Saving energy: turning heaters off in unused rooms…

Pippa22

Lots of people might have suggested keeping heating off in unused rooms and the door shut but Martin Lewis has mentioned it more than once. Silly idea.

Martin Lewis is often misquoted.
His website states:
"Make sure you control which rooms you heat, so you're not wasting cash heating empty rooms. You can simply go round the house and turn down the radiators in the rooms you don't want to heat. The Government says you could save around £70 a year turning radiator valves down to between 2.5 and 3 in rooms you don’t use.

Though do be aware that in some homes, colder rooms could lead to more condensation, which can increase the risk of mould. Also, be aware that fridges and freezers generally can't function properly if room temperatures drop too low (typically below 10 degrees)."

It’s a bit like buying an electrical item and not reading the instruction manual until something goes wrong: which could have been prevented by reading the instruction manual! It was only recently that I realised that fridges and freezers don’t work in cold rooms because my freezer is ancient and old ones such as mine do work in cold rooms. I think with my house it’s more to do with lack of ventilation rather than turning the heating down because it happened during the summer.

Have bought thermometers with humidity gauges which I use in the bathroom and other places.
Amazing how if shots up with a shower and takes a long time to drop.
So I use a window vac after using the bathroom and have started to hang water collectors, cheap from Amazon.
We're in a 1930s ex council house.

What are ‘water collectors’ loopyloo?

Have just googled it, and all I seem to see are garden water butts!

A bit cumbersome for the bedroom!

I’ve just read the instruction manual for my old dehumidifier ( I’ve had it for years but have never read the instructions; in fact I only noticed the manual the other day…it was in the kitchen and I’ve no idea how it turned up there) and found out it’s a desiccant one which means that, unlike my new laundry drying one, I can use it in really cold rooms. So I can put it in the loft and then the garage.

Calendargirl

What are ‘water collectors’ loopyloo?

Have just googled it, and all I seem to see are garden water butts!

A bit cumbersome for the bedroom!

Maybe they mean disposable damp traps ? Like the ones you can get at home bargain etc?

It’s really annoying that, having bought a load of disposable ones ( which I feel awful about) I’ve found a mini dehumidifier which isn’t disposable: it’s silica gel so you just warm it up and use it again.

I have the heating on very low in the rooms upstairs and I leave the doors open. Unfortunately, my staircase is in the lounge so the heat rises but I have never had damp etc since I moved into this house over 25 years ago. It is well insulated but I rarely opened a window because my cat when she was alive I thought wanted to use one of her 9 lives by jumping out.

It used to be that gas was cheaper than electric, so it was more economical to use central heating all day. Now that the cost is much the same, it makes more sense to just heat the rooms you use. I warm up the bathroom in the morning, but then use electric heaters in the rooms I'm actually using. I leave the doors open so that the air circulates.

What I am trialling with the water traps is cutting off a corner draining it then resealing with a fold pack clip.

My experience is that it is lack of ventilation that causes damp. I had damp in a heated bedroom which always had the window shut and the door was mostly shut. It was also very full of furniture.

Reported.

Leaving the doors open will help. The air needs to circulate.