Rented house and poor BER

Hailhail1967

I see the minister has just announced some more funding is to be made available for retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient. and has set aside money to make government buildings more energy efficient.

BostonB

Ray Palmer wrote: »

...Just buy some thermometers and get some hard data. Don't put the by the window as it won't be accurate....

I assume you're thinking of ambient/room temperature. The reason for monitoring spot temperature at windows is to detect leaks, draughts, you'll get hot/cold spots.

http://www.degreedays.net/infrared-thermometer

There also the smoke method.

BostonB

Hailhail1967 wrote: »

...How is someone who is doing something to make money any thing whatsoever related to me paying money to have a home? I...

You're (maybe) tied to a contract. You need to LL to improve the property = spend money. LL won't spend it if they don't have it, or they think they don't have to. That how they are related.

From a practical point of view you'll get the best outcome by engaging in a reasonable way with the LL like you have done.

Hailhail1967

BostonB wrote: »

You're (maybe) tied to a contract. You need to LL to improve the property = spend money. LL won't spend it if they don't have it, or they think they don't have to. That how they are related.

From a practical point of view you'll get the best outcome by engaging in a reasonable way with the LL like you have done.

Ya I suppose that does make them related.

Anyway as I have always said I never blamed the landlord in any sort of legal way. I do believe this house is damaging my health and there is major problems with heat and heat loss (not illegal obvious). To that end I know the LL does not have to do diddly, I believe he should for his own benefit do something. I also asked about different ways of getting out of my lease, that was as a last resort ultimately.

I accept this is my problem.

Ray Palmer

BostonB wrote: »

I assume you're thinking of ambient/room temperature. The reason for monitoring spot temperature at windows is to detect leaks, draughts, you'll get hot/cold spots.

http://www.degreedays.net/infrared-thermometer

There also the smoke method.

Except spot temperature won't work. It is and will be colder by most windows bar very high grade ones.
You can be sure it is colder by a single glaze window. The same reason you don't take the temperature at the radiator. That is why curtains exist. Smoke test is best to check for draughts. Ambient temperature is the way you want to check comfort.
Again op never seems to have mentioned draughts.
Hail
What was in the budget? Last year they announced it they actually were reducing it for most people.

I suspect the LL will do something to placate you but not much can be done in a week unless he replacing windows.

Hailhail1967

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Again op never seems to have mentioned draughts.
Hail
What was in the budget? Last year they announced it they actually were reducing it for most people.

I suspect the LL will do something to placate you but not much can be done in a week unless he replacing windows.

To be fair there doesn't seem to be draughts, its astonishing to me how cold it is beside a double glazing window.

I only caught it for a second but they put another €39 million into a fund to help people who are retrofitting. No idea about anything else, maybe that's even a cut for all I know :-)

Ya I assume the landlord expects to come back and I will have had the heating on and the house will be warm and he can say "ah see you didn't have the heating on long enough before". That's not the case though.

But I have no reason to doubt him for now, either way I will have the option of moving house. As I said I will change tact if nothing is done.

Threshold advised me to request permission to assign the lease, but obviously I would probably never get someone into the house without deceiving them and I wouldn't do that.

BostonB

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Except spot temperature won't work. It is and will be colder by most windows bar very high grade ones.
You can be sure it is colder by a single glaze window. The same reason you don't take the temperature at the radiator. That is why curtains exist. Smoke test is best to check for draughts. Ambient temperature is the way you want to check comfort.
Again op never seems to have mentioned draughts.
...

A draught might be into the wall space. It may also travel and appear somewhere else like under the skirting. or simply that the wall will be cold negating any insulation in there. Its doesn't have to be a pop video like hair blowing in the wind, when you stand in front of it.

Checking window temps can also highlight a problem if one window has different temps to another.

http://thermalimagingphotos.climatefriendlybradfordonavon.co.uk/how-to-guide-heat-loss-link/

sethasaurus

"You blocked your vents and you have a fire going?"

"The vents are critical in a room/house with a gas fire. You should also have a CO2 detector, especially if you are using an open fire. "

Fire? Hell no! Fireplaces are only about 20% efficient anyway and we don't have the old high-backed rocking-chair that granny used to shield herself from the draft and collect the radiated heat.

The wood we can afford won't burn unless we spend extra money on oversized firestarters, and the fires (gas or wood) burn room air anyway (nice cold air sucked in via vents and all the other nice gaps which create drafts - up through the floor and under/around doors). It's an Edwardian nightmare!

If I had the fire on again I'd unblock the vent to help minimise the other drafts.

A little 2kW fan heater fills the room with warm air in about 5mins. Not so bad once we get all the drafts fixed.

It took about a year to tweak the timing for the heating to switch on/off through various seasons. Latest gas bill was 85 euro for Oct-Nov. Elec was about 150.
OK we haven't had snow yet but that's about 150 down on last year's bills.

BostonB

I don't really follow that, do/dont have a a fire...anyway...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056497391

runawaybishop

sethasaurus wrote: »

Fire? Hell no! Fireplaces are only about 20% efficient anyway and we don't have the old high-backed rocking-chair that granny used to shield herself from the draft and collect the radiated heat.

Is your fireplace situated 6-7 foot off the ground in order to extract the warm carbon monoxide which rises? If not, you need a vent. Its not something to be acting cavalier towards.

Ray Palmer

BostonB wrote: »

A draught might be into the wall space. It may also travel and appear somewhere else like under the skirting. or simply that the wall will be cold negating any insulation in there. Its doesn't have to be a pop video like hair blowing in the wind, when you stand in front of it.

Checking window temps can also highlight a problem if one window has different temps to another.

http://thermalimagingphotos.climatefriendlybradfordonavon.co.uk/how-to-guide-heat-loss-link/

I think you are overestimating how well a thermometer will work. Lots of calcs involved. Don't expect a perfect result from a simple gauge easily available compared to full thermal imaging. Keep it simple to check the problem.

Hailhail1967

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I think you are overestimating how well a thermometer will work. Lots of calcs involved. Don't expect a perfect result from a simple gauge easily available compared to full thermal imaging. Keep it simple to check the problem.

Hey guys just a quick Q, what sort of thermometer could I get, where would I get one that will be reasonably accurate or what kind of one to get?

Have no idea and don't want to waste my time with a useless one?

Ray Palmer

Hailhail1967 wrote: »

Hey guys just a quick Q, what sort of thermometer could I get, where would I get one that will be reasonably accurate or what kind of one to get?

Have no idea and don't want to waste my time with a useless one?

A cheap electronic one from a discount store will do. Get 3 or 4 and place them around the house. The digital display is easiest to read.
You never said if you have curtains or where rads are etc. Rads under windows are common but actually a terrible idea. The heat tends to just go out the window. The reason it is like that is to keep wall space free. If curtains cover the radiators you make it worse for heating. Sorry if that sounds obvious but no idea of the set up.

Hailhail1967

The worst two rooms are the bedroom and sitting room. The rads are not under the windows in these. The bedroom has an en-suite which has a small rad and the bedroom has about a 4 foot double rad. Blinds and very heavy curtains, lined etc. Sitting room has maybe 5 foot double rad. Blinds and also heavy lined curtains.

Only room the rad is under window is a back bedroom which is basically not used, door is closed and not opened at all.

Ray Palmer

Are you leaving one room un heated completely? Is the bath room completely part of the house? You mentioned a garage is that on the side or a room above it?

Hailhail1967

Garage is on the side, no room above it. Bathroom is completely part of the house yes. No not unheated just not used.

sethasaurus

runawaybishop wrote: »

Is your fireplace situated 6-7 foot off the ground in order to extract the warm carbon monoxide which rises? If not, you need a vent. Its not something to be acting cavalier towards.

Everybody here has to be a frickin' comedian...
Jeez Louise, read what I'm writin'

I'm not being cavalier, I'm just not afraid of a fire that hasn't been lit.
Actually I don't need a vent. Because I'm not burning anything - gas or wood.
Like I said, IF I had a fire again I'd unblock the vent.
But that won't be happening because the affordable wood is damp and the fire burns room air and is highly inefficient and expensive to run.

Guess what kids? The new way (well, it is kinda old now) is to burn outside air. It's been done for ages, but Ireland seems to be intent on doing things the old way (e.g. burning turf (aargh!) and burning room air in these old houses with Swiss cheese for walls).

*walks off and acts cavalier towards the living-room vent*... "Oho, I don't need you, you vent! Vents.. pfft"


Back on topic, If I was the OP I would see if I can find any better places to live.

runawaybishop

sethasaurus wrote: »

Everybody here has to be a frickin' comedian...
Jeez Louise, read what I'm writin'

You wrote that you don't need vents because you have an open fire. This is wrong and dangerous. Even if you do not light the fire you are massively increasing the chances that when the fire is lit it will not be remembered or known that the vents are closed. Not my problem anyway, take care.

sethasaurus

runawaybishop wrote: »

You wrote that you don't need vents because you have an open fire.

Nope, didn't write that..

The open fire is in the dining room, where there is no vent and the fire draws from under the 2 doors - one from the kitchen (which draws air under the leaky kitchen door) and one from the hall (lots of cold air from varous leaks in floorboards, etc).

The gas fire is in the living-room (one vent plugged up) and disabled.
You have a point about memory so I've put a note on the gas valve - "unblock wall vents before use".

In any case, the numerous leaks in the floorboards and around doors, etc provide a good flow of air. We have 'vents' all over the place.