Keeping your home warm / heating / energy crisis / insulation etc

On thermostat chat, has anyone had a plumber round to fit a smart thermostat recently and got an idea of cost? There's currently no thermostat installed at all. I could probably do it myself but if it isn't too expensive I'd be happy not to.

Trying to work out whether getting something like that installed on my MIL's boiler would be a cheaper option than getting one of these:
https://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/p/ideal-rf-wireless-mechanical-programmable-room-thermostat/p/289778
which I assume just clips easily into place here on the boiler:

Looks to be the same, very nice price. I guess black thermostats don't fit in people's hallways colour-wise. But the other one was a tad overpriced (currently £149 in toolstation, was £119 when I purchased during BF)

Proper interesting graphs, thanks for posting. I’ve got 4kw of panels but have held off on a battery assuming they’re going to fall in price (they’ve already halved since I bought the panels 2 years ago) those graphs are ace for my calcs.

Anyone want @ 20 sq metres of 18mm fibre board for free? Has been down 3 months but I now need to get rid and it seems mad to have to throw it away! Collect SE19 Friday / Saturday or Sunday?

Ideal for a loft space, sheets are 2.4 metres by 600mm

Is the £78 plus residual electricity costs less than the previous energy cost? Seems like a good way to effectively fix costs for the next 12 years if so!

Way less.

We were paying around £250 a month for fuel and road tax, car owned outright. Plus £200 a month on combined gas and electric. So £450 a month. Also probably £80 to £100 on car maintenance if you take the bigger expenses and divide by 12. These prices based on two years ago when we made the change.

Now paying £78 for the PC and battery,£100 for gas and electric. Car payment is £180. Maintenance is very low on the LEAF.
So £358 a month for a much newer car and this only has one more year to pay off, once this is owned it will be significantly cheaper than old setup.

Here’s a fun question. On a sunny but cold day like today should I keep the fleecey curtains shut for insulation or open them for solar gain?

Solar gain every time.

Edit: Maybe single/double/triple glazing dependent

My south facing living room is usually 2-3⁰ warmer with curtains open and sunshine, than curtains closed.

Living room has gone up by 1.5 degrees since I opened the curtains. Now a balmy 14.8 degrees.

I did our old one by myself easily enough. A plumber is likely just going to charge a fixed callout fee, I reckon.

Pretty conclusive there. Thanks.

Good to have some proper energy crisis/cost of living chat rather than “should I spend £800 on some WiFi radiator valves?”, tbh.

Only 800? That'll just about cover the staff quarters!

Cheers. I think maybe I'll take the front off and see how easy it is to do and then decide. I could also do with doing the same at home but that's a bit less urgent.

The neighbours on the floor below must be heating like crazy, my living room stayed around 17°C overnight even though it was -1 outside in the morning. That's pretty much the same as when it was 8 or 10 outside.

Does anyone know where I can get some of the latest Tado TRVs with a discounted price?

If you still haven't, tado is having a factory refurbished sale over here: https://uk.shop.tado.com/collections/factory-refurbished-tado-products-as-good-as-new

Thanks, just scooped up a few. The smart ones are now £275 everywhere...

Holy crap that's expensive for a used trv!

I was thinking I should move my thermostat into my living room where there are people and radiators rather than the hallway which has no radiators.

However, last night I kept an eye on a thermometer in my living room when the heating was on and it turns out the living room still heats up slower than the hallway. Bit of an arse as I thought that this would get the heating shutting off quicker.

??? Did you click the link? It's £100 for two.

Our ASHP graphs. I’ve no real idea what they mean, but I like the fact the numbers coming out (heat) are bigger than the numbers going in (electricity).

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Lodger told us this morning that there was condensation on her ceiling and windows (old DG units and flat dormer loft extension + coldest day so far since moving in). She has been not turning the heating on as much due to fear of costs to us. So reset her heating schedule and bought her a dehumidifier.

It reads like you’re using c. 40kwh a day now it’s cold At 34p/kWh that’s about £13 a day plus standing charges. Which is either a lot or very little depending on whether you have a tiny passivflat or a draughty mansion.

It’s a 1950’s build 2,500 sq ft bungalow. We were on oil before so to be honest it would have been cheaper to burn £5 notes! I’ve just had a look at the since installation (27/9/2021) graph and it’s showing £6.40 a day usage (at 34p/kWh) which is a whole load better.
Time will tell…