Victorian mid-terrace central heating

Barmy_Army_92

Hi, 

I am struggling to gauge if my gas usage is above normal for my property. We have recently moved into the property ourselves [sep 2021], but I do have the old gas figures. The average for the past 3 years annually jan-dec, has been 18,000 kWh of gas used. 

My property:

• 3 Bed Mid terrace (137 Sq m)
• Built in 1890
• EPC Rating D (63)

I got a new boiler (WB Greenstar 4000 30kw) fitted with Nest thermostat in early December. The Nest shows that average heating time is approx 4-5 hours per day. We often have it set between 16.5-17.5. All radiators have non-smart TRV's, set lower upstairs and in hall. 

In January our gas usage was 2209kWh, so a bill of £97 at the current price cap. 

Does all of this seem about normal for the property/system? 

NannaH

Sounds insanely high to me,  more than double my 3 bedroom semi at 8000kwh,  which is fairly consistent for the last 5 years. 
We have a newish A rated boiler,  7 large radiators and a gas hob.
Wifi controlled heating set at 18 from 08.00 to 9.00pm , apart from 2 days it comes on at 06.00,  set to 15 at night.  I’d say the rads are on around 3 hours a day in total.  Probably 6-8 Showers a week,  very hot and full bath x2. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Seems high to me, especially for a mid terrace.  We use less than that for 3 or 4 of us in a 4 bed detached, but you haven't been there long enough to gauge it fully.  The previous occupants might have been the sort to wander about in t-shirts with the thermostat at 25.

Cardew

If property was built in 1890 it presumably has not got cavity walls??

Given UK average is 12,000kWh pa, the previous occupants used 50% above that figure. However as said above, we don't know their lifestyle - home all day, temp in rooms, baths or showers, presumably old boiler as you replaced it Dec. However in a Victorian house IMO 18,000kWh pa is not excessive and likewise your January figure of 2,209kWh is not unexpected.

FreeBear

Barmy_Army_92 said: In January our gas usage was 2209kWh, so a bill of £97 at the current price cap.

January was pretty mild in comparison to some years. But if we assume your 2200KWh is typical for a winter month, and the heating is running from Oct-March, that will put you on track to use ~13200KWh. Tweaking your temperature & times can help to reduce gas consumption a bit further. Saving more whilst still maintaining a comfortable temperature is probably going to involve investing in insulation - Put more up in the loft (min of 270mm), plug draughts around doors, windows, and floor. Consider wall insulation (either internal or external), and insulating the floor.

Personally, I favour internal wall insulation as it preserves the exterior look of the building, is easier to deal with window/door reveals, and gives you a nice flat wall to decorate. It can also be done on a room-by-room basis to spread the cost. The downside is a loss of 75-100mm of floor space.

wrf12345

Possibly depends if you have large north facing bay windows with older double glazing, basically heating the street and insulation on that wall will be pointless. I'm not convinced that cavity wall insulation is much use, anyway, as I had the free high spec foam stuff done in one house with double glazed windows and it made no difference to the warmth or heating cost. The thing I found that does make a large difference, secondary glazing using modern tilt and turn double glazed windows (it also gets rid of condensation even though they say you should not use double glazed secondary windows - have not had any problems) but it is difficult and expensive to fit to large bays and you have to remember to open it up to get the sun gain on appropriate days.

red_flump

Mid terrace 1890 terrace here, years ago used 18K but average figure is now 12K. 18C on thermostat (Honeywell T6) on in the morning and evenings. A  lot of loft insulation, but only small bay window not facing which is always curtained.

mrsplinter

I live in an end of terrace house built around the same time, two bedrooms and not well insulated. Gas is used for heating and hot water only. My last bill was dated 12/12/21 - 14/01/22 says I used 2281 kwh of gas during that period at a cost of £70 (I'm coming to the end of a fixed deal). Your usage sounds normal to me it's midwinter, I used even more gas in Nov/Dec. By comparison, I only used 1398 kwh between August and November.

markin

Read the EPC it will say the Estimated usage and ways to make the house use less, You can find it online quickly if its lost in a pile of papers.

MWT

I would be disappointed with that level of consumption, you use more in your 3 bed mid-terrace than we do in our 5 bed detached, and we have the thermostat higher than you, but ... I'll bet there are some things you can do to improve on that given the age of the property.

How many radiators do you have? That boiler looks a bit over-sized for a 3 bed property, which will make it harder for it to run efficiently, but there may be reasons for it if your installer did a proper job in determining the output required, or not, if that just happened to be what he had available in stock

coffeehound

As always with gas combis, turn down the boiler flow temperature as far as you can get away with.  It will need to run for longer to heat the rooms, but will still cost less to run.