Too much gas

Toomuchgas

Hi everyone, I need some advice please. I’m using 52000kwh approx of gas a year (actual readings!) and wondered if this is extremely excessive after checking several websites for average usage:
4 bed detached 1930’s house
Imperial meter cu ft
Loft insulation, could do with topping up
Old boiler replaced 1 month ago but usage continued to be the same as with old one.
Heating on 12 hours (3 morning, 9 evening), Gas hob, 2 gas fires never used.

I am more concerned with kWh usage rather than cost at the moment. Meter seams ok as it stops when boiler is off. I have since turned down the thermostat from 21* to 19.5 and the usage has dropped in the last few days( from 12 units to around 7 units, I.e 380kwh to 224kwh per day) so every little helps. The energy company suggests this usage (52000) is possible but still seams excessive to me. What do you think? Am I being paranoid ?

Thomas_Edison

National average consumption is 12000 kwh.

But 12 hours of heating is huge, most people have their heating on less than 3 hours.

Robin9

Check the details on your meter - serial number and is it m3 or ft3. ?

Now look at your bill - are these details the same ? If not then an error of x3 can be introduced.

Also do you read your meter - read it now and include the leading zeros and the decimal point (ignoring the figures after the decimal point). How does this compare with your bill ?

Neil_Jones

A lot of older houses are expensive to heat especially bigger ones.

Does the house have high ceilings?
Do you have double glazed windows?
Do you have cavity insulation?

52k kWh a year is 142 kWh (ish) a day on average, that on its own can be about average for winters in this country (although if we have events like we had this time last year that usage may be considered low!)

I presume you won't be using much gas for the heating during the late spring-early autumn period?

Robin9

Thomas_Edison wrote: »

National average consumption is 12000 kwh.

But 12 hours of heating is huge, most people have their heating on less than 3 hours.

Ran my MIL 24 hours for the last few months of her life at 23 deg = 30000 kwh in 4 month

Toomuchgas

Meter definitely says cu ft, I’ve checked the numbers on the bills etc. What made me even more concerned is my gas central heating broke down over Christmas so we were using approx 4 small plug in electric heaters mostly on all day as we were all home most days. When I calculated the extra crazy kWh usage on the electric bill it was only £7 more than the gas equivalent for that time! This meant that the money I saved on gas paid most of the extras on the electric bill.

nigelbb

Neil_Jones wrote: »

A lot of older houses are expensive to heat especially bigger ones.

Does the house have high ceilings?
Do you have double glazed windows?
Do you have cavity insulation?

In our large Victorian 4-bedroom detached house we used about 68000 kWh of gas last year. It has high ceilings, no cavity walls so no possibility of insulation, secondary double glazing on only half of the windows. We could use less gas but then it wouldn't be as comfortable & as we can afford it regard it as a price worth paying.

Toomuchgas

I read meter daily at the moment and give readings to supplier approx once a month, only had 1 estimated bill last year which was only 4 points off my figure. Looking back thru the years, on a positive note, it is coming down! Hopefully the new boiler will be more efficient.

grumpycrab

nigelbb wrote: »

68000 kWh of gas last year

:shocked:
The problem with gas is that although it's cheaper (per unit) than electric, gas Central Heating burns a lot of juice - when it's on. To reduce your usage you either make the house more thermally efficient OR have the CH coming on less. The latter can be acheived by turning the thermostat down** and by using a couple of 1kw electric heaters in the most used rooms (cf your boiler down time).

** it depends where your thermostat is; if its in a corridor/hall then it could be turned down to, say, 17degC BUT you need to close all your doors; if the thermostat is in a living room, then leave at 19.5 BUT use an electric heater to aid heating in the living room (and the thermostat will trigger less often - make sense?)

Toomuchgas

Nigelbb, thanks for the reassurance! We also like to be comfortable , it’s just that others I’ve spoken to (in person) think the figures are crazy and the so called statistics do not seam to show that some people do use quite a bit more than the high average.

nigelbb

grumpycrab wrote: »

:shocked:
The problem with gas is that although it's cheaper (per unit) than electric, gas Central Heating burns a lot of juice - when it's on. To reduce your usage you either make the house more thermally efficient OR have the CH coming on less. The latter can be acheived by turning the thermostat down** and by using a couple of 1kw electric heaters in the most used rooms (cf your boiler down time).

** it depends where your thermostat is; if its in a corridor/hall then it could be turned down to, say, 17degC BUT you need to close all your doors; if the thermostat is in a living room, then leave at 19.5 BUT use an electric heater to aid heating in the living room (and the thermostat will trigger less often - make sense?)

A single thermostat is pointless in our large three storey house. We have thermostats on almost every radiator & obviously keep doors shut & radiators off in rooms we aren't using.

Frankly it sounds mad to advise supplementing gas central heating with an electric heater. We are having a gas fire installed in the living room which should enable us to keep cosy there while the rest of the house is cooler.

The roof is well insulated. There is no option for cavity wall insulation. We probably will install secondary double glazing on the remaining single glazed sash windows & use StopGap in the rooms with wooden floorboards. Aside from that there is little else we can do to improve thermal efficiency of the house.

We will be upgrading the central heating with Honeywell EvoHome smart thermostats & controls to give easier control over the various zones.

Ultimately we either put up with cooler temperatures or must be prepared to pay the cost of heating.