heating bills

[Anonymous]

as part of our ongoing fight against condensation in our victorian semi we have been advised that its a good idea to have the heating on lower all day than higher in short bursts. does anyone have any idea how this will affect the gas bill. we don`t have room thermostats, just thermostatic valves on the radiators. thanks

 

[Anonymous]

The simple answer to you question, Carly,
is that the more GAs you use the more it will cost you, in long or short burts.
The other simple answer is that, " yes it is better to combat your problem with condensation if you have a steady supply of heat ".

AS you live in an older property, I would pay a lot more attention as to how you ventilate the rooms with a good circulation of fresh air.
Also the method you are using to control your heating system ,with no room thermostat, is not very conductive to immediate regulation of heat and therefore more costly

the truth is that in your posting, you have posed a lot more questions than you think.
I am sure you will get as much help as possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Surely the valves on the rads should regulate the temperature in each room?

I'm inclined to think gentle heat all day is better than the boom and bust type - but it may be worth a test on consecutive days to see how much gas is used.

Condensation though - why should it be bad? Or is this just steamy windows?

 

[Anonymous]

We currently have Gas central heating and leave it on full time. In most rooms the thermostatic valves are set quite low - warm enough to be comfy with a nice jumper but not shirtsleeves - except the bathroom which we keep warm. The bathroom has no window and limited ventilation and obviously the occasional wet towel to dry. We have a wood burner in the living room which we fire up in the evenings to keep us toasty warm, it puts out enough heat to turn off several of the rads in the flat and pretty much takes over from the central heating.

We find that this arrangement certainly costs no more than firing up the heating full bore twice a day to heat the place from cold, which is how we started.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

thakns evelyn and middi. in response its just one of a number of ways of beating condensation we are trying. venting the windows and having extractor fans in the bathroom and kitchen etc. evelyn, we have thick black mould on the walls. it looks awful.

 

[Anonymous]

Which rooms are mostly affected by this problem?

From what you are describing, apart from anything else, you have an air flow problem.

 

[Anonymous]

Is it only on one wall? our unventilated bathroom was fixed with drylining the external wall, which was always colder than a warm steamy bathroom <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">

 

[Anonymous]

If the mould is that bad, surely there must be something saturating the walls, other than condensation (damaged drains, leaking plumbing, etc)? It couldn't have been normal, even in Victorian buildings?

The mould can be a cause of health problems, currently the cause of much litigation in the US (most things are, though). Have a Google for "black mold".

Have a look at whole house ventilation, with heat recovery by cross-flow plate heat exchangers. If you need a lot of ventilation, it would minimize the costs. The cold make-up air required by extractor fans, or draughts, can use a lot of energy.

 

[Anonymous]

yeah, its the exterior solid walls in the bedrooms. airflow is a problem which we are addressing by venting the windows, extractor fans etc. i am considering dry lining the walls but everyone seems to give different advice. i do know that some of the damp may not be condensation but the general consensus seems to be cure the condensation and then see what happens. i can`t afford to spend lots of money hunting for problems that aren`t there, hence sort the condfensation first

 

[Anonymous]

It does sound horrible - have you actually tried cleaning it off though? It may be 'old' mould!

A bit of window ventilation is a must - along with heating - have you also got blocked up chimneys?

However - I'd also go and stand outside in the rain, and see if your gutters are leaking onto the walls, or blocked in some way, or if there is defective pointing.

 

[Anonymous]

Also - what sort of wallper have you got?

 

[Anonymous]

evelyn
not sure how to see if the chimneys blocked. i have stood out in the rain scratching my head looking for answers but everything seems ok. the mould is very recent as it was the only room we`ve managed to finish. it was cross lined then just a very lightly textured lining paper put on. i did make the mistake of putting vinyl paint on but not sure how much this would affect condensation

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. Did you use a wallper paste with a fungicide? Have you tried wiping the mould with a fungicide? Normally I'm wary of chemicals but occasionally it has to be done!

So - there is a chimney in the room and it isn't bricked up? May be worth getting it swept. It could help ventilation.

It does sound awful - huge sympathy.

 

[Anonymous]

I had exactly the same conversation with our heating engineer this very day. He was telling me about one of his customers complaining of condensation and the advice was to keep all thermostats to rads down to ( say) no3 thereby givin a steady heat all day. Thermostats to rads in our house are very efficient and we run the heating on constant. The only problem we have is that the thermostats are very sensitive and if there is a sudden draught in one room it will demand the boiler to fire up, but this is only for a minute or two. We keep a window open just a little on the landing and the doors to rooms ajar to keep air circulating. Condensation is now not a problem unless our North Norfolk coastal weather makes a sudden dramatic change in temperature!

Heating is just really expensive at the moment and set to rise so I suppose the best you can do is be sensible.

Jocelyn

 

[Anonymous]

Carly,
I had a feeling that you may be looking for answers to a problem which could be caused by so many factors.
I am no damp or condensation expert, but, what has to be understood in your case, is to accept that the condensation you are experiencing is the moisture content in the air of your particular room which will manifest itself in the the form of condensation droplets, on the colder surfaces of the room, and is more prominent and visible on non porous colder surfaces, such as mirrors, tiles, gloss surfaces and even vynal wallpapers.
Usually this is never a problem, as it can easily be delt with by a combined balance of heat and air circulation, in many cases air circulation alone will suffice.
The amount of heat,air, or both, has to be in balance with the amount of moisture which is present in the particular room (or the complete house) which needs to be removed.

This explains, for example, why ventilation is much more vigorous in places such as bathrooms and kitchens than in bedrooms.
It is a fact that nearly all of us have to deal with .
Also , as example, by you replacing a wallpaper which is non porous and painting it in Vynal paints, you are more likely to see condensation droplets on this type of surface, than you would on a very porous surface.
All these factors are delicately balanced, and react differently on an "old"building than than they do on a new building.
The problem still remains that excess water which enters the house or the room, may be a lot more than we are able to remove in the way we are trying to do it .
This water accumulation we want to remove may be well over the normal bath, kitchen,shower,perspiration and so on, which is produced in the normal household, it could also be coming from external sources, such as through walls, leaking pipes, foundations,roofs etc....

This may give you an idea as to what to look for. If you are unable to cure it yourself, you may need the services of a professional to visit, inspect and advise on your particular problem.

Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

As the mould is very recent, it does suggest that a great deal more moisture may have been deposited in the room than may normally have been the case - stripping old paper, water in wallpaper paste, then the evaporation of the water content in paint in order that it could dry.

It's the coldest time of year, and if no heating for a part of the day and the room hasn't adequate ventilation that could have been the cause of the problem.

Once the mould is there it tends not to disappear of its own accord - it needs removing. I appreciate this may mean the wall may need repainting - but then ensure adequate amounts of heat and air movement.

I am certainly of the school of thought which thinks that a bit of heating throughout the day, coupled with some small amount of ventilation, keeps homes comfortable and healthy in the really cold weather.

 

[Anonymous]

As a temp measure get a dehumidifyer too - I got one when had roof leakage problems and it's staggering how much water they can take out of a room. Really dried it out.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have a gas fire ? If so stop using it.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks everyone. i`ll bear everything posted in mind. for now i`m going to try the heating on constant and see what happens. venting the windows has already made a big difference. i`ve removed the wallpaper as it was very unsightly so its bare plaster now. just one more question. will the mould reappear on the plaster if i still have a problem? in other words how do i know its not going to return? worst case scenario is redecorate and it comes back

 

[Anonymous]

It's not easy to say what will happen - however, were the windows streaming with water?