older house kwh per day gas useage

adam1982

Hi All,

I know there are posts about average kwh gas ues etc but nothing really that seems to compare to my readings!

Our house is 170 sq metre 1930's house with 300mm loft insulation and solid walls. Carpets throughout with thickest underlay and engineered wood in kitchen / dining room

Last winter (feb) i was recording up to 180kw hr a day in gas use. This was to keep the house at 17.5 degrees overnight, 2 hours in morning at 20 degrees, 8 hours at 16 degrees and then back up to 20 degrees at 5pm until bed.

Yesterday i used 80kwh to do the same. It was around 9 degrees at bed time (11 ish).

If i didnt have the heating on all night the bedrooms would be around 14 degrees at the moment which with all the will in the world is too cold!!

Does anyone else in a similar detached house experience the same issues?

good_advice

I think the solid walls is your problem. No insulation. What about the loft?
Do you have a wood burner or coal fire, I think that might help with heating.
At night take hot water bottles to bed. Flask of hot chocolate?

daveyjp

14 degrees in a bedroom is absolutely no problem if you have decent bedding. People sleep in the arctic with no central heating systems keeping the tent at 17 degrees.

adam1982

daveyjp wrote: »

14 degrees in a bedroom is absolutely no problem if you have decent bedding. People sleep in the arctic with no central heating systems keeping the tent at 17 degrees.

good point. my body is fine its just my face that is freezing!

rogerblack

For giggles.
170m^2 house.
I'm going to randomly assume that it's twice as long as it is deep.
This comes out as 54m of wall, or about 150m^2 of external wall.

Noninsulated couple of layers of brick, airspace and then plasterboard can come out as about 2W/m^2/C.
Or, 300W/C, or about 4500W if it's zero outside.
So, 100kWh per day, without even taking into account the extra losses through windows, doors, floor and ceiling.

A modern insulated house might hit a U value of 0.2W/m^2/C - or a tenth of that, 10kWh/day (for the walls alone).

However.
If you're comfortable at those temperatures - knock a degree off those, and wear slightly thicker clothing.

As an example of how pointless further insulation can be in this case, I know it was stated that the OP has 300mm of insulation.
Say it's 100mm instead.
How much goes through the roof?
68W/C, about a sixth of that through the walls.
Insignificant - no.
But it means that by adding a meter of insulation on top, you're only going to drop the bills by 15% or so. (neglecting additional losses from floor and doors/windows)

new_owner

rogerblack wrote: »

For giggles.
170m^2 house.
I'm going to randomly assume that it's twice as long as it is deep.
This comes out as 54m of wall, or about 150m^2 of external wall.

Noninsulated couple of layers of brick, airspace and then plasterboard can come out as about 2W/m^2/C.
Or, 300W/C, or about 4500W if it's zero outside.
So, 100kWh per day, without even taking into account the extra losses through windows, doors, floor and ceiling.

A modern insulated house might hit a U value of 0.2W/m^2/C - or a tenth of that, 10kWh/day (for the walls alone).

However.
If you're comfortable at those temperatures - knock a degree off those, and wear slightly thicker clothing.

As an example of how pointless further insulation can be in this case, I know it was stated that the OP has 300mm of insulation.
Say it's 100mm instead.
How much goes through the roof?
68W/C, about a sixth of that through the walls.
Insignificant - no.
But it means that by adding a meter of insulation on top, you're only going to drop the bills by 15% or so. (neglecting additional losses from floor and doors/windows)

2W/m^2/C seems high.

I thought 1930's houses as well as older houses came out with better U-values when they did some measurements.

Older houses had better than thought u-values of 1.1 - 1.4.. Which compared to the same house insulated being 0.3, is still high.

The issue of the OP could also be the floor. Suspended floors even with carpet are cooler. The energy saving suggest 10%-15% is lost through the floor.. In older houses this value is much higher. Insulating under the floor might be a better start.

You might have cavity walls you could get these filled, there are some companies who will do this.

Draft proofing and insulating where you can will have a massive difference. As has been suggested adding a woodburner (if possible) could help reduce your gas usage (but would introduce a wood one But wood can cost more than gas). Adding more insulation, as mentioned above has less of a return after a point.

Not feeling drafts has a big affect.

check the radiators are the correct size for the room. Balancing radiators etc...

Target the areas you can get to first a cheaply. Insulate under floors, draft proof and then as you get the chance to do other improvements (insulate walls internally if doing major decorating) If you have single glass windows check they are draft proofed or double glaze. Preventing heat loss where you can will save you money.