Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills for the
first time.

I realise of course that there are all sorts of variables here, but let's
say as a f'rinstance, a two-bedroom flat using electric heating (not sure
what type, sorry).

I always ignore these sort of vague statistics when I see them, because they
are so clearly unuseful ... and now I want one!

Any pointers?

Cheers
J^n

On 24/04/13 18:20, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills for the
first time.

I realise of course that there are all sorts of variables here, but let's
say as a f'rinstance, a two-bedroom flat using electric heating (not sure
what type, sorry).

I always ignore these sort of vague statistics when I see them, because they
are so clearly unuseful ... and now I want one!

Any pointers?

Cheers
J^n



the average outside temp is 9C so every degree above say 15 is 15%
increase in bills

needless to say when its -5C outside when you use most fuel, the
difference is scarcely noticeable. 5% per degree.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

In article , The
Night Tripper writes

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills for the
first time.

Any pointers?

If this is a parent vs child explanation then it'll be wasted breath,
the message will come home firmly when they ignore your sage words and
get their first bill, although you could soften the blow by taking
monthly readings for them (or getting them to do same) and calculating
how much their account is falling into arrears behind their DD.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

fred wrote:
In article , The
Night Tripper writes

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

Any pointers?

If this is a parent vs child explanation then it'll be wasted breath,
the message will come home firmly when they ignore your sage words and
get their first bill, although you could soften the blow by taking
monthly readings for them (or getting them to do same) and calculating
how much their account is falling into arrears behind their DD.

Or, to *really* make the point stick, get them on to a pay as you use it
account....

That stings them both ways, by paying a higher rate, *and* by making
them keep up with usage.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 24/04/2013 18:20 The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills for the
first time.

I've seen a few energy saving ads that suggest you would 'save 10%' for
every degree you drop the thermostat by.

No idea on whether or not it's accurate though!

--
F

On 24/04/2013 20:49, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 18:20 The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

I've seen a few energy saving ads that suggest you would 'save 10%' for
every degree you drop the thermostat by.

No idea on whether or not it's accurate though!

Obviously nonsensical. :-)

Just think it through by several iterations...

--
Rod

On 24/04/2013 18:34, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 24/04/13 18:20, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

I realise of course that there are all sorts of variables here, but let's
say as a f'rinstance, a two-bedroom flat using electric heating (not sure
what type, sorry).

I always ignore these sort of vague statistics when I see them,
because they
are so clearly unuseful ... and now I want one!

Any pointers?

Cheers
J^n



the average outside temp is 9C so every degree above say 15 is 15%
increase in bills

needless to say when its -5C outside when you use most fuel, the
difference is scarcely noticeable. 5% per degree.

Or put another way the house if it is fairly well behaved and insulated
behaves like a fixed value resistor with heat leaking out according to
the temperature difference between inside and out.

IOW it costs nothing to maintain a temperature difference of 0C.

deltaT = 1 costs Q
deltaT = 2 costs 2Q etc.

If the outside temperature is 9C then maintaining 16C costs 7Q and each
extra degree about 14% up or down. Maintaining 25C costs 16C with a one
degree change now being about 6%. ISTR the ballpark number used for most
premises at 20C or thereabouts is 10% per degree.

Overshooting the target temperature also wastes money and some
thermostatic controllers are smarter about this than others.

You actually get a hundred watts for each person inside the house which
may support a small postive deltaT with no heating used at all.

Regards,
Martin Brown

On 24/04/2013 20:55 polygonum wrote:

On 24/04/2013 20:49, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 18:20 The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring
(for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

I've seen a few energy saving ads that suggest you would 'save 10%' for
every degree you drop the thermostat by.

No idea on whether or not it's accurate though!

Obviously nonsensical. :-)

Just think it through by several iterations...

Yes, we turned ours down by 11 degrees...

--
F

"F" news@nowhere wrote in message
...
On 24/04/2013 20:55 polygonum wrote:

On 24/04/2013 20:49, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 18:20 The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost
of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring
(for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

I've seen a few energy saving ads that suggest you would 'save 10%' for
every degree you drop the thermostat by.

No idea on whether or not it's accurate though!

Obviously nonsensical. :-)

Just think it through by several iterations...

Yes, we turned ours down by 11 degrees...

Turn it off and send the wife out for sticks

On 24/04/2013 23:00, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 20:55 polygonum wrote:

8

Obviously nonsensical. :-)

Just think it through by several iterations...

Yes, we turned ours down by 11 degrees...


So you are saving 70% then?

There is also lag and the fact that many thermostats are still
electro-mechanical with widely varying amounts of hysteresis.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
On 24/04/13 18:20, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring (for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills for
the
first time.

I realise of course that there are all sorts of variables here, but let's
say as a f'rinstance, a two-bedroom flat using electric heating (not sure
what type, sorry).

I always ignore these sort of vague statistics when I see them, because
they
are so clearly unuseful ... and now I want one!

Any pointers?

Cheers
J^n



the average outside temp is 9C so every degree above say 15 is 15%
increase in bills

needless to say when its -5C outside when you use most fuel, the
difference is scarcely noticeable. 5% per degree.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members
of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded
with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

On 24/04/2013 23:00, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 20:55 polygonum wrote:

On 24/04/2013 20:49, F wrote:
On 24/04/2013 18:20 The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi all
I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the
cost of
heating, along the lines of:

"for every degree you put the thermostat up, you'll pay £xxx extra in
heating per week"

This doesn't have to be 'accurate', it's for the purposes of scaring
(for
their own good) someone who is about to start paying their own bills
for the
first time.

I've seen a few energy saving ads that suggest you would 'save 10%' for
every degree you drop the thermostat by.

No idea on whether or not it's accurate though!

Obviously nonsensical. :-)

Just think it through by several iterations...

Yes, we turned ours down by 11 degrees...

Aha! 11 is obviously the number of the day. (See 11 mph thread.)

Although the statement without qualification could read as saving
another 10% of the then current bill for each degree, I prefer to read
as did you - another equivalent of 10% of the starting point.

--
Rod

Hi All

The Natural Philosopher wrote:


the average outside temp is 9C so every degree above say 15 is 15%
increase in bills

needless to say when its -5C outside when you use most fuel, the
difference is scarcely noticeable. 5% per degree.

Thanks - that's a great way to think about it.

Cheers
J^n

On Apr 24, 9:30*pm, Martin Brown
wrote:


You actually get a hundred watts for each person inside the house which
may support a small postive deltaT with no heating used at all.

Plus heat from other household activity such as cooking. In my second
house the pipes from the boiler to the airing cupboard lost so much
heat I had to turn the hot water off in the summer for a couple of
days at a time to let the house cool down. The cyclinder would stay
warm enough for washing and there was s eparate electric shower.

MBQ

On Wednesday, April 24, 2013 6:20:59 PM UTC+1, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi all

I'm looking for a hand-waving unscientific figure about the cost of

heating, along the lines of:

If you want to get all scientific, you probably need to look up 'degree days', which was how they used to estimate the likely energy consumption of a building in an average year, or work out corrections for energy consumption in real years. The maths is gruesomely tedious.

Otherwise look for a rule of thumb; 4 Btu/hr cu. ft sticks in my mind for some reason.