Gas and electric daily use

[Pat "5mph"]

The last 3 or four bits in my house have all been solved by a bit of Youtube searching. Without that they would have been jobs, pre social media, that I would likely have called someone out for.

Nowadays tradespeople only want to do big but easy jobs, the jobs that bring in money without being fiddly.
Probably they would have refused your small jobs, or accepted them but not show up to do them!

Since fitting the wood burner our gas bill has gone down, probably take a couple of years to recoup the initial cost, the wood cost us nothing as we have been scavenging for for over a year. The living room has never been so warm. The goverment can stick there gas prices where the sun don't shine.

Here, in urban areas, you are only allowed to burn smokeless fuels.

 

[Tenkaykev]

In our bungalow I run a dehumidifier over the winter months. Ever since doing so, I have noticed my central heating can be run at a lower temperature……..17/18 centigrade as opposed to 20/21. There is also an additional benefit of reduced window condensation which has always irritated me.
The dehumidifier is also a very effective and cost effective way of drying clothes.

I have the same Screwfix dehumidifier in our box room as it's used for drying clothes. We bought another " Ebac " one second hand and that's in the kitchen on a smart plug. It runs for 5 hours overnight on cheap electricity about 600 watts per night so peanuts to run. Compressor dehumidifiers are also heat pumps and will give out more heat than the electricity they consume ( water vapour in the air condensing into water releases heat )

 

[tom73]

How big a humidifier is it as it's something we keep looking at

We are thinking the same and i've looked into it a lot. Have a look at Ebac a British company based in the north east, been around for years. They are leaders in the area , most other types of dehumidifier are not made with the UK climate in mind. They are not cheep but well made and Ebac being based here understand our climate and build stuff that works with it.

 

[Tenkaykev]

There's an interesting post by a chap called Michael de Podesta about whereabouts the thermostat is mounted, especially its height in the room. ( one of many interesting and often useful posts by a very well qualified scientist).
https://protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2026/01/06/variation-in-room-temperature-with-height/

 

[Tenkaykev]

We are thinking the same and i've looked into it a lot. Have a look at Ebac a British company based in the north east, been around for years. They are leaders in the area , most other types of dehumidifier are not made with the UK climate in mind. They are not cheep but well made and Ebac being based here understand our climate and build stuff that works with it.

I purchased one of theirs a couple of years ago or more. It replaced the Screwfix one that I mentioned upthread so we ended up with the Screwfix unit and our daugher got the Ebac. An excellent piece of kit ( but if it's important, they no longer supply HEPA filters, just the standard Carbon type). Anyway, daughter called to say that it had started leaking and on further investigation it turned out that the rubber bung that covers the hole where the optional permanent drainage hose goes had gone missing ( inquisitive 6 year old suspected ). I phoned Ebac and got through to a charming lady, explained the situation and she said " no problem, I'll grab a couple of replacements and pop them in the post ". They arrived next morning FOC. I can't see you getting that sort of service from another supplier.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Decembers Energy bill has arrived. For some arcane reason Octopus billed me from 2nd December to the 6th January🤔. £75.05 for electricity. They haven't credited my solar export yet, that will be in the region of £30. That's excellent as we have been running the heating at 21 degrees 24/7 since 1st October as an experiment as to whether we use more energy with our old regime of turning stuff down/ off in various rooms when we're out, or if maintaining a constant temperature is best for us.

 

[biggs682]

With today's slight rise in outside temperature our gas bill for so far today has been a 70p saving

 

[Drago]

During the week when Mrs D and Mini D are out I shut the heating down and confine myself to mine room, and set the AC to heat.

 

[biggs682]

During the week when Mrs D and Mini D are out I shut the heating down and confine myself to mine room, and set the AC to heat.

Yes we do similar with our AC unit

 

[biggs682]

A quick shower cost 12p according to our smart meter

 

[Mo1959]

I can’t be bothered with the expense and hassle of getting gas in so the winter months are horrendous for me. This is with just 2 storage heaters plus immerser.

 

[biggs682]

I can’t be bothered with the expense and hassle of getting gas in so the winter months are horrendous for me. This is with just 2 storage heaters plus immerser.


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Ouch

 

[ianrauk]

I can’t be bothered with the expense and hassle of getting gas in so the winter months are horrendous for me. This is with just 2 storage heaters plus immerser.


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Wow. In our flat (we sold end of 2024), 3 Storage Heaters and an immersion heater I don't think we ever paid more then £170 a month in Leccy in the winter, going down to round about £35 a month in the summer.

 

[numbnuts]

I must be doing something right they have just reduced my gas/elec by £19.57 per month now only paying £44

 

[Tenkaykev]

I can’t be bothered with the expense and hassle of getting gas in so the winter months are horrendous for me. This is with just 2 storage heaters plus immerser.


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Wow Mo, that's quite a chunk! You mentioned having a smart meter fitted quite recently, are you on the " Economy 7 " tariff or equivalent? . Might be worth looking at what other tariffs are available. I know that Octopus do a " Snug " tariff for storage heating that gives 6 hours of off peak plus an extra hour in the afternoon to boost the heating up.