6 Bed Vicotorian House BILLS!!

[CollegeDoctor86]

DH and I have just moved into our dream home, 6 bed, 2 bath, 3 story late 1800 Victorian house. Move from a 2 bed, 2 bath new build flat in London.

I can honestly say for the 7 years we live in the flat I was lucky enough to never even have to think about looking at the smart meter. Bills were usually the same.

However, shocked to see the daily spend on energy in the new home,
smart meter is clocking up £10 a day. We have a smart thermostat, a new 40kw boiler wochester bosch, 12 new type 22 convection radiators and at the moment 1 bathroom and 1 shower room.
Temperature-wise it takes about 4 hrs to get up to 18 degrees but struggles to get above that.( i know we are having a cold snap at the moment 5 degrees outside)
We have OLD double glazing, not great but certainly better than single, and husband has silconed around the windows to make sure there are no leaks.

Just wanted to find out if anyone else spends this much on heating and electricity also shocked that victorian properties are so expensive to run talkless of buy.

You need to change your approach to heating the home. The entire building can't be warm all at once and you should look at it in zones. Focus on a steady temperature in the main living rooms you use and the hallway. Make sure you don't have damp issues as this makes things feel much colder. Do not dry washing indoors.
Wear slippers and a jumper. Heat rises so turn off the rads in bedrooms and use an extra duvet. Close doors to retain warmth and stop drafts.
Use heavy curtains over any doors and windows in your main rooms.
If you have open fireplaces, put a chimney sheep up there to stop heat drawing out of the room.
Make sure the loft is well insulated.
Managing heat in an old building is a bit of an art. You need to maintain air circulation and let the building breathe while retaining heat in the main areas and managing moisture levels.

Managing heat in an old building is a bit of an art.

^ totally agree with this!

Have recently moved out of a draughty three bed and was clocking up to £600 on energy some months as it was so poorly insulated. On sunnier days the solar panels bore the cost almost entirely, which took the average down to £380. You simply can't live like you're in a well insulated flat and have all the rooms warm as PP says.

I would look at saving for some long term insulation investments into the house, improve the windows, look at additional insulation, carpets or rugs where you can and try to only have the heating on in your bedroom or the living room. You will notice a significant difference then. Also make sure you're turning of plugs and light switches when you can as it seems petty and trivial but might also decrease your monthly average by about 20-30 pounds a month. Also look at more cost effective plans to reduce your costs, I'm sure once the market settles cheaper options will become available. x

It’s probably not so much to do with draughts etc but to do with the cost of gas/electricity at the moment, our bill has quadrupled recently!!

@MishWoking

It’s probably not so much to do with draughts etc but to do with the cost of gas/electricity at the moment, our bill has quadrupled recently!!

Agree with this mine is ridiculous at the moment especially with hardly having the heating on (only having it on when it drops below 5 degrees in bedrooms) and turning everything off until necessary, I'm in a 2 bed rental, and previously I was paying 80-90 a month, yet it is now 140 a month, I live with my sister now and she works 4 12 hour shifts a week and I previously lived with my ex and we had worked from home since around feb 2020 (with my ex not working at all due to mental health and gaming all day) but now I'm out at least 2 working days a week and out more at weekends, they are honestly pushing prices up excessively . Also my parents have a 4/5 bed house where my 3 youngest sisters still live, they are very wary of leaving things on and hardly ever have the heating on in the year, yet their bill has, in one year, gone from 150 ish a month to 240, and now they want to again increase it to 270 absolutely mental as they have been dramatically reducing usage. At what point is the average or below average earning family not going to be able to heat the home for their children or put food on the table.

Get thermostat vales on each radiator that can be set individually, then you don't have to heat the whole house all the time and can have rooms at different temperatures

I live in a Victorian terrace and I just endure the winter to be honest. We get damp problems if we don't ventilate so the windows are all opened daily to let air through.

We use a dehumidifier in the room where we dry washing and the room where we work, dry air feels warmer and they release a bit of warmth which is better than having the heating on.

Other than that, layer up with vests and scarves, buy some decent jumpers and slippers, have a blanket on the sofa and one on your lap if you work from home.

Managing heat in summer is also fun! Both are extra fun if you have kids to keep warm or cool.

Basically there are things you can do but this is life in an older house.

You have to suck it up.
Good Slippers and socks. Draft exluders.
Dont heat rooms when not in use.run the house cool and tactically top up the temp.

My bills went from £40 pm month in a poorly insulated victorian single glazed two bed 2 years ago to what is now 400 per month in our double glazed 5 bed edwardian. On paper it makes me need a lie down to be frank.

We factored some of this into the costs alongside mortgage etc but it's a bit of a shock at the start. We are in Yr 2 and sort of accept it now.

I’m surprised you’re surprised. A big Victorian house was never designed to be heated to modern preferences. As others have said, heat the rooms you’re in and put on extra layers.

Oh and Hot water bottles -i now have a collection.

I live in a 6 bed Victorian house and we don't spend £10 a day. This is what we do:
Heating on from 6 - 8.
It's off during the day. My husband and I both have plug in oil heaters in our office rooms while we're working from home. I find I plug it in for a hour and it gets really warm so then turn it off and it remains warm .
Central heating comes on at 4, off and 8 (when kids are warm in bed).
We have the wood burner on in the living room at night.
We all have blankets, wear pjs, hot water bottles, and wear jumpers and thick socks during the day. You'll get used to it!

Also an electric blanket. Our old Victorian terrace has a big bedroom with tiny radiator, drafty floor boards and poor windows. I got an electric blanket for the bed and was life changing!
I also just needed some new bedding and bought some cheap ish brushed cotton from M&S, it is actually thermal and so warm and toasty.

I agree, it is an art!
My DH has raynauds syndrome and so we need to keep the house a constant (warm!) temperature.
We are currently spending £8 a day on energy bills - both WFH - and tbh we do not hold back with our usage.

We keep the thermostat at 20° from 5.30am - 9pm but the bedroom radiators are turned down to 3 on their valves or off in the rooms we do not use - we leave the doors open to let warm air in. At night it is turned down to 15 but rarely gets that cold that the heating comes on again.
I find that once the house is warm it is easier to keep it at that temperature rather than keep boosting it up - it takes ages to get it back up to temperature after we have been out all day (we have a nest thermostat and so we turn it off if we are going to be out for a long period and turn it back up on our way home).
We also have an oil filled radiator which DH uses in his office and that really cranks out the heat.
We dry washing inside during winter but use a dehumidifier to avoid damp, it works really well for us- we have a utility room which basically turns into a drying room with the dehumidifier on, a load dries in a day and we avoid tumble dryer use.

Large house here, not Victorian but not energy efficient. I totally relate to enduring the winter! Our capped tariff (no smart meter yet) is due to triple in April. We are looking into ways of heating only the rooms we use, new windows, and insulation. We already don't use all the house in the winter. I spend my winters in fleece-lined leggings, M&S thermals and a fleece! I never appreciated the costs involved.

I wfh and my bills are crazy. I've started using hot water bottles and blankets during the day.

What did the energy efficiency report say in your seller's pack? It's hardly news that big Victorian houses are expensive to heat!

@About10thusername

I live in a 6 bed Victorian house and we don't spend £10 a day. This is what we do: Heating on from 6 - 8. It's off during the day. My husband and I both have plug in oil heaters in our office rooms while we're working from home. I find I plug it in for a hour and it gets really warm so then turn it off and it remains warm . Central heating comes on at 4, off and 8 (when kids are warm in bed). We have the wood burner on in the living room at night. We all have blankets, wear pjs, hot water bottles, and wear jumpers and thick socks during the day. You'll get used to it!

I forgot to add - our house is also 3 story. We don't have central heating on the top floor. Our bedrooms are on the 1st floor. We just have electric heaters which work perfectly well for guests (when they stay on the top floor). And we make sure the doors on that floor are closed. I also wear fingerless gloves for home working.

We also live in 6 bed/3 storey. When we got a new boiler and radiators put in we got a heating system that can be run by an app ‘wiser home’. I don’t know much about how it was fitted/how it actually works to be honest but it’s amazing- it means you can choose which radiators you want to be on in which rooms so no wasted heat.

Unfortunately this is counteracted by an aga which is an actual money pit

Big old house here too. I’m massively cold blooded but with energy prices the way they’re going we have no option but to be increasingly frugal with the heating. We have all the radiators in the bedrooms turned right down. Our DC run hot so that’s not a problem at all - they kick off their thick duvets and blankets plus I seem to be channelling my late v Scottish granny who was deeply suspicious of radiators in bedrooms

I have an electric blanket on my side of the bed which is AMAZING. DH thinks I’m mad.

We’ve replaced all the doors and windows (had to be done when we moved in as most were blown) and we have thick lined curtains.

Definitely look at the attic insulation - ours was next to nothing. When we converted ours the fab builder put in extra in top of current regulations which has made a difference.

Ultimately though, I think some people have been spoilt to an extent regarding heating. I have SO many friends who walk round their houses in teeshirts when it’s -2 outside with the heating turned up to tropical levels. With current energy prices they won’t be able to do this. Obviously there’s a world away from people with health issues, the very young or old etc for whom heat is vital and my blood boils for those having to choose between heating or eating. That’s horrific.

Ours is about £450 a month but to fix now is £1000

Built for fires- it will warm the walls and dry them out. Deal with the damp (this or opening windows when heating is on) and you will feel warmer.
Victorian (and before) house builders didn’t see heating as a necessity for the people in the house, but as a system for upkeep of the house. Same with water, windows, wtc.
Most cost effective for us is to think hard about timings (terrace, so we hear neighbours heating go on, and turn ours off ) and adjusting expectations. There’s a reason everyone loved the new builds in the 50s!

Only heat the rooms in use, check for damp, look at insulation improvements. Changing the windows will help. We live in a 3 story 1930s house and it can be cold. We are slowly making it warmer. Wood burning stove is next to go in

It is an art....

Over the years
I've triple insulated the loft
Insulated between floors
Chimney Sheeps and blocked 2 chimneys off
Thermal blinds and curtains
Double glazed windows
Open fire in the winter really keeps the house warm too

5 bed Victorian semi - gas and electric bills about £200 a month. I think it's a warm house. It's not as warm as a modern flat but often kids are just in t-shirts! If we didn't do the following we could spend the same again on heating...

Firstly, you toughen up! If you're working from home, a chilly stomp round the block will serve you better than a sandwich in a cold kitchen. You can tolerate colder temperature through practice. I like to get colder and then get snuggly warm now.

It's a room by room basis, some rooms warm and some are cooler.

Mostly single glazed - so have curtains or beds/sofas are not placed directly under windows

Hallway is cold, with draft excluders. We keep doors closed to the hallway. Unless it's Christmas or we have a houseful when we have an open fire and heat into the hallway.

Electric throw in sitting room or just throws everywhere.

Slippers. I don't like slippers but I have a kitchen pair and an office sheepskin pair. They don't move from these rooms. If feet are warm, you can tolerate the cold better.

Everyone has a dressing gown, oodie type hoodie, slippers, nice slouchy jumpers etc.

Keep air dry and ventilated. We do dry washing indoors but do have a dehumidifier

Have a good oil filled radiator that can move to where you need extra heat

It is an adjustment but it's quite doable