LPG usage on a 4 bed 10 year old house

justwhat

LPG usage on a 4 bed 10 year old house. Been in the house less than a year. Previous house was Oil.
We have used approx. 2051 litre since December. Is this usage high?

matelodave

The only way you can really compare heating or energy consumption is by converting it to a common unit - kwh.

There's about 7kwh in a litre of propane, so if you used 2051 litres = 14357kwh, presumably for heating, hot water and possibly cooking so in fact it's probably not an excessive amount. 14357kwh is also equivalent to around 1387litres of heating oil (10.35kwh/litre)

Consumption depends on where you live, how warm you have the house and how well the controls are set up, system efficiency etc and bear in mind that this winter has been colder than the last few so it's not easy to compare your consumption with anyone else or even with previous years without having a significant amount of data. How does this house compare to your previous one in terms of location, size, insulation etc.

It's also probably worth taking into account that most people have spent more time indoors this winter than over the past few years, not only not going out as much but have you or your family been at home rather than going to work or school and therefore running the heating for longer than in previous years.

justwhat

every room has a thermostat in bedrooms controlled by a main timer. Downstairs is controlled by a separate timer and thermostat.(under floor heating.) LPG is used for heating and hot water.  Underfloor heating can be heated from the hot water cylinder. 
rooms sit at 18-21 depending on time of year. And heat is consistent
We initially used the CH to heat the whole house. Now we use the hot water cylinder to heat the underfloor heating. (i think it was setup like this so it could be upgraded to renewables at some point)
only used about 3000 litres of kerosene in our old Edwardian (5 bed), mind you next to no insulation and house prob sat at 17c. Also boosted heat with log fire.
both houses are near each other
My boiler her is probably around 10 years old. And kerosene boiler in old house was about same age.

justwhat

The boiler is a worcester bosch 30cdi , probably never had a service in 10 years lol 

Mister_G

I have a 4 bed 1910 Semi in rural Hampshire.  It does have cavity walls with insulation, but fairly draughty single glazed windows.
We get through about 2500 litres of LPG a year.  However, we do have a very reliable 40 year old boiler, which is only 65% efficient, feeding a conventional radiator system.  We keep the living areas at about 21 deg C.


Oh, and I currently pay 33ppl

lohr500

When you say you now use the hot water cylinder to heat the underfloor heating, is the hot water cylinder heated by the same boiler? 

justwhat

lohr500 said:

When you say you now use the hot water cylinder to heat the underfloor heating, is the hot water cylinder heated by the same boiler? 

Yes same boiler heats the hot water cylinder.  Underfloor heating can use the stored heat in the cylinder.

[Deleted User]

justwhat said:

The boiler is a worcester bosch 30cdi , probably never had a service in 10 years lol 

That sounds a pretty bad decision lol

Reed_Richards

justwhat said:
Yes same boiler heats the hot water cylinder.  Underfloor heating can use the stored heat in the cylinder.

Does the cylinder actually store the hot water you use or does it heat cold water to hot by passing the water through a coil inside the cylinder?  I believe the latter is more conventional plumbing.    

matelodave

Reed_Richards said:

justwhat said:
Yes same boiler heats the hot water cylinder.  Underfloor heating can use the stored heat in the cylinder.

Does the cylinder actually store the hot water you use or does it heat cold water to hot by passing the water through a coil inside the cylinder?  I believe the latter is more conventional plumbing.    

It could be a thermal store where the hot water tank tends to be heated to a much higher temperature than a normal hot water tank and,as R-R says the domestic hot water and underfloor heating could be derived either from internal coils or external plate heat exchangers.

justwhat

i think its a thermal store