Help working out my gas usage....

QrizB

weehamish said:

SO my next question is does 17khw seem like normal usage for 4hrs heating? i know its based on my house which is unique to me but on average does 17khw seem about right for 4hrs heating? My boiler is brand new only fitted in october and its set to economy mode!

How big is your home?

17kWh seems about right for a medium-sized semi or terrace. The boiler will be working at its hardest for those four hours, warming the house up from whatever-temperature-it-started-at to your thermostat set temperature.

We're currently using 40-50kWh/day to keep our 3-bed semi warm from roughly 0800-2200.

weehamish

Okay a few points i missed... i live a lone, its a 3 bed house and im only using 1 rad, it heats the room up pretty fast i have to take my dressing gown off as it gets toasty.

SO 1 rad for 4hrs per day 17khw good or bad? I need do further testing with more rads and stuff to see if its much more or not.

Just trying to be efficient and save some cash, it sharp adds up over the year specially with these price hikes and with only me paying the bills it makes a difference... the savings can literally pay for the broadband and other bills.

northernsoul

here is 1 days use of gas on the 22/12/2021 . Alteration Boiler set 62C not 60C. Downstairs 18C , 2 bedrooms set at 16C. bathroom 18C. 7 radiators. 

QrizB

weehamish said:

SO 1 rad for 4hrs per day 17khw good or bad? I need do further testing with more rads and stuff to see if its much more or not.

Using 17kW to heat one radiator for 4 hours a day is quite unlikely. The largest radiator on Screwfix's website - this monster - would struggle to use that much heat.
Does your boiler also heat your water?

theoretica

With one radiator only, you may have hit a minimum power that your boiler will run at - you would need to look into the details of its specifications.  You may find it is producing enough heat to run more radiators without using more gas.  Also the water may not be cooling down enough before it gets back to the boiler to be running at its best condensing efficiency - lowering the heating water temperature may increase efficiency.

theoretica

PS - I run 7  radiators and haven't timed how long each day the thermostat keeps them on for, but would estimate about 7 hours over the winter and that uses about 20kWh a day - so yes, I think you could tweak your system to use less power for the heat or, failing that heat more of the house for no more money.

[Deleted User]

theoretica said:

PS - I run 7  radiators and haven't timed how long each day the thermostat keeps them on for, but would estimate about 7 hours over the winter and that uses about 20kWh a day - so yes, I think you could tweak your system to use less power for the heat or, failing that heat more of the house for no more money.

Wow thiose figures are low as well.  Well it is compared to my consumption today - 36 kWh gas for 7 rads with the CH firing up and providing heat to the rads for approx 3 hours max I'd say.  Lower than normal for me.  Can only dream of these sorts of numbers (under 20 per day) providing at least the minimum comfort.  BTW what do you have your themostat set at?

theoretica

[Deleted User] said:

theoretica said:

PS - I run 7  radiators and haven't timed how long each day the thermostat keeps them on for, but would estimate about 7 hours over the winter and that uses about 20kWh a day - so yes, I think you could tweak your system to use less power for the heat or, failing that heat more of the house for no more money.

Wow thiose figures are low as well.  Well it is compared to my consumption today - 36 kWh gas for 7 rads with the CH firing up and providing heat to the rads for approx 3 hours max I'd say.  Lower than normal for me.  Can only dream of these sorts of numbers (under 20 per day) providing at least the minimum comfort.  BTW what do you have your themostat set at?

Thermostat mostly 20 for the day - off overnight. Turning the water temperature down in the heating system made a notable decrease in gas used. 

markin

weehamish said:

Okay a few points i missed... i live a lone, its a 3 bed house and im only using 1 rad, it heats the room up pretty fast i have to take my dressing gown off as it gets toasty.

SO 1 rad for 4hrs per day 17khw good or bad? I need do further testing with more rads and stuff to see if its much more or not.

Just trying to be efficient and save some cash, it sharp adds up over the year specially with these price hikes and with only me paying the bills it makes a difference... the savings can literally pay for the broadband and other bills.

Most importantly question is where is the thermostat located and is the a rad without a thermostatic valve in that room?

A simple test would be to open all the rads up the night before and then see how much more gas you use, how much your saving and the warm up time difference, the time the thermostat clicks off.

Reading the first post again, if you have the timer on for 2hrs or 7hrs 95% of the work and gas will be used in that first 60-80min, with only short boosts every 1 - 2hrs after that using little gas depending on heat loss.

 Solutions,

Get the thermostat moved, or a mobile one that you can put in your room.

If the is only the 1 rad open, only have the timer on just long enough to get your 1 room warm, start at 25min and work your way up?

weehamish

Hmm my last comment didnt post? 

So the 1 rad is in my bedroom, the room has a 2 windows but it has curtains and the door is always closed. 

The rad thermostat is set to max, which is 5 it doesnt have temps on it, the house thermostat is set to 20c.

The boiler is set to economy mode which is 70c but drops to 58c once its heated up.

I didnt know boilers had a minimum usage? whats the point in that? SO 17khw is the minimum i can use but it could heat more rads for the same usage? 

But i see 17khw for 1 rad seems a bit over the top according to some of the comments... 

I will test with more rads on to see if the usage goes up but either way, what can i do to get things checked to see why its using so much gas for 1 rad?