Reducing Heating Costs for Big Old Houses - Part 1

My father in law asked me to look at his utility bills today. It seems National Grid (our local utility - well sort of - they are British) just realized they were only billing him for natural gas delivery charges. His third-party gas supplier’s cut dropped through the cracks the past 4 months and just figured out they weren’t getting paid. The result? A $1700 surprise.

Their $500 gas charge for the month of February would pay for a year’s worth of heat at our house. He’s asked for advice, and there are some immediate things I suggested he can do.

The first is to lower the thermostat - he keeps it at 72 degrees day and night. So we’re installing a setback thermostat to lower the heat at night when he’s asleep. He’s older and likes it warm when he’s awake; the heat stays up during the day. Many people like it cooler, but I’m not willing to make that argument just yet.

The second thing we can do is close off unused rooms upstairs and turn off their radiators. It’s a really, really big house and large parts are only occupied during family gatherings. We can shut off the entire upstairs for most of the winter. I’m not too worried about freezing pipes. His heating pipes are all within the rooms (remember, it’s an old house - it predates central heat so the pipes were added later) and enough heat escapes the first floor to warm them. Ditto the bathroom pipes and toilets.

I noticed he still has an air conditioner in the dining room window. That’s a big, drafty hole in the wall. It’s way past time to take it out!

Remember that setback thermostat? It’s going to replace the current thermostat, a 1960’s round Honeywell unit in the back hallway. Not only is it money-wasting technology, but it’s placed on an outside wall between 2 windows. I bet the heat runs 4 or 5 degrees warmer than the thermostat setting, given its chilly location.

I won’t go on about the old double hung windows and 1950’s storm windows, or the complete lack of attic insulation. Spring is almost here, and those are projects for next fall.

This entry was posted on April 1, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Tools and Techniques, Retrofit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.