My gas and electric bills are very high.

JennyR68

Pincher wrote: »

Are there actually people who just say the bill is too high, because they FEEL it's too high?

Please show that you have actually tried to work out the bill. If your equations include the number of children again, you should send your Maths GCSE certificate back to your school.

Another plug for http://www.imeasure.org.uk . There really is no excuse not to keep track of things, unless you have absolutely no access to your meter.

TheSaint_2

Woah! Thats huge!
I pay £40 per month for gas and £40ish for elec and our heating is on 24/7 at 20Degrees (on the thermostat).
I have a 4 bed house, with everything insulated that can be.
We have an electric shower, gas hob and heating.
I would suggest either your meter reading is wrong, or you need to check your insulation.

lawriejw

Pincher wrote: »

Are there actually people who just say the bill is too high, because they FEEL it's too high?

Please show that you have actually tried to work out the bill. If your equations include the number of children again, you should send your Maths GCSE certificate back to your school.

I sometimes wonder why people bother to comment. If they have nothing sensible to say, then say nothing. I listed the number of children as if you had a family, you would know how much more electricity 2 children can use.

lawriejw

I would like to thank mostly everyone for the comments and thoughts, but I have now found out why my consumption is so high. When I had the boiler moved into my garage an external thermostat was fitted, which, when the temperature in the garage gets below a certain temperature, it starts the boiler to stop the pipes in it from freezing.
Because we have had some very cold weather, this meant it was on for long periods even though the actual central heating was not on. I have now asked the builder to construct a unit around the boiler and the thermostat which will hopefully solve the problem.

lawriejw

the problem i had was that some bills were estimated and others were actual, but they were only read quarterly. i know i should have paid more attention to the bills and have now signed up for a system were they email me to remind me that the readings are due and then i submit them on line.

TheSaint_2

You can avoid that (and the cost) by buying yourself some pipe insulation from B&Q. I think it is 56p for 1m length. Cut it to fit around all your pipes. Your boiler should be quite fine in your garage just like that (mine is).

Infact, even with a box around your boiler you could well have the same problem. Don't forget your boiler will need to be able to draw some air to burn the gas.

aelitaman

lawriejw wrote: »

I would like to thank mostly everyone for the comments and thoughts, but I have now found out why my consumption is so high. When I had the boiler moved into my garage an external thermostat was fitted, which, when the temperature in the garage gets below a certain temperature, it starts the boiler to stop the pipes in it from freezing.
Because we have had some very cold weather, this meant it was on for long periods even though the actual central heating was not on. I have now asked the builder to construct a unit around the boiler and the thermostat which will hopefully solve the problem.

I agree with this as my boiler is in the coal shed and so is a lot colder than the house. My gas engineer sugestted the same build an insulation box around the boiler to minimise the amount of space the boiler is keeping above 5C when it is freezing. If you do do this make sure you move the frost themostat inside the box other wise it will be the temp of the garage and not the box that will be kicking the boiler into keeping itself warm.

aelitaman

TheSaint wrote: »

You can avoid that (and the cost) by buying yourself some pipe insulation from B&Q. I think it is 56p for 1m length. Cut it to fit around all your pipes. Your boiler should be quite fine in your garage just like that (mine is).

Infact, even with a box around your boiler you could well have the same problem. Don't forget your boiler will need to be able to draw some air to burn the gas.

This will not work if it is controlled by a frost thermostat, in fact it will make the gas consumption worse. Unfortunately the frost thermostat measures the temo of the air outside the boiler not the internal temp of the boiler. So if the internal temp of the boiler is 50C and the temp of the air around the boiler is -1 then the boiler will fire up.

The problem is that most people do not have radiators in garages or outhouses so the only way to get the temp above the frost thermostat is the waste heat from the boiler or the pipe runut of the boiler. Most of the waste heat from the boiler and mondern boilers are 90%+ effcient, goes out the flue and this means the boiler can not heat a garage with waste heat. So the only thing left is the heat from the pipe run. Insulate this and less heat goes to the garage so the frost thermostat will keep kicking in.

I wish I knew the implications of placing a boiler outside the main heated areas before I did it, I would never do it again. It will be in the Kitchen from now on.

TheSaint_2

Fair enough - I see your point. But if you do not insulate the pipes and you do insulate the boiler in a box, you run the risk of the boiler not firing up because it is insulated, and your pipes freezing.

Maybe the answer is to do both.

savemoney

MY boiler is in garage and had fitted a frost thing on it. The pipes are all insulated and I dont recall in 3 years today I have lived there boiler has come on when its very cold accept when I allow it too