off mass and a large area off airflow it will be be ages before the heat stored in one area migrates to another area so your what seems extreme means the heat available has averaged out once the fabric has been charged with heat to a similar level then the heat loss and gain will be much much smaller so far more predictable

 

[JohnD]

We’ve a 42kw boiler costing a good £5 per hour to have on (11p per kw hr or so).

Do you mean your boiler constantly runs at maximum power? That would be rather unusual.

Have a look at the meter, and see what you really use.

 

[Koolpc]

Hire a thermal camera. Do that first.

 

[JohnD]

Look at your meter first.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've noticed the landing floor is always cold, so I lay down on it earlier today and I can feel a slight cold woft of air and have noticed some fabrics on the stairs moving round a bit as if being gently blown by wind, the wife think's its just convection of air but im wondering if its a draft on the landing somewhere. Pic below (thermostat in purple)

That appears to be quite a dramatic drop in temperature, however is the record from that thermometer marked in purple? The reason I ask, is that it appears to be mounted on an external wall, which is the wrong place for a thermostat, or to record the general temperature. It should be operated fitted to an internal wall.

 

[GeddyMortgage]

Do you mean your boiler constantly runs at maximum power? That would be rather unusual.

Have a look at the meter, and see what you really use.

I have, certainly what we were billed last month in the cold snap added up to what we thought we’d used. It’s an older meter measuring in M3. I’m measuring now and will post the photos in reply to this in an hours time or so. Last time I calculated it it was costing between £4.50 and £5 per hour when it was on. I don’t know how much of its power it decides to use. Just how many M3 it consumes when on.

 

[GeddyMortgage]

General comments
thermostats will only measure heat in one area
where you have a large volume off mass and a large area off airflow it will be be ages before the heat stored in one area migrates to another area so your what seems extreme means the heat available has averaged out once the fabric has been charged with heat to a similar level then the heat loss and gain will be much much smaller so far more predictable

Yes I’ve purchased a bunch (7) of those digital thermometers and have been looking at each to try and ascertain which rooms are getting coldest soonest post turning the heating off. To be honest they all seem to drop at a similar rate, top floor quickest, middle floor next, bottom floor slowest. But say I measured them all 5hrs after the heating being off, I’m talking a difference in maybe a degree, maybe 1.5. Between top/middle/bottom floors

 

[GeddyMortgage]

That appears to be quite a dramatic drop in temperature, however is the record from that thermometer marked in purple? The reason I ask, is that it appears to be mounted on an external wall, which is the wrong place for a thermostat, or to record the general temperature. It should be operated fitted to an internal wall.

Yes, I didn’t choose the location the hive engineer just replaced the old thermostat with that one in that location. I will move it.

That said - I’m using that in conjunction with another 7 digital thermometers and the difference in readings is fairly small between them, or atleast the rate at which they’re recording the temperature drop, is fairly similar.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes I’ve purchased a bunch (7) of those digital thermometers and have been looking at each to try and ascertain which rooms are getting coldest soonest post turning the heating off. To be honest they all seem to drop at a similar rate, top floor quickest, middle floor next, bottom floor slowest. But say I measured them all 5hrs after the heating being off, I’m talking a difference in maybe a degree, maybe 1.5. Between top/middle/bottom floors

I think I would expect that - heat rises, more heat at the top, more temperature available to be lost upstairs.

 

[GeddyMortgage]

I think I would expect that - heat rises, more heat at the top, more temperature available to be lost upstairs.

Yeah, I’m not overly surprised by that. To be honest it’s more the rate of which the temperature is dropping house wide is what first made me think there’s an issue. I’ve got the heating on now for a couple hrs, I’ll show it’s rate of rise and fall through the day later (I’m currently silicone sealing all the gaps in the skirts, hoping that will help the drop rate!)

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I’ve got the heating on now for a couple hrs, I’ll show it’s rate of rise and fall through the day later (I’m currently silicone sealing all the gaps in the skirts, hoping that will help the drop rate!)

Too be fair, it can take much longer than that, of sustained warmth to bring the brick/stone fabric of a home up to temperature. Two hours will warm the air and the furniture, the walls will still be cold. After the two hours, once the heat goes off, the cooler house fabric will then 'suck' the heat out of the air.

A mentioned above - joss sticks are a good way to trace sources of drafts.

 

[GeddyMortgage]

Do you mean your boiler constantly runs at maximum power? That would be rather unusual.

Have a look at the meter, and see what you really use.

See attached, readings in m3

11:34AM - 65076.79
12:34PM - 65080.31
13:34 - 65083.39



First hour we used 3.52 m3
Second hour we used 3.08 m3

We’re with bulb, so using their conversion figures / cost

1m3 = 11kwh,
10.3p per Kw hr

First hour cost = (3.7 X 11) x 0.103 = £4.19
Second hour = (3.08 X 11) X 0.103 = £3.49




Utility bill for December was in the region of £800 ish…. So obviously fairly keen to do what I can to lower for the remainder of this winter / next winter.

 

[JohnD]

So you're using over 30kW, which is more than double my house, with a 20C difference, when maintaining temperature and the walls are warm.

What is the difference in temperature inside and out, where you are?

How sure are you that all the walls have CWI?

 

[GeddyMortgage]

So you're using over 30kW, which is more than double my house, with a 20C difference, when maintaining temperature and the walls are warm.

What is the difference in temperature inside and out, where you are?

How sure are you that all the walls have CWI?

Currently 4/5 degrees outside. 14 inside (after having the heating on for 2.5hrs, was 9.1 inside this morning when I woke)

I’m sure they’re insulated because - we’ve had a guy come out to quote us for the foam type CWI, when he put his camera in he said we had glass wool battens.

Disappointed but not surprised as the house (formerly a bungalow) had a 2 floor extension in around 2008 so expected building control would’ve forced the appropriate regulatory amount of CWI then. Which appears to be the case.

How well it was done however. I couldn’t say.