Boiler gas consumption

I've always left bill paying to my wife and didn't pay much attention to our fuel consumption but not we have a smart meter and I'm suddenly interested . I'm surprised by how much gas we are using. The house probably isn't as insulated as well as it could be and that's something we'll look at. But also not sure if our boiler is using too much gas. It's a two year old Baxi Duo Tec 33, serviced annually. I've no reason to believe there's a problem and it's probably just my wrong expectation of how much gas it should use but would appreciate other people's experience. I turned the room thermostat right up for an hour so it was always calling for heat. In that hour we used 18 kw/h - about 1.6 cubic metres - costing 56p. The heat control knob for the boiler is turned back a bit from maximum (about the 8 o'clock position).

Thanks.

Ian

Have a look at the meter readings on your old bills to see how much gas you used in previous periods. If you do not have them they may be online.

You will probably be able to work out a typical cubic-metres-per-day in winter, and in summer. I know mine per calendar month, and can spot a hard winter or a mild autumn. I can also see the difference changes in insulation or controls make. A month averages out cold days and warm days.

A hour is too short a period as you may have been heating up the system from cold, or not.

You have to compare by actual metered usage, not by direct debit, bill amount, or supplier estimates.

When you've got that you can compare it to other people's usage, it will differ by house size, insulation, boiler type, and location. After that it will differ by occupants behaviour. Closing the internal doors, and using TRVs, save money without reducing comfort. Use a thermometer to check room temperatures, especially of unused rooms.

If you are in Bournemouth you will need less heat than in Aberdeen. Older houses need more than modern ones. Terraced houses less than detatched. Large more than small.

Hi John
Thanks for your advice. I understand most of that. Unfortunately, can’t really check bills as until recently we were only living here part time. But yes, forgotten we’ll be using less in summer anyway .

My main query was whether that boiler consumption looked right-ish.

Ian

It sounds like it used about half the boiler's maximum power, so plausible.

Cheers John. I think cardigans are making a comeback

Turn your boiler thermostat down a bit. Modern condensing boilers are at their most efficient when running at lower temperatures, and don't condense at all when the water coming back to them from the heating system is above 52°C. It should be as low as you can get it whilst still keeping your house warm. That should save you a bit

I looked this up a while back as I was curious. The average is 33~38kWh per day. My usage is about 31kWh per day averaged over the year including heating, water and cooking (hob). My house is double glazed, cavity wall insulation and about 300mm of loft insulation