Could my gas meter be wrong?

ahar_2

So we got the gas bill for the last four months and it was huge. Which prompted me to do some investigation....

We moved in to this house in November. Our previous house, a three bed semi had 8 radiators, and our current place is a 4 bed detached with 12 rads. I was expecting a larger gas usage, but using actual meter readings we've used as much gas by volume in 4 months as we did in an entire year in the old house. Im using the same heating and hot water timing as in the old place - approx 2.5 hrs of heating and hot water in the morning and 2 hrs of heating and hot water in the evening plus using the hob for cooking. In both places we have gas hobs but no gas fire.

This seemed strange, so we started taking regular readings - we're using approx 3.5 cubic feet of gas a day with only a few hrs of heating and hot water. The boiler is old, but that seems excessive.

One suggestion on another thread was to measure the gas used in 6 mins of continuous use and see if that tallies with the boiler rating. The boiler is old enough that it is hard to find the rating, but from what I can see no boilers in that old range went above 22kwh. Running for 6 mins continuously used nearly 0.1 cubic feet of gas (hard to measure amounts smaller than 0.1 on the dials), soi can assume at most 1 cubic foot per hour. Converting to kWh, that would mean 31.3 kWh on a boiler that can't be rated at more than 22kwh?

Is the meter dodgy? Could the boiler have a problem? Or was I just lucky with my last house and 3.5 cubic feet is about right and i need to sell a kidney every winter?

Nada666

Well, 4.5 hours into 3.5 units is about 22/24 so it was probably more the short period and reading the exact position of the dial.

If you do only have the heating on for two hours at a time then it is going to go flat out to heat up a four bedroom house, isn't it? This may be a dumb suggestion but - perhaps you should keep the heating on for four hours in the evening rather than just two? Yes, it costs more but it will be bubbling over and averaging per hour much less for the second two hours.

Anyway, 112kWh for a four bedroom house is only £4 per day - £120 for heating - doesn't sound excessive to me. I would say see what a full evening's heat uses and work from there. (Of course if the extra hours pro rata increases your consumption then you have to look at insulation etc).

Fire_Fox

Time is only one of many factors. Depends what temperature you are keeping the property, what temperature the water thermostat is set to, how well insulated the property is, how well insulted the water tank is, how large the property is, how long and cold the winter is, how powerful a shower is if running off the hot water system. Most of your use will be in winter anyway, you will use much less for the rest of the year. Try comparing current bill to winter period only for previous cold winters.

You don't need to sell a kidney just start moderating your use. Insulate the property really well (detached have more outside walls than semis), turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees, wear another layer of clothing in cool weather, electric underblanket on adult and older children's beds (cost pennies to run), fleecy throw or electric overblanket on the sofa, be more frugal with the hot water.

ahar_2

Nada666 wrote: »

Well, 4.5 hours into 3.5 units is about 22/24 so it was probably more the short period and reading the exact position of the dial.

Could be. It was hard to read. But that would assume that the boiler is firing constantly for all the time it is on. Which it isn't.

Nada666 wrote: »

If you do only have the heating on for two hours at a time then it is going to go flat out to heat up a four bedroom house, isn't it? This may be a dumb suggestion but - perhaps you should keep the heating on for four hours in the evening rather than just two? Yes, it costs more but it will be bubbling over and averaging per hour much less for the second two hours.

The problem is the house at the moment is very badly insulated. We're putting that right for next winter, but it lets heat out so quickly at the moment that I suspect 4 hours will just be double the gas use. I'm sat wrapped in a duvet while typing this

Nada666 wrote: »

Anyway, 112kWh for a four bedroom house is only £4 per day - £120 for heating - doesn't sound excessive to me. I would say see what a full evening's heat uses and work from there. (Of course if the extra hours pro rata increases your consumption then you have to look at insulation etc).

We've followed the readings closely over the last few days and it does seem to RPO rata at times, but jump up at others. We used 30 units in a week two weeks back. I don't remember using the heating or hot water any more than usual that week.

ahar_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Time is only one of many factors. Depends what temperature you are keeping the property, what temperature the water thermostat is set to, how well insulated the property is, how well insulted the water tank is, how large the property is, how long and cold the winter is, how powerful a shower is if running off the hot water system. Most of your use will be in winter anyway, you will use much less for the rest of the year. Try comparing current bill to winter period only for previous cold winters.

.

I have compared it to last winter, but we have used more gas in 4 months than in the entire of last year. The house is badly insulated, something that we'll have fixed before next winter, but I can't see that having the water thermostat set a little higher and having 12 radiators instead of 8 would effectively triple the volume of gas we used between one house and another.

I'm still wrapped in a duvet by the way

Fire_Fox

ahar wrote: »

I have compared it to last winter, but we have used more gas in 4 months than in the entire of last year. The house is badly insulated, something that we'll have fixed before next winter, but I can't see that having the water thermostat set a little higher and having 12 radiators instead of 8 would effectively triple the volume of gas we used between one house and another.

I'm still wrapped in a duvet by the way

Maybe I am being dense but comparing one winter to one whole year is not the same as comparing four months in winter 2012 to the same four months in winter 2013. Compare to actual figures for last winter ONLY, you use much less gas in the summer so it is incorrect to multiple by three to project forwards eight months. You may only use the same as you have used now but spread over twice as long or even much less, especially if you have an electric shower and cold fill washing machine.

Insulation plays a massive role, especially in a winter as long and cold as this one. You are basically paying to heat the entire street. Every 1C you have to increase the temperature by costs a noticeable amount of money.

I barely use my heating and I've never measured below 10C (usually higher), that is because I live in a flat with one outside wall, well 'insulated' from the cold by the surrounding flats, even benefiting from their heat. A previous flat was a Victorian house conversion with drafty sash windows on two elevations, we dropped the gas fire TO one bar from three by simply installing 'cling film' type secondary glazing. :money:

Energy Saving Trust say cavity wall can save up to £140 a year, loft insulation up to £180 a year, draft proofing can save an average of £55 a year, no figures for double glazing ... and most of this will be over the winter not spread through the year. Then add that to the fact you have a larger space to heat.

ahar_2

I'm not projecting forwards. We used 17000kwh of gas in 4 months this winter and in the whole of the previous year (12 months) in the other house we used 16800kwh of gas. I don't have the formula to convert to cubic feet on me but I don't think it matters as the kWh figures are comparable.

I know insulation is important - our new house doesn't have very much so as part of the work we're doing to modernise it includes sorting that (its a converted bungalo without cavity walls, so its not as easy as putting down stuff in the loft and calling a cavity wall company). However, what this means with the same pattern of heating usage is that our new house is much colder for what I thought should be a similar volume of gas used - hence this post.

Fire_Fox

ahar wrote: »

I'm not projecting forwards. We used 17000kwh of gas in 4 months this winter and in the whole of the previous year (12 months) in the other house we used 16800kwh of gas. I don't have the formula to convert to cubic feet on me but I don't think it matters as the kWh figures are comparable.

I know insulation is important - our new house doesn't have very much so as part of the work we're doing to modernise it includes sorting that (its a converted bungalo without cavity walls, so its not as easy as putting down stuff in the loft and calling a cavity wall company). However, what this means with the same pattern of heating usage is that our new house is much colder for what I thought should be a similar volume of gas used - hence this post.

But what did you use in the same four winter months in the old property? That is the logical comparison since we don't use the same amount year round by a country mile. Is your house using three times as many units if you compare like with like? If not where did "effectively triple" come from?

If you are a bungalow that is another layer of insulation lost, you are more sprawling. Heat rising from downstairs doesn't so much go upstairs as it does in a regular stacked property.

ahar_2

Triple is an estimate as I the figures I have for the quarter in the old place don't quite overlap with the four months in this place, and the winter was a bit milder so I remember switching off the heating on the timer in March last year. Looking at the old bills, as we still used gas for hot water and cooking, although they were lower in the summer months they weren't too much lower. It is somewhere between double and triple.

Edit - forgot to say, triple is also what I've calculated my direct debit needs to do to cover the cost

Fire_Fox

ahar wrote: »

Looking at the old bills, as we still used gas for hot water and cooking, although they were lower in the summer months they weren't too much lower.

This is very unusual. Suggests to me either you were getting through a heck of a lot of hot water, the old house was extremely well insulated or you are not looking at bills based on regular actual but instead estimated readings or some combination.