cost of heating for 1 day

sniggings

Thanks oldskoo1,£8.50 for that much use makes my costs look :eek:

Luckily I only really use it for the winter months, but just find it shocking that a basic of life is so costly, no reason for it to cost so much, I do think my boiler is not the best, which leads to higher costs, I once checked the cost of running the pilot light for 24 hours and it was about 40p, over a year that's near £150, nearly £3 a week :mad:

macman

You might as well ask, how much does it cost to drive your 'average' car 100 miles, on average roads, with an average driver, at average speeds, at average fuel prices. Do you get my drift?
So many variables are involved that any computed average is completely meaningless.

HappyMJ

sniggings wrote: »

Thanks oldskoo1,£8.50 for that much use makes my costs look :eek:

Luckily I only really use it for the winter months, but just find it shocking that a basic of life is so costly, no reason for it to cost so much, I do think my boiler is not the best, which leads to higher costs, I once checked the cost of running the pilot light for 24 hours and it was about 40p, over a year that's near £150, nearly £3 a week :mad:

That's assuming it's not running at all. The pilot light also allows you to turn the heating off if it's freezing outside and you wish to leave the property for an extended period of time as it will prevent the boiler from freezing.

New boilers without pilot lights may have a frost setting and will come on in freezing cold weather to prevent freezing and use an amount of gas to prevent damage.

When running your boiler is probably 75-80% efficient...over the year though the figures reduce to 65% to take into account the pilot light.

sniggings

macman wrote: »

You might as well ask, how much does it cost to drive your 'average' car 100 miles, on average roads, with an average driver, at average speeds, at average fuel prices. Do you get my drift?
So many variables are involved that any computed average is completely meaningless.

not really as knowing what the average someone pays can help you see if you need to make changes, yes there are other and better ways to get the same info but I'm not doing research for a paper for uni, just wanting to get a feel for what the average person pays for gas.

sniggings

HappyMJ wrote: »

That's assuming it's not running at all. The pilot light also allows you to turn the heating off if it's freezing outside and you wish to leave the property for an extended period of time as it will prevent the boiler from freezing.

New boilers without pilot lights may have a frost setting and will come on in freezing cold weather to prevent freezing and use an amount of gas to prevent damage.

When running your boiler is probably 75-80% efficient...over the year though the figures reduce to 65% to take into account the pilot light.

Well no, I'm no expert but I would think that the pilot light stays lit even when the boiler is in use, it plays no part in heating the water. So a wasted 40p, as it's only function is to light the boiler burners.

HappyMJ

sniggings wrote: »

Well no, I'm no expert but I would think that the pilot light stays lit even when the boiler is in use, it plays no part in heating the water. So a wasted 40p, as it's only function is to light the boiler burners.

The heat goes somewhere and it's not all out the flue. It does keep the water in the boiler slightly warm...at least keeps the water above freezing if the surrounding temperature is below freezing. The warmed water moves around by convection currents and warms the water in the surrounding pipes. This then also keeps the area around the boiler slightly warm keeping any cold feed pipes slightly warmer too preventing frozen pipes and damaged boilers. Don't worry too much about the 40p/day. Consider it an insurance against frozen pipes.

sniggings

HappyMJ wrote: »

The heat goes somewhere and it's not all out the flue. It does keep the water in the boiler slightly warm...at least keeps the water above freezing if the surrounding temperature is below freezing. The warmed water moves around by convection currents and warms the water in the surrounding pipes. This then also keeps the area around the boiler slightly warm keeping any cold feed pipes slightly warmer too preventing frozen pipes and damaged boilers. Don't worry too much about the 40p/day. Consider it an insurance against frozen pipes.

40p a day will not do anything to stop water from freezing, the size of the flame is smaller than the average lighter flame, no way will that keep water in a tank from freezing, not to mention the pump is not pumping the water around when the heater is not on so how it can heat water in the boiler or the pipes I do not know;)

HappyMJ

sniggings wrote: »

40p a day will not do anything to stop water from freezing, the size of the flame is smaller than the average lighter flame, no way will that keep water in a tank from freezing, not to mention the pump is not pumping the water around when the heater is not on so how it can heat water in the boiler or the pipes I do not know;)

It'll keep the water in the boiler from freezing. It doesn't sound like much but you said 40p divide that by 24 hours and you get 1.667 penny per hour divide by 4p for your gas rate and you get a flame which is about 400W...it's enough. 50% will go out the flue and 50% will heat the pipes and the water. The water in a tank or cylinder has enough thermal mass anyway so it won't freeze.

sniggings

HappyMJ wrote: »

It'll keep the water in the boiler from freezing. It doesn't sound like much but you said 40p divide that by 24 hours and you get 1.667 penny per hour divide by 4p for your gas rate and you get a flame which is about 400W...it's enough. 50% will go out the flue and 50% will heat the pipes and the water. The water in a tank or cylinder has enough thermal mass anyway so it won't freeze.

do me a favour, get a match or a lighter and hold your finger 4 inches from the flame, I bet you can all but not feel any heat, are you really saying that that much heat or lack off can heat a boiler that is not even in the same room as the flame and the pipes around the house, even if the pump was on it would be pushing it, but with the pump off it would be impossible.

Thanks for trying to make me get over my stress about wasting 40p a day though but sorry you will not convince me it's anything but a waste of fuel and money.

HappyMJ

sniggings wrote: »

do me a favour, get a match or a lighter and hold your finger 4 inches from the flame, I bet you can all but not feel any heat, are you really saying that that much heat or lack off can heat a boiler that is not even in the same room as the flame and the pipes around the house, even if the pump was on it would be pushing it, but with the pump off it would be impossible.

Thanks for trying to make me get over my stress about wasting 40p a day though but sorry you will not convince me it's anything but a waste of fuel and money.

Ever been to an Indian? They usually use 2 tea lights to keep the food hot whilst you are eating a small amount. Each tea light has a flame rated at 80W. It's enough to keep your dinner hot for hours....A 400W flame in your boiler will be plenty to keep the pipes in the boiler warm enough. The pipes around the house should be insulated but are inside a well insulated house and won't freeze. Most frozen pipes occur in uninsulated spaces such as a kitchen or near the boiler.