heating houses

[jenniferalan]

The weather is getting so frosty now and my house is cold at night altho we do have the heating on, just wondering would u guys have any tips on heating a house? tips like how to stop draughts and that sort of thing would be appreciated!

[shonastar]

Hi Jennifer, the obvious would be to sew and stuff somes 'snakes' to stop any draughts at the bottom of any doors leading outside. Great fun for kids and if you make them yourself you can choose colours, fabric etc. Another tip I've heard is to line the back of radiators with tin foil, it reflects heat back into the room, haven't tried that one yet, but it's so inexpensive it's worth a try!
Hope to have been of help and Happy New Year x

[elbo]

Hi Jennifer, the obvious would be to sew and stuff somes 'snakes' to stop any draughts at the bottom of any doors leading outside. Great fun for kids and if you make them yourself you can choose colours, fabric etc. Another tip I've heard is to line the back of radiators with tin foil, it reflects heat back into the room, haven't tried that one yet, but it's so inexpensive it's worth a try!
Hope to have been of help and Happy New Year x


Hi Jennifer,
Think we all have the same problem at the moment. Our radiators are fine (if you sit right beside them), but when you turn them off the house gets very cold in no time at all. My hubby has draught excluder on doors (all doors), tinfoil at back of radiators, etc. and house is still cold. Roll on Easter.

[misstake]

Another thing is your windows -- close the curtains and make sure they are lined I spend every second week at my mums she has heating also a big fire it was only after closing the curtains i really felt the warmth in the room I couldnt believe how much heat escapes out the windows
hope this helps i know it works Oh if your rads are under the window put the curtains behind the rads to keep the heat in Good luck
bernie

[kilk]

if you use thermal lined curtains it certainly makes a big difference.

[rccrchickie]

You could hang a lined curtain over the external doors. You can buy special curtain poles that are hinged and move with the door. It makes a big difference.

[jenniferalan]

Thanks very much for all the tips! I'm going to close the curtains a bit earlier in the evenings, make some "snakes" and try the tin foil on the rads!

kilk just wonderin where i would get thermal lining for curtains?

any tips on how to stop draughts from pvc double glazed windows? should there even be a draught if they're double glazed?!

[jenniferalan]

Is there such thing as a paint insulator for walls that u paint on before u put ur normal paint on?

[mammasboys]

There shouldn't be any draught around a double glazed window. Try moving a candle around the perimeter of the window and see if the flame moves. There could be something wrong with the seals.
Otherwise the other obvious thing is insulation in the attic. I presume you've nailed that. There is also a paint additive that increases the insulation of the surface you paint it on to. It's costs about €30 for 5 litres. Google "paint that insulates".
On the plus side, I always believe that it is unhealthy to sleep in a house that is too warm or under ventilated. In the meantime, put on another layer and get a hot water bottle! Good luck!

[jenniferalan]

Thanks for the advice Mammasboys, i have the electric blanket on and a nice fire lol. i googled the paint and i think ill be able to get it in Woodies which is down the road, many thnks again

[misstake]

just got a quote for wall insulation on a two story house ok a small semi and its 750 euro my neighbour has it done nd says its brilliant now going to check as im told there is a grant to get it done

[jenniferalan]

750 euro, wow thats actually not too bad, especially if a grant is available. How old is ur house? Mine is a small semi as well, 3 bed and its about 25-30 yrs old

[IRISH_iiiis]

Hi there, it sounds like you do indeed need your walls injected with insulation, also its never ant harm to add extra insulation in the attic as a lot of heat is lost this way... i would check with the local county council as some if not all do this for you. alternatively they may provide you with a grant for this and also window/ heating system up grade..... worth a try... bye for now Darren

[misstake]

mine around the same age and three roomed will let you know but was told that will be no problem just a shame am out at mums this week so cant look into it But my neighbour said its made a huge difference to the warmth of his house and its same as mine

[4eyes]

Invest in a few vests or fine t-shirts, they work wonders , also over the knee socks, and wear two pairs of panties at a time, no I am not joking, it is marvellous.
I am sitting here with my over the knee socks, trousers and t-shirt and a big woolleen hand knit jumper (Bought at a market stall for E4) only heat on in my computer area is the wardrobe radiator and I keep the wardrobe door open.
Look in places like TK Max or Dunnes Stores and invest in 100% wool jumpers, look at the sheep in cold weather.
Reduce your heating thermostat by a good few degrees say 10 but the secret is to leave on a little longer as it is more econimical to keep a room warm than to heat it from cold.
Good news heating oil is cheaper than it has been for years.
Save up over summer if you have a chimney and buy a little non boiler multi fuel stove for your living area, it's also great for getting rid of all those cardboard boxes, newspapers etc etc, and will also keep you warm and of course will cook your stew or heat water for a cuppa, to be ever so thrifty when water has boiled put it in a flask for the morning cuppa will boil in electric kettle in a few seconds, or even cheaper heat in a saucepan on hob. There are lots of ways to economise, given a long hard look at all we waste.
Buy 2 hot water bottles!!!
4eyes

[milliebo]

Hi to keep my house warm I make sure all the blinds are pulled. and the back door and front door put up a nice curtain to pull across it helps to keep the draights out and a door draght at the bottom of the door. heated blackets are great to even if the room cold you wont be in bed. put the heat on a half hr be4 you get and befour you come home at night. I bought an old gas heater that works on the bottle gas I put it on as needed it realy heats the house they are called FLOGAS gas heaters I got mine in power city for 94 eoros and the gas bottle each month is 30 euros good luck

[unapam]

Hi, I can really recommend hot water bottles, I have the normal rubber ones and also one of the old ceramic ones I got from Jt from Sabrinabray. It is marvelous! I love to fill them and put them behind me on the couch so I am cosy even if the room is a bit chilly.

Definately pull the curtains and line them if not already,

make draught excluders from jeans legs (cut off leg, (jean's not yer' own), turn inside out, secure with elastic band, turn right side out, stuff with old clothes and secure end as before and stuff this bit inside.) Voila! one eco draught excluder...or you could teach your dog to lie along the bottom of the door!..even better get your dog to cuddle up with you on couch as there's great heat in a dog!

Also put draught excluder on all doors, pull down blinds, light your favourite candle (doesn't give much heat but makes you feel warm)
in fact do all the little things and it will make a big difference. Good luck...Unapam

[Mickey]

I am sitting in front of my PC, legs crossed on office chair, one hotwater bottle on each leg, one behind my back, one handwarmer in the sock on the foot that isn't cosy, a fleece blankie over my lap and a really hot cup of tea (still fighting my eldest for my other handwarmer for my other sock - she is stubborn :~[ and strong). The shutters are open to let in the sun which is lovely when it reaches. I've NEVER lived in a colder house but I thank God that we have it. Am definitely going to be cutting off legs (don't care if they're still being walked on) for draught excluders now. And have to try hang curtains on ALL the doors in the house.

Does anyone have any idea where I could find one of those little stove things that you put in the fire place or on the hearth and how much one can expect to pay. The house is around 200 years old and apparently they didn't know about flues in those days because we don't have one and unless you're sitting almost IN it, our fire is really only decorative. My fingers are so cold right now they're sore - BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[Stuarty]

Most of the people who sell normal heating boilers also do the stoves for burning logs, The pot belly type is the most popular.

I love Unapams idea for the trouser legs, i am going to try it with an old pillow for stuffing, just roll it up really tight like when you get the new ones wrapped in the shop, (Experience rolling sleeping bags away after camping finally become a practical skill!) and I have finally found a lifecycle for pillows

[JulieSherris]

Our house was built in the early '60's & not a lot has been done to it since, by the looks!

We moved in last September, so it's our first winter here... during the summer we are planning on making sure the loft is insulated...properly! New radiators all round, as ours have been painted with emulsion, several times... and double glazing.

We have a stanley stove which provides all of our heating & hot water, & I cook with it too, I can't see the sense in wasting it by using the leccy oven & gas hob....

We've heavy lined curtains at all windows, & they are closed at dusk... curtains at the front door to stop draughts.

A friend of mine pops her hot water bottle inside a pillowcase, on top of a pillow for her feet while she's at the PC - keeps her feet warm & toasty & up just high enough to be out of the draughts.
Also, for all of you who suffer with cold hands at the PC, try knitting or buying fingerless gloves or long wristwarmers.... and wearing lots of thinner layers will keep you warmer than 1 or 2 bulky knits....

If you're outside in your wellies & suffer from cold feet, try pulling on 2 pairs of socks with a small plastic bag between... and if wearing garden gloves, try pulling on a pair of tight vinyl gloves first - this stops the wind & cold getting in too!

Can you tell I don't like being cold? Haha!

[Binario Duo]

Hi there. I don't know what windows you have, I have sash windows in my place and as you can imagine the heat goes out the window. A tip is too make INSULATED SHUTTERS. This is a twin layered shutter with insulation between the shutters. It's an easy thing to make if your handy with a hammer and nail.

[rossadrehid]

I am sitting in front of my PC, legs crossed on office chair, one hotwater bottle on each leg, one behind my back, one handwarmer in the sock on the foot that isn't cosy, a fleece blankie over my lap and a really hot cup of tea (still fighting my eldest for my other handwarmer for my other sock - she is stubborn :~[ and strong). The shutters are open to let in the sun which is lovely when it reaches. I've NEVER lived in a colder house but I thank God that we have it. Am definitely going to be cutting off legs (don't care if they're still being walked on) for draught excluders now. And have to try hang curtains on ALL the doors in the house.

Does anyone have any idea where I could find one of those little stove things that you put in the fire place or on the hearth and how much one can expect to pay. The house is around 200 years old and apparently they didn't know about flues in those days because we don't have one and unless you're sitting almost IN it, our fire is really only decorative. My fingers are so cold right now they're sore - BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I have a two story 4 bed house out in countryside and it is cold here. So this nov 2008 got roller blinds for all windows already have curtains fitted helped loads. Gap between window board & window on inside do fray do a breeze test. Can be filled with silicone tidily. tip I have regular shandelier 10 ev friendly bulbs : now put one bedside lamp upstairs & one downstairs loads of light and using only 2 bulbs.

[chloe123]

I am in desparate need of advice about my heating. My ex in his ultimate wisdom(I think he must have been on something at the time) took out a perfectly good fire,back boiler etc a few years ago. He replaced this with a gas combi boiler which uses gas bottles at 111euro a pop. I am lucky to get 2 weeks out of these at the moment and the house is instantly cold as soon as heat is turned off. Can anyone suggest a solution? I would ideally like to get the fire back in but heard it is quite expensive. I am now a single parent and the wonderful ex has washed his hands of any financial resposibility to his family. I know that some free websites sometimes have some of the parts that would be needed. Any ideas anyone as you jters seem to be a pretty resourceful bunch.

[Chris P]

Dept of the Environment Press Release (09/02/09)
"Government announces national insulation programme for economic recovery"

· €100 million for insulation schemes in 2009
· 4,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created
· 50,000 homes to be upgraded
· €700 savings for householders in their heating bills

Details here:

http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,19454,en.htm

[Chris P]

The Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme provides assistance to homeowners who are interested in improving the energy efficiency of their home in order to reduce energy use and costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It is a national scheme and thus open to all owners of existing houses. The scheme is administered by Sustainable Energy Ireland and its agents.

Details here:
http://www.sei.ie/Grants/Pilot_Home_Energy_Saving_Scheme/

[jenniferalan]

Thanks Chris for those links

[LadyA]

A few years ago, we were able to just get the glass in our windows replaced with double glazed units, rather than get the whole windows replaced. It made a huge difference to the warmth in the house, and was about half the cost of replacing the windows. :) And although the attic was insulated when we bought the house, we put at least as much insulation again up there, and that helped a lot too. Our heating thermostat is always set as low as it will go, it never needs to be turned up.

[Chris P]

Lots of info on Home Heating Systems, Insulating Your Home, the BER (Building Energy Rating) and more can be found in the "General Information" section at the bottom of the page in the following link:

http://www.sei.ie/Your_Home/

[waterwave]

I am in desparate need of advice about my heating. My ex in his ultimate wisdom(I think he must have been on something at the time) took out a perfectly good fire,back boiler etc a few years ago. He replaced this with a gas combi boiler which uses gas bottles at 111euro a pop. I am lucky to get 2 weeks out of these at the moment and the house is instantly cold as soon as heat is turned off. Can anyone suggest a solution? I would ideally like to get the fire back in but heard it is quite expensive. I am now a single parent and the wonderful ex has washed his hands of any financial resposibility to his family. I know that some free websites sometimes have some of the parts that would be needed. Any ideas anyone as you jters seem to be a pretty resourceful bunch.

hi there
In your situation i would definitely consider putting back the fire and back boiler - but in the meantime if you could get your hands on a little stove - you can just literally put in front of where the fire would normally go - just push it as far back as it goes and then the only thing you will need is a metal plate with a hole in it for the fumes from the fire to go up the chimney - very easy to do - i went to a blacksmith and he did it for me - cost about 20 euro.
The stove we got for about 500 euro but it is the best investment - we use less coal and wood etc. They say with an open fire 80% of the heat is lost up the chimney and only 20% comes out - with the stove 80% of the heat is given off into the house and 20% up the chimney - it heats our whole house - ive only turned the oil on twice this winter and that was cos we ran out of coal - pm if you want to know more!!

[LadyA]

I had thought of putting in one of these stoves eventually. How do they heat the whole house though? And how do you clean your chimney? I usually clean my chimney myself, but I don't fancy gettng up on the roof to do it from above! I have a Grant triple-pass back boiler, which is very efficient, but unfortunately because (I'm told) of the lie of the land where I live, the air currents have to be just right, or the smoke goes up one chimney and back down the other, which is right beside it, smoking out the sitting room!

[lislaw]

The stove sounds like a great idea. I love my fire and any house I've lived in I've always made sure that I'm able to light the fire. My thinking is that should all else fail (electricity, oil etc) I'll at least still be able to keep one room warm. I'm curious also how the stove heats the whole house??

In terms of keeping the house as warm as possible the draft excluders and curtains/blinds make a hell of a difference. Also if you use your radiators to dry clothes - and lets face it at this time of year most of us do to some extent - remember that this is going to really reduce the amount of heat in the room itself.
My dad gave me a little tool years ago for bleeding radiators and recommended I do it every year to get maximum heat from them. Make sure you put a cloth behind the little valve though - it's not called "bleeding" for nothing. Getting rusty watermarks off a wall is not easy!!!!

[kilomike31]

The Dragons' Den had two inventors that have come up a system to create an extra layer of insulation outside the existing walls of a house. What's more, there were pipes running through the extra insulation to a heat pump to capture any heat that escaped through the walls.

What an exciting idea! Homes of the future could be so energy efficient that they would take virtually nothing in energy to keep warm.

Did anyone see this and have more information about this system ?

Kilo

[bounci]

house is old corpo built 1946 made of mass concrete, so dry lining is all im being told works. problem with that is condensation or dry rot behind dry lining as there is no breathing space. any advice on alternative insulation solutions would be great thanks guys

[dee1]

You could hang a lined curtain over the external doors. You can buy special curtain poles that are hinged and move with the door. It makes a big difference.
can you tell me where i can get hinged curtain poles, and how much please? thank you.

[JulieSherris]

Hi - the rods are actually called 'Portieres'.... very old fashioned, but still just as effective!!

I've just ordered one for our back door this year - I got ours from here
http://www.gbinteriors.co.uk/acatalog/Portiere_Rods.html

I checked ebay & the usual places, but no joy - like I said, very old fashioned, but I'm sure we'll be using ours for a long time to come!

[dee1]

Thank You So Much, You Have A Good Weekend .

[garrazzaband]

The weather is getting so frosty now and my house is cold at night altho we do have the heating on, just wondering would u guys have any tips on heating a house? tips like how to stop draughts and that sort of thing would be appreciated!

Hi search all my posts and look at the one where I replied to someone with similar problem. Hope it assists....

[minnie pal]

i live in a corpo small hoose! draught from back door (15yrs old), and front door awful.
the boiler has been serviced recently but is also same age and you can see the dial has corroded.
recently rehoused the boiler in my last place was also serviced prior to leaving and te guy said tat it was a workable boiler but uneconomical for me.
are their grants for ME! to get my place insulated, boiler up to speed.
corpo wont replace these two ancient doors (which part thereof fell off in my hand when showing the disability officer) nor te boiler.
Why in my straightened circumstances should i pay for an inefficient boiler.
minnie pal

[64moog]

The weather is getting so frosty now and my house is cold at night altho we do have the heating on, just wondering would u guys have any tips on heating a house? tips like how to stop draughts and that sort of thing would be appreciated!

I removed our gas fire and replaced it with a grate and now burn home made briquettes from news paper and any wood i find in skips, old furniture, any thing thats made of wood will keep your living room warm and dont forget to invest in a spark guard.I reduced our gas bill from 330 euro to 99 euro, bord gais.... SCREW YOU.

[keep-it-tidy]

nice handy tips there for the curtains on the doors and the snakes will be trying that, im living in a 3 bed semi a fairly large one and the cost of heating it is so exspensive 500ltrs of kerosene would be gone in 1 and a half to 2 months and the min ya turn it off its freezing! thank god im moving to a smaller place. my dad has been ranting and raving about that ber rating i tought he was mad but reading it here and seening what it was im shocked and delighted. thank god if you knew how well insulated a house was before you bought or renting would be nice to know your not wasting money on heat escaping.

[tash6987]

nice handy tips there for the curtains on the doors and the snakes will be trying that, im living in a 3 bed semi a fairly large one and the cost of heating it is so exspensive 500ltrs of kerosene would be gone in 1 and a half to 2 months and the min ya turn it off its freezing! thank god im moving to a smaller place. my dad has been ranting and raving about that ber rating i tought he was mad but reading it here and seening what it was im shocked and delighted. thank god if you knew how well insulated a house was before you bought or renting would be nice to know your not wasting money on heat escaping.

I know what you mean about knowing whether the house is insulated or not and how well before buying/renting it!! I've rented this place for 2 years now, its 300 years old,theres no insulation in the loft and the gaps in the front and back doors are unreal, and for the two years i've been here the landlords said the insulation and the doors would be done and still nothing!! so consequently in the recent weather, I have quilts nailed to the wail covering the doors,highly annoying to get in and out but works a treat and stops the drafts!

[TickTock]

64moog -do you have a back boiler? We have gas central heating and it is brilliant but am worried about the next bill and I have the heating on most of the time as I feel the cold so much. Was thinking of going back to the old back boiler and open fire but the rest of the family would vote against it.

[64moog]

To tick tock
the old gas fire that i removed was not connected to the central heating [no back boiler] as it had an independant gas supply and was only used to heat the living room. I do have and still use gas central heating for heating the house and water. The point i was trying to make was that the heating bill with the gas fire was huge and i reduced the bill by removing the gas fire and replacing it with a grate and burning solid fuel.

[TickTock]

We've had so many different heating systems over the years, I still can't decide what is the most economical. If a system is economical this year, ten chances to one it will be very expensive in a year or two. Hard to keep up. The central heating has turned me into a wimp, and now I can't handle any cold at all.

[dave586]

Thanks for the advice Mammasboys
also one think i am using home heating oil for warm my house i am order it online from "swillyfuels"