Thursday 15 October 2015

Green heating!

I am sorry to be banging on yet again about my heating. Since the day I drove home from the hospital a couple of weeks ago finding a warm house as if by some miracle , the system has not been on since! It has not been for lack of trying....
A young man rang me yesterday to tell me that for old people they now had government funding to provide a wonderful new green system for heating which would save me a lot of money. I snorted!
I explained that the system put in three years ago had indeed saved me money.....I hadn't used much oil at all since...he retreated...
It was cold here yesterday...no heating yet again...I rang the plumber who arrived promptly and lo by some magic he got the system working again. He explained that it was not a permanent solution...it was a one off...what I really needed was an electrician and the trusted local one was on holiday!
The house became wonderfully warm. One radiator in the hall which has not been on for three years got hot! At the same time the heated towel rail in the bathroom stayed cold...
I am getting used to the ideosyncratic system but it took an effort to turn it off again last night...I have no idea whether it will come on again today!
So this green new system has indeed saved oil...my carbon foot print is tiny. But the whole system is unreliable, ideosyncratic and just plain dodgy.
I discussed ways and means yesterday of achieving a reliable system....storage heaters were mentioned and dismissed...
Facing the on set of winter leaves me in a quandary. I have no idea what to do next....but the message here is that if someone rings you with a wonderful new way of saving oil whilst going green be wary...if it sounds too good to be true it probably is....

2 comments:

Ray Barnes said...

I'm so sorry you are having heating problems again Jean. It must be awful to have such a wilfull system in place.
The power of the inanimate strikes again.
Can you do anything to improve your insulation, to, so to speak, conserve what warmth you have?
I wish i could offer a solution but short of lighting fires in every room
(you could use leaflets advertising heating for fuel) I can't think what you can do.
Large old houses are so full of draughts. Will add a prayer to my list.X

Revjeanrolt said...

We did put in a loft insulation plus all our windows are double glazed...so once it's on it's quite efficient. It's just getting it on in the first place.....I am pinning my hope on the electrician who is back from his holiday tomorrow...thank you Ray...