Gas CH, Water and Boiler efficiency HELP......

stja

Hi,
Apologies if this has already been covered on a different post but iv not used forums before and this is first post.
Basically I am trying to find out the most efficient way to control my gas CH and water in my home.
Before I get into what I usually do I must add that I live alone in a flat which I spend a lot of the time out of.
In my flat I have a boiler (Vokera Mynute 12e) if that's any help, in my kitchen. also in the hallway walk-in cupboard I have a wall light style switch marked boiler, and beneath that I have a digital box to control central heating and hot water timings etc (which was a analogue dial type up until last week).
Now what I had always done before that is to keep everything off via the switch marked boiler (being such a tight a** what I am ha-ha, and now immune to cold it think)
:snow_grin
If I needed hot water or very rarely heating I would switch the switch on marked boiler and which ever i wanted on the control box (water, CH or both) and it would take 30 minutes or so to heat up.
I must be honest and say that its mainly my electric that is more costly as I have an electric shower and tumble drier etc so the need for hot water is not essential throughout the day, don't get me wrong I don't have a dish washer so washing up on a night time needs hot water but I have read a VERY few places hence the need for more info that you should not switch your boiler off??
Questions are;
Should I or should I not switch boiler off and what is the best way to control things upon your answers?
Also what cost cutting/ gaining could I expect from the way I have it to the way its best to have it?
Once again sorry if its already been covered, a link to the page would be great.
Any answers are appreciated
Kind regards
Steve

Premier_2

If the boiler is on and burning gas, it's costing you money.

So the more you keep it switched off, the less money you'll spend. :beer:

stja

thanks for the reply,

this is what i thought tbh as it makes sense,

however, someone gave a good example of how if driving at a reasonable speed on a motorway in a car is more fuel efficient than driving urban areas stopping and starting,

in my case though im not travelling from john o groats to lands end its more like going round the block.

i just didnt know whether having the boiler switched off may cause problems to it?
or whether having that on will not cost much anyway as there is no heating or hot water on to bump up the cost.

thanks,

penrhyn

First off, modern boilers don't have pilot lights so when they are not running they don't consume gas, the amount of electricity used to run the programmer and boiler circuitry is minimal.

If you don't use a lot of hot water I'd suggest you ensure you hot water storage tank is well lagged and run hot water for a couple of hours each day, say an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.
You should have a thermostat on your hot water tank, have this set at no more than 60 degrees.

I'd estimate that if you are living on your own this would cost around £ 1-2 /week in gas, and a few pence in electricity to run the pump.

But read your meter and check it out yourself.