ENERGY MATTERS

[Tizer]

We've now got Celotex 50mm foam panels (plus foil layer) on top of a 250 micrometre DP membrane laid on the concrete floors of our back rooms and the wood floor covering is now going in. Next stage is the inner surfaces of the external walls being covered with a laminate of 12.5mm plasterboard on 50mm foam (Celotex PL4000). In each case the foam panel is polyisocyanurate (PIR) which has taken over from polyurethane (PUR) because it is more fire resistant. The chemical names sound horrible but they are safe materials - PUR has been used since the 1930s and PIR is simply a modified version of PUR. In fact we found a full page advertisement in a 1930s `Good Housekeeping' type of magazine shwing PUR panels being used to do exactly what we are doing now - using internal wall insulation because we have have solid walls and therefore can't used cavity insulation. Nothing new under the Sun!
The floor insulation: http://www.celotex.co.uk/products/celot ... tex-ga4000
The wall laminate insulation: http://www.celotex.co.uk/products/celot ... tex-pl4000

[Stanley]

Exactly the same problem the Queen has with the royal palaces! The ill-conceived 'Pathfinder' scheme that Presser brought in had a stated aim of demolishing solid wall properties. Luckily in Barlick the standard right up to WW1 was an 18" wall, not perfect but a better barrier than most.
What is often forgotten when considering this problem is that a certain amount of heat loss through an outside wall is beneficial to the structure. English Heritage did a series of experiments and found that incorporating a soil heating circuit in the top layer of protection on a ruined wall gave good protection against frost damage, good enough to be economical when set against maintenance costs. The initiative foundered because the Treasury rules decreed that the cost of the electricity had to be treated as an administrative cost not capital therefore EH couldn't fund it. This is long term and won't affect you but it is a factor. A similar condition applies with excessive loft insulation. Talk to any slater and they will tell you of cases where this has encouraged deterioration of roofs and timbers. This isn't an argument against doing what you have done but it is a factor in protecting the outside walls.

[Tizer]

Here are the PIR insulation boards stacked ready for laying. Some are Celotex and some Xtratherm - same stuff, just different manufacturer.


and here are the boards laid (note the DPM running up around the edges from under the boards):


The blocks down the sides of the windows are because when we had new windows fitted we put in a narrower one (the original was far too wide for a north-facing window) and this adds to the insulating capacity. The blocks are laid to give a cavity which was filled with insulation, then the insides of the window reveals were lined with polystyrene/plasterboard laminate. This will stop condensation forming on the sides of the reveals on cold mornings due to the solid walls. The radiator and pipes will be removed temporarily while the PIR/plasterboard laminate is fitted onto the wall, similarly the electrical fittings.

[Stanley]

Give Janet my love and a big hug! All good sensible stuff but she will be so pleased when she eventually gets her house back!

[Wendyf]

We have just finished a similar exercise in our living room Tiz and the extra warmth is quite amazing. We just have the kitchen to go now, all the rest of the house has been insulated a room at a time over the last 10 years or so.
Our solar panels have now completed their first year, and have performed much better than expected despite the lousy summer.

[Sue]

Bob, who worked in the CEGB in coal fired power stations and later in the nuclear industry has been saying all of this for years. But as he says, everyone wants the electricity, even those who complain about the fuel sources. Our solar panels are also performing well, even in Rochdale. We don't regret that installation. Perhaps all new houses should be built to get the maximum benefit rom the angle of the sin and should have panels fitted as standard. It would surely go a long way towards domestic fuel needs

[Stanley]

Sue, 'angle of sin' in Rochdale......(Sorry, couldn't resist that....)
Wendy, your house is as exposed as any and you must have it warmer now than at any time since it was built. Wonderful and you deserve it! (By the way, are you getting the vet to look at Colin's teeth?)
I agree with Bob. I get so fed up of the NIMBYs opposing wind turbines than going home and switching the leccy on. Bit like Vegans wearing leather shoes.
Thinking about Mrs Tiz carrying in the logs while Tiz gets the stove going....

[Pluggy]

Several years ago we reversed an earlier internal insulation project, to make the living room bigger. The problem with small houses that internally insulating the walls takes a lot of your living space. Being in a conservation area means external cladding is a non starter. Always the best answer to solid walls IMO, besides not taking your internal space, it prevents any problems with condensation and thermal bridges are a lot easier to avoid. Pity it changes the outside of the building......

[Bodger]

Do any of you guys use an axe for splitting logs, i recently got a load of beech, 2 to 3 ft dia x 9" thick discs, i broke the shaft on the old axe and replaced it with a log splitting axe, this has a more obtuse angle to the blade and the back of the head is like a sledge hammer head, ie if the axe gets stuck you can belt it on the head with a sledge, it works quite well, but looking for improving i came across the Leveraxe, here the handle is off set to the blade, has anyone experience on the use of one.
Please dont suggest log splitters, i enjoy swinging the axe, it's great exercise for the back and shoulders !!
plus you get warm twice, once when youre chopping and again when you burn them
http://www.vipukirves.fi/images/isokuva_kirves1.jpg

[Marilyn]

You are all trying to keep the heat in, we are all trying to keep the heat out.
Having two whirligigs fitted in the roof today...they spin about and supposedly keep the roof space cooler.
That is IF the installers come...being 40 degrees today I can't imagine anyone wanting to climb around on our roof!
The reflective windows help really well with keeping room temps down. Can exist most days without turning the cooling on.

[Stanley]

Bodge, I'm sure you know this but the best way to split a tough log if it doesn't go first blow is the leave the axe stuck in the log, reverse the axe with the log on top of the bade and strike the 'anvil' with the log on top. The toughest log will usually split this way.

[Sue]

Angle of the sin...oops... That is the funniest predictive text I have had.i won't change it, it's funny. Of course I meant angle of the sun. This ipad predicts some funny words, I do have to be careful, but I am the worlds worst at proof reading what I have written.

[Pluggy]

I watched some videos of people using the leveraxe including one taken with a high speed camera in slow motion. It looked very impressive, the secret appears to be to let the shaft rotate in your hands so the lever on the head can split the log. The head jamming in the log is much reduced due to the way it levers the log apart rather than just wedging it apart like a normal axe. Since its made by a Scandinavian company, its likely to be expensive......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBsNxfB9ZCM

[Tizer]

We had a surprise the night before last when I opened the log burning stove to put in extra wood. There was a very loud `clang' and at first I couldn't figure out where it came from but when I shone a torch under the stove I found something unexpected sitting on the hearth tiles - a circular metal disc. It was the blanking plate that covers the alternative (horizontal) flue exit. At first I thought the stove had died, its back plate rusted away (it's 25 years old) or the brackets on the disc rusted away. In the morning I inspected the disc and stove and found them both still in good condition. The disc must have worked loose, perhaps with the builders crashing about in the house! I spent a while chipping away the old fire cement from the disc, and cleaning it and the flue hole with emery paper then applied some new fire cement and fixed it in back in place. In the evening I started up with a slow burn to make sure the cement was set and now all seems well. But it's not what you expect to happen to your stove!

[Stanley]

I'll bet that didn't help the draught! Never mind, these things happen and at least you now know it's OK and a perfect seal. I wonder whether it's been leaking for a bit and bleeding draught off the stove? It would be a laugh if you now got a better burn!
I've been meaning to comment for a while about the Dreaded Angela King moving from the Banker's Association to Energy UK, the trade body for over 70 energy firms. Nice to know that she is CEO of one of the most important players in the great game of energy prices. Anyone thinking she will be acting in the consumer's interests should wake up and smell the coffee! Her performance at the BBA when she was CEO there was 100% anti-consumer and pro-banks. Expect no change!
US very upbeat about surfeit of gas from fracking and forecasting energy independent status with major industrial development in the Mid-West. Bully for them! Interesting though that in terms of dirty fuels, US coal exports are rising. I suppose it doesn't matter if other countries are burning it in 'dirty' power stations.

[Wendyf]

I'm trying to have warm & positive feelings towards the wind turbine that went up yesterday less than 150 metres up the hill from our back door. We put an objection in to a 40m high one in the same spot last year, but not to this one which is about 20m. I think the noise levels could be quite high. I'm not against them, it's just that it has changed my world and it's a bit of a shock!

[EileenDavid]

I think Italy were having a joke when they sold us as well as most of Europe wind turbines , we would have been better investing in wave machines Eileen

[Tizer]

I'll bet that didn't help the draught! Never mind, these things happen and at least you now know it's OK and a perfect seal. I wonder whether it's been leaking for a bit and bleeding draught off the stove? It would be a laugh if you now got a better burn!

The draught did drop off but at least no fumes or smoke seemed to come out of it and we simply waited for the fire to cool (it hadn't been going for long, mostly kindling fortunately) and then bunged some rage in the hole to block it overnight. They were safe from fire, the embers had gone out and the baffle plate was between them and the rags. We too wondered if it had been leaking, and the fires since have burnt well but that could just be coincidence. Need to give it a week or two and then I''ll report back!

I've been meaning to comment for a while about the Dreaded Angela King moving from the Banker's Association to Energy UK, the trade body for over 70 energy firms. Nice to know that she is CEO of one of the most important players in the great game of energy prices. Anyone thinking she will be acting in the consumer's interests should wake up and smell the coffee! Her performance at the BBA when she was CEO there was 100% anti-consumer and pro-banks. Expect no change!

Finding her popping up on the Today programme singing the virtues of the energy companies depressed me too. Doesn't she sound like Maggie Thatcher?

US very upbeat about surfeit of gas from fracking and forecasting energy independent status with major industrial development in the Mid-West. Bully for them! Interesting though that in terms of dirty fuels, US coal exports are rising. I suppose it doesn't matter if other countries are burning it in 'dirty' power stations.

The `trailers on Radio 4 for the interviews with Shell people have been interesting. Shale gas is going to cause some upsets. But then it still produces CO2 just like coal and oil.

Wendy, you could ask for data on the noise levels and see how bad or not it will be.

[Tardis]

Sometimes, when walking up Manchester Road to Letcliffe, I can hear the turbine up the hill

[Stanley]

I find the measured beat of wind turbines quite soothing Wendy, perhaps you will when you are attuned to it. It's a very natural noise.
Tiz, when I was running big coal fired boilers we used to go over the brick settings regularly with the 'magic wand' which was a piece of 1/2" pipe with a rope threaded through it. We kept it soaked in oil and if you passed the flame over the surface it soon told you where there was a leak sucking cold air in and you bunged the crack with fireclay. It's amazing how the ingress of cold air upstream from the firebed can waste fuel. Johnny Pickles used to reckon that a small leak wasted a barrow full of coal a week and I believe him. Makes sense when you think that the close regulation of combustion air is the whole basis of the efficiency and economy of a closed stove. When your stove is pulling well, try using a candle or a wax taper and go round the stove and the chimney breast, you could get some surprises!

[Wendyf]

Decided that I like the wind turbine, it is quite beautiful.....a functional sculpture.

[Sue]

I think they are very majestic and a beautiful shape. I have no problem with them

[Stanley]

I agree with both of you. I'd far rather have a turbine in view than a pylon and of course there were the same objections to them when new lines were put up after WW2 as the National Grid was expanded. They have the added advantage that one assumes whoever has put it up has done the sums and reduced their energy demand and of course overall cost.

[Stanley]

I've settled on a different stove strategy this winter. I light the stove at about 15:00 and it almost immediately cuts the CH off. From then on through the evening one shovel of coal gives me about 75F in the front room and there is enough residual heat to keep the CH quiet until the early hours of the morning. I get up with the benefit of the CH and it keeps the house and kitchen at about 65F to 70F until I light the stove. The heating isn't timed, it's on 24x7 and is in effect controlled by the stove. The advantage of this is that the shed gets about eight hours of heat a day which is far better for it and the machinery. Probably slightly more expensive than the stove alone but better living conditions.

[Tripps]

Just had a letter from my electricity suppliers. Prices up of course, but the charging system has changed. They have reintroduced the "standing charge". This will be 27.395p per day. Beware anyone who prices anything per day. They are usually trying to hide something, and when I just throw any coin less than 50p into a bowl, they price it to a thousandth of a penny! I've applied their new rate to my last two quarterly bills, and find that they would have been 13%, and !7% more under their new system. The lower bill had the larger increase - so much for being frugal.