Help saving money on GAS bill please!

Smellenor

Hi everyone

Got hit with a massive rise to my direct debit to cover my gas bill and in need of some help to stop this happening again.

I am a bit concerned that I am just wasting money so my specific confusions are:-

I have the heating on 17 degrees all the time and this is comfortable for me - but is this too high for constant use - would it be best to turn it down a little when out etc?

My water - I was advised to leave this on all the time as the insulated tank I have keeps the water hot always and therefore switches off so when I'm not using it, thus isn't doing anything costly when we are out all day for example. Could this be what has actually been using all the gas? I'm pretty clueless about such things (obviously!)

Other than keeping heat in (curtains pulled, not blocking rads etc) I don't know how else to use less gas.

Any tips/advice would be welcome. Please however don't advise I change providers - for many reasons it is not possible for at least 8 months.

Thanks

Wywth

Smellenor wrote: »

Hi everyone

Got hit with a massive rise to my direct debit to cover my gas bill and in need of some help to stop this happening again.

I am a bit concerned that I am just wasting money so my specific confusions are:-

I have the heating on 17 degrees all the time and this is comfortable for me - but is this too high for constant use - would it be best to turn it down a little when out etc?

My water - I was advised to leave this on all the time as the insulated tank I have keeps the water hot always and therefore switches off so when I'm not using it, thus isn't doing anything costly when we are out all day for example. Could this be what has actually been using all the gas? I'm pretty clueless about such things (obviously!)

Other than keeping heat in (curtains pulled, not blocking rads etc) I don't know how else to use less gas.

Any tips/advice would be welcome. Please however don't advise I change providers - for many reasons it is not possible for at least 8 months.

Thanks

Do you cook by gas?

If so, turn on all 4 gas rings to full and similarly for the oven & grill.

:cool:

McKneff

You may be playing catch up on you usage. You possibly have a debit balance from your last bill which they have added to what they think you will use in the next 12 months. They divide this by 12 to come up with your DD figure, check your statement.

Personally, I would turn your heating down when youre out.
And turn the water on if and when you need it.

The tank cools down over time and the heater is coming on and going off all day to keep it at a constant temp.

dogshome

From your post I guess you have an "Open Vented" Central heating/Hot water system, (water tank in the loft feeding Hot Water storage tank ?)

1) With a well insulated hot water tank you don't need it being heated 24/7 -
Set your control panel to a 1 hour burn in the early morning - say 6am -
this will give you hot water for a couple of showers with something left over
for washing up in the evening
2) Why 17 degrees all day ? Use the controller to give a a bit of heat first
thing when you get up, and to cut in again when you get home at night -
Unless it's very very cold overnight, you don't need the heating running in the
wee small hours

Smellenor

Yeah sorry should have explained I know why my bill increased my point was more than I was under the impression that the amount I was paying was enough as my previous address was similar (but had a very different heating and water system) so wanted to just know how to reduce this in the future.

Will try turning the water off then and turning the heating down and see how I get on.

It was the guy who came round to fix my heating who advised me so I hoped his advice was useful but after some researching I think not! Never mind. Live and learn!

oldskoo1

Turn the heating off overnight - have it on timed, whatever hours work for you.

I assume you are there all day? If not have it go off and come back on when your back if you work a typical day.

Heat water just twice a day. Should take around 40 mins to heat from cold to 60c so time your water for 1 hour morning and say, 30mins evening or reverse it whenever people in your house tend to have showers. Make sure your tank is insulation, put spare duvets and towels around it too if it's vented and set the water stat to 60c.

If you have TRV's and you say your like 17c, set them all to 2 and maybe 3, or 3.5 in the living room. Make sure any rads near the thermostat are fully open or on max.

Turn down any TRV's or radiator valves on any room that isn't used much. I dont normally turn them off, just turn them down very low so not much heat comes out.

Go round fixing all drafts and keep the doors shut, i run my boiler stat just under max, on 5 which is about 77c - that's pretty much all you can do to lower your bills providing you have some loft insulation too.

Oh and do a tariff comparison based on your actually usage.

oldskoo1

oh and if you have an unvented tank, as you say insulated hot water tank, it will loose heat. It can quite easily need topping up with heat after an hour or 2, maybe only 5 mins worth of gas usage. But this is going on 24 hours a day. No need to do this.

As i mentioned, have the water timed.