Electricty used by gas heating

markin

If you can see the dial spin you should be able to work it out with a 30min test today.

looking at ovens A rated ones are 0.80kwh fan 'assisted per cycle'? But my 20 year old one uses 2 - 2.5 kwh for an hr above my average in my data, always easy to spot oven use.

Murphybear

Lots of clever people on here.  

I’ve also got a Physics degree (with Astronomy) but haven’t used it since I graduated in 1973 so I’m not getting involved in the discussion 

MikePh

Okey-dokey

Smart meters installed. Great installer - smart, knowledgeable and friendly

Whilst without power I physically unplugged everything so I could re-attach them to grid one at a time. Only the ‘hard wired’ things were left on (alarm system and garage door etc, total power draw of b*gger all)

Fortunately, the IHD has a handy, one button display for ‘current kW’

When power came back on, I first powered up the fridge and, as expected, the draw was around 80 watts which dropped off when thermostat decided fridge was cold enough. Freezer was drawing around 55 watts when requited

I turned on a number of lights but they added only a very small load (as expected as they are all low power)

I got to the point where my display was showing around 180 Watts

This is entirely in line with my suspected daily ‘background’ (fridge, freezer, alarm, a few lights, etc) energy use of around 3 kWh per day

Switched on main oven with fan, display reading 2.2 kW. No surprise there. Microwave oven (on 100%) pulling 1K.

Happy that I can now monitor instant kW along with daily, weekly and monthly kWh for both gas and electricity

Unfortunately the IHD will only display total energy consumed. If you have any dual rate tariff, you will still need to put your coat on, grab an umbrella, and go read the meter if you need to see the split and there is little information regarding gas, presumably because the gas meter relies on a battery and it needs to conserve this by supplying data to the IHD infrequently.

All in all, though, the IHD is quite handy and I can see how it can be useful to help reduce electricity use. (but, unfortunately, because of the lack of information, not gas)

Daytime electricity use is around 6.8 kWh per day  (00.30 - 7.30)

Night-time electricity use is around 1 kWh per night  (7.30 - 00.30)

Gas is around 50 kWh per day (keeping house @ 18 degrees from 8 am to 11 pm) and heating water to 65 degrees twice a day

about right, I would say

But electricity used by the heating system (the whole point of this post)? A bit of a surprise. The gas central heating system pump draws just 40W on startup and then drops back to 15W so I am now wondering whether the old meter could be buggered

lohr500

Thanks for updating us with your findings. I wonder what options may exist to get a removed meter tested for accuracy? You may need to move quickly before the old meter is consigned to the scrapyard.

MikePh

Exactly what I thoughy lohr500, but it is almost impossile to contact these people

victor2

Or look for something else that was causing higher than expected usage...

MikePh

I see what you mean victor2, but that high usage was every day, and so far there is nothing in the six days that I have been monitoring anywhere near it

Gerry1

MikePh said:

Daytime electricity use is around 6.8 kWh per day  (00.30 - 7.30)

Night-time electricity use is around 1 kWh per night  (7.30 - 00.30)

I think your sundial is in the shade...

Gerry1

MikePh said:

Daytime electricity use is around 6.8 kWh per day  (00.30 - 7.30)

Night-time electricity use is around 1 kWh per night  (7.30 - 00.30)

I think your sundial is in the shade...

MikePh

Gerry1 said:

MikePh said:

Daytime electricity use is around 6.8 kWh per day  (00.30 - 7.30)

Night-time electricity use is around 1 kWh per night  (7.30 - 00.30)

I think your sundial is in the shade...

Sorry Gerry1, could you explain the sundial reference  please