Trying to reduce the heating bill

Sometimes I wonder if trying to reduce the heating bill, here at the Dusty Museum, is like sticking your finger in a leaky Dutch sea defences.  Thing is, we haven’t even had sub zero temperatures this winter and I’m already worried.

The ideal temperature for me is about 25ºC at home and in the car.  This has Rachel gasping for fresh air and flinging windows wide open in complete desperation.  Having said that, we generally we find a happy compromise, thankfully.

In our normal, well insulated little house in Dunstable, it was quick and easy to heat – just press a button and within minutes the radiators were toasty warm. Normally we would simply let the timer do its stuff and that was even less to worry about; it always just happened automatically and I LOVED IT!

Needless to say it’s a little different here in the Dusty Museum.  Yes we have central heating, courtesy of an ancient floor standing boiler.  The man who services it each year says “I can keep it going providing you don’t touch it or do anything to it, just leave it alone and it’ll be okay”.

There are no thermostats or fancy radiators with efficient fins.  Instead we have basic radiators, a some double glazed windows, five single glazed windows (nearly 200 years old), some drafts and miles of pipes.  Well, not literally “miles” but it feels like it.  Kilometres?  Yes, that’ll do.  I found those pipes were uninsulated, so they would share their heat as the water would find it’s way around the house.  This of course meant we had some radiators which were nice and warm, others were only tepid.

So perhaps we have solved the problem, or at least improved things a little.  Our friendly boiler service man has increased the speed of the pump so all of the radiators are equally warm, a good result.  No charge, even better!

Next I bought some pipe insulation – 20 metres!  Whenever I found a pipe which was hot, it got insulated and this felt such a good thing to do.  We found pipes in a cupboard near the boiler which was like spaghetti junction – so those were easy to do – though Rachel did say having a nice warm cupboard like that was nice for cats wanting somewhere cosy to sleep, or somewhere to brew wine or prove bread.

Most of the insulation was used in the cellar, even with the extra heating it is cold and damp down there.  You could even see the scorched marks on the ceiling above the pipes!  So insulating those pipes was such a brilliant thing to do!

We have some drafts coming down from the attics and the Victorian windows aren’t a brilliant air-tight fit, so we can improve those a little.  But how far do we go?  Surely we need to have some air coming into the house , so it doesn’t feel stale or stuffy?  We need some ventilation to avoid dampness, so perhaps it’s a case of finding the right balance.

The result of all of this?  So far, so good.  I think the radiators are heating the house as best they can with hot water getting around alright. It’s not exactly 25ºC but I think I’ll manage.  We have a wood burning stove with a supply of wood for when it’s really cold; when that get’s going for a few hours it is wonderful as the brickwork going up through the middle of the house becomes warm and even stays warm for a day or so – this is so encouraging!

The thing is, the heating bill is about £2,000 a year.  That’s far too much and normally it’s far too cold here (our old house was about £600).  We hope to improve that.  Having said that, Grandma would never complain about being cold, she’s certainly made of sturdy, strapping stuff.

So even with something as mundane as pipe insulation, I find myself mulling things over as I gaze out of the window, watching the raindrops in the puddles on the driveway.  A small investment to save money? Check.  Making sure we have some ventilation to prevent any dampness? Check.  Making sure everyone is happy; not too cold, not too hot? Check.  Just hoping I have this right now…..