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gas-fired central heating
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| 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
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| Eeyore 2007-02-10, 1:25 pm |
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joe wrote:
> 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
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"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
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| Bruce Richmond 2007-02-10, 1:25 pm |
| On Feb 10, 8:45 am, "joe" <j...@nospamblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> "Eeyore" wrote
>
>
> 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
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.
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"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.
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| Eeyore 2007-02-10, 5:25 pm |
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Bruce Richmond wrote:
> On Feb 10, 8:45 am, "joe" <j...@nospamblueyonder.co.uk> 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.
Gas fires also exhaust heat to the outside.
Graham
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| On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:14:05 GMT, "joe" <joe41@nospamblueyonder.co.uk>
wrote:
>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.
--
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| On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 21:35:52 GMT, "joe" <joe41@nospamblueyonder.co.uk>
wrote:
>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. 
--
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| Vaughn Simon 2007-02-13, 9:25 am |
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"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:45CE545D.121973EF@hotmail.com...
>
> Gas fires also exhaust heat to the outside.
Some are not vented.
Vaughn
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| daestrom 2007-02-13, 5:25 pm |
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"joe" <joe41@nospamblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xyjzh.297594$MO2.61553@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>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
Gas-fired 'boilers' and such can be quite efficient, say 90%.
Gas fire places, well that 'depends'. Is it vent-free (no chimney, just
burns gas using room air)?? That's pretty much 100% (Someplaces don't even
allow these though, CO). Is it a natural draft chimney with an open hearth?
they can be very low (I've seen numbers of 15% and if the outside
temperature is below about -5C, they can't even keep up). Something in
between like glass-enclosed hearth with outside air supply/exhaust?
Of course the 'boiler' will heat areas of the house you probably aren't
interested in, so that's a loss there. But generally a fire place is
'decorative' and not all that 'efficient'.
daestrom
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