Central Heating - Cheaper on all the time?

paulalawson

Hi all, I'm sorry I am confusing you all LOL, I have a Halstead Buckingham 111boiler, Hope this helps, and hope i can actually understand how it all works. Thanks again Paula

Canucklehead

Hi

And this boiler sits on the floor??

Corgi Guy.

paulalawson

yes it sits on the floor

Cardew

Canucklehead caught on quicker than the rest of us!!!! So stealing her thunder!

You haven't got a Combination boiler. (presumably you thought a combination boiler was the term for a boiler that heated HW and provided Central Heating?)

You have a conventional non-condensing boiler that heats the tank in the airing cupboard.

So just experiment with how long you need HW on each day; you might need longer than 30 mins morning and night(possibly an hour) depending on your pattern of use.

paulalawson

You beat me to it,I have just searched the net and had just found that I have a conventional boiler. Sorry for the confusion everyone,I will definatly change the timer to an hour twice a day, hubby ran out of hot water on his bath after my daughter used it all.Ha Ha, We live and learn, Thanks everyone.

SP1

Lets brake this down to an hourly rate...

iceicebaby wrote: »

Hiya

Just to answer the OP's question and to back up what most have said here.

I was in the leave it on low all the time brigade for many years as I was under the impression that was the most efficient.

However , when I first joines this site last November I read that it is more efficient to have it on just when you need it. So I did an experiment as I too was unsure.

I timed my water and heating to come on only when I needed then and compared the usage to the previous year when both had been on constantly.

Now I do have the units used written down somewhere, but not to hand. I compared the units used the previous year (as advised on my bills - yes I keep then all!!) and the actual units used that year and I found that less units are used if you time the heating/water to come on only when you need it.

Just as a ball park figure, I was paying £40 a month for gas and now I pay £19, and am well in credit foir the winter months. I am not saying yours will drop by as much, but just to give you an idea. If I can find where I put the info of the exact units used to compare I will post them.

I have my heating on in the winter for an hour in the morning and about 4 to 5 hours in the evening , and the hot water on for half an hour each evening which is plenty to heat up my 100 litre tank. I have an electric shower so dont need hot water in the mornings and the water is still warm from the previous night anyway. I live in a 2 bedroom Semi.

Hope this helps

There are for's and against and no two families living in the same type of house will be identical they are too many factors to consider, if it works for you then stick with it.

I live in a three bed terrace house built just after the war, yes quite old, minimal loft insulation 4", single glazed, TRV on all but one bathroom rad' run by a 30000 BTU com-bi boiler. My monthly gas bill is £30 with one room the main room with my PC is 22.2'c while I'm in but I turn this down to 19'c when I go out.

One way to look at this if you are happy with your £19 from £40 saving £21 then cool, but for me that would be £19 of wasted money as I would be cold for 18 Hrs if I was there all day; so looking at just this my gas bill is £11 my £30 - your £19

Now to the hourly rate based on a four week month.

Yours is on 6hrs a day 6hrs x 7 days = 42 x 4 weeks = 168
£19 divided 168 hrs = 0.113052p per hr
Which is not bad so you shouldn't be worried as the average gas fire on full could cost 10p per hr and thats just one room.

Mine 24 hrs a day 24 hrs x 7 days = 168 x 4 weeks = 672
£30 divided 672 hrs = 0.0446428p per hrs

No thermodynamics or rocket science, its what works for you...

:beer:

Kateh

Best way to check this is to take a meter reading at the beginning of the week - leave your system on low all the time - take an end reading. The following week, swap over to timed system and take start and finish readings and then compare the two. Whatever the physics, this will be the proof of the pudding as it were, as you will be charged according to the readings - but take into consideration as to how effective the two weeks are as you need to feel comfortable as well. There is no point in going to bed as temps reach the right level but you have spent an entire evening feeling chilled - you're paying for nothing then!

samtheman1k

simongregson wrote: »

Think of it like, would it be cheaper to leave the kettle on all the time?

The answer then seems obvious!

That's an interesting analagy. One that is wrong I believe. I've just bought the Quooker instant boiling water tap. This is basically a hot water tank under the sink that contains water heated to 110degC (under pressure) so releases boiling water on demand. The advantage of this is that you only ever boil the amount of water that you use, rather than a minimum of two cups for most kettles.

There is of course the standing losses, amounting to 10W. I calculate that this actually works out cheaper than boiling the kettle (with wasted water).

Don't know why I posted this, just to say that I don't think it's quite as clear cut as the Energy saving trust make out, but haven't got round to doing the maths yet!!!

ixwood

samtheman1k wrote: »

That's an interesting analagy. One that is wrong I believe. I've just bought the Quooker instant boiling water tap. This is basically a hot water tank under the sink that contains water heated to 110degC (under pressure) so releases boiling water on demand. The advantage of this is that you only ever boil the amount of water that you use, rather than a minimum of two cups for most kettles.

There is of course the standing losses, amounting to 10W. I calculate that this actually works out cheaper than boiling the kettle (with wasted water).

Don't know why I posted this, just to say that I don't think it's quite as clear cut as the Energy saving trust make out, but haven't got round to doing the maths yet!!!

Are you serious?

If so, you're not only boiling what you need, you're boiling a tank constantly.

You could just boil what you need.

How much did this bit of money saving genius cost you? How many years will it last?

jancaulf

espresso wrote: »

You should not need it on for three hours morning and night. If you have a gas boiler, use that to heat your hot water all year round, as it is much cheaper than using electricity. A gas boiler can heat a tank full in half an hour if timed for morning an evening.

We put our heating on for half hour in the morning to get up and from 4.00 for the evening - going off about 10.00 an hour before we go to bed.
As for the water we do half an hour early morning only and rely on the solar power to keep it to the temp for the day (this is the sort which works on daylight not sunlight) this works well.