Spend so much on getting house ready for winter, it cancels out any savings?

[Rainallnight]

I’ve been mulling over what to do to be able to lower thermostat/have heating on less this winter and have come up with

• curtains on our draughty back and front doors
• large rug for our draughty floorboards in living room
• fleeces for everyone
• heated airer (no tumble drier and am quite reliant on radiators for drying in the winter)

But then I thought, hang on, that’ll all cost more than my extra heating bill?!

Is anyone else thinking the same?

List

Heated airers… I am keen. Worth it?

Cutting down tumble drier use will make a difference but a heated airer can use a lot of electricity - yes it uses less per hour but they are often left on for a long time and that adds up very quickly. Hanging outside for as long as possible or using a standard airer or ceiling pulley are the cheapest things.

Heating is another BIG cost so Oodies/heated throws etc will probably pay for themselves fairly quickly as long as they’re combined with less heating use than the year before. Of course there’s no actual need to buy new clothes as the vast majority of people in this country have more than enough clothes especially if they’re just for keeping warm inside so don’t have to look stylish or even preventable. We also all have duvets or blankets on our beds so they can be used sitting on the sofa for zero extra outlay.

Cooking is a fairly big cost of which oven use is the most. Using an air frier, halogen oven, microwave or slow cooker will all help if you are a frequent oven user.

Lighting, kettles, charging phones, radio and TVs, music players, smart speakers, hair styling etc all uses relatively low amounts of electricity. While of course cutting down always helps there is no real need to scrimp on any of these things if they are something you really like to use or make your life easier (which applies to pretty much everyone).

If you have a thermos, you could tip any excess water from your kettle into it, and then use the flask contents for cooking or washing up later in the day. Generally, just boiling what you need is best. I think @BorgQueen was just trying to point out that it's the energy guzzlers such as heating, ovens and tumble dryers that we all need to consider. Kettles look expensive to run, but they're used for minutes at a time where dryers can be on for hours.

I gave my heated airer to my daughter, but when I used it, I only had it on overnight for four hours. If you cover it with a sheet or similar, it will help to retain the heat. Placing it near a radiator or in range of a dehumidifier will help too.

I hung an airer over the stairs, washing is dry within hours whether the heating is on or not. All the other things you mentioned could be found on freecycle or similar.

For those talking about heater airers I couldn't get on with them as the only bit it dried was the fabric directly touching it .
The very best thing I have bought is a Meaco dehumidifier which dries clothes overnight by drawing the water out not heat .
For people who aren't putting much heating on I'd say a dehumidifier is crucial to prevent damp etc

Yep, heated airer next to radiator with a thin sheet over the top and over the radiator, not switched on when the rads are on, just on for a few hours overnight. Assuming it’s 300w, 3 hours 20 mins will cost 52p, 6 hours £1.04.
So not really cheap to run any more.
I’ve bought some sprung poles and am clearing out the boiler cupboard to make a drying rack. I hang duvet covers / towels over the bannister on the landing so it gets the rising heat.

I’ve got a pro breeze 1500ml dehumdifier, 10 hours uses 720 watts, so 42p at my rate of 57p kwh. Much cheaper than a heated airer but you need a fairly warm room, above 15 degrees iirc. It doesn’t stop all the window condensation from an airer full of heavy washing but it cuts it down by 3/4.

Which heated after you recommend?

Which one did you have though?

Kettles use a lot of energy, I remember this form years and years ago and a very 'green' friend telling me.

In an ideal world, someone invents cold fusion, the cost of energy goes down to £2.50 a month and we all heat our houses to tropical levels every winter without a care (either financial or ecological).

Unfortunately, what is almost definitely going to happen instead is that energy costs are going to stay this high or higher for at least 2 or 3 years (and possibly forever or at least until there is investment in nuclear or renewable energy which will take 10 years or so) so anything bought today will be usable for at least several winters.

You have to do a cost benefit calculation for your circumstances. I’m single and I use my tumble dryer every 2 or 3 weeks plus I have a dehumidifier already so I’m not buying a heated airer. If I had 4 kids and washed every few days, I might calculate things differently.

Similarly, I have a small well insulated flat where the heating has never come on overnight at previous settings. I’ve decided not to get an oil radiator for now - instead I’m going to see how the gas central heating does at lower settings.

As there is only me, the cost of oodies, heated throws, thermals etc. is much less than if I was buying for a family of 6. If I had that size family in the same size space, it might make sense to rely more on central heating rooms (or at least a room) rather than people at least until the next price rise in January.

A kettle using a large amount of energy per hour for a 3 minute boil costs a tiny amount. If a kettle kept the water at a boil for hours at a time, then you’d have something to worry about.

KWH means a thousand watts for one hour. A kettle is high watts, low time and therefore low cost.

Something that is lower wattage but on for hours (like a electric heater or an oven doing a stew) is much more expensive.

@BorgQueen my mum does her roasties on the hob in a le creuset dish. Seems to work well!

I know what you mean, but I would see it as an investment for the winters to come, on the assumption the bills will not go down (or might go down, but not to 'normal levels' for a while - if ever).

Adding to the above, it’s why cafes are having major problems. They need near constant hot water plus near constant cooking. While they have economies of scale they are effectively needing to have a kettle on constantly and yes, that’s very expensive.

It’s a john lewis one, I bought it for DD Xmas 2020, she might stop leaving it on 24/7 when prices shoot up 🙄
I really wanted a heat pump tumble dryer but the only place for it is our unheated garage so the temperature is too low for it to be efficient. I suppose me and DD could go halves and put one in her garage though, hers is attached and we insulated the door, plus the boiler is in there so it should be a viable option. Her garage is full of all sorts though, hmm, I’ll have a word.

Which capacity please? I’m going to splurge!

My dehumidifier holds 1500mls and was about £65.

We just had our oil tank refilled and it cost £2165 plus vat (less than 2 years ago it was £1024k plus vat). It normally lasts around 8 months but we're hoping to stretch it out for a year this time. We're retired and currently have two children 14 and 12 home on school holidays so lots of energy use. Changes we're making/planning are:
*Keep the heating down to 18-20 degrees when the weather gets cold. Don't heat spare rooms unless occupied.
*Cut down on cooked meals (frequently there have been 3 cooked meals during the school hols if you include pancakes). Also means we can cut down on dishwasher loads per day.
*We've already moved our home office into the house to avoid heating a separate outbuilding.
Put the last dishwasher & washing machine load on late to take advantage of cheap rate electricity (we already charge our car late at night).
Following for more ideas!

@thefatpotato
You are going to get the edges bound on an off cut of carpet?
I’ve never heard of this?

Do all carpet shops do this? What does it cost? Basically, can you tell me more?

I’d consider getting a dehumidifier rather than a heated airer, as the water that evaporates from the clothes will still be in the room. I dry my clothes in my bedroom which also has 4 layers of bubble wrap on one wall (to act as cheap soundproofing from the communal hallway) and I never open the window as it is street level with no front garden. The dehumidifier has a surprising impact on how warm the room is (I tend to run it all day & turn it off when I get into bed) so it’s kind of a two for the price of one IMO. But obvs your circumstances may be different. Current Which? recommended dehumidifiers include
Meaco DD8L Zambezi £199.97
Duux Bora Smart Dehumidifier (DXDH02UK) £225

I considered getting flasks to hold hot water so I boil the kettle less but instead have bought two fancy teapots cheap off ebay & am going to try bobble hats adapted as a tea cosies (real tea cosies seem to be fairly expensive).

I have an electric blanket and wear hats & scarves in bed (you may not want your kids to have to do this). I bought silk long sleeve underwear from Debenhams when it went bust but have also got some bits from
www.patra.com
thisissilk.com/
when they have sales.

Millets and Blacks are good for thermals and both have sales on at the moment, 15% off final clearance
www.millets.co.uk/
www.blacks.co.uk/
I’ve also found Sainsbury’s thermals very good & Sainsbury’s/Tu (also at Argos) have frequent 20% off sales. I've worn some of these for 3-4 years and they're still going strong.

I bought 3mm acrylic sheet cut to size to act as secondary glazing from
www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/
and will put draft excluder strip between it & the window frame, but I’m worried this may create condensation. I’m also going to try cheap pipe lagging and felt furniture padding strips from ebay round the massive gaps in my rickety sash windows. I’m not using the – in my experience very effective – film that you can attach with a hairdryer
www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Seasonal-Secondary-Glazing-Film---6m%EF%BF%BD/p/210014
as I’m hoping to get stuff that can stay in place even if I open the windows. (Fix the 2ndry glazing plastic on the inside of the lower casement and outside of the upper casement to allow this.)

For a window roughly 2m x 1.5m, the plastic cost about £80 + £15 delivery. I’m not sure if I’ll save money because of it (especially since it’s a crappy rental) but decided to do it partly because I think we all have a duty to do what we can to improve energy efficiency (this is a personal belief and not intended as a criticism of those who feel differently).

I got offcuts of carpet from
www.freecycle.org/
www.ilovefreegle.org/

• sites that can be incredibly useful as a way to pass on stuff that isn’t suitable for a charity shop but might be really helpful to someone else and saves stuff going to landfill - which I’m cutting to size and tacking in place over the letterbox & other big gaps.

Also might be useful, though some of this might be paywalled
www.which.co.uk/news/article/find-out-how-much-your-appliances-will-cost-to-run-after-the-energy-price-increase-aC2N89I3bMHe

www.which.co.uk/reviews/dehumidifiers/article/how-to-buy-the-best-dehumidifier-ay5gu4q77WQN

Yeah I'm thinking that too , I was looking at buying us all oodies but to kit us all out it's nearly £200 unless I stick them on as Xmas prezzies 🤷🏻‍♀️

has 4 layers of bubble wrap on one wall (to act as cheap soundproofing from the communal hallway) and I never open the window as it is street level with no front garden.

bubble wrap on your walls and never opening your window?