Should I turn off my boiler when I'm not using it?

mannaroth

Hi, I'm a student that has been living in this 1 bedroom house for the last two months with just me and my girlfriend. I'm wondering if it would be cost effective to switch off my boiler when we arent using it. We never have the central heating on so we only switch the boiler on when we want to wash the dishes or have a bath. The shower is electric and heated seperately (there's a switch outside the bathroom) so that isnt affected by the boiler.

I'm not sure what type of boiler we have - it says glowworm compact electronic on it. Has a timer thingy and seperate temperature controls for the water and the heating. Water takes 15-20 seconds to get warm when the tap is turned on and goes cold again almost instantly when the boiler or tap is switched off. Also our bath water doesnt ever get "hot", just stays lukewarm the whole time.

It does use gas but it is plugged into the mains and there is an off/off switch on the boiler. Turning it off causes it to switch off and none of the lights are on either. I figured it would save money to switch it off whenever we arent using it. Am I correct to do so or would it be better to leave it switched on?

I ask because in the two months I have been here, my gas bills have been VERY low and my electricity bills have been quite high (gas usage from july 1st to august 10th was like £1.50 worth, whereas electricity cost us around £40). We were also out of the house for two weeks during that time so the electricity seems pretty high (was 150kw/h over the suppliers estimate.

Any answers would be appreciated!

Canucklehead

mannaroth wrote: »

Hi, I'm a student that has been living in this 1 bedroom house for the last two months with just me and my girlfriend. I'm wondering if it would be cost effective to switch off my boiler when we arent using it. We never have the central heating on so we only switch the boiler on when we want to wash the dishes or have a bath. The shower is electric and heated seperately (there's a switch outside the bathroom) so that isnt affected by the boiler.

I'm not sure what type of boiler we have - it says glowworm compact electronic on it. Has a timer thingy and seperate temperature controls for the water and the heating. Water takes 15-20 seconds to get warm when the tap is turned on and goes cold again almost instantly when the boiler or tap is switched off. Also our bath water doesnt ever get "hot", just stays lukewarm the whole time.

It does use gas but it is plugged into the mains and there is an off/off switch on the boiler. Turning it off causes it to switch off and none of the lights are on either. I figured it would save money to switch it off whenever we arent using it. Am I correct to do so or would it be better to leave it switched on?

I ask because in the two months I have been here, my gas bills have been VERY low and my electricity bills have been quite high (gas usage from july 1st to august 10th was like £1.50 worth, whereas electricity cost us around £40). We were also out of the house for two weeks during that time so the electricity seems pretty high (was 150kw/h over the suppliers estimate.

Any answers would be appreciated!

Good morning: no benefit turning off your boiler. With your particular model of boiler ( a 'primitive' combi) don't turn the hot taps on full blast as the appliance can't cope with a high flow rate and will then produce lukewarm water. Turn up the DHW stat on your boiler....ask your landlord for written instructions for the operation of the boiler and also find out when the boiler was last serviced.

Electric showers can be pricey to run..as an alternative fit this to your bath taps for showering (and use the electric shower's riser rail for the new shower's hose attachment)...just make sure no-one flushes the loo or turns on a tap while you're in the shower as there will be no thermostatic controls.

I hope you have a Landlord's Gas Safety certificate for the property and a CO alarm as well.

Good luck with your studies.

HTH

Canucklehead

P.S. If you are anything like my students, your computers and other gadgets are probably on 24/7 so this will contribute to your electricity consumption.;)