Gas on constantly or on and off...?

mrsr

Ive been reading through this thread with interest.My own experiance was its a lot more expensive to leave on 24/7 i did it about 3 years ago .We left it ticking over on low all the time ,i cant remember how much more the bill was but it was a shock ,i wouldnt ever run my heating like that again

Chrysalis

Cardew wrote: »

I agree with your sentiments.

However the real moral of this thread is that every time this question is asked; which is 'Is it cheaper to have the heating running constantly or on a timer' we get sidetracked.

The fact that people can exist in their houses with the temperature at 5C, spend one shilling and sixpence a year on gas, like sitting in 17 layers of clothes and 6 hot water bottles to watch TV;) does not alter the absolute fact that the longer you have your boiler off, the more money you will save!

True it might only reduce expenditure on gas to one shilling and threepence - but as Tommy Steele said! 'half a sixpence is better than etc'!!!!

I layer myself up, my heat mostly escapes when its on anyway and the boiler is very inefficient. I do have it on 1-2 hours a day when it snows but otherwise can do without.

A friend of mine claims he has his heating on all day and night and it only costs him £30 a month and I said to him if thats what they charging you then fair play but it sounds totally out of this world. Mine is about £1.60 an hour to run at a guess. Since 2 hours a day 2 years back gave me a £260 bill which was nearly £90 a month.

To some of us even contemplating spending £100 a month on gas is unreal.

So how much hot air leaks? well put it this way if the heating is on I still have to wear a jumper or a jacket at the very least, it makes things a bit more comfortable but not a huge difference. My bigger problem is insulation.

Chrysalis

Cardew wrote: »

Electricity is three to four times more expensive than gas, not cheaper.

Can you not turn off the radiators in the rooms not in use, and just heat the one room with the gas CH?

bold statement to make.

I would consider this.

1 - electricity heating is more efficient, typically close to 100%.
2 - gas efficiency can very from as low as 35% up to about 80% depending on boiler. My boiler I have been told is probably 40%, its crap to be blunt.
3 - gas fires are effective but gas central heating takes its time to heat up, during that time its still using gas at the same rate, electric portable heaters get hot very fast. Its the same premise that heating water with a kettle to wash the dishes is more efficient than heating hot water tank with gas.
4 - my bills dont show that gas is 25% of the electric cost. If I run my portable heater 2 hours a day it uses about 3-4 units of electric that is 40 pence a day if we call it 4 units (20p an hour). If I run my gas CH 2 hours a day it costs approx £3.20 (£1.60 an hour), granted it heats more than 1 room and also gives me hot water but it is hideously expensive. The portable heater is easily more effective as well, at least I feel warm when its on which I dont when the gas CH is on. To top it off I recently discovered my gas CH uses significant electric as well to pump the hot water round.

Chrysalis

closed wrote: »

Instead of messing around with the thermostat, just use the timer.

Your bill, if it actual covers the cost of the usage is probably so low, because you have the stat set so low, not because you have it on 24/7. 16 degrees is far too cold for most people.

curious, am I the only one here who has no thermostat?

Cardew

Chrysalis wrote: »

bold statement to make.

I would consider this.

1 - electricity heating is more efficient, typically close to 100%.
2 - gas efficiency can very from as low as 35% up to about 80% depending on boiler. My boiler I have been told is probably 40%, its crap to be blunt.
3 - gas fires are effective but gas central heating takes its time to heat up, during that time its still using gas at the same rate, electric portable heaters get hot very fast. Its the same premise that heating water with a kettle to wash the dishes is more efficient than heating hot water tank with gas.
4 - my bills dont show that gas is 25% of the electric cost. If I run my portable heater 2 hours a day it uses about 3-4 units of electric that is 40 pence a day if we call it 4 units (20p an hour). If I run my gas CH 2 hours a day it costs approx £3.20 (£1.60 an hour), granted it heats more than 1 room and also gives me hot water but it is hideously expensive. The portable heater is easily more effective as well, at least I feel warm when its on which I dont when the gas CH is on. To top it off I recently discovered my gas CH uses significant electric as well to pump the hot water round.

My post was in reply to someone who said gas was cheaper than electricity. I simply stated that electricity was 3 to 4 times the price of gas.

I wasn't going into the economics of boiler efficiency etc.

If you feel your post above is representative and justifies using electricity over gas - then carry on!

£1.60 an hour for gas - about 50kWh - big boiler!

Cardew

Chrysalis wrote: »

curious, am I the only one here who has no thermostat?

No. Lots of older systems had no thermostat.

oldskoo1

I'm an advocate of 24/7

I'm on my second winter of 24/7 and it's always lovely to come home to a warm house.

People recoil in horror and give some right looks when we say we leave it on 24/7.


We have a 4 bed detached, quite new, full DG, good doors, draft proofing and insulation.

Our Jan bill is due soon and from the meter reading i took tonight, if our usage stays the same till the billing date our bill we be £220 for 3 months of Gas based on our unit price of gas... Good news being, we are about £400 in credit (including monthly payments) before the amount is deducted. We are using about 7 units of gas a day it appears.

Elec is low too, about £25 per month.

Not too dissimilar from last year.


//Think thats 65-70 KWH's a day on gas.

Cardew

oldskoo1 wrote: »

I'm an advocate of 24/7

I'm on my second winter of 24/7 and it's always lovely to come home to a warm house.

At the risk of repeating myself, how we all organise our heating arrangements isn't the issue.

You, I, and most of us arrange heating for what we like to have and/or what we can afford.

All the OP asked is which is cheapest way - constant or timed. Not what is the method we use.

I think you would agree that if you had the heating on for 5 mins a day it would be cheaper than 24/7.

daska

While I admit that this is anecdotal, 15 years ago I was told about running the heating 24/7 being cheaper and my then husband and I decided to test the theory. At the time we had a small 3 bed house but my husband worked from home several days a week so the heating was often on anyway, but when we changed to 24/7 heating but used the thermostat to adjust the temperature morning and evening our bills reduced by 20% the first year (and it was very much more comfortable when we had to trog downstairs to the bathroom in the middle of the night ) It was impossible to do a direct comparison because the weather isn't exactly the same every year but it was so much more comfortable that we decided to continue running the heating 24/7 and the bill didn't increase substantially in subsequent years. So for us it was a good choice.

Unfortunately the flat we are currently in costs an enormous amount to heat as it's large ground floor flat, has large single glazed windows, no insulation between us and the flat above and a very old boiler with no central thermostat, but our circumstances require the heating to be on 24/7 so I'm trying hard not to think of how much money is going out of the window.

elaina79

I have mine on 24/7 at the moment. My little one isn't well so I'm sleeping downstairs with her and to have the heating off at night would mean we would get quite cold. I think it is a very individual thing, depending on the house, boiler and who is in during the day.