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

Yes

If you want to know more specifically what anything with a plug uses, these are great.

I'm running a dehumidifier and in that time the last number has gone from 2 to 4.

My usage rate is 25.21p/kWh.

Does that mean it's cost me 50p?

Well, going from 2 to 4 could mean it's gone anywhere from xxxx2.0001 to xxxx4.9999 (almost 3, or 75p) to it having been xxxx2.9999 to xxxx4.0001 (just over 1, or 25p).

50p would be ~2kWh.

My dehumidifier draws about 150W on average, so 2kWh would be 13.3h of my dehumidifier alone, however the rest of the stuff in my house (computers, lights, fridge/freezer, stuff on standby) also draws a reasonable amount.

Also remember that dehumidifiers also generate a reasonable amount of heat in the form of warm air, so some of that money being spent will mean you need to use your heating a little less, so it's not wasted electricity. We only really need to run our dehumidifier when the temperature outside drops enough that we need to stick our heating on, so it's rarely wasted heat.

The old rule of thumb (before the energy crisis) was that 1W left on for a year costs £1. With that 25.21p/kWh that's more like 1W all year = £2.208.

A 150W dehumidifier running for 6h will cost a total of 25.21p * (150*6) / 1000 = 22.69p for that 6 hours.

Cheers.

I've just copped one of those wifi reader things.

Ultimately I just need to get my arse in gear and pay someone to fix our gutters, and that is the primary cause of moisture in my youngest's room.

I'm borrowing the dehumidifier from my mum over the weekend to help dry the room out, and the warmth thing is definitely noticeable. Also nuts how much water there is when you're emptying the thing.

I'm trying to build a robust case to secure approval from finance, so the more data the better.

I think we will also bite the bullet on a smart meter and submit to big energy.

If you change providers, do you have to get a new one each time?

I want to improve my loft insulation, but good chance I'll get a conversion done in the next couple of years so I don't want to spend too much effort on it.

The place is part-boarded, with a thin scattering of vermiculite and some ancient styrofoam boards between rafters. It doesn't do much.

Any suggestions for a time-efficient job that will do for a couple of years?

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On smart meters, no, once you have one, that’s it until it’s life is done, not a change on provider thing. Does mean you can get some potentially money saving ‘time of use’ tariffs from places like octopus energy. There’s a thread on energy suppliers with some discussion and i’d be happy to send a referral which gives us both £50 credit if you want one.

Just unroll some insulation over the joists. Dont worry about the boarding. Remove the styro-firehazard.

If you have water tanks in the loft don't insulate below them as they need the leaky heat to keep them from freezing in ultra cold periods.

If you change providers, do you have to get a new one each time?

I believe that was an issue with the first wave of installs but that was years ago, any new instal should be supplier agnostic

Wiser by schneider smart radiator valves, anyone have them? Our gaff has been done with all schneider electrics and has smart hub and thermostat already. Wondering if the valves are worth it or if I'll not see much difference over the dumb trvs that are in atm.

My wife saw a message on a local neighbourhood WhatsApp group saying someone had their brand new ASHP installed only for the copper pipe work to be ripped out and stolen the following day.

I wouldn’t have believed it, were it not for us stumbling across the exact house today. The pipes had been wrenched out by hand, and it looked like they’d also had a go at dragging away the heat pump itself.

This is in ‘Time Out approved’ Leyton’s famous E10…

Got them all over the house. they work for us but I'm averse to turning the heating on unless needed.

The fact you only need local WiFi not an internet connection is a nice bonus

Remove polystyrene, unroll 300mm total thickness worth of Knauf mineral wool loft insulation. Half a day’s work

Yikes! But I'm not surprised to hear about heat pumps being stolen.

best way to block draughts from under skirting? scotia trim? expandable wood filler? other?

Expanding foam then sealant. Or just sealant if not big hole.

I've got a De longhi rapido works well, heats up fairly quickly and has got a timer switch built in so you can set it to come on in the morning.
It's heavy as fuck but does a good job.

Perfect review thanks!

Slow to the temperature sensor chat, but I bought one of these and it kept dropping the connection then stopped sending data at all. I returned it so maybe I just got a bad one.

I'm currently using an Aqara temperature and humidity sensor connected to Home Assistant with ZigBee via a ConBee II with an IKEA Trådfri signal booster, because the sensor is in a Stevenson screen on our shed and my Raspberry Pi is under the eaves at the front of our house.

I've used the Aqara sensor for ages (it was under the eaves before, so no booster required) and highly recommend this setup, I'm got an Aqara switch too and will add more sensors when I get round to it.

With apologies for gender stereotyping, would I be right in guessing you have a teenage daughter?

Teenage boys tend to self-heat because the warmth exhausted from their gaming PC running Fortnite/Roblox/Animal Crossing/whatever tends to take the chill off.

And the constant masturbation

Anyway yeah, female. Constant phone use. No gaming rig.

the best way would be to get underneath and use airtight tape (with primer) to seal between the masonry and whatever insulation is between the joists. Ideally you'd run an airtight membrance from wall to wall, sealed with tape at the joins. That also has the benefit of improving the warmth of your insulation as cold air will no longer 'windwash' it.

Next best is to take skirting off and seal between floor and wall, then replace skirting.

After that, you're probably looking expanding foam tape - along these lines https://www.airtighttapes.co.uk/store/Xpanda-600-Expanding-Foam-Tape-BBA-Approved-c34468280

How do you deal with pipe work that falls below an airtight membrane? Is it a case of cutting and taping around said pipes?

This is on my to do list for next year. We have insulation but opted for no membrane as we’re having new heating put in and the membrane would have been hacked to shit. I’m mindful of all the pipework from sink/bath/kitchen plus rad pipes that will need to be navigated.

you get grommets for pipework, i think. I'll likely just cut and tape though, yeah.

Apparently the comfort improvements are quite a big jump once you've removed drafts from your floor.

There are special grommet patches that pipes pass through, which are then taped to the wall/substrate. I used a load of these in addition to Ilbruck FM330 airtight expanding foam. They're difficult to retrofit to existing pipework though, as you need to cut the grommet and re-tape. There are also special retrofit grommets, but I didn't achieve very good results with them.

Available here: https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/products/airtight-windtight-systems/pipe-and-cable-sealing/grommets