Energy bills

[Hoonercat]

Pleased to say the price of wood pellets has come down considerably here over the past 2 months, from an average of 1,100 Lev per pallet to 700. When I say 'pleased', that's still more than 200 lev above what I paid 14 months ago. The price of firewood, the main ingredient in pellets, has remained the same. Hmmmm...

[ZRX61]

Pleased to say the price of wood pellets has come down considerably here over the past 2 months, from an average of 1,100 Lev per pallet to 700. When I say 'pleased', that's still more than 200 lev above what I paid 14 months ago. The price of firewood, the main ingredient in pellets, has remained the same. Hmmmm...

The cost of chopping your own firewood hasn't changed because you aren't buying energy to make the pellets..

[Horse]

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... losions%2F

Households that have hydrogen boilers installed could be forced to drill a 4x4-inch hole in their wall to mitigate risks of explosion, according to recommendations in a government-backed safety report.

Residents in a neighbourhood being considered for a trial of hydrogen for home heating have been alarmed by a report’s recommendation that rooms with boilers hobs or substantial pipework “should have non-closable vents with [an] equivalent area of 10,000 mm2”.

The report, by Arup, the design consultants, said these should be located as close to the ceiling level as possible and no more than 50cm below ceiling level.

The same report, which came out in 2019, said that hydrogen for home heating could cause four times as many explosions and injuries than gas boilers without sufficient mitigations, including ventilation.

The report, which is based on a two-storey, masonry-built, terraced house with a basement and a loft conversion, will be used to inform the trials of hydrogen for home heating expected to go ahead from 2025.

[MrLongbeard]

So comparable to what is already required for gas fires over 7KW https://rts.vents.co.uk/blog/regulation ... and-wales/

[Horse]

So comparable to what is already required for gas fires over 7KW https://rts.vents.co.uk/blog/regulation ... and-wales/

Would that Kw be needed for a 'two storey terraced house'?

[Mussels]

So comparable to what is already required for gas fires over 7KW https://rts.vents.co.uk/blog/regulation ... and-wales/

I thought gas boilers were room sealed now so don't need the house to be well ventilated, I'm surprised hydrogen boilers aren't the same.
The article looks like scare-mongering.

[Kneerly Down]

I thought gas boilers were room sealed now so don't need the house to be well ventilated, I'm surprised hydrogen boilers aren't the same.
The article looks like scare-mongering.

Apparently, it matters not that the hydrogen boilers, like the gas ones, would be room sealed. The recommendation is for 4in ventilation, which isn't required for normal gas boilers) due to the higher fire and explosion risk of hydrogen vs natgas.

[MrLongbeard]

So comparable to what is already required for gas fires over 7KW https://rts.vents.co.uk/blog/regulation ... and-wales/

Would that Kw be needed for a 'two storey terraced house'?

Buggered if I know.
Apparently a fag packet maths exercise is to calculate the volume of the room in m3 and dived by 10 to get the correct KW rating of the fire needed.

All I do know is permanent ventilation is bloody shite, if I didn't tape a piece of cardboard over the one in this gaff it'd never get warm.

[Count Steer]

Ventilation is a bit

For some reason I bought a couple of CO2 monitors a while ago. Below 700ppm is OK (400ish is outdoors). It's very difficult to keep a room warm efficiently without going way over 700ppm. The bedroom, which I keep a small window open when the heating isn't on, is frequently over 1000ppm at night. The only serious answer is air management and heat exchangers. Of course, people have survived quite happily without that, so it makes you wonder whether the recommended level is actually relevant.

[Pirahna]

My log burner needs replacing, the door is warped and doesn't seal properly so it's time to say goodbye. The question is, replace the log burner or install a pellet burner? It's the main source of heating for the house.

[mangocrazy]

My log burner needs replacing, the door is warped and doesn't seal properly so it's time to say goodbye. The question is, replace the log burner or install a pellet burner? It's the main source of heating for the house.

Which are liable to provide the cheapest Kw of heat per EUR/GBP spent over the long(er) term?

[demographic]

So comparable to what is already required for gas fires over 7KW https://rts.vents.co.uk/blog/regulation ... and-wales/

I thought gas boilers were room sealed now so don't need the house to be well ventilated, I'm surprised hydrogen boilers aren't the same.
The article looks like scare-mongering.

This from Wiki.

"Hydrogen possesses the NFPA 704's highest rating of 4 on the flammability scale because it is flammable when mixed even in small amounts with ordinary air; ignition can occur at a volumetric ratio of hydrogen to air as low as 4% due to the oxygen in the air and the simplicity and chemical properties of the reaction. However, hydrogen has no rating for innate hazard for reactivity or toxicity. The storage and use of hydrogen poses unique challenges due to its ease of leaking as a gaseous fuel, low-energy ignition, wide range of combustible fuel-air mixtures, buoyancy, and its ability to embrittle metals that must be accounted for to ensure safe operation.[1"

[Count Steer]

I'm not sure that mains delivered hydrogen is ever going to be a major part of domestic heating tbh. If production does get scaled up other uses will be more common eg use a wind farm to generate electricity to generate hydrogen which gets stored until required to run converted gas-fired powered generation capacity.

It seems a bit like picking yourself up by your socks to generate electricity to make hydrogen which is then used to make electricity but it would help to deal with 'peaky' demand.

Unless the Russian taps get turned fully on again, gas has probably peaked and LNG is a temporary fix - unless electricity prices keep rising and keep it competitive. (The carbon emissions from domestic heating will probably be addressed with efficiency measures for the next 20+years).

[Hoonercat]

My log burner needs replacing, the door is warped and doesn't seal properly so it's time to say goodbye. The question is, replace the log burner or install a pellet burner? It's the main source of heating for the house.

I've got both (plus air cons if needed). Pellet burner only comes on in the morning for one hour a day as it runs the central heating and I don't like cold mornings. Cost-wise wood is much cheaper here (even though it's doubled in price over the last year or so) and there's very little that can go wrong with a wood burner (yours much be ancient for the door to go). Given the power supply issues you've had I'd go for a woodburner, I've yet to see a pellet burner that can give out anywhere near as much direct heat as a woodburner (though I think they are better for central heating).

On a purely financial basis, the amount I paid for wood last year (more than enough for this winter) would have bought me about 1 month worth of pellets.

[Kneerly Down]

In the UK if I bought enough wood to last me a month of our log burners being on sufficiently enough to heat most of the house, then it's the same price as my gas and electricity combined for the same period. A log burner in the UK is nice to have if you can afford one.
Although to be fair that's kiln dried wood chopped and delivered to my door all nicely packaged in ton bags, I could get it cheaper if I was willing to chop it and store it myself to dry it out.

About 1/4 of our heating is from the 3 wood burners we have around the house.
I've paid the sum total of [no idea] on petrol and 2SO plus some consumables for the Stihl, plus re-roofing the wood store after a couple of storms laid waste to it.

I'm pretty low on properly seasoned wood at the moment though...poor planning on my part.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Checked one of my investment accounts today.

My shares in solar power are up 163% since 2021!

Energy crises aren't all bad

[Count Steer]

Checked one of my investment accounts today.

My shares in solar power are up 163% since 2021!

Energy crises aren't all bad

My hedge against rising fuel costs of BP and Shell shares have done rather well recently...and they paid dividends regularly too.

[Mussels]

My fixed rate just finished and I have a gen1 smart meter turned dumb. I thought that as the government had controlled all the prices I may as well switch back to British gas so my meters are 'smart' again.
Not sure how but BG still manage to be significantly more expensive for both standing charges and usage for electric and gas.
BG quote
Electricity
Standing charge 42.679p/day 35.4p per kWh
Gas
Standing charge 28.485p/day 10.295p per kWh

E.ON
Electricity
Energy Price Guarantee 40.646p/day 31.84p/kWh
Gas
Energy Price Guarantee 27.128p/day 6.42p/kWh
Have I missed something

Edit: I may have missed the ofgem cap change in a few days but I thought that was just a shift to increase standing charges and decrease usage rates, thereby discouraging people from investing in green energy.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Did my first "Saver Session" on Octopus yesterday. They give you £3 back for every unit of leccy you don't use (compared to your average) between 18:30 and 19:30.

Still waiting to see how I did!

[Kneerly Down]

Still no sign of being able to get a smart meter installed. Waited about a year with Bulb and now a month with Octopus, with no sign of anything moving forward. Really annoying as I have a lot of ability to shift electricity usage.