We have storage heaters and are stuck with paying our provider and not changing because we have a system whereby they send power when they have more than they need, to give us cheapest rate. No ways can we ‘shop around’!
I know nothing about it but can you look at a ground source heat pump? Very eco friendly and money saving long term. We found bottled gas got more and more pricey and only use it for the cooker so power cuts don’t stop us eating and drinking hot drinks! I’d have solar panels on the roof if it ever saw the sun in Winter! (It doesn’t!) you could have a little wind turbine, I suppose!
ps Can you get that thin metal type insulation and line everything with it?
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Hi, Catrin and Aran.
Starting with the pump, if it’s not making any buzzing sound, it sounds like it’s not working. It will be hot even if its not working as that’s how far the hot water is getting. Also it will be giving off it’s own heat in any case - a bit like a lamp bulb. Best not to run it in this condition. It’s not a big job to change one (or have it changed).
Regarding night storage heaters - One of my aunts had these many years ago. I don’t know if the heaters are the same now, but these ones contained thermal bricks which heated up during cheap rate periods and gave off their heat gently afterwards, a bit like a battery. The problem was that their heating effect was fairly slow, so if the heat was lost for any reason, eg. opening a door, the re-heating took a long time. This was ok for her normally, as she tended to stay put, but as a lively young family we spoilt it when we visited her. Personally, I wouldn’t consider them unless they are already fitted or if you have some somewhere. As mentioned, you will need to be on “Economy 7” to make any saving, but even then saving isn’t guaranteed. I found this:- I hope it helps.
John.
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Thank you a so much for your invaluable input! Certainly gave us a lot of food for thought.
We had a plumber here last night and have decided to go with LPG central heating. It seems the easiest, quickest, the most efficient and in the long run the most economical option for my mother in law. We also have a double glazing company coming tomorrow to measure up for new windows and doors and are soon to be having a new bathroom fitted. So it’s all go! 
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This stuff in the roof makes a huge difference. http://www.kingspaninsulation.co.uk/applications/application/Roofs.aspx
I’m bunging this in an outbuilding and it now retains heat better than house. 20’ x 12’ building stays warm with one small oil-filled electric radiator on lowest setting. It’s blydi cold and wet here too😀
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That sounds like an extremely good idea. Which of the 18 million options on that page did you go with?
Go for this one and you’ll have space to park a little run about for your Mum…
http://www.kingspaninsulation.co.uk/Products/Styrozone/Styrozone-Car-Parks/Overview.aspx
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Sorry, it lost the direct link. Ours is a pitched roof so I just used sheets. If you shop around you can get slight seconds which drops the price a lot e.g http://www.building-supplies-online.co.uk/building-materials/insulation/kingspan-insulation/kingspan-thermapitch-roof-insulation-boards-tp10.html
Fab, diolch yn fawr iawn! 
Prynhawn da, DIYers!
Just thought I’d post a quick update on our chalet situation.
So all the radiators are in for the central heating system, as well as most of the pipework underneath the structure. There’s more pipework to be done inside, where there’s no access from underneath the building. Then the boiler and gas tanks need to be installed and connected. We should have the whole heating system up and running by the beginning of next week!
Alongside this work the new bathroom is in the process of being installed in the small front bedroom. We decided that the original static caravan bathroom was too small, so that’s being turned in to a storage cupboard.
A secondary galvanised corrugate roof is going on next week - thank goodness! We thought we could get away with a good covering of Polyurecoat on the whole of the middle caravan roof, but the more we moved about up there, the more small cracks and holes appeared! So as Aran was up there applying the compound to the joins and splits, more damage was being made without us knowing it! So that was a waste of a day and waste of money - but lessons learnt!
The galvanised corrugate should last the lifetime of the caravan and give us pretty much 100% guarantee against any more leaks. God knows I’m now quite fed up with moving buckets around to catch drips, mopping and laying towels! Time to get the place completely dry and liveable!
The double glazed UPVC windows and doors have been ordered and should be installed within the next 5 - 6 weeks!
The electrician is coming tomorrow to start on a complete rewire.
The septic tank specialists are coming on Monday morning to see about installing a submersible pump with macerator in the small cesspit outside the chalet, which will feed in to our septic tank.
Then last but not least we’ll look towards re-insulating the roof cavity, replacing the ceiling boards, removing the old log burner, cleaning, painting, laying flooring and doing all the nice stuff!
It feels like we’ve been totally hindered by bad weather on this project and I’ve had to learn quickly that the tiniest of holes will let in the hugest amounts of rainwater and that once it’s in, it goes everywhere!
I’ve really appreciated your input on here! It’s been invaluable!
Photos of the chaos coming up!
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Don’t think I posted this before, but here’s a floorplan of the chalet.
It’s not very clear form the picture, but the whole of the central section of the building, from one end to the other, is the old static caravan in its entirety. The two long extensions have been added like wings, top and bottom, to create one large space. Sections have been cut out of the sides of the caravan when building the extensions, in order to make the rooms bigger. The only room that remains as it was is the caravan’s original bathroom. An interesting concept!
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May I say that every flat roof I have had caused trouble. One look at a flat roof and I expect leaks! Any roof, I found was the thing most needing to spend money on! (Thinks, how’s that for bad grammar?). You are brave, the idea of building on to a static van is…er …brave!
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Got to admit that building looks a lot cooler than I was expecting given the description 
I’d love to have one of them!!!
Hope this link works - here’s an album of the chalet showing before, during and after pictures…
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Never mind the snazzy chalet - your garden is lovely!
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