High gas usage in small house

[SDBradfo]

Hi all,

I’d appreciate some help if anybody is able to.

My house only has two rads (one 2000mm wide double panel and one 1200mm single) and a towel rail.

I have a Glowworm Easicom 24c which is coming on to two years old. Heating is set to 65c. Our thermostat is set to 17 (I know it sounds cold but I think it’s more where it’s located, 17 feels “ok” in our house).

I think I am using a crazy amount of gas, according to Google the average is 30-35kwh a day, I’m using around 60kwh in my current setup.

Could this possibly be due to the flow being too hot given how few rads I have?

 

[CBW]

How long have you lived in the property? Have you always had high usage? Are you using any other gas appliances such as a fire and or cooker?

 

[Wayners]

Thinking everyone is using more than average at the moment tbh.
It's 19c here and I can feel slight cold draft coming from cooker hood extractor I'm going to deal with. Make sure you ain't getting cold drafts as I'm always looking for them.
Heat is being sucked out as - 6 here.
I'm expecting a least a £200 gas bill this month and we below average users normally.
Don't know what our daily gas usage is but 90p and hour I hear is a guide?

 

[SDBradfo]

How long have you lived in the property? Have you always had high usage? Are you using any other gas appliances such as a fire and or cooker?

Thanks for taking the time to reply

We’ve lived here years now, not really took much notice if I’m not until now! If I look at Octopus for Jan 2021, we used 1221kwh of gas

We have a gas cooker (sorry forgot to mention).


I’m tempted to try a higher flow rate to see if that makes a difference.

 

[CBW]

If you’ve never paid attention before, it might just be higher usage due to weather?

 

[SDBradfo]

If you’ve never paid attention before, it might just be higher usage due to weather?

Possibly but I did compare with a colleague the other day who lives in a four bedroom house and my usage last Winter (both comparing on the Octopus app) was much higher. Google also reckons average daily is 40kwh in the winter (my house is smaller than average)

 

[Old Salt]

Just posted this in the building forum……..

To give you a comparison I live in a 2 bed bungalow. 350’ish mm loft insulation, some new DG but some at least 20 years old. New extension but original build is early 60’s and I am using 65Kwh of gas to give 20.5 in lounge and 18.5 to 19 in other rooms. I added additional 100mm of loft insulation this autumn at a cost of about £100.

Electric oven and hob, combi boiler, 5 rads and 2 towel rails.

 

[Wayners]

This time last year I was working outside with just a jumper on all day. Was mild.
Got a bit cold after 3pm when sun dropped but nothing like this.
Really is very cold now hence we are burning fuel

 

[RandomGrinch]

Could this possibly be due to the flow being too hot given how few rads I have?

I may be wrong, and am happy to be corrected, but if the flow temperature is too high, your boiler is not going to condense as well. As a consequence, your boiler is going to perform with an efficiency approaching that of a non-condensing boiler. This might only be a loss of efficiency of between 10 and 20% (and probably nearer to 10).

To give you a comparison I live in a 2 bed bungalow.

For us, 2 bed mid-terrace; 6 rooms; 6 rads; thermostat at 18.5°C; non-condensing boiler; annual gas usage 5500kWh - averaging 15kWh/day, or 60kWh/day for the 3 months we actually have the heating on!

If I look at Octopus for Jan 2021, we used 1221kwh of gas

I guess they are collecting the readings from a smart meter?
Can you start taking your readings manually, just for comparison purposes?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Are you using any other gas appliances such as a fire and or cooker?

....and I wonder how many long showers and full baths aren't considered???