gas-fired central heating

[joe]

I have typical gas-fired central heating with radiators in every room plus
an adjustable gas fire in the living room.

I don't normally need hot water from the taps as the shower has an
independent heating system.

Would it be more efficient to keep the living room warm with the gas fire or
with the radiator in the front room (with all the other radiators in the
house turned off)?

Cheers Joe

 

[Eeyore]

I have typical gas-fired central heating with radiators in every room plus
an adjustable gas fire in the living room.

I don't normally need hot water from the taps as the shower has an
independent heating system.

Would it be more efficient to keep the living room warm with the gas fire or
with the radiator in the front room (with all the other radiators in the
house turned off)?

That depends on the efficiency of the gas fire. To make a guess would be well...
guesswork !

Graham

 

[joe]

"Eeyore" wrote

That depends on the efficiency of the gas fire. To make a guess would be
well...guesswork !

I'll measure a day using one method and a day using the other but I was
hoping someone with practical experience might know what result to expect.

Joe

 

[joe]

"Bruce Richmond" wrote

An educated guess? All the heat from the gas fire in the room will
heat the room. The heat from the central burner will heat other parts
of the house on its way to the room you want to heat. Since not all
of the heat will be where you want it, you will need to add more to
get the desired amount where you want it.

Thanks Bruce - That makes sense. I'll test both methods by reading the metre
and see if there really is a difference. I'm just trying hard to cut back
on energy use - it seems the right thing to do.

I had the loft insulated about three weeks back with that spray-on foam,
under the tiles and inside the brickwork at both gable ends. I got it done
just before those bad storms we had so was pleased that none of the tiles
could get blown off. It has made a noticeable difference, especially to the
upstairs bedroom immediately above the living room.

 

[Eeyore]

An educated guess? All the heat from the gas fire in the room will
heat the room. The heat from the central burner will heat other parts
of the house on its way to the room you want to heat. Since not all
of the heat will be where you want it, you will need to add more to
get the desired amount where you want it.

Gas fires also exhaust heat to the outside.

Graham

 

[Mike]

I have typical gas-fired central heating with radiators in every room plus
an adjustable gas fire in the living room.

I don't normally need hot water from the taps as the shower has an
independent heating system.

Would it be more efficient to keep the living room warm with the gas fire or
with the radiator in the front room (with all the other radiators in the
house turned off)?

A typical gas fire is around 50% efficient, while even a 15-20 year
old boiler will be around 60-70% efficient. If you have a condensing
boiler efficiency is usually over 90%.

Essentially more than half the heat from a gas fire goes up the flue
and is wasted while almost all of the heat from a modern boiler goes
into actually heating your house.


--

 

[Mike]

I had the loft insulated about three weeks back with that spray-on foam,
under the tiles and inside the brickwork at both gable ends. I got it done
just before those bad storms we had so was pleased that none of the tiles
could get blown off. It has made a noticeable difference, especially to the
upstairs bedroom immediately above the living room.

It's too late now but just about any minor problem with the roof
structural timbers will now mean you need to replace the ENTIRE roof.
Spray on foam is ghastly stuff almost designed to cause timber
problems and guaranteed to scare any structural surveyor with half a
clue into a tailspin. It's got a worse reputation than Tri-iso 9/10
but at least with that you can rip it off with a stanley knife and
start again.

A proper strip, refelt and retile would have given you a roof that
would last half a century or more and during that process proper
controlled ventilation paths could be installed in the soffits at next
to zero cost giving a roof space with reduced air movement but without
the massive drawbacks of spray foam. Slab insulation such as Kingspan
either at the floor level or on the roof slope would also offer much
higher levels of insulation and therefore significantly reduced heat
loss than any spray on foam.

So in summary you've still got old crappy tiles with many nails rusted
away, possibly backed by old crappy felt, glued together with a spray
on foam that will cause your roof timbers to rot.


--

 

[Vaughn Simon]

Gas fires also exhaust heat to the outside.

Some are not vented.

Vaughn