Its cold here right now in Yorkshire, England. Bills keep going up and the temperature keeps going down.
I'm cutting back on electricity, water and gas bills as my bills have gone way too much for me. I'm already switching provider to Sainsbury's they seem to offer a better deal than what I'm on currently.
I'm using a 3kW fan heater, it does the job fine but we have these dotted around the house and they add to the bills. Central heating alone doesn't quite do it. I've been looking into Halogen heaters.
I have my eye on that 800 Watt version. But I'm not too keen on the implications of the radiation given off by the lamp and then the efficiency itself i.e. how much is converted to heat and how much is lost as light.
I'm just wondering what eco methods of heating people are using and what impact does it have on health?
I don't live in UK but this would be true for me no matter where I lived -
I have difficulty breathing in rooms/places where the air is too warm,
especially at night while sleeping. For health reasons, I've heard that
it's better to sleep in a cooler room.
Where I lived before moving here was similar to what you seem to be
experiencing now - cold, drafty, sky-high heating bills and still felt cold
to where I'd even wear a knitted cap and heavy sweatshirts to sleep in.
I found that long-johns [underwear] helped for both sleeping and wearing
around the house. After I moved here, I mailed 2 of my 3 pair to Xania who
lives in UK. She said they worked great. I've now hunted up the last pair to
wear during the day instead of slacks. I'm plenty warm at night without them
but in a fairly cool room which is better for breathing.
I guess you'll have to take into consideration everyone who lives with you.
Good luck!
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May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
I forgot to mention, these cold days would be a great time to drink hot
beverages, like green tea - help your heart and keep warm too. Herbal
teas too.
__________________
May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
JW, sometimes there are ways to reduce your electric bill besides buying more heaters... Earlybird is right, one way is to dress warmer! When I lived in Indiana, we use to put heavy plastic over our windows in the winter time to keep out the cold. Alot of folks hang real heavy blankets or heavy duty curtains on their windows... They use to make a converter type thing that you could put on the end of your dryer tubing... (the tube behind your dryer that blows all the hot air outside) so that all that wasted heat from your dryer could be used to warm your house. But Im not sure if they still make that... I just disconnected the tubing and let it blow into the room, and clean up the mess afterwards. Anyway, I subscribe to a e-zine that helps deal with living frugally... It has alot of money savings tips on winter heating and any other way you might want to save money...See if you can find any help with them... the email address is...
We have a wood fireplace located in the basement, it heats the area very well when we use it, but the heat doesn't travel upstairs to the main living area.
Other folks use either wood or pellet burning stoves to heat their main living areas, they're supposed to give off a good amount of heat. Here's a site I came across with some info on pellet stoves, they're also available in the UK.
I have no idea of rates in the UK, but they are high enough here, so I took that into consideration when building our new house.
I have a ground source heat pump and a wood burning fireplace for extra heat, for days like today when it is -20 Fahrenheit.
My total electricity cost was $200.00 last month. That is for lights, and everything else is electric also, dryer, dishwasher, hot water. I am heating about 3,000 sq feet. 2,000 in the house and 1,000 for the garage, which is only at 50 degrees.
To get heat upstairs from the basement, you need an opening such as a floor grate above the stove, and return air openings into the basement, for cool floor level air to drop down.
Opening the basement door can serve as a return air, but you would still need a place for it to rise.
I think the ratio is 3 to 1. Three times the return air square feet venting vs heated air.
Central heating is more beneficial as the air is less dry.
Best heating is from sun, natural fire.
Alot comes to insulation. You can insulate your walls with cork if you living in the houses. Double glazing helps however also blocks fresh air. Wood both keeps the heat and allows for good air circulation.
In wooden house with minus 30 outside and single glazed windows I was able to enjoy +24 inside for a few days from a single stove like wood burner that supplied hot air into the walls.
In Ireland which is next to UK I found electrical heating always cost more than central heating.
One of the most eco friendly way to heat people is wool. Lambs wool.
I also read that in UK new budget there is provision to pay to those who generate green energy. Perhaps a small wind turbine bough with neighbors using local grants, even sell excess to the grid.
A great website, justme. Thanks! I noticed one of the questions to Bob was about
frozen cardoors. I used to have that problem every winter, but conquered it by
inserting a plastic bag between the door and the frame, right where the latch is.
Several thicknesses of newspaper works too.No more problems!
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May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
Really look at your insulation in your house! Is it time to replace windows to more energy efficient ones? seal all the cracks, around electric outlets.
We just moved into a very cold climate. Often 10 below zero. Our little nest is so warm cause we insullated the hell out of it. It will stay warm with only only 1 1500 watt electic heaters for 450 sq ft. Now that we have the wood burning stove going we dont it them anymore. A pellet or wood burning stove might be a consideration. Look into echofans, produced in the UK I think if you have one of these kind of stoves. Neighbors have one and they swear by it for their large house that they heat with a wood stove.
Hey, nothing warms you up more than chopping wood!
If your stove is down stairs and its not heating the upstairs sufficently cut some vents into the floor between the up and the down.
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UK resident heating question - Ted??
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