DraughtBusters

Energy saving advice and help

Covid recovery package to include vouchers to help pay for energy saving retrofits

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Vouchers of up to £5000 to help pay for energy saving home improvements are one of the measures expected to be announced by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in tomorrow’s (Wednesday 8 July 2020) statement about the government’s Covid-19 economic recovery plan.

Read more here: https://www.theparliamentaryreview.co.uk/news/homeowners-to-receive-vouchers-of-up-to-5-000-for-home-insulation

Also here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/06/chancellor-set-to-announce-3bn-green-investment-package

It looks like vouchers for £5000 will be available for home owners and for people living in energy poverty £10,000. It is possible that Reading Community Energy Society may be able to help with administering the process. We at DraughtBusters ate very keen to help you reduce your energy use.

Lockdown Actions

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Simple improvements

Draughtproofing  – windows, doors, floors, ceilings, penetrations, round pipes, beside wires in ceiling roses etc 

Check insulation, replace any missing or displaced pieces, upgrade loft insulation to 400mm.

Replace heating controller and thermostat with a better form of control like a programmable room thermostat or smart controller like Hive or Nest.

Draught seal under window boards, round loft hatch architraves, round service pipes, through floor boards and under skirtings.

Seal draughts and air infiltration coming into your first floor void.

Add insulation to hot cylinder and the nearby pipes

Preventative maintenance

Insulate pipes and cisterns in the loft, replace ball valves or at least the ball valve washer, check cistern lid and cistern insulation

Overhaul incoming mains stop tap, check water board outside stop cock

Clean and very lightly silicone oil all window ironmongery patio doors.

Adjust kitchen cupboard doors, refit buffers, replace broken hinges and drawer runners, tighten loose handles

Internal doors, wipe hinges with silicone wipe, clean, adjust latches, tighten loose handles, very tiny squirt of silicone oil into lock part.

Service kitchen, utility and bathroom taps

Aspirations

Reduce heat loss and energy use

Wall insulation aim to achieve a U value of 0.1

Ceiling insulation aim to achieve a U value of below 0.1

Floor insulation insulation aim to achieve a U value of 0.2

Windows and doors, forget double glazing and plan on having triple glazing.

Build your own house – start deciding what it should be like now.

An opportunity has presented itself whereby the above goals can be moved forward on a scale that we have so far only been able to dream of. This is the TVB Smart City ClusterChallenge Fund which calls for bids to install monitoring systems that can record temperature, humidity, occupancy, CO2 (indicative of occupancy/ draughtiness/ ventilation) and energy use with a view to implementing interventions that will reduce energy use and help with problems of damp, mould and condensation. We are involved as a partner in a bid for this funding.

Although our group did not get the funding we will be doing some monitoring in problem properties and taking a keen interest in other peoples activities in this area.

UPVC Door Problems

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Remarkably this year 2017 we have seen for the first time a lot of problems with uPVC doors. In previous years we rarely saw problems with these doors.

It is generally possible to adjust both uPVC and aluminium doors and we particularly like this little video which give a good explanation of how to adjust door latches.  We would like to reiterate how important it is to ensure that the door still locks!  Due to the fact that with uPVC doors the frames are made from plastic cheaper varieties can use screws that fix only into the plastic making adjustment difficult and if overtightening happens then larger screws may be needed, where the screws that hold the keep bar are housed into the plastic frame it is almost impossible to get satisfactory results. In theory it should be possible to get a new keep plate but in practice this is virtually impossible and fitting new lock mechanisms to PVC doors is really a factory operation and needs the frame in the factory too.

Digital Camera

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PM lends support

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Prime Minister Theresa May has written to Reading’s Repair Cafe and DraughtBusters thanking them for the work they do in helping create a society that works for everyone:-

10 DOWNING STREET

LONDON SW1A 2AA

THE PRIME MINISTER    

Dear Mr Cowling                                                                                                                                6 February 2017

Thank you for your email of 13 December 2016. I am sorry for the delay in replying.

I appreciate your invitation to the events at Repair Cafe Workshop on 15 January and 19 February. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the former and pressures on my diary will prevent me from joining you at the latter.

I would, however, like to take this opportunity to thank you for your work to support the local community through the DraughtBusters project. I was encouraged to read about the excellent work done to support over 200 households in Reading. I am sure the energy bill savings will have a huge impact for lower income households who are facing the costs of keeping warm. Initiatives such as this can play an important role in my vision to create a society that works for everyone.

I wish you every success for the future.

Yours sincerely 

 

 

See link to the original of the letter here 

 

A project of

Transition Town Reading

Partnered with

Reading Borough Council

Supported by

Reading Rotary Club