Gas meter accuracy - fit another along side ??

[maplecottage]

Having been a user of Oil Fired CH etc for the past 15 years, my move to a 'normal sized' 2 bedroom bungalow with gas fired installation is giving me some concerns regarding costs. Having just had a completely new CH system, 31KW combi (Ferolli HE31) fitted I'm staggered by the apparent gas consumption.

The house is unoccupied at the moment, we're only there at wekends whilst doing the renovation work. The heating is 'set back' to 10 C for Monday to Friday and set at 15 C for the weekend whilst we are working.

Having had the system running for about I month now, I've checked the meter and find that we have used 202 cubic meters (at a cost of £160 !!) - that surely can't be right, god knows what it would be if we actually lived there. We haven't started using the hot water yet either.

My first thoughts are that the meter could be at fault ?? Checking the web, it seems that there is a process for testing but I may incur costs esp if the meter is found to be OK but of course, this is only a one off. Does anyone know if it is possible to find a secondary 'own meter' on the house side of the BG one, to act as 'check and balance' ??

My thinking is that his would give me not only an emmediate comparison for this particular issue but also some ability to compare readings into the longer term.

Is this idea a non-starter ?? Should I cart myself off to the funny farm ??

Steve

 

[kevplumb]

Does anyone know if it is possible to find a secondary 'own meter' on the house side of the BG one, to act as 'check and balance' ??

yup but you will prob pay more for the meter than having it checked

 

[muggles]

Funny farm for you my friend...

You could have a secondary meter installed, but you'd need a CORGI registered installer with the relevant meter installation qualifications to do it, and this would cost you money.

Without knowing the power output and efficiency of your old oil fired boiler it's hard to say whether what you're experiencing is excessive or not. Having said that, £160 for a month is a lot. Have you actually had a bill or have you just read the meter and worked it out for yourself? Also, as you're renovating, has the heating been on with windows or doors removed, or left open?

If you're concerned about your meter I'd just get it tested, I would suspect that the cost of that will be less than the cost of having a second one installed. They don't go wrong all that often so I shouldn't worry about having two for comparison.

 

[maplecottage]

Hi Muggles,

thanks for the swift response.

I can get a 'brand new certified' meter (U6) for £50, obviously need the corgi to fit but I understand a test could cost me over a £100 so the figures didn't seem to bad to me esp given the longer term possible benefits.

The oil fired is a different and much bigger house hence my dismay at the heavy readings. The figures come from an estimated bill which I have then adjusted to meet the actual reading. It is in fact, £164.31 !!

Do we have doors and windows open - generally no and if that is the requirement, heating is turned off.

Loft has old insulation in, I've bought a load (60 rolls) of 200mm space blanket to put down - perhaps I'll do that before looking again at the meter issues.

Steve

ps. Funny farm is not far from here - won't need my satnav

 

[Master of None]

I watched a programme on tv where a couple had had a new metric meter fitted but the gas supplier was still using the imperial conversion which more than trebled their gas bill for a whole year. Could this be a factor.
PS. I live in a 2 bed bungalow and it costs around £50-60 a month for gas heating.

 

[muggles]

Hi Muggles,

thanks for the swift response.

I can get a 'brand new certified' meter (U6) for £50, obviously need the corgi to fit but I understand a test could cost me over a £100 so the figures didn't seem to bad to me esp given the longer term possible benefits.

The oil fired is a different and much bigger house hence my dismay at the heavy readings. The figures come from an estimated bill which I have then adjusted to meet the actual reading. It is in fact, £164.31 !!

Do we have doors and windows open - generally no and if that is the requirement, heating is turned off.

Loft has old insulation in, I've bought a load (60 rolls) of 200mm space blanket to put down - perhaps I'll do that before looking again at the meter issues.

Steve

ps. Funny farm is not far from here - won't need my satnav

If a meter test is that much (to be honest I've never had cause to look into the costs of it so I wasn't aware) then how about simply asking your supplier to replace your present meter if you suspect that it is faulty. You'll probably have to pay for the replacement but I see no reason why they wouldn't do it.

 

[smiffyuk]

Hi Surely a quick test for the meter is to calculate the output from the boiler by measuring the volume of gas used when boiler on full flame and check against the manufactures output

 

[mogget]

Hi Surely a quick test for the meter is to calculate the output from the boiler by measuring the volume of gas used when boiler on full flame and check against the manufactures output

You'd need to check the figure for the input of the appliance, not the output.

It wouldn't be a particularly accurate test but would show up any order-of-magnitude errors, such as metric/imperial confusion.

 

[maplecottage]

Hi Surely a quick test for the meter is to calculate the output from the boiler by measuring the volume of gas used when boiler on full flame and check against the manufactures output

If only - the boiler has a modulating burner and flame size varies according to it's own parameters + I don't know how to override this to get 'full flame'.

If I could work it, the manufacturer quotes max gas delivery (G20) as 3.33 m3/hour. Boiler is Ferroli Optimax HE31C - if anyone has got any ideas, all very much appreciated.

Steve

 

[htgeng]

Hi Muggles,
Loft has old insulation in, I've bought a load (60 rolls) of 200mm space blanket to put down - perhaps I'll do that before looking again at the meter issues.

It has been cold over the last month so I wouldn't be surprised if the insulation is poor, no cavity insulation, single glazed windows etc.

Your route of attack should be to completely remove all the old insulation which is probably ratty anyway. Its a dirty job, but worth doing. Vacuum out the rest with a henry or similar. Then you can do a proper job.

Its worth going overkill on the insulation. It might also be worth having a thermal imaging survey done to check the whole place for heat leakage. The cost of the survey would soon be paid back with the cost of the fuel wasted!

 

[smiffyuk]

Hi I thought that checking the rated output of the boiler was part of commissioning.
Full flame is easily achieved when you have a low starting temperature I have a modulating boiler and it always starts on full flame when cold and runs like this long enough to calculate the gas used if you use the test dials on the meter

 

[gavinda]

as smiffy says. gas rate the appliance. it only takes 2 minutes to do this. as its a combi you just run the hot water tap on max it shouldnt modulate down. of course if you get the boiler serviced and ask the engineer to check gas rate and modulatiion you can check that the heating is working correctly and not on max at all times

 

[gavinda]

as smiffy says. gas rate the appliance. it only takes 2 minutes to do this. as its a combi you just run the hot water tap on max it shouldnt modulate down. of course if you get the boiler serviced and ask the engineer to check gas rate and modulatiion you can check that the heating is working correctly and not on max at all times