Why is my house so cold?

[db]

sounds like a daft question, but i'm serious..

it seems that no matter how long i leave the heating on, my house is always freezing these days.. we had the heating on full all day over the weekend, and we were both still freezing cold sitting in the living room when the evening drew in.. obviously, this is due to the bitter cold we are experiencing recently, but i would have thought a modern house was able to keep itself warm!

i live in a newish semi-detached house (built circa 1995 i think), with the usual boiler & hot water tank arrangement.. the windows aren't upvc, they're shitty wooden frames, but they are double-glazed.. is anyone else in a similar gaff and has trouble keeping the place warm?

has anyone got any tips on how to keep the house warm? does this sound normal, or does it sound like perhaps my boiler isn't set-up correctly and we're not getting optimal heating?

 

[ToriRat]

Do you have cavity wall insulation? And tbh the windows make hellova difference if you get double glazing. But its been chilly in ours all day and we defno have both, I think its just that there darn coldness outside

 

[db]

Do you have cavity wall insulation?

no idea, but i doubt it.. i take it this isn't standard practice when building a house? or wasn't in the mid-nineties, anyway? the owner of the house hasn't made any improvements to the original build, i'm fairly sure..

And tbh the windows make hellova difference if you get double glazing.

i do have double-glazing! i just said they were shitty wooden frames, not fancy new upvc.. i've edited my post to make it more clear, in case anyone else gets the wrong end of that stick

But its been chilly in ours all day and we defno have both, I think its just that there darn coldness outside

ah, well that's re-assuring to know.. i've just never lived in a place that was so cold during the winter before, but i guess that's because i've never lived in a place this big.. prior to this house, i've always lived in flats or shitty little terraced houses*, which presumably are easier to heat because they have other heat sources (i.e. neighbours) directly attached to them..

piss flaps.. this is gonna cost me an arm and a leg having the heating on morning 'til night every weekend! i guess i should start going to the pub more, and use their heating & electric lol..



* not saying terraced houses are shitty - just the ones i've lived in! lol..

 

[ToriRat]

Not a bad idea
The cavity wall is not fitted as standard as far as I know, but costs about 200 squids and is done in a day. Can save you up to 30% apparantly compared to non cavity insulated properties. Do you have ten inches of insulation in your loft ?, insulation layer/reflective underlay on concrete floors.... theres lots you can do, but most are only worth doing if you own the property
We only know so much as Markerat's Mum is currently upgrading her house to be more energy effecient.

 

[darben]

Have you tried bleeding the radiators?

 

[Rikki]

I would guess a property built in 1995 will have had to have cavity insulation when it was built because of building regs, I know any house built now would have to. Loft insulations recommended to be 12 inches now if I remember correctly but I think you may only have 6 due to the houses age.
TBH insulation wise I would guess you were fine, I would be more interested in if the radiators were actually outputting enougth to heat the rooms. Most new/newish builds are fitted with the bare minimum sized rads to save on cost. Which combined with microbore pipework ( under 15 mm) which I'm guessing you have isn't the best combination IMO.
Saying that I would suggest checking your boiler is turned up to maximum aswell as bleeding the rads as has already been suggested

 

[Rikki]

you can tell if your rads need bleeding if they're hotter at the bottom than top. Also if you have thermostatic rad valves and the rads don't seem that hot when the valves turned onto max, try taking the thermostatic head off and giving the pin you will reveal a bit of a pull/push. Be carefull though as sometimes they can pull right out and water will spurt out. They push back in and seal quite easily if that happens though.

 

[Francis]

If you can cover the windows closer to the glass, you can stop a lot of the drafts.

It was cold in our house as well and I went checking draft areas around pipes under the sink and around doors.

A small space heater that blows warm air may help to take the edge off at not too much expense.

I have done the insulation in the loft and we had the cavity wall done as well and it does help.

Good luck.

~Francis

 

[Trumpet]

Calor gas heaters are a useful 'top up' when your standard heating isn't up to the job and have the advantage of being portable so can be used anywhere in the house. I bought one a few winters ago when my heating packed up (why is it always in winter?) and the heating guys were going to be a few days getting parts. Left it on low in my hall all day whilst at work then moved it into my living room when I got home in the evening. Good bit of kit and, in the short term, not that dear to run.

 

[My Name is URL]

Are your radiators getting hot DB?

As above if they are hot at the bottom but not at the top then they need bleeding.

If they aren't hot at all and the heating is definitely on then check the thermostat doesn't need turning up.

Obviously as the sole source of heat in your house (assuming no fire etc) you need to check they are working A1 first.

Once you are happy they are ok then you can look at why / how the heat is escaping but being in a rented house (?) its going to cost $$$ to solve problems like that which you probably won't want to pay for.

 

[db]

Have you tried bleeding the radiators?

yeah, that was my first thought.. a couple of the upstairs radiators had a fair bit of air in them, but apart from that they were all fine..

TBH insulation wise I would guess you were fine, I would be more interested in if the radiators were actually outputting enougth to heat the rooms. Most new/newish builds are fitted with the bare minimum sized rads to save on cost. Which combined with microbore pipework ( under 15 mm) which I'm guessing you have isn't the best combination IMO.

well, you've hit the nail on the head really.. that's sort of why i made this thread - to establish if my house was cold because of a problem, or just because the central heating hardware is shit.. i suspect the latter, since this house looks like it was thrown together by a bunch of jokers who were half cut and having a "let's see how fast we can build a house" competition..

the radiators are pretty small throughout the house.. the combined living/dining room is massive, but only has 2 little radiators heating the whole thing!

Saying that I would suggest checking your boiler is turned up to maximum aswell as bleeding the rads as has already been suggested

my boiler is turned up to half way.. any more than that, and the pilot light tends to just go off of its own accord, leaving us with no heating at all! i've had the boiler engineer out to look at it twice, and both times he has said it's fine.. i think it just can't cope if i turn it up any higher and just has a fit lol..

If you can cover the windows closer to the glass, you can stop a lot of the drafts.

yeah, i've started closing the curtains and tucking them in behind the radiators, as i realised that without doing that the heavy curtains were basically just funnelling all the hot air straight out the window when they were drawn! that seems to have helped a bit..

tbh it's fine these days.. i think, as torirat said, it was just so bitterly cold for a few days back there that even with everything on full blast it was still bound to be a bit nippy!

thanks for all the suggestions, team

 

[Trumpet]

My youngest neice has put tin foil behind her radiators to reflect heat back. Don't know how effective this is but it sounds reasonable to expect an improvement.

 

[Rikki]

Ive heard of that and you can still buy a specialised foil to do it. However I was never told about it when I did the theory side of my traning and have never seen any facts/figures about its effectivness (or even wrote about full stop). Which leads me to belive its a waste of time.

 

[Lucy]

It's general physics though, it at least stops the heat disappearing straight out of the wall directly behind the radiator. for 37 a roll in B and Q it's got to help.

 

[The Stafford Beast]

My nan's house has foil behind the radiators and it does seem a lot warmer than mine. Both our houses do not have double-glazing, so maybe there is an advantage.
I always thought that having heat dissipate into the walls keeps the warmth in the house longer like a storage heater. When the radiators cool down, maybe the heat radiates back into the room?

Anyone know any solid facts about this?

 

[Rikki]

There isn't any that I know of.

 

[Gramaisc]

I have just come in after two weeks away and my house is at a glowing 2 degrees Celsius, according to the thermometer at the bottom of the stairs - think yourself lucky....

 

[shoes]

Welcome back gramaisc!