Potterton Suprima: Approximate Gas Usage for Central Heating

uk1

I know that gas meters are rarely found to be inaccurate, so I am trying to make sense of my usage to see whether it is a pay up and gulp or whether there is a problem with the meter. We're with npower.

I have a Potterton Suprima 50 fitted and it has been regularly serviced and even has the new PCB. It's output I believe is 39 - 50k btu. It's input is 50.5 - 62.5k. It's gas rate is 1.42 to 1.75 m3/per hour.

Theoretically, in a worst case terrible winter scenario with the boiler feeding radiators and hot water pounding away for as long as it could - how much roughly per 24hour day would the boiler consume and at todays rough prices what should I expect that worst case scenario to cost please.

Many thanks in advance.

Jeff

macman

How long is a piece of string? That would be totally dependent on the temp you set the heating to, the ambient air temp, and the insulation standard of the property.
What is your actual annual kWh consumption?

uk1

Thanks, very much appreciate your help.

I understand the piece of string issue and the situation is a bit complicated hence the reason why I have framed my question so simply.

In summary it is a second home. I have been keeping meter readings, and the last official meter reading was 27/2/2013 when the readers took the gas as 7111. We have visited for 21 days since the meter reading and we switch off the mains power to the boiler every time we leave. We think the reading is now 10668 which seems that it cannot be for 21 days usage. We take readings at the end of every visit in case they ask for them The end of our last visit it was 8180 since then - no usage but a reading now of it seems 10668 as w arrive. As a triple check to all this .... we have a weather station that records inside and outside temperatures and the temperature went down as it should do inside each time we left. Both my wife andI double check to ensure the boiler is powered down from the switch.

I obviously recognise that their is a potential meter reading issue, but want to take my thoughts a stage at a time hence the simple question. For example evenin extreme circumstances - could it possibly use £70 worth of gas per day? There will be a notional theoretical maximum amount of gas that the boiler can consumer in 24 hours and it is that cost I simply wish to understand.

So hopefully, you are someone could give me an idea of what the sensible daily cost is unlikely to exceed.

Thanks.

Andy_WSM

If the meter is external to the property, is it possible someone has switched it out in your absence?

Check the meter serial number against that on your bill, or held by your provider.

uk1

Thanks, I have checked and it is the same number.

uk1

.... for their feb reading and my current reading to be correct we'd have had to use £70+'gas per day ...

Andy_WSM

Was their Feb reading definitely correct, have you any way of verifying that (against your own readings maybe?). If you are sure the 2 readings are correct then you need to raise a complaint and ask that the meter is checked as I don't think you could even get £70 of gas out of a domestic meter in a day, and if you could it would be a very large fire!

Out of interest, is this an electronic digital meter or an older mechanical type?

uk1

Thanks for your interest. It's helpful to discuss this as it is a real "sleep loser"

It is a digital meter but tough to read. It does sort of make sense against our readings.

Their reading 27/2/2013 - 7111
Our Reading 9/5/2013 - 8062

This would produce a rough cost of £380 of gas for 13 days of stay in a tough winter making a gas daily cost of £29. That sort of sounds high?

edited calc incorrect.

nPower

uk1 wrote: »

I know that gas meters are rarely found to be inaccurate, so I am trying to make sense of my usage to see whether it is a pay up and gulp or whether there is a problem with the meter. We're with npower.

I have a Potterton Suprima 50 fitted and it has been regularly serviced and even has the new PCB. It's output I believe is 39 - 50k btu. It's input is 50.5 - 62.5k. It's gas rate is 1.42 to 1.75 m3/per hour.

Theoretically, in a worst case terrible winter scenario with the boiler feeding radiators and hot water pounding away for as long as it could - how much roughly per 24hour day would the boiler consume and at todays rough prices what should I expect that worst case scenario to cost please.

Many thanks in advance.

Jeff

Hello,

With this being a second home and you are turning the boiler off when you leave, this usage does seem high. If you would like to contact our customer services team on 0800 073 3000 or email me at the address on my profile page we can get this looked into for you.

Thanks

Carmel

ollski

It has the potential to use 439kw in a 24 hour period, though you would need a shedload of radiators and a massive pump and flow pipes to be able to burn it.

matelodave

Just working on the max gas rate of 1.75m,2 an hour x 24 = 42m2 a day x 21 days = 882. But as said, it would have to be flogging it's heart out continuously to consume anything like that.

If you've got it turned off then it shouldn't be using any (unless it's got a pilot light) - have you tried turning the gas off at the boiler or even at the meter to see if the consumption drops. You might have a leak or something (or even someone) else might be using it downstream of the meter.

How well do you know the property, is it a flat - it might be worth while checking the pipe run between the meter and your boiler just to make sure that the meter is feeding only your property and not something else as well.