ENERGY MATTERS

[Stanley]

Solar panels going up on the roof of a house in Wellhouse Square.

[Stanley]

The scaffolding came down yesterday. The panels look different but are not obtrusive.....

[Stanley]

My stove in the front room still burns low, it's been lit since September and it's about time it was on its summer break! However, with the weather we're having the house would soon get to feel cold and slightly damp as the CH wouldn't kick in until it got colder. Feels like a waste but the house is warm and dry.... I shall just have to keep firing up and taking the ashes out for a bit longer! Is it my imagination or are we having a particularly cold Spring?

[Stanley]

I suspect that quite a few CH systems would kick in yesterday. The combination of high winds and low temperature were noticeable evn in my house with the stove on low.....

[Stanley]

The new solar panels on the house in Wellhouse Square would have been earning their corn yesterday!
I considered letting the stove go out yesterday but decided to wait a day or two because I suspect there may be a sting in the tail of the weather in the next few days. So, It's only just in, but still doing a good job of keeping the house warm and dry.

[Stanley]

A red letter day! The stove went out last night for the first time since September due to a combination of low firing and s different wind direction during the night that made it burn faster than expected. I've given it a good ashing out and laid it ready for a relight should the occasion require it.....

[Stanley]

Front room temperature fell below 70F yesterday so I cracked and put a match to it...... This cold wind isn't helping my old bones.....

[Tizer]

Our 20-year-old oil-fired CH boiler has just been serviced by our usual plumber. On the certificate he gave it an efficiency of about 87% net and 93% gross 87% gross and 93% net. I didn't think to ask him at the time "net of what?" And I wonder how good (or bad) these figures are for an old oil-fired boiler?

[Stanley]

I'd say they were pretty good. If I remember rightly one of the characteristics of the Wilson 'Wall Flame' boiler we had at Hey Farm had a similar figure. They were leading the field then, better numbers than gas or solid fuel.

[Tizer]

Ah, now I've searched further and realise that I quoted the boiler efficiency figures the wrong way around. I did it from memory and intuitively wrote the lower figure as net and the larger as gross - as if I were dealing with interest on money in a bank account. I should have said "...he gave it an efficiency of about 87% gross and 93% net", so I'll go back and correct the post. I now know that the net figure is the one used by manufacturers for comparing their boilers because it makes them look more efficient. The net figures ignore the latent heat lost as water vapour, whereas gross figures are based on the total heat energy potentially available from the fuel. LINK

[Stanley]

I've always been slightly suspicious of 'efficiency' when it's expressed as a simple percentage. Real fuel efficiency depends on how the machine or appliance is maintained and run. The best boiler in the world suffers if it is being run at much over 75% capacity or is badly maintained. In the old days I was always a supporter of bigger engines in wagons because you didn't have to run them flat out all the time. Modern practice has proved me correct. When I put the boiler in at Hey Farm I specified 75,000BthU instead of the proposed 50,000 and while I will never know for certain I'm pretty sure I didn't suffer by it. Apart from that the biggest savings always come from how you manage your heating and insulation, not from simple 'efficiency'.
BG email this morning to arrange my annual service. Bad web page with small low definition print, stupid things like white text on a green background for confirmation buttons and pop up windows trying to sell you extra services and Nectar Points.... Someone had a design meeting and concentrated solely on selling.... Bit like the first signs of dissolution we saw in the banks when they started trying to sell you insurance every time you cashed a cheque.....
The Gas Man Cometh tomorrow between 12 and 2......

[Tizer]

The RNIB has been providing guidance for web designers for about 15 years or more to make web pages more accessible but many of those `designers' are too young to appreciate it's importance and the company bosses just leave them to it.

[Stanley]

Ditto for food labels and the shelf price cards in the supermarkets..... You don't realise these things until you are in trouble. Do we need partially blind page designers? (As for the 'small print' containing terms and conditions....!)

[Stanley]

The heating season is ended at East Hill Street. The CH is switched off and the stove is cold.....

[Stanley]

I spoke too soon! Stove still cold but so is the weather and despite the stat being set below 18C the CH is kicking on for short periods as the house cools down. Back in my vest as well.... Must learn to keep my trap shut!
Expansion valve appears to be OK now.....
They should replace the valve with a simple bursting disc which can be renewed each year at the service. Cheaper, effective and it would never leak.



When I was in the boiler trade we always had deep contempt for the silly buggers who left essential maintenance until the day before they needed the boiler.... So this morning, being a good maintenance man, I flued the stove including the pipe up to the bend in the flue. Cleaned all the ash and clinker out and for the first time since I got it, took the moveable grate out and chipped all the burned on clinker from the slots. I was expecting trouble replacing the grate and connecting the rod up but it flew together. So, a mucky job but it's done and I am ready for winter! (Tomorrow is the longest day. Winter will be here before we know it!)

[Tizer]

As you say, nearly the longest day...and yet I'm still falling back on my winter clothes regularly. It's not so much the temperature but the strong, cold wind that we now get almost every day, all day (and much of the night). It's playing havoc with the trees and shrubs and must be a problem for wildlife in general. The chill factor could kill young small animals. Today is our village's annual street fair, held at a similar date each year and which used to get sunny mild weather. Now the stallholders have to cope with cold, rain and wind. Mrs Tiz is on the local history society's stall today and someone has been kind enough to find them a small gazebo to keep the rain off.

[Stanley]

Exactly the same problem here Tiz. The wind is regularly in the NW and as we are at over 500ft it is even worse than in the flat lands. I am back in my vest and had a padded waistcoat on in the front room last might. However.... as I was sat on the lavatory just now having my morning constitutional I noticed two things. the heating had kicked in and the net curtains were moving. I realised that the gas fitter had left my bathroom window wide open! As the bedroom window is always open a crack I was well ventilated! It got closed straight away. Normally I would have noticed this immediately but it must be the bad state of my vision at the moment that hid it from me. Perhaps my house will warm up a bit now!

[Stanley]

It really is cool for the time of the year. I sat wearing a padded waistcoat in the front room last night and when I went to bed I cracked and set the stat at 18C. House feels a bit warmer this morning..... Doing a hot wash has warmed the kitchen up nicely!

[Stanley]

Had to have a blast of heat last night to get the house comfortable! Flaming June?

[Stanley]

See THIS for a news item about the excessive rates charged to the poorest people on prepayment meters. Energy companies have made repeated promises to level the playing field but it appears that the situation is worse than ever according to Ofgen.

[Pluggy]

I think its starting to get embarrassing how often this complete non news item goes around the block. Of course prepayment meters are more expensive, they always have been. Nobody has them by choice. The energy companies force them on people because its probably the only way they stand a chance of getting paid. Maybe they should just give free energy to those who can't/won't pay and penalise those who do pay by making up the shortfall from them.

Excuse my right of centre mindset.

[Stanley]

It's allowed Pluggy and you are probably near to the truth, they will abandon chasing many debts and of course that's an expense on the ones who pay.....
In general I have always objected to differential tariffs especially the ones that charged you less per unit if you use more. To tell you the truth I don't know whether that still applies now. I long since stopped trying to understand energy charges, I just pay what they ask for. My reason is that no matter what I do my bill will stay the same.....

[Stanley]

I'm puzzled at the moment by the fact that my latest meter readings produced news from BG that my energy bill is in debit by £200. I am puzzled by this and will be studying the detailed statement when I get it shortly. I suspect it's electricity consumption caused by my activities in the shed.... If so, I can live with it but it's a cost I never really think about when I'm in their.

[Pluggy]

Running industrial machines in a domestic setting probably will make a big difference to your electric bill.

[Tizer]

In East Street they probably know when Stanley's in his shed - all their lights dim!