Prices of the electricity we use to charge

[flecc]

How old is Putin?

He's 70 this year.

Looking on YouTube about heat pumps, it seems they aren't as good as made out.
Has anyone any experience of them.

The one in my e-car providing all my air-con is brilliant, uses far less current than the radiant system of the early models.

Heats the car in a minute or two on a very cold day using a quick burst of high current and then keeps me at 22 degrees C using just under 200 watts.

Which from a 40 kilowatt battery is negligible.
.

 

[matthewslack]

Heat pumps are a very important technology because they move heating to electricity, potentially zero carbon, from gas, fossil fuel.

In the short term, if you have gas heating and you have a modern, condensing boiler, then a heat pump will not save you money.

Quite soon, new gas boilers are to be discontinued as part of getting to net zero, and then an air source heat pump is the likely replacement. But the cost per kWh of useful, delivered heat will in most cases be higher than it was with gas. Many variables there, not one size fits all.

So to maintain existing heating cost it will be necessary to use fewer kWh, i.e. better insulation needs to go hand in hand with switching from gas boiler to air source heat pump.

So as always, insulation is the bigger part of the answer, and doing the harder bits like solid walls becomes ever more necessary and cost effective.

 

[Croxden]

He's 70 this year.



The one in my e-car providing all my air-con is brilliant, uses far less current than the radiant system of the early models.

Heats the car in a minute or two on a very cold day using a quick burst of high current and then keeps me at 22 degrees C using just under 200 watts.

Which from a 40 kilowatt battery is negligible.
.

SO if he (Putin) had been put down 20 years ago, maybe the world could be a happier place. We'll never know.

 

[Croxden]

Heat pumps are a very important technology because they move heating to electricity, potentially zero carbon, from gas, fossil fuel.

In the short term, if you have gas heating and you have a modern, condensing boiler, then a heat pump will not save you money.

Quite soon, new gas boilers are to be discontinued as part of getting to net zero, and then an air source heat pump is the likely replacement. But the cost per kWh of useful, delivered heat will in most cases be higher than it was with gas. Many variables there, not one size fits all.

So to maintain existing heating cost it will be necessary to use fewer kWh, i.e. better insulation needs to go hand in hand with switching from gas boiler to air source heat pump.

So as always, insulation is the bigger part of the answer, and doing the harder bits like solid walls becomes ever more necessary and cost effective.

My gas one boiler is almost 50 years old. I have been looking into what I can replace it with when the time comes. I have sufficient ground for a large solar panel array, many more than on a roof. Coupled with a battery system to store the power for nighttime use has a great appeal.
Then Tesla have replacement tiles that are solar, should a re-roof be required that would be interesting.
Insulating a house, so they are suitable for heat pumps, can only be done during the design/build stage. This shows they aren't anywhere as good as the old gas boilers. I understand they can't be turned on and off and must keep pumping. And the pump uses a fair bit of electricity.

Can we have microwave heating that just warms the person?

 

[matthewslack]

My gas one boiler is almost 50 years old. I have been looking into what I can replace it with when the time comes. I have sufficient ground for a large solar panel array, many more than on a roof. Coupled with a battery system to store the power for nighttime use has a great appeal.
Then Tesla have replacement tiles that are solar, should a re-roof be required that would be interesting.
Insulating a house, so they are suitable for heat pumps, can only be done during the design/build stage. This shows they aren't anywhere as good as the old gas boilers. I understand they can't be turned on and off and must keep pumping. And the pump uses a fair bit of electricity.

Can we have microwave heating that just warms the person?

Short term, in your shoes, before it becomes not allowed, I'd look at replacing that old gas boiler with a new, condensing gas boiler, if it is a big house then probably multiple heating zones, and controls that best suit the situation.

That would deliver heat for about 60% of what it costs at the moment per kWh, simply because of a significant improvement in boiler efficiency.

Solar will never provide winter heating needs in the UK.

Heating the person is not comfortable for very long: churches often use radiant heaters because the buildings are so draughty and hard to heat. Ones head burns and the rest is barely affected!

Approaches to insulation retrofitting that in the past would not even be considered are commonplace these days, driven by the pace of energy price rises.

There is no good answer to reducing the bills for a building that requires a lot of heat, and there won't be in the future either. Use less is the only way forward, whether that is by drastic reduction in thermostat settings, or by insulating/draughtproofing.

In the 1970s, typical UK household temperatures were in the region of 14 degrees C. Anyone under 50 probably doesn't recall, and anyone under 35 probably wouldn't tolerate it! And it is not a good thing to encourage the elderly or vulnerable groups to try.

 

[guerney]

When I was particularly broke, I saved on heating by covering windows with 20 layers of cheap ebay bubblewrap. The difference was astounding - not only did it reduce heat loss significantly, but it also muted noises outside quite a bit, particularly higher frequencies. It also allowed light through, so in that respect was also better than thick curtains. I fixed a sheet of cheap muslin cloth over the window, then layered bubblewrap over that, within the window recess. It was so effective that I didn't realise until the spring, that one of the windows has blown ajar a bit, sometime over winter. Depending on what the price rises are this winter, I may well do that again!

 

[matthewslack]

When I was particularly broke, I saved on heating by covering windows with 20 layers of cheap ebay bubblewrap. The difference was astounding - not only did it reduce heat loss significantly, but it also muted noises outside quite a bit, particularly higher frequencies. It also allowed ligh through, so in that respect was also better than thick curtains. I fixed a sheet of cheap muslin cloth over the window, then layered bubblewrap over that, within the window recess. It was so effective that I didn't realise until the spring, that one of the windows has blown ajar a bit, sometime over winter. Depending on what the price rises are this winter, I may well do that again!

I don't recommend my approach to everyone, but I manage on 8 woolly jumpers (not all at the same time), several pairs of helly hansen leggings from my fell running days and a big duvet on the sofa!

Not much heating needed then, and 14 degrees works for me still!

 

[WheezyRider]

In the 1970s, typical UK household temperatures were in the region of 14 degrees C. Anyone under 50 probably doesn't recall, and anyone under 35 probably wouldn't tolerate it! And it is not a good thing to encourage the elderly or vulnerable groups to try.

Do you remember waking up in the morning in winter and having frost on the inside of the glass?

 

[matthewslack]

Do you remember waking up in the morning in winter and having frost on the inside of the glass?

Oh yes! And not very often, but 4ft snowdrifts outside the door!

 

[sjpt]

Do you remember waking up in the morning in winter and having frost on the inside of the glass?

Yes, but that's not cold. Cold is when the frost is still there in the evening.

 

[Croxden]

Yes, but that's not cold. Cold is when the frost is still there in the evening.

In 1963/64 the water pipes underground froze. Soil pipes also froze, that is why they stared to build them inside for many years, and where I worked there was a large frozen pile of urine as the toilets were out of action. That was cold, it lasted for months.
Beginning to sound like the four Yorkshire men sketch.

 

[WheezyRider]

At the risk of perpetuating the 4 Yorkshiremen skit, we could only afford to heat one room in the house - the living room, with a gas heater on one bar only! Put two bars on? No way, you'd get a clip round the ear! No central heating, poor insulation, no damp proof course, single glazing. Water heating using electric immersion heater, which you had to get permission to turn on. Went to bed with a hot water bottle in the winter.

How did we survive?

 

[flecc]

At the risk of perpetuating the 4 Yorkshiremen skit, we could only afford to heat one room in the house - the living room, with a gas heater on one bar only! Put two bars on? No way, you'd get a clip round the ear! No central heating, poor insulation, no damp proof course, single glazing. Water heating using electric immersion heater, which you had to get permission to turn on. Went to bed with a hot water bottle in the winter.

How did we survive?

All so true for me too in my younger years very long ago.

You ask, "How did we survive?"

The answer is that we often didn't. Back in those days many people died by 65 and often long before, never seeing any retirement. Reaching 80 was for a small minority.

Now reaching well over 80 is commonplace, large numbers get beyond 90 and the number passing 100 are at record levels.

In short, life really was very tough in the past, making it shorter, but is much easier now for the majority, extending it.
.

 

[slowcoach]

Went to bed with a hot water bottle in the winter.

A stone hot water bottle was what we had, not the rubber things you have today.

 

[guerney]

Sunak warned about windfall tax, BP

 

[guerney]

It'll soon be time to bubblewrap my windows with 20 layers again.... Our house had gas lamps in the walls, they weren't very warm. Heat from the coal fireplace seemed to simply disappear up the chimmney, don't know why we bothered with it.


"The chief executive of Eon reckons that fuel poverty rates will soon double, hitting almost a third of all households. Essex County Council thinks 93 per cent of its older single-person households will land up in fuel poverty this winter."

Boris has reached peak ‘cakeism’ – and all of us are paying the price

As the cost of living crisis deepens, the PM faces a painful choice that this time he cannot avoid

www.telegraph.co.uk

BJ is opposed to windfall tax

Boris Johnson appears not to know figure for energy price cap

The Prime Minister dismissed questions asking him how he was 'economising' and refused to answer when asked about the basic cost of goods

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[matthewslack]

Anomaly in UK gas wholesale price vs Europe.

Why the UK's tumbling gas price and surplus won't lower energy bills

Energy prices are among the chief villains in inflation soaring to 9%, yet wholesale gas prices in the UK have collapsed due to a glut.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

 

[guerney]

I expect some minimal windfall tax announcement designed to appease, which won't help people struggling:

E.On UK boss warns 40% of customers face fuel poverty

Chief executive Michael Lewis calls for government intervention to help struggling households.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[matthewslack]

Why is there no equivalent formal term 'housing poverty', defined in a similar way to fuel poverty? Lifting people out of that would fix fuel and food poverties in a stroke.

 

[PC2017]

I expect some minimal windfall tax announcement designed to appease, which won't help people struggling:

Indeed - it will ploughed into the local council "help for those who need it most" pot and then kept out the reach of those who do need it with a ton of red tape.