Can this be right? Gas pilot light costing me £90.03 p.a.?

Ken68

Hi Tao....2.55pence including vat and no standing charge (Ebico). Had boiler serviced the other day .The heating engineer said £25 a year.

Cardew

Someone else posted this earlier this month.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=549860&highlight=pilot+light

He had similar figures, using 0.5 units a day(Metric meter) which is between 5 and 6kWh per day which is around £50 a year. He used tier 1 prices and came to £84.

Anyway having myself commented in the thread that was high, I thought I would check mine when I was away for a couple of days. I had not checked for many years.

Anyway mine was even higher - no less than 0.84 units a day(Metric meter). That is 9.5kWh a day; even at the cheap rate I get gas(2.113p) that is £75 a year.(I have checked that there is no leak)

My boiler is an Ideal Mexico Super CF125 and is 19 years old - serviced annually by BG. It is housed in a boiler room so I never see it unless I specifically check.

I looked at the pilot flame and it was indeed very high. I turned it down as low as I can and checked it again. Whilst it is much lower it is still pretty high at 6kWh per day – approx £46 a year.

I suppose you can console yourself that not all of that is wasted heat, as a small proportion is used when the boiler is running.

I have a Combi boiler(a 12 year old Worcester) in a little used annex and when I next light the pilot light I will check the consumption of the pilot light on that boiler.

MarkyMarkD

@Tao81 - are you sure you aren't confused when you say you aren't using the boiler?

Are you seriously heating all the hot water you use with a kettle or something?

And please spell immersion properly because it hurts me to see it spelt another way.

Tao81

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

@Tao81 - are you sure you aren't confused when you say you aren't using the boiler?

Are you seriously heating all the hot water you use with a kettle or something?

And please spell immersion properly because it hurts me to see it spelt another way.

Oooops! Thanks for that spelling correction :D Of course! emersion: 'the act of emerging'
Not like me to stray into the poor spelling / grammar arena, thanks for redirecting me!

YEP! That's exactly right!! :embarasse (feel like I'm about to appear naked in public .....GULP!:eek: )

Well, here goes! (screws up face and grits teeth)......................


When we first moved in to this property the utility fuel charges were reasonable enough that I could heat the immersion tank most days, took a bit of effort getting the timing right for water to be hot enough for a bath as required, but we managed fine and got it right most of the time, could even afford those odd slip-ups when the tank was heated unnecessarily and the hot water got wasted :cool: .......OH! How I pine for those heady luxuriously delicious good old days'?!!!:rolleyes:. Aaaaaagh......(Jerks back to present).....Sorry floated off for a minute there!!:rotfl: As I was [strike]rambling [/strike]saying....

Then..... THE WAR (and other political issues), but the war mainly, and so we, like everyone else are counting the cost and paying the price! :shocked::rolleyes2

Hence, we will continue not to have running water until I can afford a combi, as there is no way I can afford to heat the immersion now unless it is absolutely necessary and I always make sure that it never is!!!.......It's a real pain I know!

I haven't had a spare £1000+ for ages (guessing that's what a combi boiler will cost)! and then, when I did last manage to stuff that much dosh in my piggy bank, it quickly got eaten up by an extensive outstanding roof repair! :mad:
We use an electric shower, never bath, unless we are staying away somewhere and then neither of us (Me and DD) can get into the tub fast enough!.....Bliss!! (It's making me crave one just talking about it!!!!:rotfl: )
Have a dishwasher, so the few dishes I do need to wash up + to clean the kitchen surfaces etc., I boil a kettle for that, not much point heating a huge Immersion tank for a bowl of hot water is there? But we do alright, we're happy, it won't always be this way!! :dance:

Shockingly though even with all these measure and energy saving device I use my combined monthly Direct Debit for both gas and elec currently stands at £70 :eek: :eek: :eek: Which is why I have now started to watch my meters like a hawk, in an attempt to get to the bottom of why I am paying so much for fuel.

I know people in much larger houses and bigger families who are only paying maginally more than me and they are not half as energy conscious either Don't quite know where I'm going wrong?!!! But determined to get to the bottom of it, and have promised myself I will compare and switch providers soon, is it going to be as difficult as I anticipate it will be - making the right decision that is?!!!

Good grief............How long is this post!:o

wasted

Maybe you should just turn off the gas at the mains if you are not using it.

Does you gas bill include any standing charges or just usage only? If you are paying for standing charges you should switch immediately to something that does not.

New boiler off from BG may be of interest to you. They will refund the cost of your gas (in you are BG Customer or sign up for 12months) up to £800.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/BookingAnAppointmentFromHomePage

It is all cash up front I know but you could make some considerable savings while you enjoy copious baths at home.

Tao81

wasted wrote: »

Maybe you should just turn off the gas at the mains if you are not using it.

I will be in future, would of done so ages ago if I'd been savvy enough to notice!!:o !
Even had to ask the customer services guy where the gas mains stop !!!! could be found!! ............I'd have been great in an emergency, wouldn't I?!!

Does you gas bill include any standing charges or just usage only? If you are paying for standing charges you should switch immediately to something that does not.

No, I'm with Npower.

New boiler off from BG may be of interest to you. They will refund the cost of your gas (in you are BG Customer or sign up for 12months) up to £800.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/BookingAnAppointmentFromHomePage

It is all cash up front I know but you could make some considerable savings while you enjoy copious baths at home.

Copious baths AT HOME?!!!:eek: Come on now that was cruel, wasn't it?!!!...........YOU ANIMAL!!! :silenced: ........you've made me get me nice clean T-shirt really wet!! .............Just the thought made me drool all down me front :drool:
A few things just dropped off my extensive house improvement to-do list tho!.. and there's the combi sitting proudly right up there at NO.2.;)

espresso

wasted wrote: »

New boiler off from BG may be of interest to you. They will refund the cost of your gas (in you are BG Customer or sign up for 12months) up to £800.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/BookingAnAppointmentFromHomePage

:rotfl:

Don't get a boiler from BG. They give with one hand and take twice as much back with the other! Just about any other company is more competitive than BG, even with their silly cash back offers.

:eek:

MarkyMarkD

Tao

It costs next to nothing to heat up an entire hot water tank - and I think that's what you mean when you keep saying "immersion" - of water.

Unless the hot water tank has cooled down because it's inadequately insulated.

Our hot water stays quite hot for about 24 hours without being heated up, because the insulation is good.

Tao81

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Tao

It costs next to nothing to heat up an entire hot water tank - and I think that's what you mean when you keep saying "immersion" - of water.

Unless the hot water tank has cooled down because it's inadequately insulated.

Our hot water stays quite hot for about 24 hours without being heated up, because the insulation is good.

OH! This is where I am being particularly dense then! because I was under the impression that heating the immersion tank continually would cost me a bomb??!!!!........I stand corrected!....... but am still a little too frightened to put this theory to the test, as my monthly DD's are higher than my budget can easily stretch to :eek: BTW - My tank has it's own fixed lagging, would it be worth putting another insulation coat on the tank?

espresso

Tao81 wrote: »

OH! This is where I am being particularly dense then! because I was under the impression that heating the immersion tank continually would cost me a bomb??!!!!........I stand corrected!....... but am still a little too frightened to put this theory to the test, as my monthly DD's are higher than my budget can easily stretch to :eek: BTW - My tank has it's own fixed lagging, would it be worth putting another insulation coat on the tank?

It should take less than 30 minutes for your boiler to heat a tank full of hot water. You could set your timer for 30 minutes early morning and another 30 minutes early evening if you don't want the boiler to be on continuously. Extra lagging on your tank certainly won't do any harm and should help with heat loss.