Ways to reduce utility bills and make home energy efficient

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Gas tumble dryer instead of electric saves a good bit of money
 
Doesn't matter what your politics is, everything is still more expensive.

Except chocolates - I remember buying one of those plastic tubs of Quality Street six years ago for £3.99. They were marked up at the same price the other day.

I plan also to ban use of the tumble dryer and put our heated drying rack in the lounge to heat that room.

That's a really bad idea, all that moisture pumped out of wet clothes, into a room.
 
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Except chocolates - I remember buying one of those plastic tubs of Quality Street six years ago for £3.99. They were marked up at the same price the other day.

Today's tub will be very much smaller.
 
That's a really bad idea, all that moisture pumped out of wet clothes, into a room.


As I said:


We don't have any issues in that regard. The heated rack has been used in the next room for many years and not resulted in any decay.
 
Many years ago the gasboard testing lab at watson house done a a test with foil behind rads and said it didnt work
 
The radiator reflectors can make a small difference.

In a solid walled property if they are installed well (ie you take the radiators off the wall) then they should save in the region of £20 a year.

If you've got an insulated cavity wall then they will save you pennies a year.

Which is pretty obvious if you think about it. The reflectors try to prevent the hot spot of heat from the radiator transferring to the wall directly behind it. If the wall is a good insulator then it doesn't matter much if the inside side of the wall gets hot.
 
If you've got an insulated cavity wall then they will save you pennies a year.

Which is pretty obvious if you think about it. The reflectors try to prevent the hot spot of heat from the radiator transferring to the wall directly behind it. If the wall is a good insulator then it doesn't matter much if the inside side of the wall gets hot.

I have CWI, but none the less I have had my eyes open for a roll, if I spot one. I have four rads fixed on outside walls and despite it not being suggested to save much - I fancy it is understated.
 
I have CWI, but none the less I have had my eyes open for a roll, if I spot one. I have four rads fixed on outside walls and despite it not being suggested to save much - I fancy it is understated.
I tried it on mine behind radiators on outside walls that were cavity insulated and it made no detectable difference at all.
 
I tried it on mine behind radiators on outside walls that were cavity insulated and it made no detectable difference at all.

I've read that, but also seen comments where it helps make those rooms warmer.

Detecting a difference is incredibly difficult, with so many variables to work with.
 
I've read that, but also seen comments where it helps make those rooms warmer.

Detecting a difference is incredibly difficult, with so many variables to work with.

Yesterday for instance, instead of making do with just the heat from the living room gas fire - I deliberately ran the CH, to see what difference it would make to consumption heating the whole house, for part of the day. It used around 1/3 to 1/2 as much extra gas, compared to the previous days consumption. The weather was around the same, though a little breezier yesterday, compared to the day before.
 
I'm aware that the u-value doesn't change.

I am not suggesting you keep the heating on all the time. In fact leaving the heating on 24hr is the opposite to what I am saying.
Its about using the thermal mass to release heat back into the house after the heating has gone off. The experiment above shows that this is a more efficient use of materials than having insulation on the inside of the walls or a light wooden frame.

The above quote clearly says "30% more fuel-efficient......and that despite having 33% less insulation in the walls."
wobs, honestly, you are free to believe whatever you want, but, to remind you what you said; "All else being equal, you can get better thermal performance with as thermnal (sic) mass with insulation on the outside. You need far less insulation for the same thermal performance."

This simply isn’t correct. U-value is a measure of the heat that is lost through the wall and the u-value remains EXACTLY the same regardless of where you place the insulation. If you use 'far less insulation' as you suggest, the u-value will be lower and you will lose heat faster. I don't know where the architect got that information from but it is wrong. I suspect it goes back to olden days when coal was two bob a sack.
 
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