Massive gas bill, Baxi Solo 3 60 PF

[ChrisR]

Lateshift you've told us how many units of gas you've used.
But Gas meters aren't calibrated in units, they're cubic feet or cubic metres, so we don't know anything!
Which is yours?

Turn the heating on and let the boiler run for 2 minutes, and tell us how much gas it uses.

Could be the gas pressure is low due to a faulty regulator. This would mean you aren't getting the energy out of each box of gas that you should. I hope sopmebody has checked the gas pressure, but that isn't clear from what you've said.
Have you got a gas hob or a fire? If so put it on full, and see if the flames fluctuate much when the boiler fires.

 

[big-all]

several points i can think of here

i am assuming the flat is very draughty as you have the heating on for so much off the day[yes i know i will get some stick for this point but like you i dont feel the cold ]

idealy turn off [or down]radiators in the house when rooms are not in

use

you should normaly only have the heating on for about 40 to 60 mins before you get up and turn off 1 or 2 hours before you go to bed

as said above was there any estimations of readings

have you got combined gas and electric and pay by direct debit!!!!
you could save up to a third

http://www.uswitch.com/?ref=gotoast~goog~u-switch&gclid=COTVxefSzYICFTZiQgodoiDSBg

if you use bg your on the most expensive tarrif
i am on powergen duel fuell on line

 

[ricarbo]

I'm not sure I can help, but:-
Is the timer set to run the system for the minimum times possible?
Can you reduce the temperature in some rooms - if TRV's are they working?
Is the dwelling damp? That makes a thermal link that drains out your heat - solution for a tenant is to move address!!
Perhaps the meter is faulty.
Please excuse the banality of the my answers, but I remember driving my car up the road when it stopped. I couldn't restart it, and was getting really upset. A 6 year old girl came across and said 'Have you any petrol?' I hadn't. I wasn't as polite to her as I should have been!! She was right!

 

[htgeng]

Just got my gas bill from 1st Oct to 1st Jan. £150 for 90 days. Thats with 3 people in house and they feel the cold. Heating is on almost all day, set at 21c and megaflow is heated 24/7.

I think thats pretty good although I fitted a new condensing boiler last August and had the loft insulation topped up to 12 inches.

I suggest u look at the heat loss of your property first, then look at getting a decent condensing boiler.

 

[Lateshift]

Lateshift you've told us how many units of gas you've used.
But Gas meters aren't calibrated in units, they're cubic feet or cubic metres, so we don't know anything!
Which is yours?

Turn the heating on and let the boiler run for 2 minutes, and tell us how much gas it uses.

Could be the gas pressure is low due to a faulty regulator. This would mean you aren't getting the energy out of each box of gas that you should. I hope sopmebody has checked the gas pressure, but that isn't clear from what you've said.
Have you got a gas hob or a fire? If so put it on full, and see if the flames fluctuate much when the boiler fires.

Woooo lots of replies since i was on here last

Okay, the metre is in Cubic feet and the heating guy did a test on it that showed it was pushing 73ft3 which he said was correct.

The young lad in the flat upstairs showed us his bill today that was 8 days short of 4 months, covering August through to December. It was £115 and he says he is using the same system, because his landlord is in a joint venture with our landlord.

The heating has been off for a few days now, simply because it isnt economical to use it for 2 people and for the time we are in.

So to answer other questions, when i turn the heating on for around 2 minutes i noticed that the clock dial on the gas meter rotated 4 full turns, that says nothing to me because the red decimal unit didnt turn (i am assuming 10 turns would be .1???).

Dont get me wrong, i dont doubt that the bill should be higher than normal due to the price rise, but not that high for 39 days especially when we are out most of the day so the heating is only on for when we get up and in time for when we get in.

As far as the TRV's go most of the radiators have them and they seem to be working, but one raidator needs bleeding every so often, it isnt as bad since the heating engineer had a go at the system because we were having to bleed 3 of them daily and it would sometimes take at least 5 minutes per rad to bleed, the boiler would often boil over into the header tank too. )

The guy couldnt make head nor tail of the system and spent from 8am till 3pm working on it, and had to move the pump whilst he was there because the landlord had apparently fitted it on the wrong one?

If the heating engineer had been satisfied that he knew his way around the system then i would probably be satisifed that the gas bill was indeed down to British Gas and their price hike, although i am still only 30% convinced it is that

 

[ChrisR]

the heating guy did a test on it that showed it was pushing 73ft3 which he said was correct.

Doesn't add up. That would have been a bit high but reasonable

2 minutes i noticed that the clock dial on the gas meter rotated 4 full turns

That is the problem. One turn of the dial with the hand (and 1 cu ft?) on it (?) is one cubic foot.
2 cubic feet per min is way too much, 120 cubit feet per hour. You need the regulator (aka governor) on your meter testing/replacing. Chances are it'll have a black plastic top ...
Call Transco on 0800 111 999 - they'll tell you to turn the gas off at the meter, because it can be dangerous.

I don't know anything about your right to recompense for the under-supply of gas. Try Ofgas? Is there an Ofgas??

 

[big-all]

NEARLY CHRISS
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem/index.jsp

 

[timbalcombe]

Surely the problem is that the boiler is inefficient.
If it is swithching on and off every 5 mins then you have limescale build up, and the boiler is working double hard to heat the water.
Theres my 5pence

 

[Birmingham_Spanner]

So..... Many people have suggested many issues that you could consider regarding your high bill but you havn't really eliminated their ideas, it seems you would prefer to heat your flat on fan heaters. How do you know it is cheaper to do this? Have you had an electricity bill for this period yet? Hope you don't pay BG for this too!!!!

Before calling out Transco to check the regulator have you 100% checked that this is not a billing issue? I assume you have recently moved into the property. Did you provide BG with a reading when you moved in? Have they used the same reading to start billing you from or have they used an estimate? What reading have they used to bill you up to. Meter readers or estimate? Does this reading make sense when you compare it to the present read. If all is in order here I would try speaking to them again and ask that they let you know what the previous tenants consumption was for the same period last year and previous years if they have been supplying. This will give you an idea of how much it takes to heat the property.

If all is well with the bill consider the heat loss as mentioned much earlier. You have not told us much about the building. How old is it? Is it well insulated (the guy upstairs could be getting most of his heat from you below - hence his low bill. Was his an estimated bill??) Do you have double glazing? Is your HW cylinder well insulated? If your landlord was happy to put the pump on the return to the boiler then god knows what attention he will have paid to insulation that you can't see.

How old is the boiler? What make is it? Has it been serviced regularly? I don't touch gas boilers but maybe others here can tell you you have a real bad one.

How long have you got left on your contract? Maybe time to move!!! Don't forget to send BG a final read though!!!!!!

Good Luck

 

[bab]

Its sounds excessive but there are so many factors we carnt c sat behind a screen so u will have to get a broad picture & follow ya nose. I have a five bed detatched cavity wall,double glazing 10" insulation TRV's on aal rads (that r set)2 x48" cylinders. a 10yr old Solo 1 ,gas tumble dryer & a £200. bill 4 90 days. Htg 6hrs day DHW 17hrs a day but on stats. It may be a collection of very bad circumanstance's .

 

[croydoncorgi]

73.5 cu ft / hour is exactly the right gas rate for your boiler (ie. the number in the spec).
But 2 turns of the meter dial represents 2 cu ft which is 120 cu ft / hour. Something does not add up!

The red dial on the meter represents tens of cubic feet, so it would take 10 turns of the needle to move it one increment.

The comment about 'low gas pressure' is b****cks: if the pressure was indeed significantly lower than 20 mBar, the boiler would not be able to pass enough gas to achieve 73.5 (or 120!) cu ft / hour.

But if the boiler is passing 120 cu ft, then it might have a faulty gas valve and be wasting quite a lot of gas as a result. The two gas rates can't both be right. The figure we don't have to cross-check this is burner pressure - should be between 11.5 (low setting) and 16 mBar (high setting).

 

[croydoncorgi]

To stress the point above:

If the boiler really is doing 2 cu ft per minute, that equates to nearly 37 Kwatts, when the max input specified is 22 Kw!

Something is way out of adjustment (or not working at all!).

Get the fitter back ASAP.

 

[ChrisR]

if the pressure was indeed significantly lower than 20 mBar, the boiler would not be able to pass enough gas to achieve 73.5 (or 120!) cu ft / hour.

Of course it can, there's nothing stopping it. Meters are designed to be as low a resistance as possible.

The meter is designed to work at (6 cu m =) 211 cubic feet per hour at 20mbar, linearly and with minimal pressure loss. So nothing wrong with 120 at reduced pressure, if not restricted.

If the boiler really is doing 2 cu ft per minute, that equates to nearly 37 Kwatts

It would only be 37kW IF that volume of gas AT THE RATED PRESSURE were passing. If the pressure is half, there's less gas, so less energy.

Faulty gas meter governors/regulators ARE intermittent, it isn't surprising
if it jumps about.

It isn't "out of adjustment", it's BROKEN! That's what they do!

 

[Nige F]

it`s all down to high ceilings

 

[ChrisR]

Good idea. Then we could all look down on the gas meter and see it says "Dungs" (or similar spelling) on the governor. The Jeavons (or similar spelling) ones are much more relliable.