Rising energy prices mitigation

[korolev]

Since we moved into a house with solar panels I've been very careful with electricity use, only use the washing machine or dishwasher during daylight and preferably when it's sunny.
The income they generate seems to exceed (at the moment) the total cost of yearly electricity and gas so I'm in profit, but there's always room for more savings.
Trouble is, Mrs K is a bit of a chilly mortal (last night the indoor thermometer read 22C and she was in a jumper with a blanket over her and asking if the heating needed to go on. I, sat there in a T-shirt, said "no".

[jansman]

We shall ( two of us) continue to use the power we have to. I do a mucky job, and my clothes stink, so the washer goes on daily ( with as full a load as possible), and this time of year it goes into the tumble drier. That sounds rather blasé, but that’s how it is.

We are fortunate that, unlike many of our neighbours, our cottage has not had walls torn out to create ‘open plan’ rooms. Each has doors, and easily kept warm. We have two multi fuel stoves, which tend to keep the house warm enough. For when we don’t light up, we have electric radiators/ infra red panels - used as needed. The house is as well insulated as a 120 year old farm cottage can be. To be honest, we are tough country kids. Mrs J is a fresh air fan, and even in Winter, the back door is open for the dogs to come and go, and windows upstairs are open year- round. They get shut when it’s fire lighting time, but the bedroom window stays open.

We don’t overuse anything though. Stuff gets turned off - especially standby switches ( leaving a tv on standby uses 25% of the electric it would if it were on, I believe).We don’t walk around the house half naked because it’s hotter than a Kew Gardens greenhouse either!

Acquiring and processing most of our solid fuel all our 30+ years married lives has always made us very aware of fuel usage. When we first moved here, I had an idea about some form of partial self - sufficient living, and food growing in the huge garden, and utilising the two fireplaces were obvious choices. I have always refused to buy firewood, and have built relationships with local villagers who have surplus wood , be it from landscape gardeners , builders etc. We currently have enough stacked to see us through this Winter, next Winter +. Smokeless coal we have aplenty for all of this Winter, and I buy some each week, as I am driving past the merchant anyway, so I don’t waste fuel.

Does anyone else who harvests their own fuel, find that it makes them aware of general fuel usage? IMHO the key to fuel economy is simply turning stuff off, and thinking about how you will use it.

[Nurseandy]

Processing your own fuel makes you VERY aware of its usage. A tree surgeon mate drops off several tons of unprocessed wood on a regular basis. I cut it with chainsaw. Son stacks it. Everyone brings it into the house and is aware of seasoning/rotation etc.
One daughter also splits the kindling and is responsible for storing it and ensuring a sufficient dry supply in the house.
The above is also how they earn their pocket money. No free rides here.

[Yorkshire Andy]

- I've been watching youtube videos about how to use a sealant gun - there are big gaps in a couple of rooms between the top of the skirting board and the wall. Most of the prep work now done, I'll see how it goes today.

Use decorators caulk...

It's water based so if you make a mess it scrapes up and use a big bowl of water and a big sponge to wipe up any mess ......

Half of the battle I've found is how you trim the nossil and at what angle trim it so it's about 4 or 5mm wider than the gap your trying to fill..

Then the fun begins its something you can only get by practice trying to balance between moving the gun along Vs force of squeezing the lever and getting sealent into the gap deep enough with out it squeezing out as you move along .

Worst case use 2 inch masking tape along both sides smear it along the gap wet your finger run it along to smooth off the. Carefully and smoothly pull the tape off


I'd consider myself a amateur diyer but following on from having a uPVC window fitter watch me sealing in a bathroom sink at work free hand telling me it looked spot on I'll take that as a compliment

[Arzosah]

- I've been watching youtube videos about how to use a sealant gun - there are big gaps in a couple of rooms between the top of the skirting board and the wall. Most of the prep work now done, I'll see how it goes today.

Use decorators caulk...

It's water based so if you make a mess it scrapes up and use a big bowl of water and a big sponge to wipe up any mess ......

Half of the battle I've found is how you trim the nossil and at what angle trim it so it's about 4 or 5mm wider than the gap your trying to fill..

Then the fun begins its something you can only get by practice trying to balance between moving the gun along Vs force of squeezing the lever and getting sealent into the gap deep enough with out it squeezing out as you move along .

Worst case use 2 inch masking tape along both sides smear it along the gap wet your finger run it along to smooth off the. Carefully and smoothly pull the tape off


I'd consider myself a amateur diyer but following on from having a uPVC window fitter watch me sealing in a bathroom sink at work free hand telling me it looked spot on I'll take that as a compliment

I think decorators' caulk is what I've got, Andy - I'm just used to calling it sealant. I've got an old piece of ceramic tile to practice making a line of the stuff, but I won't be able to use masking tape, not really - the pipes for the radiator on that wall are in the way. But of course, they'll hide the mess I'm bound to make I've got a small glass of water, and washing up liquid ready to dab onto my fingers, to help smooth it all out. I might actually manage to do it tomorrow - got to find some latex-type gloves. I'll report back, but I'm pretty sure it'll be too horrible to take a photo

[Yorkshire Andy]

I think decorators' caulk is what I've got, Andy - I'm just used to calling it sealant. I've got an old piece of ceramic tile to practice making a line of the stuff, but I won't be able to use masking tape, not really - the pipes for the radiator on that wall are in the way. But of course, they'll hide the mess I'm bound to make I've got a small glass of water, and washing up liquid ready to dab onto my fingers, to help smooth it all out. I might actually manage to do it tomorrow - got to find some latex-type gloves. I'll report back, but I'm pretty sure it'll be too horrible to take a photo

Start at the pipes and work away from them

Nitrile gloves are more rip resistant

My dad still goes mad as I flat refuse to use masking tape much to his annoyance he was stood watching me hands in pockets when I passed him the masking tape back not that it would have stuck on the dimpled aluminium


Last thing I sealed up was a few bits on my camper ..

[grenfell]

One guy i work for told the plumbers to leave any mastic to me as "he enjoys it" . That was going a bit far though i do seem to manage to do a decent job. One thing i'd add to Andy's comments is to keep the end of the nozzle clean , wipe any mastic off the outside before doing a run . I tend to feel the most common mistake people make is putting too much mastic on and it ending up smeared everywhere. You can buy tools specifically for finishing mastic . I've never brought them and to be fair they're only glorified bits of shaped plastic. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caulking-Silic ... 5367&psc=1
Mention of thermal curtains , i'd add to that to fit a pelmet. Might be old fashioned but enclosing the top of the curtains stops thermosyphoning. That's where warm air is taken in at the top , cools against the window and reenters the room at the bottom of the curtains and thus sucking in more at the top. Your house might resemble your granny's but seems she knew a thing or two.
Wood burners , flat top ones are great for putting a pot of stew on top. I think most , well probably all of us , on here are fully aware of air drying the fuel for at least a year but sadly there are many who will burn wet or inappropriate wood and it's those who don't care or don't understand that have caused talk of restrictions. A little while ago i had a quanity of lliandi logs , they had been stored for a couple of years and were fully dry and better still cost nothing . I wasn't sure how good they'd be but thought i'd give them a try. They burnt , that much is true but they didn't seem to give off much in the way of heat. I could probably have sat on the fire and got lukewarm.

[mbbaltic]

I was with Pure Planet on a fix which in itself was a bit eye watering compared to what I paid last year, and now of course I am with Shell energy on their default tariff. Roughly 21 p for electricity and 4p for gas. Sharp intake of breath.

So I've been trying to analyse my usage by keeping more detailed records. I've always read the meters regularly but right now I'm doing it every day at the same time and trying to work out what costs the most. I am not on an Economy 7 tariff but I have an old E7 meter so I get separate readings for day and night consumption which get added together for billing purposes. I try and run dw and washing machine overnight even though it doesn't save anything because it makes more efficient use of baseload electricity which, until recently at least, has always tended to be mainly nuclear and so carbon neutral. So I've got data which should in theory tell me what additional consumption results from running the machines .

And there seems to be absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. One night's consumption will be totally different even with the same machines on the same programs. We were due to get a smart meter but Shell uses a different metering company so that will have to be rearranged but I'll be interested to see if I can pin it down a bit better

One thing for sure - being a child free zone does a lot for energy consumption. 2020 I had both daughters move back home in lockdown and wfh. So my gas bill over the winter was humungous. Of course Pure Planet based my DD on that consumption so I'm in credit atm and I will argue the point with Shell if they try and charge me a ridiculous amount. Good records will help

[Nurseandy]

Further to my earlier post about my teenage girls being semi aquatic in the shower I've just worked out the cost - ~25p /10 minutes, they are each in there for at least 20 minutes each day =£1/day each! £60 a month!!!!!!!!!
We shall have a discussion.............

[diamond lil]

A discussion that involves an upside down pail at the back door Andy?