Heating in rented property
Filed under Choosing a heating appliance, Space Heating.
May 23rd, 2010
We rent a large 4 bdrm house with a HRV installed but no heating. There is Gas and electricity. The place is freezing in the morning and in the evening. As we are only renting we don’t want to pay the cost for a heatpump and landlord will not do it.
What would be the best solution for us?
Problem too is, that one of us is watching TV at one end and the other is in the Office at the other end.
Thanks for your help.
2 Comments
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editor, August 15th, 2010 on 11:14 pm
Suzanne, I probably should have mentioned as well that the HRV system only really reduces condensation and wont do much for heating in winter, especially overnight and in the early morning. Best to put it down to its lowest setting when trying to heat. If you cant do this you may be better off with it off overnight and turned on again in thhe morning. Experiment with it and see if this advice helps. You might also want to look at some of the comments other people have made on DVS/HRV systems, and how to get the best out of them- one of the posts has over 40 comments.
Cheers, Sarah
editor, August 15th, 2010 on 11:08 pm
Hi Suzanne,
Pity your landlord isn’t willing to install more energy efficent heating. Either a heat pump or a flued gas heater would be a better option than the portable electric heaters you are probably having to use.
To keep the energy bill down you might want to consider upgrading the curtaining (you can take any curtains you pay for with you as long as yopu keep the landlord’s ones safe somewhere). Anothe option is to buy or make detachable thermal linings ( plain white or cream thermal backed material) and put them up behind the existing curtains to add more insulation. Block off draughts under doors and around the windows as well as you can. Try to heat the smallest possible area, eg can the TV go in a smaller room?
Watching TV, you can keep warmer by using a blanket and even a hottie.
Using a computer, you probably need a heater bought quite close but on a low setting to keep hands and feet from freezing.
Keep working on your landlord. The feedback we are getting through the HOme Energy Advice Centre is that more and more landlords are prepared to consider putting in insulation and heating. The subsidies that are available at the moment won’t be around for ever.
Best wishes.
Sarah Free