Excessive gas consumption

[scatmanjohn]

I am paying between £8- £14 per day in the middle of winter for heating, hot water and other gas usage

£11 per day. 9 hours usage= £1.20 p/h


My Bill for Dec (i read my meter every month and pay it off each month)

£151 Divided by 28 days= £5.40 per day ..5 hrs usage per day=£1.08p/h

I'm on a BG click energy online tariff.

Your problem is you have your heating on too much...do you really need 20 deg.
Turn it down to 17 and put some clothes on.

 

[leonine98]

Have just spoken to Worcester Bosch who think the boiler, which has a maximum heat output of 25kwh is far too small for the property which has 19 radiators and it is having to work flat out all the time to heat the house instead of modulating down. They have said that flat out the boiler will consume 2.97 cu metres of gas per hour which at say 9 hours per day comes to 27 cu metres or 300 kwh at say 4p (on average) which is £12 per day or £84 per week. They advise a new boiler with a much higher output so it can modulate down. Does this sound plausible?

 

[mogget]

They advise a new boiler with a much higher output so it can modulate down. Does this sound plausible?

That they're trying to get you to buy a new boiler sounds very plausible.

A new boiler might extract a bit more heat from the gas - but there's no point in oversizing it. If your current boiler is capable of heating the house and hot water, it is adequately sized.

Nineteen radiators sound like quite a load to me. You can estimate the total load by looking in the stelrad elite catalogue

http://www.stelrad.com/UK/docs/elite.pdf

and viewing the outputs for radiators similar to yours.

Assuming that all the gas is being properly burned, the heat is going somewhere - out the flue, lost through draughts, open loft hatch, open staircase, through extractor fans, up chimneys etc. The laws of physics demand it.

So, providing it's been confirmed that your boiler and gas meter are functioning properly, you will have to find how the heat is being lost, before choosing what to do about it.

I may have missed it earlier, but what temperature are you heating living room, bedrooms, bathrooms to? Do you have an attic room?

 

[heatingman]

a large 4 bed detached london home, is it victorian? with high ceilings.
Do you have an attic room?
19 rads = big house which = big heating bills.
Gas is not a cheap energy source anymore. To be comfortable and cozy I'd expect an annual gas bill in region of 1200 to 1500.
Your summer bills for hot water will be the same as a 2 bed flat (depending on use & occupants) but the winter is a different situation. I spend over 2.5k annually and I'm zoned and controlled up to the eyeballs . I'd rather be warm and skint than cold.

 

[Dan Robinson]

[edit]

sorry I waffle....

 

[namsag]

Gas bill in today £500 where did i put that bypass .

 

[D_Hailsham]

Have just spoken to Worcester Bosch who think the boiler, which has a maximum heat output of 25kwh is far too small for the property which has 19 radiators and it is having to work flat out all the time to heat the house instead of modulating down.

I stand corrected. I was quoting the outputs of the later 35cdi II RSF; the older models are only 25kW heating output, but 35kW to hot water.

1. WB are in the business of making money, so they will want to sell you a boiler, even if you do not need one.

2. You may have 19 rads, but what size are they? I bet they don't add up to 25kW. Use Stelrad Elite Catalogue to estimate the output of your rads.

3. Your rads may even be oversized for the house. Use the Sedbuk Boiler Calculator to find out what size boiler you should have. But be aware that this calculator assumes a conventional (not combi) boiler and included 2kW for hot water; so you need to deduct 2kW from the final total to find your heating requirement. If this is greater than 25kW, you may require a larger boiler - but you would have a very large uninsulated house to need that size boiler.

Please post the results of the Stelrad rad calculations and the Sedbuk boiler calculation.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I agree,

We have some very large properties where we installed 24kW boilers properly adjusted and working very well.

My own house is fairly modest - 6 rads, towel rail (on 24 hours) underfloor for living room and kick space in the kitchen.

3 bedroom terrace (with passageway down the middle)

The boiler is hobbled at 7kW for the CH. (I have disconnected the weather comp for a while as part of an experiment.

 

[Homesafe]

I agree,

We have some very large properties where we installed 24kW boilers properly adjusted and working very well.

My own house is fairly modest - 6 rads, towel rail (on 24 hours) underfloor for living room and kick space in the kitchen.

3 bedroom terrace (with passageway down the middle)

The boiler is hobbled at 7kW for the CH. (I have disconnected the weather comp for a while as part of an experiment.

surely you won't get warm at 7kw unless you put Roomstat up to say 25/27?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Honeywell CM67NG for the Underfloor zone & kick space, CMZone for the rads


Got home tonight and the place was roasting.

Maximum setting for thermostats is 21. I wear T-shirts all year, and 3/4 length trousers even in in the snow.

My office PC and server do throw out a fair bit of heat and the boiler is in there as well, so I suppose you can discount one room and rad.

Decent insulation and proper controls play an important part.

 

[namsag]

Why would he not get hot at 21

 

[Bambergaspipe]

We have a 10 year old Worcester Bosch 35CDI boiler. Possibly, a little undersized as its heating output is 25 and water 10 and we have 18 radiators.

Yeah a bit undersized.

Central heating experts have visted but no one can find out why we have such excessive consumption.

A factor might be the fact you have 18 rads and you are murdering the boiler to compete with that , it`s only a combi, not what you need , it`s like a big place, depends on the size of the house/ flats whatever , more details mate. Sorry, it`s a 4 bed detached, is it on Everest it must be massive.

 

[Homesafe]

Why would he not get hot at 21

i imagined a 7kw heat output for a 3 bed hous might not be enough output
but obviously am wrong
some new build are extremely insulated with dot and dab walls and low ceilings etc.
my house is also 3 bed but needs at least 12kw to get it warm,
and the rads are a tad oversized so i have RS on 19/19.5 no zoning just TRV,s.
wonder if i could have it a bit lower

 

[namsag]

Not saying its big enough but 21 is 21 and still heats you up the same no matter how much or how little heat is put in to achieve that temp

 

[Dan Robinson]

Mine is 1920's solid walls - uPVC windows and oors - moderate to poor roof insulation.

Bathroom external on ground floor with three outside walls and sloped roof.