DavecUK I might have to ask for a bit more advice on the boiler adjustments!
I’ll have a look tomorrow.
Energy Prices
PortafilterProcrastinator really how did we all get to thinking it’s even remotely OK for it to be going up to almost 60p per kW and standing charges for dual fuel approaching £1 day.
Especially as we were told wind power would be so much cheaper….almost free. What happened, is the wind blowing less or something. Do solar panels work worse for some reason?
As great a mystery as when all the Lorry drivers got beamed into space…and just as quickly beamed back 4 weeks later.
DavecUK I don’t think it’s okay in the slightest, but I feel totally powerless. Looking at the options to make a meaningful impact on our energy cost (renewables etc) we’re simply not in a position to be able to pursue them.
A bit like the political realisation over the last few years. I’ll continue to vote and have a say as it were, but I have no expectation that anything will happen as any politician says it will.
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LMSC I will assume that it’s a combi boiler running a pressurised system. If so, left knob is radiator temp. When winter comes reduce it a little in increments. Check rads get hot, they won’t get as hot, heat up time of house will be slower. If it all works OK for a few days, , you can reduce a bit more and see if it is still OK..
The right hand one is hot water, reduce it so showers can be just hot enough when the shower is set close to it’s max temp, and flow rate is acceptable. This will save a lot of gas.
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LMSC then the hot water knob needs to be no lower than 55C (Listeria).
It looks as if whoever set up the boiler did a good job
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If you have a tank, most likely there’s a thermostat control on the tank itself in which you set the temperature of the hot water as you please.
Edit: I just read what it’s circled in your attachment. It says setting 4 is 53C. It looks like, to me, if the scale is proportional, that 55C is where the “star” is.
But do check your hot water cylinder too. 👍
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MediumRoastSteam If you have a tank, most likely there’s a thermostat control on the tank itself in which you set the temperature of the hot water as you please.
It’s not the same though, that thermostat on the tank just tells the boiler when to stop. The one on the boiler tells it how hot to make the water that circulates in the HX tube. At which point you should experiment with how long the hot is on to give a decent tank hot fill. This is because you cannot rely on a tankstat set to say 60, as it will never turn off….
The efficiency of a condensing boiler is higher when the outflow temp is lower and the return temp is definitely as low as it can be (I think above 50C and most boilers won’t condense, loosing 20-30% efficiency
Turning the HW on at the same time as heating in many boilers results in a lower return, although you still have to work out how long to heat the HW for. My boiler has a single thermostat for outflow temp. So it’s quite important to me to have heating and hot water on simultaneously, to get the coolest return I can.
In fact for my boiler, I want the heating to come on for a while, as the return will be cool as the house warms up….then add the hot water in for it’s allotted time, which helps keep the return temp low. Maximising boiler efficiency.
Oh the reason for 55C is legionella, 55C Kills Listeria in about 2 hours, 60C to 65C kills it in 15 minutes…but really it’s not a risk to have 55 in a domestic environment. Especially if the tank is only 70% hot with a lower cooler layer…lower than 55 is probably not great.
Obviously with a Combi, Legionella is not an issue, what might be is a very low temp for showering ,might mean full hot and reduced flow…usually it’s OK though and 40C will give a more than hot enough shower.
DavecUK Turn down the washing machine to 30C and always use a biological powder. Never ever use liquids or liquitabs….always use powder. Powder mixes better, contains bleach and thus you don’t get slimy remnants for bacteria growth leading to a smelly washing machine.
This is helpful and I remember you telling me this a while back. 👍
With regards to biological (bio) vs non-bio, what’s he difference? Also, I noticed these days it’s virtually impossible to buy powder. We used to buy Ariel colours, or Persil, but now all you can get is the liquid or liquid tabs, and they are bio. We also use Fairy powder, non-bio, and that contains bleach as you said.
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MediumRoastSteam just read what it’s circled in your attachment. It says setting 4 is 53C. It looks like, to me, if the scale is proportional, that 55C is where the “star” is.
DavecUK Oh the reason for 55C is legionella, 55C Kills Listeria in about 2 hours, 60C to 65C kills it in 15 minutes…but really it’s not a risk to have 55 in a domestic environment. Especially if the tank is only 70% hot with a lower cooler layer…lower than 55 is probably not great.
Hot water
I checked the instruction for this boiler. It shows the hot water range is 40 to 70. If proportional, I am thinking the average mark up is 4.3C and 4 will be 58 and e js about 62?
I am wondering if 4 is enough for the hot waters to kill the bacteria. The hot water tank has a temperature control and is set at 55C.
Central Heating
The same scale would apply. I will drop this to 4 than the recommended 5 and see how it goes in the winter!
Please ignore the display. I briefly fired to check the boiler after changing Hive battery!
DavecUK Turn down the washing machine to 30C and always use a biological powder. Never ever use liquids or liquitabs….always use powder. Powder mixes better, contains bleach and thus you don’t get slimy remnants for bacteria growth leading to a smelly washing machine.
We wash a full load running at 30C for 20 mins for all daily wear once a week. They are hardly dirty. The only issue with the full load is the non-colour stuff. We wash one weekly cycle full load and the alternative week two loads of 30C and 20 mins each for colour and non-colour (mostly whites).
The powder is mostly non-bio and the conditioner is always diluted with water (50:50).
LMSC there’s plenty of biological washing powder about, I use biological because it has enzymes and those enzymes work well to degrade fats proteins and other things in clothes and work well at lower temperatures.
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dutchy101 Thanks for this! Three key take aways are:
- The negative effects of our mass screw up on our planet and our lives are irreversible.
- It’s too late to make carbon offsetting measures. It’s a farce
- Nuclear energy : some one on this forum will be smiling!
We are leaving a fantastic planet to our children and theirs’! 😔
i now need to learn to use the washing machine properly, lol - with two young children its on non stop!
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
LMSC Thanks for this! Three key take aways are:
Good but not right.
- Humankind will continue to do this as long as fossil fuels are left! They will burn almost all of it
- Unless we want to have the lights going out and no industry, Nuclear Power is inevitable.
- Fusion energy is so far away as to be unlikely. Scientists always quote Qplasma and not Qtotal. They are willfully misleading us, it should be clear why.
- Our nation can do absolutely nothing to stop this. We need to concentrate on creating a secure energy supply and sustainable quality of life for our kids.
Theres too much virtue signalling, corporate self interest and lies around the whole green issue. We really need to wake up as a nation and make sensible plans.
Cuprajake with two young children its on non stop!
I would put a wash on every 1.5 weeks before the children came along but now it’s almost every day for me too!!I used an electric dryer once when I was in university and said never again (it shrunk my jeans but we were also paying a meter with coins at that time!!) always air dry my clothes