Royal Academy report on heating

[RenewableCandy]

You couldn't make it up!

Retrofitting is probably one of the biggest steps we can take towards solving our energy-hogging lives, and they're acting like it's unimportant...

I think encouraging the wearing of appropriate clothing in cold weather would be a more efficient approach. This applies to indoors as well as out. This could be a realistic option for most of the UK.

+10. Instead of constant coverage of 'fuel poverty', why not run adverts promoting the use of wearing blankets in the living room. And the humble hot-water bottle. And thermals. Or an extra jumper. Surely better than telling old folk just to turn up the gas. What, can't afford it - too bad then. Some practical advice is needed.

Edwina Currie did just that, and was (politically) crucified for it.

Also, warm clothes don't protect against damp and a mouldy atmosphere, which was the reason they had that massive anti-fuel-poverty effort in Glasgow in the 1990s.

The trouble with poor people is they're too fecking poor to do much about damp, doubly so if the house they're living in isn't theirs. But yeah, I'd put on extra clothes. Or get the grandparents in, along with their Winter Fuel Payment

[Snail]

I have to confess, I never thought about possible damp issues . Suppose a warm house/flat is the best defense against damp and mould.

[biffvernon]

Edwina Currie did just that, and was (politically) crucified for it.

That was a very unfortunate episode. Currie was absolutely right to say what she said about eggs but the upshot was that politicians learned never to tell the truth if it risked being unpopular. We are a nation of messenger shooters.

Today we have have Ed Miliband getting shot at from all sides for suggesting that Tory Cuts might not be restored and he hasn't even mentioned peak oil or the fact that there will be no more economic growth and that we're all doomed.

[woodburner]

I have to confess, I never thought about possible damp issues . Suppose a warm house/flat is the best defense against damp and mould.

It's one way, but ventilation is another, in fact ventilation is vital, warm or not. Mould can grow in warm but poorly ventilated houses. Mould doesn't grow in ventilated places if they are cooler, such that condensation doesn't occur.

[RenewableCandy]

A lot of poor people have those dreadful gas-flame fires that chuck lots of moisture out into the room and then they don't want to open the windows, understandably, because it'd let the warmth out.

The HECA council bod in some county down South got workbeings 'round all the council-houses installing those heat-recovery fans: apparently the benefits were swift and dramatic.

[ujoni08]

Good points about warmth and humidity. I have been experimenting over the last year with both.
Warmth:
We wear warm clothes indoors, and heat the home to about 17 degrees (spare room unheated and closed). The loft is super-insulated (1.25 metres) and we have sealed, double-glazed windows with thick fleece drapes and bubble-wrap drapes plus curtains (total of 5 thermal barriers on every window and door). The central heating is set on the lowest setting. It only kicks in every few minutes for a few minutes, and maintains the temperature well. Many days we leave it off. We haven't had to light the wood stove yet this Winter. We open up the windows to the front and rear of the house once a day for about 3 minutes to change the air.
Humidity:
I have been conducting a determined campaign to keep the humidity down, as we had some mould issues last year. I modified the fridge slightly, by re-routing the two pipes at the back that carry the water (condensate) down to the small tank on top of the (warm) compressor. It's designed to evaporate the water into the house. I want to avoid that, and so have routed them into an empty 2 litre container, which I empty down the drain once a week (approx. 300 ml). I dry the condensation off the windows each morning and take the towel to work, where I cheekily dry it on a radiator I also fitted a small de-humidifier to the wall in the bathroom, which keeps the towels and bath dry and prevents mould. We dry the clothes in the bathroom, too, and close the door, to keep the moisture from going into the rest of the house. We keep lids on all saucepans while cooking.
The mini weather station shows a drop in average relative humidity of about 8%.
Not a sign of mould this year

[woodburner]

I am glad I live in my house. We wear warm clothes, temperature is about 15ºC at present during the day. Wood burner is lit around 16:00 to 17:00 and temp climbs to 20ºC. We have adequate draughts so I hope we get an air change every couple of hours or so. This keeps winter RH to around 45%.
A fridge is the least of problems. It extracts a tiny amount of water per day. Much worse is people breathing without a thought to the amount of moisture they are putting into the air. Then there's cooking and washing, thoughtless just isn't adequate to describe it. Condensation on double glazing indicates insufficient ventilation.

Dehumidifiers will not remove much moisture unless the temperature is high and the RH is high. I suspect most of the benefit is from the heat it generates.

[Janco2]

We also have a woodburner which heats the domestic hot water and 2 radiators.
Although we have oil central heating we simply don't use it.
We light the Clearview stove around late afternoon and leave the doors open to all the rooms we use and find that the heat circulates fairly well (all rooms are on the same level). We have thick fully lined curtains and double glazing and fairly good insulation.
We wear thick woolies and generally dress for the temperature and find it very comfortable.

I feel very fortunate to be in our situation (although we have worked towards it for many years).

[ujoni08]

@woodburner I suspect you're right. We ought to ventilate more, but I guess the trade-off is heat loss. Bring on the MVHR...

I've modified the de-humidifier so that the tank is now external, mounted on brackets on the wall beneath the dehumidifier, so I can see how full it is, and empty it easily without having to take down the whole heavy beast from the wall. You're right... it certainly starts to fill up more quickly when the temperature goes up a bit.

I've instructed SWMBO to cease breathing forthwith