Key Post Tips to save money on fuel costs in existing homes.

well i would have thought that at over 90,000 btu the boiler would be flat out the whole time, i know of a few people in 3 bed semi-dethached house of aroun 1200 sq ft with the same size boilers,dont know if the rads themselves are from heatmerchants but i told the guy in heat merchants that the were the "barrel" type rads and he said that that was grand and to work out the btu from the chart and if memory serves me correct then he said to add about 15,000 btu onto of the final figure of the rads for the water cylinder and stuff
 
A bigger burner will consume more fuel. Not saying you don't need one. Do you feel cold in your home? The key is setting burner pressure and nossle size correctly to give accurate heat output.

You can calculate this by a few methods,

Mears calculator, thats what I use.

You can roughly calculate using this equation (in FT) L x B x H x 5 to give BTu requirement of space/room.

Or this is fairly accurate and easy to follow [broken link removed]

KW to BTU / 3414.

If you need a hand I can assist.
 
i know it would burn more fuel but at the moment im ****ing through oil went through 500l in 6 weeks and that was with the only only on for a few hours a day in the evening,at least with the bigger boiler it might kick out for a longer period (i was told it should kick out for around 15 mins then kick in again when required but at the mo its only 3 mins) the house doesnt seem like the warmest house in the world and its not even that old bad build i personally think
 
Thats a problem. Do your heat calculations, it could be that the burner is undersized (maybe) but more likely has never been commissioned or serviced(set) properly.

What is your area? try to get an OFTEC approved serviceperson to look at it. Check out their website for installers. Another poster here DGOBS would know good people if your in the middle to top half of the country.
 
Hi Davy Jones,

Re the fire front -
I've kept an eye on Buy & Sell since last year to try and find the fire front, but no luck there. There was one on Jumbletown last year with over twenty people looking for it! Do you know might it be called something different? I've had no luck searching sites in the UK either, and have rung most of the Irish fireplace/boiler suppliers to no avail.
 
Pat H,
I requested a stove brochure from mulberry recently & when they sent it out to me they included a one page spec on what I think is a fire front. They are based in tipperary.
Hope that helps.Might be worth ringing them.
 
Pat H said:
Hi Davy Jones,

Re the fire front -
I've kept an eye on Buy & Sell since last year to try and find the fire front, but no luck there. There was one on Jumbletown last year with over twenty people looking for it! Do you know might it be called something different? I've had no luck searching sites in the UK either, and have rung most of the Irish fireplace/boiler suppliers to no avail.
Click to expand...

Hi Pat,

I know very little about them, can you refer me to any extra information. With this i can ask around.
 
Sorry Pat , I meant to say Mulberry refer to it as an insert stove but I think its the same thing.
 
I have spoken with many people over the last while who tell me that they dry their clothes on the radiators rather than hanging them out on the line and to avoid using the tumble dryer. IMHO this one of the worst things that you can do to your home because of the health, dampness and condensation issues it will cause. It also makes your central heating system have to work harder to keep the temperature at the proper level so may well cost more in the long run.
 
Am amazed at the cost of the electric shower when especially teenagers are renowned (both male and female :) ) for spending sometimes 30 minutes having a shower. Time for an alarm to be set especially in our house and they're long past the teenager stage. Make THEM pay the bill time, me thinks.
 
Sue Ellen said:
I have spoken with many people over the last while who tell me that they dry their clothes on the radiators rather than hanging them out on the line and to avoid using the tumble dryer. IMHO this one of the worst things that you can do to your home because of the health, dampness and condensation issues it will cause. It also makes your central heating system have to work harder to keep the temperature at the proper level so may well cost more in the long run.
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Very much depends on the house I imagine and the ventilation. I have lived in this house 30 yrs and only last year bought a dryer which was really for when family/grandchildren visited, as they multiplied I hadn't enough heaters or time to dry the continuous laundry! I have always used the radiators during the winter and any time they are on and have never had damp/condensation or any problems from doing it, then again I have a fine draughty house! It has it's advantages.

I have never noticed it making the heating work harder either as I always keep my boiler at minimum on the dial which is more than hot enough for the radiators.
 
Monbretia said:
I have never noticed it making the heating work harder either as I always keep my boiler at minimum on the dial which is more than hot enough for the radiators.
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The main effect will be for it to take longer to heat the house. Clothes on the rads act as insulation meaning less heat transferred into the space.

Much of the heat from radiators comes from convection currents. they warm the adjacent air and this rises, pulling in cooler air behind it. The fins at the back or in the middle of many double rads are there to increase the air contact surface area. Clothes on the rads affects the efficiency of this process.
 
Leo said:
The main effect will be for it to take longer to heat the house. Clothes on the rads act as insulation meaning less heat transferred into the space.

Much of the heat from radiators comes from convection currents. they warm the adjacent air and this rises, pulling in cooler air behind it. The fins at the back or in the middle of many double rads are there to increase the air contact surface area. Clothes on the rads affects the efficiency of this process.
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I'm sure it does but it must be fairly miniscule in the overall scheme of things and isn't every radiator in the house. I just have never noticed it being warmer or quicker to heat the house days I don't wash/dry clothes. Still imagine it's a lot cheaper than using a dryer. I've always considered I have a very dry reasonably warm house, clothes/teatowels hung on the back of the kitchen chairs at night are usually dry in the morning, other than things like jeans of course!
 
All modern gas boilers are condensing boilers, which are much more efficient. However, in order for the boiler to run in the efficient condensing mode, the boiler temperature must be set low enough to allow the system to condense. The lower you set your boiler temperature the more likely it is that it will be in the efficient condensing mode.

So set you boiler temp as low as you can, while still keeping the house comfortable. It will mean that the house heats up a little more slowly, but much more efficiently.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I have put this chart from the Indo at the top of this thread

www.independent.ie

Not-so-smart meters: How some new smart plans have customers paying more, not less, for energy bills

The energy regulator is carrying out a probe into smart meter tariffs after it emerged that some of the plans offered are more expensive than traditional ones.
www.independent.ie www.independent.ie

View attachment 6698
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Thats a great resource, Brendan. Brilliant for checking out the biggest power guzzlers. Are they October 2022 costs figures? Either way they are very useful comparisons.
 
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