£80 to run a boiler

Lexxi

Can anyone advise on what it should cost to run a boiler? We have a pre payment meter for the gas only the only thing that is gas is the combi boiler. The house is 1 room downstairs, 2 rooms to the 2nd floor and a hallway then 1 room as extended loft, all the windows are double glazed and it's a back to back terrace so very little heat loss. There is a radiator to every room, bottom of the stairs and hall, so 7 in total.
We turn the boiler off if we go out as there is no thermostat and all radiators are right down until it gets cold, the most radiators we have on are 3 as a couple won't turn down or off, yet it is still costing £80 a month. Is this right? I've not had a prepayment meter before and I know they are more expensive than bills but I have lived in a bigger, less econimical house before for less than half what I'm now paying.
British gas said that it's as it should be, I'd hate to have to run a cooker or have more rooms to heat

PNPSUKNET

whats the house installation like, also what is the double glazing quality like?

macman

Do you have TRV's on all the rads? If no room stat or TRV's then how do you control the system-is there no programmer?
If some of the rad valves don't operate then you need to get them fixed.

Lexxi

dammit I just lost my post!!!
House is insulated fine, can't feel any draghts, d/g seems ok, nothing obvious, no broken seals or anything. Two walls exposed, front which has the windows and the side, house next to and directly behind, porch as well as front door both upvc, not even draughts from the letterbox. There is a chimney but it has a portable electric fire in it so I'd guess the chimney has been blocked, no draghts from it also the arm chair is in front of it. I wouldn't call it a old house but it's certainly not a new build. It has been getting cold at night but it is cold outside

TVRs work to bed, bath, spare and lounge, have turned the ones we don't need off, lounge gets switched off at night, boiler gets switched off in the day. I have turned the other 1 down but still giving off heat, the other 2 won't trn. There is no thermostat. Boiler has 3 dials, one for water temp, one for off, heat/water or water and a timer but I haven't done anything with the timer as we're in and out and the weather has been a bit funny the boiler is either on or off

I'll work out which ones don't work and speak with the agent

spiro

You mention 'extended loft', does this mean you have a room in the loft? If so this normally means there is reduced insulation in the roof and therefore this is a point of heat loss (heat rises). You can check this on a cold morning by looking at all the roofs, if other have frost on them and yours is clear then you have poor insulation.

macman

I would start by getting the three that don't work fixed (probably seized through lack of use, may be possible to free them off rather than replace them, but even replacement is not a big job). Then get a wireless room 'stat fitted and remove the TRV in that zone.
If you can't properly control the temp then you are wasting heat.

Premier_2

Lexxi wrote: »

... it is still costing £80 a month. Is this right? ...

£80 per month this weather? No way. If the boiler is off, it shouldn't be using any gas (unless there's a pilot light and that won't cost anything like £80 per month)
£80 per month last January? Sounds reasonable.

You can still use the comparison sites to get the best deal even with a PPM (assuming you don't have more trhan £200 of debt recovery on it).
Ebico, for example, claim they charge the same price for gas no matter what meter you have or how you pay ... but actually Ebico gas customers on PPM were £12 better off compared to those on credit meters.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2182897

Lexxi

It's a short term let so by the time the supplier had changed then we shouldn't be here.
Yes the loft has been turned to a room, the bedroom radiator hasn't been on so there won't be a great deal of heat loss, I've managed to turn the radiator at the bottom of the ground floor stairs down further so I'll see if that has gone off.
We took this house as we were going to be homeless, it was the only place that would allow the dog, we have a great deal of furniture for the size of the rooms so it shouldn't take anything to heat it as there isn't masses of empty spaces, I was using the slow cooker a couple of weeks ago and the heat from that was enough to heat the room :eek:
I spoke with British Gas and they seem to think £3.65 a day for 2-3 radiators is acceptable. There isn't any debt on the meter.

What is a wireless stat? Well I can kinda guess how do they work?

macman

A wireless room thermostat is easier to install, as you don't need to run a cable from the boiler to the 'stat. You just mount the stat where you want it and it connects wirelessly to a receiver unit, which is fitted and wired to the boiler.

albyota

its probably not the radiators that you should be that concerned with at the moment. As its a combi boiler, then as soon as you open a hot tap you are switching the boiler on, using gas, if you shower or bath, the hot water is heated instantaneously.....using gas.......so if you don't need hot water....don't turn on the hot tap, keep showers to a minimum.....4 or 5 minutes and turn off between when soaping.

[Deleted User]

In my experience any utility supplier seems to think we all have our useage at top wack and when u ask them if your useage is high they always say no lol. I know I am really economical with what I use so what I call high useage I have no doubt whatsoever, BG or any other supplier would disagree with.

All I can suggest is take a meter reading, turn it all off at source and see if the meter changes. If it does u know there is something wrong. If it doesn't, being on a short term lease its not worth putting too much effort into the situation other than putting warm clothes on and keeping the heating off (u shouldn't really need it in this weather to be honest).

I have just had a very very old boiler replaced.., its been serviced regularly, (I rent) LA landlord refused to replace it in spite of it constantly breaking down and needing replacement parts to be made because u can't buy them, its so old. Apparently when it was removed there was water in places there shouldn't have been (like I said, missed by the service engineer) and we have been told it was probably much more expensive to run than it should have been. But on a short term lease, unless u can get the landlord to have it thoroughly looked at, u'll be lucky to be able to drive the land lord to replace it.