Gas CH bill sky high - Help is needed...

becksfaz

Yolina wrote: »

And remember that the winter has been rather mild so far, however it seems that the temperatures are about to get closer to the norm for this time of year so as soon as it gets colder your usage is going to increase compared to what it has been up to now - if you go back to having the heating on constant, it's going to cost you much more.

Exactly - a mild winter so would be dreading having heating off during day when it does get cold. Brrrr! I know I feel this way cos I've been spoilt - my parents have always had their heating on 24/7 set to 20 degrees!

becksfaz

macman wrote: »

Most of the saving you are making is overnight, when the temp differential would be greatest.

In that case I might try heating off overnight but on all day and see what that gives me. My husband says we work too hard to be cold in our own house.

becksfaz

jalexa wrote: »

First of all a couple of technical points. There will be minimum defined by water heating abnd/or cooking so your space heating saving is proportionately higher than you think. Also when the radiators are cold, its possible to consume "boiler rating" of gas rather than the lower "radiator rating" of gas.

My useage for water and cooking is really low - which I know from a bill from 4th aug when I moved in until 21st sept when I changed energy supplier. I only used 26 units (291.2kwh) = 6.47kwh a day.
With the radiator thing, we have 14 rads so suppose that's gunna take some doing to get them all warm.

macman

becksfaz wrote: »

Exactly - a mild winter so would be dreading having heating off during day when it does get cold. Brrrr! I know I feel this way cos I've been spoilt - my parents have always had their heating on 24/7 set to 20 degrees!

No-one suggested that. The main saving you will make is by having the heating off at night, when the differential is greatest and the heat loss is at it's highest. That will mean 7-8 hours less that the boiler is potentially running.
It's entirely up to you, if you are cold, put the heating on. But don't kid yourself that the costs will only be a litle but higher if you run it 24/7.
One days trial is not nearly enough time to assess the actual savings you will make.

becksfaz

macman wrote: »

One days trial is not nearly enough time to assess the actual savings you will make.

How long would you suggest? A week?
Considering doing a week timed as we are now and then a week with heating just off at night?

becksfaz

There has also been suggestion on here right at the start of the thread that my stat might not be accurate as my hall stat is set to 18 but my lounge was 21. Now I know the hall is right temperature as I've borrowd a thermometer from my gandad. Why are my rooms 3 degrees higher?

macman

Depends on the weather really,.
The fact is that the less time the boiler is on, the lower your gas bill will be. That's not a theory that needs to be tested, it's an established fact.

grahamc2003

macman wrote: »

Depends on the weather really,.
The fact is that the less time the boiler is on, the lower your gas bill will be. That's not a theory that needs to be tested, it's an established fact.

Yes, and also the average temperrature will be lower the less the heating is on and the lower the bill. Something the op should accept.

The key is having the lower temperatures when it doesn't matter that the temperature is lower, e.g. in the middle of the night.

But the baby apparantly doesn't want a lower temp at 3am, and now the husband doesn't too. Furthermore, the 50% savings made doesn't appear to be enough.

I'm getting a little confused over this and the several duplicated threads the op has started.

Yolina

becksfaz wrote: »

There has also been suggestion on here right at the start of the thread that my stat might not be accurate as my hall stat is set to 18 but my lounge was 21. Now I know the hall is right temperature as I've borrowd a thermometer from my gandad. Why are my rooms 3 degrees higher?

Leave your hall thermostat at 18 and turn down the TVRs in the other rooms until you get the right temperature (it will be trial and error - check using a thermometer in those rooms)

macman

becksfaz wrote: »

There has also been suggestion on here right at the start of the thread that my stat might not be accurate as my hall stat is set to 18 but my lounge was 21. Now I know the hall is right temperature as I've borrowd a thermometer from my gandad. Why are my rooms 3 degrees higher?

Because presumably the heat loss in the hall is higher, and the system is balanced to give a warmer temp in the living room, and cooler in the bedrooms and hall-that's normal.
Living areas are normally balanced to about 3C higher.