Advice on gas usage, incorrect billing and checking please

zagfles

Do the kids ever forget to turn the hot tap off, or not turn it off all the way leaving it dribbling?

dogshome

Hi eclareb - So far we have had some of the best brains on this site trying to resolve this problem with me following up well in the rear, but thus far no answers, so in desperation I ask the following:

According to W/Bosch the CDI 30 combi-boiler is one of the biggest they make with a 30kwh output, designed for larger homes - So how big is your home and how many radiators does it have ?

Has this high Gas consumption been the norm since you moved in, and if not, could you look at the bills for past years to pin down when it started ?

eclareb

dogshome wrote: »

Hi eclareb - So far we have had some of the best brains on this site trying to resolve this problem with me following up well in the rear, but thus far no answers, so in desperation I ask the following:

According to W/Bosch the CDI 30 combi-boiler is one of the biggest they make with a 30kwh output, designed for larger homes - So how big is your home and how many radiators does it have ?

Has this high Gas consumption been the norm since you moved in, and if not, could you look at the bills for past years to pin down when it started ?

Thanks dogshome. The house has underfloor heating in gardenroom (that leads to the kitchen, open plan) including this room there are 4 rooms on ground floor, 4 on next and 2 in the attic. 11 rads in total.
I will look at my bills and see. When I first moved in, had lots of work done, went through the winter with missing external walls etc, the heating was on constantly throughout the day (4yrs ago) and the bills werent anything like this!

Its quite chilly in here at the moment and the kids are starting to glare at me!! :-)

In your reply yesterday, you referred to days when my usage was 'normal' (they were around 0.5ish units I think) is that what the average house would use, or normal for your bills. I ask because I read meter last night at 5.55pm and then again at 8.30am. used .283 - that was one lot of washing up and prob 2 people getting washed.
(2 of the kids shared the bath that I ran for the bath test yesterday when they got in from school!)

eclareb

zagfles wrote: »

Do the kids ever forget to turn the hot tap off, or not turn it off all the way leaving it dribbling?

Ha ha, no one is too little and the other has to be dragged to the bathroom. If he can get away with it he washes as little as possible!!

zagfles

eclareb wrote: »

Ha ha, no one is too little and the other has to be dragged to the bathroom. If he can get away with it he washes as little as possible!!

What a considerate child - he's only thinking of your gas bill

dogshome

Look forward to seeing the figures on those old bills.

The figures you posted of 0.283 Meter Units used for washing up & 2 people washing, translate into appx. 3.168 chageable Kwh, the total cost of which is roughly 14 pence, so the boiler seems OK when producing Hot Water - How good it is at Heating is another matter.

I'm afraid that comparing bill costs today with those from 4 years ago isn't the way to go because Energy costs have increased massively in 4 years, the only true comparision is the total number of Gas Kwh consumed each year.

Your house relatively large, so your Gas use is never going to fit into the Industry average of 16,000 Kwh a year, but that said, with all the recent building work the insulation standards should be up to the mark so your Bills still seem to be excessive

There is question mark in my mind about the 'Underfloor Heating', I've never had such a system, but this site is littered with comments as to how expensive they are to run

jalexa

Apologies if I missed it but the location of the roomstat may be relevant. Also regarding the underfloor heating garden room floor insulation to building standards and additionally underpipe insulation to system standards. Further current regs may require a garden room to be on a seperately controlled zone.

dogshome

Thanks jalexa - The uspoken thought at the back of my mind regarding the underfloor heating was that was that if it hadn't been installed to proper standards, the 30Kwh boiler would constantly running to make good the heat loss to ground.

Hi eclareb As jalexa has advised, your under-floor heating should have controls that allow you to switch it off whilst leaving the radiators on.

I suggest you test the under-floors efficiency by turning it off and closing the door to the Kitchen/ Garden room, then running the radiators for 2 hours with a Before & After meter read. - Follow this up by turning on the under-floor heating followed by another 2 hour heating run with meter reads

eclareb

jalexa wrote: »

Apologies if I missed it but the location of the roomstat may be relevant. Also regarding the underfloor heating garden room floor insulation to building standards and additionally underpipe insulation to system standards. Further current regs may require a garden room to be on a seperately controlled zone.

OMG lightbulb moment for me!

The room thermostat that was supplied with the boiler is a mobile one. It has been kept on an opening between the garden room and the hall /bottom of the stairs. In a nice through draft! opposite the front door, so yesterday I moved it into the living room which is one room where the doors get closed.

The garden room does have its own thermostat fixed to the wall.Ive just checked and it was set to 30! The temp is 21.5 deg in there at the moment because its sunny :-) when I adjusted the temp down on the thermostat, the background noise stopped. This was the pump,not the boiler. but at least that should bring my electric bills down some!

Regarding that... the electric switch for the heating pump is in the garage and is on constantly. I was told to 'just leave that on' when it was installed. But, is it ok to switch it off? Know that this might sound stupid, but the room is tiled. It took me ages to afford the tiles to put down and dont want to do anything to jeopardise it working and then have to take the tiles up again to solve the problem!

Ive checked through my previous bills:
summer 09 using 2.6 units per day
autumn/winter using 6.9 upd
winter ie dec-feb using 18 upd

mar-june 10 using 13 upd
jun - sept 10 using 5.4 upd

nov 10 -feb 11 using 14.4 upd
4/2/11 - 10/3/11 (34 days) using 15 upd!!!?
10/3/11 - 6/6/11 using 4.1 upd
6/6/11 - 1/9/11 1.2 upd (we were away for a week on hols)
1/9/11 - 13/9/11 9.1 upd estimated bill
13/9/11 - 1/11/11 9.3 upd estimated bill
1/11/11 - 8/12/11 8.9upd
8/12/11 - 8/3/12 15.1 upd
8/3/12 - 6/6/12 8.4upd
6/6/12 - 5/9/12 2upd

Seems that the conversation with eon woman was slightly misleading in that my summer usage, while it is up on last year (and btw have no idea how because I wasnt as stressed about this last year so may have used the heating then), its not as high as she led me to believe on the phone.

macman

If you switch off the CH pump the the hot water will not circulate in the CH circuit, or only by gravity flow. The pump is only active when the boiler is on.