Hi, I need some help please

Farway

lucylou wrote: »

we have a boiler but I don't know if it's only for hot water ,I presume not.Near the timer there is also a switch with a light above it which says hot water and seems to be always on.
then there is another switch which says heating and once we switched it off by mistake and the house was freezing.

Just wondering if the Hot water light always on is in fact for an immersion heater/ Thus you have electric immersion heater on 24/7

Try switching it off and see what happens, it may be your boiler heats the hot water as well as radiators, but you have a summer backup [like I had] of immersion heater, but immersion heater always on is keeping water hot & gas boiler is not required to do so

If you switch HW off and water remains hot after a day or so, then that could explain your high electric costs, but expect gas to increase abit as the boiler will then heat hot water as well, but more cheaply

macman

Agree with you Farway, hopefully if the OP can confirm that she has an immersion heater, then that will confirm our theory.
There's nothing else listed that would otherwise explain that level of electricity consumption-and it would explain why the gas bill is so relatively low. It must be gas CH, because nothing else would explain the seasonal variation.

lucylou

hi thanks for your answers.I am at work now so can't confirm make of boiler but yes i do have a water tank upstairs which is always making a noise like it is going to explode but they said it's normal.
so you think I should switch off the water heating.when I regulated the timer the instructions said that hot water would be switched on three times a day .

macman

It's not normal at all! Who said that? Are you talking about a hot water tank or a cold water storage tank? Assuming the latter, is your tap hot water very hot? If so you need to adjust the thermostat down on the tank, it could be faulty and allowing the hot water temp to go way too high.
If the timer is the one linked to the boiler and central heating, then it may well be heating your hot water 3 times a day, but if there is a separate immersion heater that is not linked to the timer, and if the light on that switch is on 24/7, then so is your immersion heater. That's why your leccy bill is so high.

aelitaman

Does you house have an airing cupboard?

If you rent this house I would ask the landlord to come round and explain it all to you.

lucylou

Hi, when the gas engineer came to check the boiler last time he said the water tank was fine and that it is normal that it makes a noise.yes it is warm water and it is in the airing cupboard.No the landlord doesn't know anything about it,we asked many times.I'll try and switch the heating switch off for a couple of days.yes i think the timer is connected to both heating and radiators
thanks all for your suggestions:beer:

aelitaman

Tell the landlord that you expect him to pay for a Gas Approved engineer to come and explain to you how the heating system works.

The fact that there is a switch with "a do not turn off" stuck on it is a worry if he can not tell you why.

It is the landlords legal responsibility to ensure that the gas installation is safe to use. I would imagine that teaching you how to use the system safely and how to turn it off relight the pilot light (if it has one) provide all user operating manuals, etc.

Ask to see the gas safety certificate immeditaly it is his legal responsibility to show you this or provide a copy.

Did you pay for the boiler service?

http://www.themovechannel.com/guides/Letting/Being_a_landlord/

aelitaman

http://www.themovechannel.com/guides/Letting/Being_a_landlord/Safety_regulations/

This link explains the lanlords legal responsibility to provide operating manuals or clear instructions inculding the one for the immersion heater.

lucylou

Hi, the gas approved engineer from british gas had no idea how to work the timeri found some instructions and manged to work them out.the gas engineer provided us with a safety certificate and confirmed that everything was alright

macman

Sounds pretty standard for BG...
However what we are concerned with is whether the immersion heater thermostat/switch is working OK. That wouldn't necessarily be part of a gas safety inspection on the boiler/CH side.
I suggest you take Farway's advice and switch off the hot water switch (which we think is the immersion heater) for 24 hours and monitor it.
You should find that your leccy consumption plummets, as an IH would be using at least 1kwh all the time it is on, depending on the rating. So that's about £3 a day if it was running 24 hours-less if the thermostat is working properly of course. Also make sure the tank is properly lagged, otherwise you are just throwing money away.