Got the heater out yet?

[wendy-cake 0]

This morning was very chilly when I woke up.

[sakebomb 0]

Cranked the stinky heater a couple of times in the last week. Temps are definetely down unlike the oil price.

[grungy-gonads 54]

The old toyu has gone up quite a lot since April when I last bought some. I was quite surprised at just how much.

[Ocean11 0]

The price of stinky kero plus the discomfort of living in an 80s Japanese house is making the idea of building a Sekisui Heim zero-heating cost house look more attractive.

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
The price of stinky kero plus the discomfort of living in an 80s Japanese house is making the idea of building a Sekisui Heim zero-heating cost house look more attractive.

Now if only the price of gasoline would make people drive more efficient cars

[soubriquet 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
The price of stinky kero plus the discomfort of living in an 80s Japanese house is making the idea of building a Sekisui Heim zero-heating cost house look more attractive.

So how does that work then?

We burn kero for heat, but have an outside boiler and central heating. No smell, no condensation.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

Whe i lived in nagano, my girlfriend and i bought an electric blanket, in combination with shared body heat was great. Would wake up in the morning to a balmy indoor temprature of 1 degree celcius.

 

However, this time with no girlfriend nor electric blanket, i am using 3 quilts, a toque, a vivid imagination and a heater set to 14 degrees.

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Oyuki kigan:
Whe i lived in nagano, my girlfriend and i bought an electric blanket, in combination with shared body heat was great. Would wake up in the morning to a balmy indoor temprature of 1 degree celcius.

So using electric blankets
Are the dangers just old wives tales?
Or are there real risks?

[NoFakie 45]

We've not talked to that many Japanese housebuilders but all the big ones seem to spend a small fortune on sales and promotion. That Sekisui Haim model looks quite good, but its a question of how difficult it is to plan and fit the solar system. The other aspects of the house, airtightness, insulation, all-denka, underfloor heating, etc., can be done by most builders, some of whom will offer you more flexibility and possibly better value. Sekisui reckon 1 in 10 solar houses are theirs, and that is pretty impressive.

 

We've got central heating too, but I bet it will use a lot of kero when the time comes. I've bought a timer switch and I'm going to experiment to see if its cheaper to turn it off overnight. Its on all the time otherwise.

[rigor mortis 0]

yep, getting cold

I can smell the snow!

[Ocean11 0]

The Sekisui houses are built up with prefabricated steel or wooden frames bolted together so they're pretty earthquake resistant. Then they're well sealed and insulated, and topped off with solar panels. Apparently if you're tight-fisted with your electricity and turn unnecessary appliances and lights off, you can get close to zero grid electricity use for the whole house (on Shikoku anyway. And my goal would be to turn a profit. Obviously.).

 

Certainly the Sekisui salesman is persistent, but he's also exceptionally well informed and actually honest. The overall performance of their houses appears to be superior to other prefab makers, and to all wooden house builders.

 

Finding the right bit of land at the right price is the major problem.

[big-will 7]

Are they really really expensive as well?

[Ocean11 0]

From about 15 million yen, and the same again for the land.

[soubriquet 0]

What size block? 150m2 costs about 2.5 million yen here.

[Ocean11 0]

It varies wildly with the location and owner. 15 million would be anywhere between 30 and 100 tsubo depending on the location.

[minus 1]

Friggin' cold this morning it was. I was late getting up because of it, just couldn't get myself to do it. Late for work.