Latest news with #homeheating
CNET
16-05-2025
- General
- CNET
The Real Cost of Owning a Gas Fireplace
While the weather may be warm right now, it's never too early to start preparing for later seasons when it gets a little cooler. Especially if you live in locales that aren't blistering hot all year round. When it does get a little chilly, nothing beats the sound of crackling firewood and the warmth of a fireplace. It's the perfect way to unwind after a long day if you're feeling a chill. So why not just fire up your gas fireplace and run it during chilly days to keep you warm? Well, here's the thing: It comes at the cost of an increased utility bill. But just how much does it actually cost to run a gas fireplace? We'll walk you through what you can expect to pay as you consider making use of your fireplace when the right time comes around. (You can also find out how much it costs to run a space heater, and how much you can save by setting your thermostat to this temperature and by changing your furnace filters.) How do gas fireplaces work? While the more traditional image of a fireplace includes tossing logs on a fire, gas fireplaces have been growing in popularity. There are a number of reasons for this: primarily the fact that it's much simpler, more efficient, produces no mess and requires no clean-up. But not all gas fireplaces are created equal. There are two common types of gas fireplaces, vented and vent-free. A vented gas fireplace works via combustion, taking air from the outdoors through an outer vent, heating it, and redistributing it through the room to provide additional heat. A ventless system is more contained than that. It uses air already in the home, heats it and distributes it while producing moisture as a byproduct. Ventless gas fireplaces are more energy efficient but need to be managed and installed in a room of the proper size because of the moisture. A vented gas fireplace is less efficient but requires less management and is more of a one-size-fits-all approach to your heating needs. Easy Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills and Save Money Easy Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills and Save Money Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:03 / Duration 8:13 Loaded : 7.32% 0:03 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 8:10 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Easy Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills and Save Money What is the cost of running a gas fireplace? The first thing that you'll need to consider is the amount of space that you'll be heating. You'll want to make sure your fireplace is properly equipped to heat the space where it's being used. If you try to heat a space that's larger than the fireplace is capable of effectively heating, you'll run the risk of running up your energy bill. You'll also want to consider the energy efficiency of your gas fireplace. Ventless fireplaces typically experience significantly less wasted energy and continuously heat the air that is filtering through the space to keep you warm. Vented fireplaces are pulling air from an outer vent and heating it and can experience energy loss if the fireplace isn't properly sealed. This can add to your overall energy bill as your fireplace will be less efficient in heating your space. Finally, you need to consider the cost of gas in your state or municipality. Usually, your utility provider will tell you the cost of natural gas usage. This is typically expressed in cost per therm, which is equivalent of 100,000 British thermal units, or Btu. This is tricky since your fireplace will likely tell you its fuel consumption requirements in Btu per hour. You can expect this to be anywhere from 10,000 Btu per hour to up to 90,000 Btu per hour. To determine the cost of running your fireplace, take the cost of running it in Btu per hour, multiply it by the per-therm cost of gas in your area (the national average is $1.59), and divide that by 100,000 to get the cost per hour. Here's an example to help illustrate this, with a fireplace with a Btu rating of 30,000: (30,000 x 1.59) / 100,000 = 0.47. That means it will cost about $0.47 per hour to run your fireplace. If you run your fireplace for 8 hours a night, it will cost $3.76 a day. That can cost you $117 a month to run if you use the fireplace for 8 hours a day every single day. Do settings affect the cost of running a gas fireplace? Some gas fireplaces have settings available that allow you to adjust the level of heat. In effect, this also lowers the level of energy consumption, using less of the Btu than the fireplace is capable of using at its maximum capacity. If you run your fireplace at a lower setting, it can cut down your energy consumption by half, assuming the fireplace uses half of its full capacity at this level. A gas fireplace is a great way to provide yourself with the comfort of heat during the winter months. But it does come with a cost. Make sure you determine how much it will cost to run your gas fireplace during these months and budget accordingly, or you might be caught off guard at just how much it can cost to stay warm through the winter. The comfort of the heat is welcome, but that must be balanced alongside the potential cost. For more money-saving tips, check out seven simple ways to lower your utility bills this winter and how much you can save by turning off your lights at home.
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
How to get a free boiler or cheap home heating upgrades to cut your energy bills
THINKING about upgrading your home's heating to save on energy bills? Installing things like solar panels and heat pumps can save you thousands of pounds in the long term - but cost a small fortune to install. 1 Help is at hand from new funding schemes to get Britain to Net Zero, but the government has yet to confirm the details. Harriet Cooke glimpses into the future of home heating systems - and the decisions you'll soon be making. Boiler off the boil? Gas boilers in new homes could be banned as soon as next year, it emerged this week. It means newbuilds will be equipped with electric heat pumps or other non-gas heating systems, rather than gas. Those with existing gas boilers can keep on using them and there is no planned ban on selling them. So if you're thinking of getting an old boiler, you can still buy a new more efficient one, which might typically cost between £600 and £2,500 depending on the model and system type. The government's Energy Company Obligation scheme, and The Great British Insulation Scheme (also called ECO+), both provide funding, and you don't necessarily have to be on benefits. Talk to your energy company to see if you qualify. Upgrading an old boiler could save you around £300 a year on gas bills, figures from the Centre for Sustainable Energy shows, and it will last around 10 to 15 years. Case study: 'Our monthly bill has been cut from £90 to £35' Chris Bell, 69, a retired Royal Navy chief engineer, and wife Kim, 68 Chris Bell, 69, a retired Royal Navy chief engineer, and wife Kim, 68, have installed eight solar panels and a solar battery at their three-bedroom home in Gosport, Hampshire. He said: 'We didn't want all our money going on energy bills every month - that was our reason for doing it. 'We've still got our gas boiler for heating the radiators, but the real change for us is having free electricity. 'Our monthly energy bill has gone from £90 to £35, and this includes standing charges and a daily tank of hot water. 'We're also getting payments from our energy supplier for the solar power we sell to the grid, which we estimate will cover a good portion of the winter gas bill. 'The panels, battery and iBoost (a solar water heater) took a day to set up by a local company called EE Renewables and cost us just under £8,000. 'That's a chunk of our children's inheritance, but we spoke to them and they wanted us to go ahead. You hope that it will pay for itself in time, as well as adding to the value of the property.' Pump up your heating The government is super keen on replacing our gas boilers with heat pumps - although uptake has been low. The pumps work by gathering warmth from the air or ground and funnelling it into home radiators using electricity rather than gas. The average British Heat pump installation costs £4,415, after the government grant of £7,500 is applied. As well installing the pump, it may be necessary to fit bigger radiators, new pipes and improve the property's insulation, so planning permission may be needed. Servicing the pump usually costs around £200 a year, and it will typically last around 20 years. Suppliers like British Gas have online calculators to predict your future running costs with a pump, which will vary between properties. Although pumps are three times more efficient than boilers, electricity is four times more expensive than gas - but the price is predicted to fall. Octopus said the average home saves £280 by switching from a boiler to a heat pump run on a Cosy Octopus tariff, although savings can be up £545 depending on your type of home, heat pump, tariff, installation type and if you remove your gas meter. The government is considering plans to subsidise households to lease their heat pump until they paid off the cost, although this might work out to be more expensive in the short term, and for workers to pay for the installation through a salary sacrifice scheme. Solar panels They save money on your bills and can make you cash - but solar panels aren't cheap to install at an average £7,000. A typical household could save between £140 and £340 a year on energy bills — and make extra cash signing up to an export tariff to sell solar electricity back to the grid. This might be between £270 and £400 a year based on a 15p per kWh rate, but some tariffs pay more. The Energy Saving Trust estimates it could take between 11 and 14 years to recoup the cost of installing panels, so it's not a good financial idea if you're planning to move. Grants of up to £14,000 are available from the Energy Company Obligation scheme, but it isn't open to everyone. To be eligible you'll need to have household income less than £31,000 and be receiving certain benefits. Also check out the Home Upgrade Grant and Warmer Home Nest Scheme Wales. Conrad Hart-Brooke, 51, from Leeds Conrad Hart-Brooke, 51, from Leeds, spent £15,000 on 18 solar panels and a storage battery at his home in Leeds two years ago and reckons he'll make the money back in about six or seven years. The civil servant said after that he'll probably be making around £1,500 to £2,000 a year by selling electricity back. Last year he had a heat pump installed for £1,600, after getting a £7,500 government grant. For Conrad, the pump alone would not result in huge savings, he said, but combined with his solar panels and batteries he is saving about £500 a year compared with what he paid with his old combi gas boiler. Heat batteries Heat batteries, otherwise known as zero-emission boilers, are another green option if heat pumps are not suitable for your home. They are currently not eligible for the £7,500 grant in the boiler upgrade scheme or for VAT exemption, which heat pumps get. But the government is considering whether they should be. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is monitoring the use of heat batteries in fifty homes as a low-carbon alternative to gas heating, and the results would be published later this year. Common myths around energy consumption Gwilym Snook, appliance expert at quashed some commonly believed myths around appliances and energy consumption. MYTH – Your fridge freezer is cheaper to run when empty A commonly held belief is that your fridge freezer is more energy-efficient when it's empty as there isn't anything to cool. However, the reverse is true – Your fridge will operate most effectively when all its shelves are well-stocked. MYTH – Washing your clothes at higher temperatures cleans them better Most households across the UK wouldn't trust to wash their clothes at 30°C as they wouldn't believe it is an adequate temperature. But in fact, 30°C is more than sufficient for most of your clothes and will significantly help to reduce your energy costs by up to 50 per cent when compared to a 40°C wash. MYTH – Tumble dryers aren't eco-friendly Older models of tumble dryers were indeed energy guzzlers yet this myth that tumble dryers can't be energy-efficient has been blown out of the water in recent years. Enter the heat pump tumble dryer, a specially designed appliance that recycles warm air to dry your clothes at a much cheaper rate than their older counterparts. Did you know that running this dryer will cost 63p a cycle on average? A small fee which can be reduced even further this winter by looking to dry your clothes between 10pm and 8am during off-peak electricity hours. MYTH – Boiling water in your kettle is always energy-efficient While kettles are energy-efficient appliances, did you know it's easy to waste energy when bringing it to a boil accidentally? This can be done by filling your kettle to the brim every time you're brewing up. Instead, try to boil only the amount of water you need this winter. In the long run this small hack can help you save your money! MYTH – Energy-efficient appliances don't make a difference It's often believed that the A-G energy rating scale doesn't make any difference to your overall energy consumption. This isn't the case. Energy-efficient appliances such as those with high A ratings can significantly reduce your energy bills when compared to older, less efficient models. For example, replacing your old fridge-freezer with a newer energy-efficient one could save up to £100 a year on your electricity bills, which in the long run helps it pay for itself!
Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
A heat pump in every home is nonsense. Here is the real solution
If you're an environmentalist like me, you're expected to be in favour of heat pumps and when you're not it can be, let's say, eyebrow-raising. I'm interested in facts and figures, not sides and expectations, and I say the idea of a heat pump in every home is nonsense, economically and environmentally. And the idea of compulsion to make this happen is political suicide. Replacing gas in home heating is a big issue, possibly the thorniest problem we need to deal with en route to net zero. But a national heat pump switch is not the answer. It's a legacy of the Boris Johnson era and Labour should treat it as such, with extreme caution. First and foremost, it's an issue of affordability, not just
Times
08-05-2025
- General
- Times
Are heat pumps financially worth it?
Having grown up in a draughty house, Phil Hunter is still not used to the sensation of all his rooms being the same temperature. Until he installed a heat pump and new radiators in his Victorian semi in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in October, he had always taken it for granted that the way to stay warm was to crank up the boiler, turn up the living room radiators and close the doors. Now, however, he leaves them open. 'It just feels odd, when you've been brought up in the Eighties and Nineties,' he says. Whereas many gas boilers are designed to deliver quick bursts of heat on demand, his new heating system works for much of the day to keep the house at a steady 20C.
