Three Bed Semi - Usage Comparison

CashStrapped

Out of interest, for people with a three bed semi, what has been your average energy use over the past three months or so. My property: Three Bed semi Cavity Wall Insulation Moderate Loft Insulation Unrated Boiler (35+years old, never broken down) Single Glazed Windows Household of 4 (in most of the day) Central Heating Has not been on since April/May. (Average for last three months) Usage : Gas 28 kwh per day Electric 12 kwh per day

matelodave

We are in a 3-bed bungalow, all electric and we are at home all day. Our average use of electricity is about 8kwh a day (including heating the hot water and cooking) and it goes up to 15-18 when the washing is being done generally using the tumble dryer as well.
It's been known to get up to 50kwh a day in the winter when the heating is on (electric as well).
I'd reckon your leccy is a bit high if you are using gas for heating, hot water and cooking.
Have you tried turning stuff off when it's not in use. Putting the hotwater on a timer. Making sure your hot water tank is well lagged and that you don't waste hot water.

kittieviolet

Just me in a 3 bed semi.I use around 5 to 6kwh of electricity a day at the moment and 3 to 4kwh of gas to heat water for an hour a day.

CashStrapped

I see you put kwh for the gas but just wanted to check... Is that 3 - 4 for gas straight off a meter read or after conversion to KWH?

kittieviolet

Its from the energy consumption charts on my online account, so after conversion

matelodave

I don't have gas now (I used to) but I'd think that your gas consumption is quite high if you are just heating water and cooking with it.

Do you have your boiler on a timer or is it on all day, also do you have a tank thermostat or is the only control the boiler stat?
A gas boiler on all day will keep firing to maintain the boiler temperature and will keep all the piping between the boiler and the water tank hot, wasting lots of heat.
I'd guess that with a 35 year old boiler you might have a gravity system without any controls except perhaps a programmer & room thermostat.
Perhaps you should have a serious look at your controls.

Another way to waste heat from your tank is to run off a couple of litres of hot water every now and again - this leaves hot water sitting in the pipework between the tank and the tap which slowly gets cold until you draw some more off.

Try using just cold water from the cold tap to rinse stuff or wash your hands thus reducing the amount of hot water sitting in the pipes. It's hard to do, my wife can't understand the concept that running off 5-10 litres of water to get hot water from the tap is both a waste of water and of energy.

CrazyRed

3 bed semi, here - SOuth East of England, double glazed, 270mm loft insulation, rockwool cavity wall insulation. Two of us at home all day (carer and disabled person, so temperatures normally a bit higher than others in the winter).

6051-6876 Kw/h of electricity per year, 9493-10152 Kw/h of gas (taken from last two year's readings - I read the meters every month and record it, calculating fuel usage and cost at the same time).

16.5 Kw/h electricity and 26-27Kw/h gas per day on average. Just had a new condensing boiler fitted to replace a 30 y.o. system boiler so hoping the gas use will diminish a chunk this winter. Cooking is by gas, but we do have a power-hungry electric shower that skews the electricity consumption figures somewhat.

HTH

CashStrapped

Interesting, what has your gas use been for the last three/four months.

CrazyRed

7 units, 6 units and 5 units - 566Kw/h total for the three months June/July/August respectively.

CashStrapped

Around 6 units for the whole month? Interesting. Was this with your old boiler and tank? Or was it with a new combi? If not, do you have your records for the same period last year with the old one?

CrazyRed

This was with the old boiler and tank - the combi's only been in just over a week.

10/6/13 units for the same period last year.