Gas bill/ boiler/rad temp???

slacky555

Hi I live in a large ish (108sqm) 3 bed mid terrace I have just topped up our loft insulation to around 300mm from 100mm we have solid Walls no cavity so can't insulate.

My gas bill has averaged at around £100 per month for the last four months.

I have installed a glowworm flexicom 35cxi combi bolier back in the summer.

My partner and kids are at home most of the day so heating is set to come on at about 8:00am up to 21 and then off at 10:30pm down to 17 until the following morning at 8:00. This is controlled by a remote with a thermostat in the living room. When it was very cold just before Xmas the living room seemed to never warm up to the required 21. Also have trv on all radiators except one to try and keep the bedrooms at a lower temp than the living room.

My water temp for the radiators was set to 65 by the installers due to the radiators getting to hot and the kids may burn themselves. As before when it was cold I turned this upto 72 as the living room wouldn't heat up enough. I have also looked in to the temp that this should be set to with no definate answer the btu of radiators seem to be sated when the temp is at max 82. And then the net states that for a combi boiler to condense it needs a return flow temp of less than 55 so it seems a trade off between them.

My partner always turns the heating down when she goes out and set it to come back on half an hour before they return.

Also hot water is at 55. And the only other thing is a old range we use to cook could that be a big issue?

I am with BG online dual fuel websaver 8 which I think is 6% off the normall tariff and yes these are all actual readings so the £100 is accurate.


So my questions are:

What temp do people have their water temp for the radiators set to? And what would be the most efficient temp?

What can I do to reduce the gas bill? Would anyone recommend may be setting the heating to go of around midday for a hour or so. Or would that be uneconomic due to having to heat the house back upto the temp 21?

happy35

I dont think your gas bills are high for the amount of time you have had the heating on and how cold it has been

If you pay by direct debit you would be able to have a lower direct debit so could bank some money for the winter

I have the temperature for the radiators set to about 65 degrees on the boiler and use the TRV to keep bedrooms warm rather than hot, but when it was freezing radiators were set to 72 degrees

slacky555

happy35 wrote: »

I dont think your gas bills are high for the amount of time you have had the heating on and how cold it has been

If you pay by direct debit you would be able to have a lower direct debit so could bank some money for the winter

I have the temperature for the radiators set to about 65 degrees on the boiler and use the TRV to keep bedrooms warm rather than hot, but when it was freezing radiators were set to 72 degrees

Sorry should have said my Dd payment is around £55 I dont know if that is about right to even it's self out over the summer or not! But just a little worried about the £100 a month over winter.

So would you say reduce the boiler temp down to 65 again now the outside temp is above freezing? Would that be more cost effective?

macman

Given that you are running the CH on quite a high setting (21C) for 14.5 hours a day, then your bills are really quite low for the coldest few weeks in 50 years. What is your actual kWh consumption though?-£ amounts are fairly meaningless.
The longer you have the boiler on , the more gas it burns and the more it costs to run, so turning it off for one hour or longer will save you money. The old 'uneconomic to heat the house back up again' myth is trotted out all the time on this board-it's simply not true.

slacky555

macman wrote: »

Given that you are running the CH on quite a high setting (21C) for 14.5 hours a day, then your bills are really quite low for the coldest few weeks in 50 years. What is your actual kWh consumption though?-£ amounts are fairly meaningless.
The longer you have the boiler on , the more gas it burns and the more it costs to run, so turning it off for one hour or longer will save you money. The old 'uneconomic to heat the house back up again' myth is trotted out all the time on this board-it's simply not true.

Thanks the reason for 21 is that the living room never seems to get warm warm and reach the 21 that's why it is running fully for 14.5 hours.

Units I think about 3 a day dont know what that is in kWh's.

Anymore info or recommendations about the boiler temp for the radiators??

j2011

If the room never gets warm with the radiator water temp at 65 then it is not high enough.

Simple

macman

slacky555 wrote: »

Thanks the reason for 21 is that the living room never seems to get warm warm and reach the 21 that's why it is running fully for 14.5 hours.

Units I think about 3 a day dont know what that is in kWh's.

Anymore info or recommendations about the boiler temp for the radiators??

Metric or imperial meter? Go through your bills and do the calculation then. Until you know exactly what you are using, you can't begin to address the issue of reducing your consumption. What you need to work out is your annual kWh consumption, not your daily units.

Biggles

You seem to have already discovered for yourself that 65° is nowhere near hot enough to run your central heating in the winter. Whack it up to the maximum.

NB Children don't get burnt by radiators, they find they're hot to the touch and they stop touching them.

slacky555

Biggles wrote: »

You seem to have already discovered for yourself that 65° is nowhere near hot enough to run your central heating in the winter. Whack it up to the maximum.

NB Children don't get burnt by radiators, they find they're hot to the touch and they stop touching them.

Yes I know 65 isn't high enough to heat the living room but even at 72 it doesn't seem to it's more about what temp is ideal for the most efficient gas usage and the boiler to be most efficient.

slacky555

macman wrote: »

Metric or imperial meter? Go through your bills and do the calculation then. Until you know exactly what you are using, you can't begin to address the issue of reducing your consumption. What you need to work out is your annual kWh consumption, not your daily units.

Only been in the house since late summer so from the readings I have taken I have the following figures.

Total used in kwh's from 24/11/10 to 22/02/11 is 9928

Average used in kwh's from 24/11/10 to 30/12/10 is 132 a day

Average used in kwh's from 30/12/10 to 23/01/11 is 103 a day

Average used in kwh's from 23/01/11 to 22/02/11 is 95 a day

macman

9,928kWh over the 3 winter months is not that high, you can easily use 80% of your annual consumption in the coldest 3 month period. But I don't follow your figs, as if you have been in the property from late summer, then you should be able to work out your consumption from arrival date to 24/11/10.
Your heating will probably have been on for all of the 24/11/10 to 22/2/11 period, so you can't pro-rata you annual consumption from that quarter alone. Adding the autumn quarter (8/10 to 11/10) will give a much more realistic annual figure.