Which do you think is gonna work out cheaper

**gibbon7000** · 19th December 2010, 21:54

Ok with gas getting more and more expensive, i'm wondering if anyone can help me out.

I have a 3 bed semi, a fairly decent size one, not too small, not massive either. There's only me and my girlfriend living in it. Because we only need to heat the lounge and bedroom (kitchen heats itself from the cooking side of things) i'm wondering if its cheaper to use the cental heating as little as possible, basically just enought to stop the pipes from freezing and using my open gas fire in the lounge which would be on most of the time when were at home or would i better better off just wacking the CH up and forget about the gas fire?

This is from a financial view only. Trying to save a few pennies thats all. I'm a right tight git

**byebyeitsagsi** · 19th December 2010, 21:59

I would just use the central heating and keep it at a lower but comfortable temprature.

**PORKBALLS29** · 19th December 2010, 22:12

Tbh mate, the cost of gas for the fires at the moment is silly too. I sell it at work and our supplier has put prices up by nearly 50p per kilo in the last 3 months. So a 13kg butane is now nearly £24 and that may last you 4 days at a push! So i.d say just use you central heating on low.

**gibbon7000** · 19th December 2010, 22:34

Originally Posted by PORKBALLS29

Tbh mate, the cost of gas for the fires at the moment is silly too. I sell it at work and our supplier has put prices up by nearly 50p per kilo in the last 3 months. So a 13kg butane is now nearly £24 and that may last you 4 days at a push! So i.d say just use you central heating on low.

Just to add, my gas for the fire is mains gas

**PORKBALLS29** · 19th December 2010, 22:52

lol. Ok mate, thought you were talking about a little cabinet heater.

**david.aka.judas** · 19th December 2010, 23:07

we've just bought a 1.1kw oil filled rad to warm up the room were in, it saves turning the heating on for rooms were not in.

we only use it in addition though.

**gibbon7000** · 20th December 2010, 00:15

Originally Posted by PORKBALLS29

lol. Ok mate, thought you were talking about a little cabinet heater.

No worries, probably the way i explained it

**keefy*2010** · 20th December 2010, 00:32

Originally Posted by gibbon7000

No worries, probably the way i explained it

We have a wood burning stove in our 2 up 2 down country cottage we keep this alight 24/7 when its really cold, we have bottle gas central heating I changed the boiler to one of the latest combi boilers and it cut our has consumption by nearly 50%, they are really efficient

**alhambra** · 20th December 2010, 00:32

Try an extra pullover and turn the heating back, and ............... keep the doors between the rooms closed.

**the_wave_rider** · 20th December 2010, 12:02

Problem is this, You heat the lounge,bedroom and bathroom. Turn the rads off in the other rooms. You will find mould and damp starts forming on the walls which in the long run will destroy any materials in the room and once the damp is in the walls it will be a pain in the butt to get rid off. Also if you only heat the rooms you are in everytime you open the doors to another room the heat is sucked into that room and the cold comes through.

Thermal curtains provide very good insulation and keep the heat in. I know this sounds stange but make sure you have a trickle vent open in every room it will help remove condensate and allow a fresh steady flow of air that is easier to heat.

Also if you do have a lot of condensate in your rooms (You know when the missus hangs washing over the rads!) it takes more time and heat to heat the moisture in the air in the room. I run a condensor once a week in the winter for a night and can normally pull around 2 litres of water in 12 hours.

I used to suffer from a really cold house I had the boiler done and I redid the central heating but it still was not 100% but doing little things like the above really helps and have cut our bills down a lot.