PowerSwitch

Need a bit of input on a few decisions I need to make.
I picked up on PO a year or so ago, so I've gone through the grief bit and have been thinking straight and getting stuff done. I've made a number of decisions that give me a plan for the next 12 months, but I need to think about next year.


What I've done so far:
1. Been overpaying the mortgage, and got into a good 10 year fixed deal just before the credit crunch hit so housing cost are at least fixed. I can get at the overpayments if needed.

2. Been insulating the house. Front porch door in made a big difference this winter (old, now secoond, door 1950's). Almost finished getting 450-500mm loft insulation in. Duralon (sp?) starting under some carpets. Rest to be done in summer, and the last big vulnerable point (back door) will be replaced in summer as well.

3. Remote control sockets where needed. All chargers on 1 switched strip.
Thermostat down to 18 without too many protests.

4. 2 Raised beds in garden. Got a source of rotted horse manure. New next door neighbour has a spare allotment which I can borrow for this year while I'm on the list.

5. Emergency kit in place for 3 months. Still adding to it.

So far, so obvious, thanks to previous advice.

Next decision:
I am staying in the job with a 70 mile round trip as its relatively recession proof, and I am the only one currently doing the job and it would take a couple of months for me to train a replacement who knew what they were doing and there aren't that many of us in the industry, so its as secure as the company. Company has no debts.
Looking for a good job closer to home, but it will take time.

Sooooo
Need to change the car. As I have a family it will be a small estate (astra/focus size). I'm currently on a diesel Vectra, so it will be an improvement.
I was thinking of a diesel, then doing a veg oil conversion (thanks for the info Mike) - BUT, what about LPG? Never mind the CO2 for a minute, has anyone got one and have any thoughts? I'm thinking purely on costs of running and the fact that diesels are 1K more for the same age and the veg oil conversion is 600 for the kit alone. Also veg oil has gone through the roof on price, so the cost save may not be as great.
Thoughts?

Next:

The commute is a pig. We are hoping to stay put. Good neighbours, mostly elderly, but active gardeners, practical and good people. 30 minutes slow walk to the edge of town with farmland. 20 min walk into town. Pluses outweigh the minuses and we can't afford smallholdings etc.

But - the commute. So we may end up moving if I can find the right job in the right area. That may take a while, and if the economy tanks soon, will not happen.

So - do I spend money on solar thermal (front of house faces south-east) later this year / next year or wait? A multi fuel stove would follow in the plan six months / a year after that. Being busy and having a small family I will be paying for it to be done. I've costed 10K for both and have narrowed down models etc.
I don't want to spend all the money then move, so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Would appreciate comments - other people's points of view here have really helped my thinking.

Thanks in advance

JonB

How about buying a floor safe and converting your savings to Silver ?

Your annual mileage has to be 17k +, so a diesel would make sense. Have you considered a van based vehicle? I have a Renault Kangoo 1.5D, huge carry capacity with seats up, double huge when down, easily seats five, quiet, smooth, and upto 50mpg with mixed roads, country, town, dual carriageways. Cheap to maintain, low tax and insurance. I got one for ?3.700 off e-bay a year ago, 03 model, 28,000 miles.
It's been cheap to run, but won't suit anyone who looks upon their car as a fashion item
Apparently the Fiat Doblo with the 1.3D is the one to have.

LPG comments:

I once had a long wheel based old style Land Rover that had been converted to run on LPG. It was a V8 petrol and could at the flick of a switch run on petrol or gas. I used it to tow a trailer with 3 ponies at weekends, but then drove it the rest of the week too.

Plusses:
LPG was much cheaper and so it cost less to drive

Minuses:
The gas tank was huge and took up boot space
The tank could only hold fuel that would take me about 1/2 the distance of a tank of petrol
Few garages stock LPG
Those that do don't have a rain cover over the pump
Those that do don't always have the correct fitting to fill my gas tank
It takes MUCH longer to fill a gas tank than a petrol tank
For the distances I was doing then I had to fill 2x a week rather than less once a week for an ordinary car
If it was raining I waited to fill when it wasn't and ran on petrol in the meantime
If I was in a hurry - ditto above
If I was far from home and didn't know where to find LPG - petrol again
The station that stocked LPG was 2 miles off my shortest route to work.

And my final (although unrelated to LPG) gripe is that the clutch was so heavy that my left foot and leg got sore in town driving.

Verdict - I now drive a VW Golf and we have a diesel lorry for the ponies at weekends. (I know, I know we should sell it, but as it was a home conversion about 6 years ago it is worth very little and the insurance is surprisingly little...... and..... and.... )

I have a Prius which is my business car.

However, our family car is a lpg Volvo V70. This is the factory fitted bi fuel version of the model. the lpg filler is next to the petrol one under the cap. The tank is in the place of the spare wheel so no loss of boot space. We have an emergency foam can thing for punctures.

It's pretty much impossible to tell if you are running on petrol or lpg.

Upsides:-

much cheaper!!!
apparently better for the environment?

Downsides:

fuel tank range is poor. We usually have to fill up every 200 to 220 miles.
you need to know where the lpg filling stations are.
I understand that fuel economy is a little lower running on lpg

We only cover about 6,000 miles per annum in the Volvo so no big deal but it would be a pain if we were doing say 15,000 miles a year. Saying that, shoving 45 litres into the Volvo and paying approx ?23 is quite satisfying these days!!

Is it legal to not have a spare wheel?

biffvernon wrote:Is it legal to not have a spare wheel?

People driving LPG cars are morally superior to other drivers, and are allowed such liberties. If you fill it with biogas you are even allowed to either park anywhere you want, skip traffic lights or drive with up to 1.5 promille alcohol in your blood. Not all three at the same time though - only one sin per drive.

MacG wrote: People driving LPG cars are morally superior to other drivers, and are allowed such liberties. If you fill it with biogas you are even allowed to either park anywhere you want, skip traffic lights or drive with up to 1.5 promille alcohol in your blood. Not all three at the same time though - only one sin per drive.

Well, that's the clincher. LPG it is... just need baked beans for the biogas.

The filling station thing may be the clincher. There's one near work, but I need to find one near home. Did a bit of number crunching, and the running costs are close, though less CO2 with LPG v diesel. Will look at the Kangoo, though. Thanks for the tip.

The spot price of Liquid Natural Gas in the Far East is twice that in the Atlantic Basin at the moment. Our gas price is forecast to go up 25% next year already so by what amount it will go up is uncertain. You can easily and safely store cooking oil at home but LPG is more difficult. Used cooking oil is as good as new, provided you filter it well, and can be used to dilute ordinary diesel, if necessary, although you have to be careful in low temperatures. Diesel/cooking oil is more flexible than LPG.

I would stay where you are, with the possiblity of providing much of yor own food in a well insulated house with a flexible, renewable fuel supply. If motor fuel gets so short that you have problems commuting, your job will probably go as well.

Meantime get the most fuel efficient vehicle as possible. Either a van or a car and trailer is very useful for scavenging. It's amazing what people throw away or want to get rid of. The amount of free wood available now is staggering. Kept dry on pallets (free) with a tarp over, it will last for years. Look for old lorry curtain sides. They will last for years and are really heavy so don't blow away quite as readily as the cheap polyprop ones. The tying eyes on the polyprop ones are useless and you'll be lucky to get more than a years use out of one.

Keep up the good work and try to persuade others to join you in your preparations. There's strength in numbers.

Thanks for all this. Diesel estate it is.
Got a big bonus today , so staying in the job is a bit easier.
I think you're right, Kenneal - don't know how things will pan out, so sort what I can here.

I have my plan for this year, so now the solar.
Does anyone have experience of Rockwarm Solar (fitting genersys)?
Any good? Any problems?
Problem is - we have a combi boiler in the garage which is plumbed into the house.
The old tanks were taken out, but the support is still in the roof for the cold water tank and the pipework for the old back boiler is in place.
So - need to put the hot tank in and the cold water tank in the loft, re plumb the hot water back in and use the hot water feed from the combi to heat the tank.
In which case, is it better to get that done first by a plumber, or are the solar company likely to do it?
A good friend who is a plumber inconveniently moved to Skye, otherwise he would have done it.

Will post this on Solar as well.

Thanks

Jon

Have you looked at the evacuated tube system from Navitron ( http://www.navitron.org.uk/ ) and the HW cylinders they sell. I bought a solar cylinder from Albion, a Mainsflow ( http://albionwaterheaters.com/Mainsflow.htm ) at 280 litres storage. I'm modifying my system with a large CW tank similar to the 50 gal one shown here but larger ( http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsess ... water+tank ) so that if the mains goes off, I have a buffer and, if things got really bad, I could pump rainwater into it to keep the system going.

Have your chimney tested for leaks, Jon, before you fit the wood burning stove and if it's OK you can get away without having it lined as long as you don't use the woodburner on a low setting for long periods. If you are running it at a high level the chimney will stay warm and you won't get any condensation in the chimney. Also if the chimney is on an inside wall the heat will leak back into the house. It's more efficient to run the fire hot and let it burn right down before you refill it than to try and regulate for a slower more even temperature flow from the fire. Not lining the chimney, if safe to do so, could save you money that could be spent better elsewhere. If yo do move you can take the woodburner with you.

I notice that you've insulated your loft well and had the doors replaced, but have you had the walls insulated? Cavity wall insulation is very cheap with the grant, should be no more than ?250 to ?350, and works very well.

Think about a tow bar and trailer for the car as well.

biodiesel is another low carbon, non-fossil fuel alternative for your car if you are considering diesel. Most places you can get deliveries from companies converting from waste veg oil. I run a 30% mix with dino diesel but if you get the right car you can use 100%.

I run a converted LPG Vectra Estate. The LPG tank replaces the spare wheel and will take up to 70ltrs. This gives me up to 470 miles range and a saving of ?36 a fill, not bad I say.

Because LPG burns more cleanly, the interval between oil changes and plug changes can be extended.

Yes it takes longer to fill, but I don't have to queue for the pumps like everyone else as the LPG one is usually empty.

I can also move the kit from car to car for about ?600 so they pay back time is now only 16 refills on a new car.

Diesel is expensive, increasingly short supply and produces more particulates than LPG. During the petrol strike a few years back, LPG was largely unaffected.

Thanks for the input, but there is no LPG filling station in Rugby,
so that is that and Diesel it is. I like the idea of getting 200L of cooking oil
as a reserve as well.
Going car shopping this weekend. I HATE buying cars.
Now, onto the solar thing...

kenneal wrote:Have you looked at the evacuated tube system from Navitron ( http://www.navitron.org.uk/ ) and the HW cylinders they sell. I bought a solar cylinder from Albion, a Mainsflow ( http://albionwaterheaters.com/Mainsflow.htm ) at 280 litres storage. I'm modifying my system with a large CW tank similar to the 50 gal one shown here but larger ( http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsess ... water+tank ) so that if the mains goes off, I have a buffer and, if things got really bad, I could pump rainwater into it to keep the system going.

Have your chimney tested for leaks, Jon, before you fit the wood burning stove and if it's OK you can get away without having it lined as long as you don't use the woodburner on a low setting for long periods. If you are running it at a high level the chimney will stay warm and you won't get any condensation in the chimney. Also if the chimney is on an inside wall the heat will leak back into the house. It's more efficient to run the fire hot and let it burn right down before you refill it than to try and regulate for a slower more even temperature flow from the fire. Not lining the chimney, if safe to do so, could save you money that could be spent better elsewhere. If yo do move you can take the woodburner with you.

I notice that you've insulated your loft well and had the doors replaced, but have you had the walls insulated? Cavity wall insulation is very cheap with the grant, should be no more than ?250 to ?350, and works very well.

Think about a tow bar and trailer for the car as well.

Good advice as ever. Another link for solar stuff. Cheaper than Navitron!
http://www.eco-nomical.co.uk/

n.b. Navitron's tanks are made by http://www.newarkcoppercylinder.co.uk/. If you're not installing a navitron solar system you can buy direct from them. They can make stuff to spec and it's cheaper than buying via Navitron. We had a lovely tank made by them when having our Rayburn put in. We can connect solar at anytime now. The tank really is the heart of the system, so it's worth getting a good one up front. Ours is big enough to store heat from the afternoon/evening burn of the Rayburn and send it to the radiators in the mornings. Fantastic system.