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It's easier to act deaf or stupid.

To be a moderator on this site, you surely need a sprinkling of all five?

I just wonder at some of these claims made by 'eco' specialists. Our house was originally a Yeomans cottage built C1650. The walls are solid red brick, (bricks probably made on site) and sit on sandst

Not free but subsidised cavity wall and the loft I paid for. A point I'd like to make, insist on an AM appointment. They did mine late on and said there was ' just about' enough material to do my house. I had access to an infra red camera at work, used it as a scanner and the house looked like a Dalmatian! They were wrong. there was not enough in the hopper.

Much huffing and puffing and it never was done properly.

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7 hours ago, The Pianoman said:

Yes. had free cavity wall insulation. Not had free loft insulation as already have enough of it.

Will nip up into the loft when it gets cooler as where they left a certificate stapled to the rafters. That will have their details on it. Brew's comment above has also jogged my memory. It wasn't free but I did pay a nominal sum towards it. £70 rings a bell.

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8 hours ago, denshaw said:

Has any one had free cavity wall insulation ?

 

For several years, people would come round knocking on doors offering free cavity wall insulation. Is that why you are considering it ?

 

I never knew the name of the company involved; there were several doing the rounds and all were anonymous, in identikit white vans

 

It was free because it was actually paid for by govt grants. By the time it had been done, the guy I dealt with told me that the govt had changed the rules, resulting in several of the companies going out of business, so I’m surprised the free offers are still available.

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1 hour ago, denshaw said:

Just thinking about cavity wall and solar panels.

 

Don't believe all the hype about solar panels. The maximum output they quote is for a clear blue sky and only for about four hours. Your roof must face true North (not magnetic North 'ala your compass) to get the best performance.

 

They are a good idea and many post about how good they are but in truth they are not as good as the salesmen claim.

 

The payback period is open to argument depending on the deal they offer. The original Feed In Tariff was 41p per kWH for 25 years, the money coming from the 10% surcharge on everyone's energy bill. 

As of April this year the F I T has been cancelled,  you can get around 5p per kWH for one year at the moment (EoN) as an incentive.

 

It's easy to assume your'e making money or have free electricity, your'e not and you don't, at least not until the installation cost plus interest plus maintenance  are paid for and that is several years hence. The inverter has a similar life to a combi boiler (10/15 years) and cost's about £500 - £1000.

 

Given average weather in the UK and a South facing roof you can expect 3000kWH of generation.  Sounds good... but that's only in the daylight when you least need it.

 

Consider it carefully, they can be a good investment but nowhere as good as it was.

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The people in my village who've installed panels have all been 'oldies'. Some have died already and some are going that way. They never reap the benefits. Take the payback time quoted by the salesman and multiply it by two. Look at the actuarial tables to see how long you've got to live and then work out if you'll ever get into positive territory financially - probably not!

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We have solar panels and although we probably won't get our money back, I like seeing the smart meter displaying zero when I'm using the washing machine, dishwasher, kettle etc during the day!    (I've trained myself to put these appliances on where possible only during daylight hours). We also get back a few hundred pounds each year, which is nice.   

I also like the idea of using renewable energy and if we keep getting hot weather like this, why waste the sunlight?   I know someone on here will probably go into the energy costs of producing the solar panels, but I still like to feel I'm doing SOMETHING to help save our beautiful world - if not for me, for our grandchildren.  Actually 'getting our money back' is certainly not my prime motivation....

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It was years ago they where knocking on doors & offering loft insulation on our street think it was about 40 odd quid, a few years later my downstairs tap almost turned to a dribble & we where pulling loft insulation out of the tap, looked like one of these jokers must have chucked a handful in our water tank before he left?  The power flush cost around £600!

I thought they had stopped filling the cavity? Don't it cause damp? 

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9 hours ago, Brew said:

 

Don't believe all the hype about solar panels. The maximum output they quote is for a clear blue sky and only for about four hours. Your roof must face true North (not magnetic North 'ala your compass) to get the best performance.

 

I can assure you that the panels need to face due South. If they pointed north they would be in the shade  :)

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11 hours ago, denshaw said:

Just thinking about cavity wall and solar panels.

I also have solar panels. Only the free ones. All I get is free electricity during daylight hours and yes, they do generate electricity when the sun isn't out although it might not be much.

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35 minutes ago, The Pianoman said:

I can assure you that the panels need to face due South. If they pointed north they would be in the shade  :)

 

Put it down to old age and stupidity when a wrote North in stead of South...  :Shock:

 I did say South later in the post, does that count?

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I just wonder at some of these claims made by 'eco' specialists. Our house was originally a Yeomans cottage built C1650. The walls are solid red brick, (bricks probably made on site) and sit on sandstone footings. The house was extended and a new roof built in Victorian times. The front, sitting and dining room floors are either wood block on tar or quarry tiles on lime mortar. The loft was insulated 40 years ago and the windows replaced 3 years ago. There is no damp and we are really cosy. There are houses on our road that were built 8 years ago. When we have snow it melts much quicker on those roofs than ours, which indicates to me that heat is being lost faster. In the olden days the materials and building practices allowed a house to 'breath' so as not to collect moisture or damp.

 

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I knew what you meant, Brew.   Our panels face SSE and they still work very well - obviously not as well as they would do if they faced due south, but still OK.

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25 minutes ago, Brew said:

 

Put it down to old age and stupidity when a wrote North in stead of South...  :Shock:

 I did say South later in the post, does that count?

I, go on then :huh:

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23 hours ago, denshaw said:

Thanks, can you remember the companies name?

My cavity wall insulation was done by a firm called Miller-Pattison in 2008. I don't whether they still exist or not. They must have had Broxtowe Council approval for me to have had the grant for the work to be done.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/14/2019 at 6:54 PM, Cliff Ton said:

 

Maybe I'm Epic.

 

Very true!

But to me it's a record label, ;) 

 

In regard to Free Cavity Wall insulation..my local dentistry doesn't provide it! 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was very surprised when my Notts old farts bus pass worked in Florida = I just showed it to the bus driver & paid 25 cents for myself & Mrs same as American OF's do. Got loads of discounts for being ex military, or a 'veteran' as they called me, they even gave me a card saying 'Ex Active Military' to show shops/restaurants & it worked nearly everywhere...

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  • 1 month later...

I remember that we didn't get Family Allowance for the first child in 1967.  When did that change?  

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