Home Heating

[offtheground]

I've tried a few of the low energy GU10 bulbs and found this one to be the best, it comes on at full light output instantly, is the same physical size as a regular GU10 Halogen downlighter, and uses only 7W instead of the 50W the regular one uses.
It also runs much cooler than the old ones - I found some scorching around the light fittings which the old bulbs had caused.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AURAGLOW-GU10-Light-White-Equivalent/dp/B004S70HVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364373201&sr=8-1

[illdecide]

I have two up/down external lights at my front door, they look the part and ran on halogen bulbs. Last year i discovered i could get LED lights that fitted in as the halogen ones and they def made a difference as the Mrs illdecide like to have the outside lights on from 5:00pm until bedtime. Seven hours roughly every night with four halogen bulbs running soon mounted up.

[Onion Bag]

Have a few of those spots about the house, must get the bastids changed,

[offtheground]

Got one of these lights for the landing too - good job, and uses a trickle of power...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Automatic-Night-Light-Plug-In-Energy/dp/B004LXODO6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364373608&sr=8-3

[nrico2006]

Anyone have a multi-fuel or wood burning stove?  How long would a standard bag of logs last and how much do they cost from the average garage?

[balladmaker]

Anyone have a multi-fuel or wood burning stove?  How long would a standard bag of logs last and how much do they cost from the average garage?

Yes, have a charnwood island 2, great job but it fairly goes through the logs.  I'd probably get 3 to 4 days out of a standard bag, with just lighting the stove in the evening time around 7 or 8.  Coal (smokeless) is the job though, far better heat than just the logs and keeps it going for hours.

Bag of smokeless coal is around 6.50 - 7.00 in the north, bag of logs around 4.  Peat briquettes are the business as well, around 3.95 each.

[nrico2006]

Anyone have a multi-fuel or wood burning stove?  How long would a standard bag of logs last and how much do they cost from the average garage?

Yes, have a charnwood island 2, great job but it fairly goes through the logs.  I'd probably get 3 to 4 days out of a standard bag, with just lighting the stove in the evening time around 7 or 8.  Coal (smokeless) is the job though, far better heat than just the logs and keeps it going for hours.

Bag of smokeless coal is around 6.50 - 7.00 in the north, bag of logs around 4.  Peat briquettes are the business as well, around 3.95 each.

How long would a bag of coal last?  I currently have an open fire and its lit most days at 5 or 6 and that would take maybe 2 or 3 25kg bags of coal a week to run.

[nrico2006]

Illdecide will hopefully have the answer to this.

Have a problem whereby my heating is intermittenly coming on upstairs only (the heating is turned off).  It seems to only happen after the heating or water have been turned on, although not every time.

In my hot press up stairs I have 2 danfoss motorised valves (1 for upstairs rads and 1 for downstairs).  I also have a myson power extra unit for the hot water.  I replaced the upstairs danfoss valve and low and behold the issue happened today again.  Any ideas?  Is it possibly the HW motorised valve?  Is there any way of checking that it is fine or not, i.e. should the auto to manual lever on the device slide freely with a bit of resistence or should it be really tight.  I will take off the valve later and check if the spindle is moving freely too, if it isnt I will stick a bit of WD40 on it and hope it sorts it.

[illdecide]

Illdecide will hopefully have the answer to this.

Have a problem whereby my heating is intermittenly coming on upstairs only (the heating is turned off).  It seems to only happen after the heating or water have been turned on, although not every time.

In my hot press up stairs I have 2 danfoss motorised valves (1 for upstairs rads and 1 for downstairs).  I also have a myson power extra unit for the hot water.  I replaced the upstairs danfoss valve and low and behold the issue happened today again.  Any ideas?  Is it possibly the HW motorised valve?  Is there any way of checking that it is fine or not, i.e. should the auto to manual lever on the device slide freely with a bit of resistence or should it be really tight.  I will take off the valve later and check if the spindle is moving freely too, if it isnt I will stick a bit of WD40 on it and hope it sorts it.

Well it's very possible if you've changed the actuator (head) of the Danfoss valve that the actual valve on the pipework is not opening/closing properly and you should replace this too. I'm sure wherever you got the actuator head then the actual valve will be with it too and whip her on...let me know how you fare out

[Croí na hÉireann]

Any tips on best places to get home heating oil and fuel for a multi-fuel stove in/around Dublin?

[theskull1]

Have you a syphon?

[Croí na hÉireann]

You know where Gnevins house is?

[BennyCake]

Any boiler experts/electricians?

Switched off the heating from the programmer thingy, but a few minutes later the house was still roasting. The boiler had fired up again itself even though the Lights on the programmer was off.

Eventually, I located a switch in the press and turned that off, which turned heating off.  I'm now having to use this switch to turn on/off the heating (instead of the programmer thingy).

Any ideas? Does it sound like a big job? And for who, an electrician or a boiler expert?

[Smokin Joe]

Any boiler experts/electricians?

Switched off the heating from the programmer thingy, but a few minutes later the house was still roasting. The boiler had fired up again itself even though the Lights on the programmer was off.

Eventually, I located a switch in the press and turned that off, which turned heating off.  I'm now having to use this switch to turn on/off the heating (instead of the programmer thingy).

Any ideas? Does it sound like a big job? And for who, an electrician or a boiler expert?

I'm far from an expert, but I had a problem similar to this and it was caused by a faulty motorized valve.  The valve wasn't opening and closing as it should have done from either the controller on the wall or the thermostat.
My problem was fixed by replacing the motorised valve.

Until I got the valve replaced I turned the heat on and off by manually flicking the motorised valve on and off with my hand.

Might something like that be your issue?

[armaghniac]

Any boiler experts/electricians?

Switched off the heating from the programmer thingy, but a few minutes later the house was still roasting. The boiler had fired up again itself even though the Lights on the programmer was off.

Eventually, I located a switch in the press and turned that off, which turned heating off.  I'm now having to use this switch to turn on/off the heating (instead of the programmer thingy).

Any ideas? Does it sound like a big job? And for who, an electrician or a boiler expert?

I'm far from an expert, but I had a problem similar to this and it was caused by a faulty motorized valve.  The valve wasn't opening and closing as it should have done from either the controller on the wall or the thermostat.
My problem was fixed by replacing the motorised valve.

Until I got the valve replaced I turned the heat on and off by manually flicking the motorised valve on and off with my hand.

Might something like that be your issue?

I've had the same problem. Moving the manual level did the trick. Motorised valves usually have a plumbing fitting and a valve head which is small motor, I replaced the valve head, which was readily available on Amazon, and things were working, but I had problems again after the summer when the heating season started.
I think that the problem is really that the plumbing valve is stiff and my turning it manually just got it going and it is working again and probably will if it is turning on and off several times a day. Changing the valve needs a plumber, draining the systems and so forth.