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

Tao81

espresso wrote: »

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.

Mine takes more like 1hr or more to heat :eek: and then I can only get half a bath of hot water from it before it starts to run cold?!!!! :eek: :eek: Exactly why I stopped using it once price of gas started to rocket!
Thermostat on tank in loft (if it works properly??) is set to 70 from memory.
If heat the tank in the morning, unless leave it to come on intermittently throughout day, it is only warm by 18.00 not remotely hot!:mad:
Don't use much hot water as a rule, electric shower does us everyday, boil kettle to clean kitchen and wash few dishes (have dishwasher), doesn't seem worth putting it on at all!!

The antics this really old heating system gets up to stumps me! Don't have any family and haven't even got any savvy friends to ask?!! Certainly can't afford to pay a gas engineer for his time to come and crack my conundrum with me, so will have to carry on as am I think?!!:D
Nightmare!!.................... A combi is definitely on my wish list!

But really appreciating all the feedback and help from you guys - Thanks a million for being so kind and caring. Ta xx

Farway

Tao81

It may be your tank & system are very old and the tank has got a lot of scale in now, so you do not actaully have a tank of water, you have half a tank of water & half a tank of scale / chalk

There is no quick or cheap fix, new tank maybe but that would need plumbers etc so just keep saving for that combi, then no tank at all

Tao81

Farway wrote: »

Tao81

It may be your tank & system are very old and the tank has got a lot of scale in now, so you do not actaully have a tank of water, you have half a tank of water & half a tank of scale / chalk

The tank is weird it only has a flimsy lid on it and so can look inside if I choose! :eek: Will take a peek later re-scan for scale, but do live in a really soft water area (Devon) ...But the lid setup probably has something to do with this awful situation....Never mine....

There is no quick or cheap fix, new tank maybe but that would need plumbers etc so just keep saving for that combi, then no tank at all

...Yeah, I keep putting my spare pennies in the combi piggy:D but DD's teenage social engagement requirements keep starving at weekends etc., poor little piggy!!.......Sigh!:rolleyes:;)

hilsofhove

I have queried the amount of my gas bill several times in the last two years as I feel it is far too high for consumption & eventually found out that it is costing me 96p per day (6.75 weekly) just to have pilot light on water/heating boiler. Is it safe to keep turning it off until I need it? Utility company told me it wouldn't be wise in case of pipes icing up but obviously would be using it if that cold!:mad:

Cardew

hilsofhove wrote: »

I have queried the amount of my gas bill several times in the last two years as I feel it is far too high for consumption & eventually found out that it is costing me 96p per day (6.75 weekly) just to have pilot light on water/heating boiler. Is it safe to keep turning it off until I need it? Utility company told me it wouldn't be wise in case of pipes icing up but obviously would be using it if that cold!:mad:

Welcome to the forum.

How do you get 96p per day? Is that for Hot water as well?

What is the 6.75 weekly? Presumably 6.75 Imperial gas units which is around 210kWh? which would be around £7

A pilot light alone cannot use that much gas, it would be a flame thrower.

patty65

I use 4 kWh of gas per day for my pilot light for hot water which works out about £45 per year. I found this out when I went on holiday, turned the thermostat down for the water but forgot to turn off the pilot light.

I also have a separate pilot light for my heating which uses more gas as the flame is bigger so say £30 a year if on 6 months so I am paying about £75 a year for pilot lights.

Patrick

alanbell

I have just got off the phone with my supplier (british gas) as i have a bill of over £20. there has been nothing used at all in my house for the 2 months i have been billed. Now they tell me that its my pilot light that has used it ???????? I think there is something wrong here as that works out at £10 a month for a pilot light. I have told them that i refuse to pay the bill and they can come and take the meter out of my house. there is no way i am paying £10 a month for a flame that is smaller than a match. Word to the wise if you only use your gas in cold weather then make sure you shut it off at the mains for the rest of the year.

iphone5_2

I have been told there are some websites from which I can buy a decent boiler at a reasonable price.

Any idea what sites they might be?

Thanks.

macman

alanbell wrote: »

I have just got off the phone with my supplier (british gas) as i have a bill of over £20. there has been nothing used at all in my house for the 2 months i have been billed. Now they tell me that its my pilot light that has used it ???????? I think there is something wrong here as that works out at £10 a month for a pilot light. I have told them that i refuse to pay the bill and they can come and take the meter out of my house. there is no way i am paying £10 a month for a flame that is smaller than a match. Word to the wise if you only use your gas in cold weather then make sure you shut it off at the mains for the rest of the year.

What about your standing charge? That will still apply even if the gas is off and the property unoccupied.
Allowing the supply to be disconnected will simply result in you being billed for that plus eventual reconnection on top of the £20.

Cardew

alanbell wrote: »

I have just got off the phone with my supplier (british gas) as i have a bill of over £20. there has been nothing used at all in my house for the 2 months i have been billed. Now they tell me that its my pilot light that has used it ???????? I think there is something wrong here as that works out at £10 a month for a pilot light. I have told them that i refuse to pay the bill and they can come and take the meter out of my house. there is no way i am paying £10 a month for a flame that is smaller than a match. Word to the wise if you only use your gas in cold weather then make sure you shut it off at the mains for the rest of the year.

Welcome to the forum.

See posts earlier in this thread about how much gas a pilot light uses.

Bear in mind that as the pilot light is the only gas you are using, all gas will be at the expensive tier 1 rate, so £10 a month is not unexpected.

By the way, why are you refusing to pay your bill - it is not the fault of BG.