Stupidly high gas usage

victor2

Well, running a bath for 40 minutes, compared to a shower of say 10(?) will roughly cost you 4 times as much, so there could be room for a saving there. Depends how much gas the boiler uses when you are drawing off hot water though.
I wouldn't rush into getting your meter tested. Your supplier can probably arrange it for you, but if no fault is found you'll have to pay for it.
Just monitor your gas meter, daily at first, to get an idea how much gas is being used under different circumstances.

Lovelyjoolz

SandA wrote: »

I probably run the bath of pure hot water for 40 mins a night, which can't be good.

You mean you ONLY run the hot tap, with no cold at all, and you sit in it for 40 minutes??? Are you made of asbestos hun?? You'd be hard-boiled by then! :rotfl:
Maybe this is the problem - is the temperature of the water set too low?

I can't put my hand under the water flow when it's only hot running - it would flay the skin from my bones!! I've no idea whether turning the water temperature up on the boiler would use less gas if you didn't need to run it constantly to keep the bath hot. Someone on here might be able to answer that though...

SandA

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

You mean you ONLY run the hot tap, with no cold at all, and you sit in it for 40 minutes??? Are you made of asbestos hun?? You'd be hard-boiled by then! :rotfl:
Maybe this is the problem - is the temperature of the water set too low?

I can't put my hand under the water flow when it's only hot running - it would flay the skin from my bones!! I've no idea whether turning the water temperature up on the boiler would use less gas if you didn't need to run it constantly to keep the bath hot. Someone on here might be able to answer that though...

I have just checked, it was set at 59. Nope, no cold water. I come out like a lobster, I can't bare a 'warm' bath, I sit in with my feet under the hot tap, wondering why I have chilblains!

Yeah I wonder if turning up slightly would help, but then again, I still feel cold in the bath so I have to empty some out and keep running more hot water

PollyOnAMission

As a comparison, here are my figures. These are based on actual readings, not estimates. I live in a 2 bed semi with 2 adults during the week, 3-4 at weekends. I have a recently installed combi boiler, gas oven and hob but my shower is electric. I'd say baths are taken about once a week.

Gas (average per day)
Sept: 5.79kwh
Oct: 28.12kwh
Nov: 44.97kwh
Dec: 70.17kwh
Jan: 51.46kwh
Feb: 66.19kwh

Electricity:
Sept: 11.24kwh
Oct: 15.88kwh
Nov: 17.97kwh
Dec: 21.19kwh
Jan: 13.53kwh
Feb: 15.03kwh

As you can see, your gas usage is quite a bit more than mine but your elecrictiy usage is quite a lot lower. This is no doubt partly due to the electic shower, but also perhaps because I have a tumble drier that gets used a couple of times a week over winter and a combi microwave. My heating is on for a couple of hours in the morning, an hour at lunchtime (keep the dogs warm) and from 5pm -10pm at night. The thermostat (in the living room, which is the warmest room) is set to 19 degrees and often clicks off in the evenings.

I think if you be a bit stricter with your baths, keep your thermostat at a reasonable level and generally stay aware of your energy usage and try to be frugal you might be able to bring it down a bit. But it does sound fairly reasonable for the usage you describe, so I wouldn't assume a fault.

I agree with the suggestion of daily monitoring to see if you can pinpoint where the gas is going. If you have your heating off in spring/summer and cut down on those baths, I bet your bills will be hardly anything as your electricity usage if very low!

PollyOnAMission

SandA wrote: »

I have just checked, it was set at 59. Nope, no cold water. I come out like a lobster, I can't bare a 'warm' bath, I sit in with my feet under the hot tap, wondering why I have chilblains!

Yeah I wonder if turning up slightly would help, but then again, I still feel cold in the bath so I have to empty some out and keep running more hot water

If you have to empty water out to fit more hot in, how deep are you running your baths?! Perhaps this is the source of the problem...100% hot water baths, filled to the brim. Can you run them less deep?

molerat

Is your use from actual meter readings ? The EOn energy tracker makes its own figures up even if you supply them with readings, do not believe it, it is a complete waste of time and best to ignore. The only useful information comes from actual meter reads.

SandA

molerat wrote: »

Is your use from actual meter readings ? The EOn energy tracker makes its own figures up even if you supply them with readings, do not believe it, it is a complete waste of time and best to ignore. The only useful information comes from actual meter reads.

Yes they are real meter readings, so the energytracker is completely invalid? I would of thought the averages it was using was from my readings. I submit them monthly.

SandA

PollyOnAMission wrote: »

As a comparison, here are my figures. These are based on actual readings, not estimates. I live in a 2 bed semi with 2 adults during the week, 3-4 at weekends. I have a recently installed combi boiler, gas oven and hob but my shower is electric. I'd say baths are taken about once a week.

Gas (average per day)
Sept: 5.79kwh
Oct: 28.12kwh
Nov: 44.97kwh
Dec: 70.17kwh
Jan: 51.46kwh
Feb: 66.19kwh

Electricity:
Sept: 11.24kwh
Oct: 15.88kwh
Nov: 17.97kwh
Dec: 21.19kwh
Jan: 13.53kwh
Feb: 15.03kwh

As you can see, your gas usage is quite a bit more than mine but your elecrictiy usage is quite a lot lower. This is no doubt partly due to the electic shower, but also perhaps because I have a tumble drier that gets used a couple of times a week over winter and a combi microwave. My heating is on for a couple of hours in the morning, an hour at lunchtime (keep the dogs warm) and from 5pm -10pm at night. The thermostat (in the living room, which is the warmest room) is set to 19 degrees and often clicks off in the evenings.

I think if you be a bit stricter with your baths, keep your thermostat at a reasonable level and generally stay aware of your energy usage and try to be frugal you might be able to bring it down a bit. But it does sound fairly reasonable for the usage you describe, so I wouldn't assume a fault.

I agree with the suggestion of daily monitoring to see if you can pinpoint where the gas is going. If you have your heating off in spring/summer and cut down on those baths, I bet your bills will be hardly anything as your electricity usage if very low!

Thanks for that

I don't understand how my eleccy is so low in comparison, as I have the microwave on quite abit (10 mins per night for sterilising alone) I also have a tumble drier, and i use a halogen oven. Hey though I'm not complaining. I'm going to neglect the baths and just go for quick showers instead.

thanks

Fire_Fox

SandA wrote: »

I have just checked, it was set at 59. Nope, no cold water. I come out like a lobster, I can't bare a 'warm' bath, I sit in with my feet under the hot tap, wondering why I have chilblains!

Yeah I wonder if turning up slightly would help, but then again, I still feel cold in the bath so I have to empty some out and keep running more hot water

Doesn't sound healthy, have you considered getting a medical check up? You should not feel cold yet come out like a lobster.

Microwave nor halogen ovens are energy guzzlers for the amount used, it's heat and hot water same as with gas - in your case presumably washing machine and tumble dryer. Perhaps your washing machine is hot and cold fill, or you are not doing laundry at high temps which keeps it lower.

macman

You said that your DD is £80 per month. Does that include your electricity as well? If so it's not that high-a typical dual fuel tariff is now in excess of £1.250 a year, or £104pm. As Cardew pointed out, your consumption is below the average.
It seems that the issue is that the debt you have on the account is not being cleared, and your DD does not cover ongoing usage., let alone clear the debt.