Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.

brass monkey wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?

Not exceptionally so... however the cost will be largely dictated by
your levels of insulation than by the selected temperatures.

I usually have our programmable stat set to maintain a temp of 15
overnight - in reality the heating is hardly ever fired at that level.

--
Cheers,

John.

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"brass monkey" wrote in message
...
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.



It might depend on what you regard as a humungous bill

You could read your meter weekly and see how much you are spending. The
consumption will increase as the weather gets colder.

We have a programmable thermostat and use a lower temperature at night, but
a higher temperature in the evening when we are likely to be sedentary.



--
Michael Chare

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "brass monkey" saying
something like:

Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.

You should buy big slippers for you all.

In article ,
"brass monkey" writes:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.

Like another poster said, that depends more on the insulation
and size of your house. Perhaps you can describe size of house,
when built, and what insulation has susequently been added
(cavity wall, loft, double glazing, etc).

I don't know what health you're all in, but I would say the
daytime temperature would generally be a bit low for someone
typical of your mother's age. OTOH, if she's never lived with
central heating before, she's probably more hardened to the
cold than most people typical of her age.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

brass monkey wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.


Is that every room in your house?

Do you have any form of zoning, or thermotstatic radiator valves? These
could allow you to keep some rooms (e.g. the 'spare' bedroom) somewhat
cooler.

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:36:21 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "brass monkey" saying
something like:

Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.

You should buy big slippers for you all.

Or one of them things like a sleeping bag that you sit in while in
your chair .

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Like another poster said, that depends more on the insulation
and size of your house. Perhaps you can describe size of house,
when built, and what insulation has susequently been added
(cavity wall, loft, double glazing, etc).

I don't know what health you're all in, but I would say the
daytime temperature would generally be a bit low for someone
typical of your mother's age. OTOH, if she's never lived with
central heating before, she's probably more hardened to the
cold than most people typical of her age.

It may well be more economical to lower the settings somewhat,
and still use whatever heating you had before (you don't say
what) to ensure that you are cosy in the room(s) you mostly
occupy.

Much depends upon the nature and flexibility of the controls,
though thermostatic radiator valves are usual on a new
installation. However the type and location of the overall
roomstat is also significant.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

In article ,
brass monkey wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.

If you were heating the whole house before by other means you might well
find a reduction in bills. A central heating boiler is more efficient than
gas fires, etc.

I'd say your nighttime setback to 18c isn't enough. Many would find
unnecessarily high when in bed. 15 would be more normal - and a well
insulated house probably won't drop this low anyway even with the heating
off.

--
*No sentence fragments *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"brass monkey" writes:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.

Like another poster said, that depends more on the insulation
and size of your house. Perhaps you can describe size of house,
when built, and what insulation has susequently been added
(cavity wall, loft, double glazing, etc).

I don't know what health you're all in, but I would say the
daytime temperature would generally be a bit low for someone
typical of your mother's age. OTOH, if she's never lived with
central heating before, she's probably more hardened to the
cold than most people typical of her age.

Andrew Gabriel


I just hope I'm still feeling the cold at the age of ninety two. :-)

But, to get back to the real topic of the thread, if you are all spending
time in the same rooms throughout the day, then you could lower the
temperature in the other rooms that are not in use.

Keeping the living room, hall and bathroom at the higher temperature during
the day and setting the bedrooms at a constant lower temperature, using the
radiator valves to regulate them.

As others have also pointed out in the thread, the running costs also depend
on how your house stops the heat from escaping. Your bills will be
considerably more if the heating system has to continually replenish the
warm air throughout the building, because it just keeps blowing out the
windows, doors are roof.

Your next check should be to make sure you have upgraded / repaired the
insulation properties of the building. Spending a few pounds on another
layer of loft insulation, and also hanging slightly heavier lined curtains
on the windows in winter time, can save you hundreds of pounds on the cost
of fuel bills.

I have read the Which? review on the boiler you say was installed, and it
comes out with a good score. So if the rest of the installation matches
well with your boiler, it should be quite economical on running costs.

brass monkey wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.


Depends on insulation.
Totally.

On Oct 31, 8:03*pm, "brass monkey" wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.

Whats humungous, how big a home, what is insulation, any bill is big
when its time to pay it. But dont freeze yourself.

"ransley" wrote in message
...
On Oct 31, 8:03 pm, "brass monkey" wrote:
Just had a greenstar 30cdi installed.
Mother is living with us (92), we're all retired so at home most of the
time.
Are these temperatures asking for a humungous bill?
Never had CH before.
TIA.

Whats humungous, how big a home, what is insulation, any bill is big
when its time to pay it. But dont freeze yourself.

I have the following programmed into my thermostat:

Daytime 20
Evening (16:30 onwards) 22
Night 17

In reality it hardly ever comes on at night (if it does I normally wake as I
think it is time to get up!)

Need to reduce heat losses - take care not to open doors too much - or for
too long or all the heat disappears.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:27:16 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I'd say your nighttime setback to 18c isn't enough. Many would find
unnecessarily high when in bed. 15 would be more normal - and a well
insulated house probably won't drop this low anyway even with the
heating off.

Our living room very very rarely gets below 15C and that has 3 external
walls solid stone walls and we are high and exposed. Heat loss is high by
modern standards.

The programable stat is set to 18.5C day, 20C evening and 15C (I think)
night but we actually turn the heating off at night otherwise the creaks
and bangs wakes us up. If you're wondering how I know that the temp in the
living room rarely gets below 15C the AWS base station is in there and it
records the internal temp.

18.5C during the day can be a bit "cool" if the wind is blowing and it's
near or below freezing outside. With elderly, not very active, people it
is very easy to get rather too cold just sat in a chair and not notice it.
20C day is about right, 18C in a bedroom I'd find stifling 15C would be
better but then I'm relatively young with good circulation.

It might best to go with how you feel, if you feel cold or get cold sat in
a sensible amount of clothing then the room needs to be warmer. Use the
actual temperatures as a guide rather than an absolute it *must* be
22.167892C.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Whats humungous, how big a home, what is insulation, any bill is big
when its time to pay it. But dont freeze yourself.

I have the following programmed into my thermostat:

Daytime 20
Evening (16:30 onwards) 22
Night 17

In reality it hardly ever comes on at night (if it does I normally wake as I
think it is time to get up!)

Need to reduce heat losses - take care not to open doors too much - or for
too long or all the heat disappears.


If you are used to a cold house and now have CH the bill will be much
bigger.

As others have said do a weekly meter read if you want to avoid nasty
surprises. My house which is insulated to standards of 20 years ago,
detached and a with heating off at night and set to about 20 during the
day with kids leaving doors open etc - yearly gas & electric bill about
£1000

On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:40:28 +0000, Chewbacca wrote:

If you are used to a cold house and now have CH the bill will be much
bigger.

Yes, space heating eats fuel like no other domestic consumption.

yearly gas & electric bill about £1000

Only £1000 for both, wee that would be nice. Lecky bill is about £750 a
year, last lot of oil (2000l) was over £1000 and we use about 4000l/year.
Fortunately the price has dropped so I'm hoping the next fill will only be
£800 ish... "Fuel poverty" yeah I know all about fuel poverty. B-(

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.net...
On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:40:28 +0000, Chewbacca wrote:

If you are used to a cold house and now have CH the bill will be much
bigger.

Yes, space heating eats fuel like no other domestic consumption.

yearly gas & electric bill about £1000

Only £1000 for both, wee that would be nice. Lecky bill is about £750 a
year, last lot of oil (2000l) was over £1000 and we use about 4000l/year.
Fortunately the price has dropped so I'm hoping the next fill will only be
£800 ish... "Fuel poverty" yeah I know all about fuel poverty. B-(

Gordon Bennet, if our bill looks like being in that sort of range i'll find
a canal and jump in it.
Maybe I'll look for some kindling and a few housebricks for the centre of
the lounge
Thanks for all the input, folks.
We used to live in terraced property, gas fires and lecky blankets kinda
thing.
Now we're in a circa 1965 bungalow, cavity walls (no insulation yet), fairly
minimal insulation in the loft.
What I hate most is walking past the greenstar and seeing that green light
signifying burning gas. Maybe I should tape over it

The message et
from "Dave Liquorice" contains these words:

I'd say your nighttime setback to 18c isn't enough. Many would find
unnecessarily high when in bed. 15 would be more normal - and a well
insulated house probably won't drop this low anyway even with the
heating off.

Our living room very very rarely gets below 15C and that has 3 external
walls solid stone walls and we are high and exposed. Heat loss is high by
modern standards.

The programable stat is set to 18.5C day, 20C evening and 15C (I think)
night but we actually turn the heating off at night otherwise the creaks
and bangs wakes us up. If you're wondering how I know that the temp in the
living room rarely gets below 15C the AWS base station is in there and it
records the internal temp.

I am in a lower (535 feet ASL) and probably more sheltered situation
than Dave but likewise have a poorly insulated house with 2 foot thick
stone walls. I have also had a weather station since early March so I
thought I would see what that said about my living room temperature. I
don't yet have a winter record but the house seems to get marginally
colder than Dave's when it is cold outside.

March and the early part of April dropped to about 14C overnight on a
fairly consistant basis. On 21st - 23rd March when I was away and the
heating was in protection mode for 2 days the temperature dropped from
17C to 8C and the 2 following nights dropped to 12C and 13C before the
house warmed through again. And at the tail end of last month the
temperature dipped to 13.5C one night so I expect that if we have a cold
winter the heating will often be coming on overnight when the thermostat
switches at 13C. Luckily I have mains gas so I don't suffer financially
quite as much as Dave on oil.

18.5C during the day can be a bit "cool" if the wind is blowing and it's
near or below freezing outside. With elderly, not very active, people it
is very easy to get rather too cold just sat in a chair and not notice it.
20C day is about right, 18C in a bedroom I'd find stifling 15C would be
better but then I'm relatively young with good circulation.

It might best to go with how you feel, if you feel cold or get cold sat in
a sensible amount of clothing then the room needs to be warmer. Use the
actual temperatures as a guide rather than an absolute it *must* be
22.167892C.

I have the house set to 17C during the day which can feel a bit chilly
when sitting around but warm when I get round to the occasional bit of
housework and overpoweringly hot when I come in after being active
outside so I agree with Dave that feel is the key. Old people (Mary
Fisher excepted) need an envirionment several degrees higher than what
typical youngsters find comfortable.

--
Roger Chapman

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:40:28 +0000, Chewbacca wrote:

If you are used to a cold house and now have CH the bill will be much
bigger.

Yes, space heating eats fuel like no other domestic consumption.

yearly gas & electric bill about £1000

Only £1000 for both, wee that would be nice. Lecky bill is about £750 a
year, last lot of oil (2000l) was over £1000 and we use about 4000l/year.
Fortunately the price has dropped so I'm hoping the next fill will only be
£800 ish... "Fuel poverty" yeah I know all about fuel poverty. B-(

yeah..electric+oil about £3.5k here.. shoud be better next as we are
trimming back what we can.

And burning anything that will in the stoves and fires.

In article ,
"Michael Chare" wrote:

You could read your meter weekly and see how much you are spending.

Personally, I find reading the meters weekly is easy. Converting the
readings to actual cash, using the formulae detailed on the fuel
company's bills, I find impossible: I always have to give up.

BrassMonkey: you don't say where you live. This has a bearing: it _is_
colder in the North than in the South, and if you live in a windy area,
it's colder again. Therefore you're going to spend more in the North
than in the South, maintaining your (I would say) high temperatures.

We have our heating set to 17 if it's not too cold, and notch it up a
whole one degree if it feels colder (as it can, if it's windy outside,
or very cold). (It's controlled by a room thermostat, and of course
timers on the boiler.) Overnight (2030 - 0630) it's off.

However: we have cavity wall insulation, and a foot of insulation in the
lofts.

And also: there's only me and the wife, now, both of us paranoid about
spending money.


There is a *LOT* of sense in the old saying "put a cardi on": putting on
a light sweater can make an immense difference to how warm you feel.
This applies with knobs on if you put a hat on, but you might feel a bit
daft.

That seems crazy: dressing up, to live inside your house. However it's
not as crazy as (shall we say) ... giving away the nation's energy
assets to robber barons called "utility companies", who have not the
slightest interest in the nation's infrastructure, but only in milking
the British[1] public for all they're worth.

John
(Yes: ****ed off, having just had yet another set-to with those nice
people from [name your utility company].



[1] I would *love* to know how much 500KW of energy costs in the UK, and
how much in e.g. France, or Germany. Anyone know? Don't bother replying
if you do know: if it's less I'll be even more ****ed off, and if it's
the same, I'll just say that it goes to prove that the robber barons are
international corporate crooks (as they are, in fact) (international, I
mean -- "Crooks" is merely an emotional overstatement on my part).