Gas Fire or Central Heating? Which is cheapest to run?

pochase

Don't forget that by switching off CH you will have to use the immersion heating for hot water. That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

We use currently a gas fire for heating as the boiler has a problem, and we are still thinking if we should try to get it repaired once again, replace it (which would require to put it to a new place) or go for a heat pump.

We found that using the gas fire was much cheaper, 80p per day at the old fix, and now 2.50 per day with a new fix at 9p gas per KWh. Gas fire running between 12 to 14 hours a day and temperature in the room at 21 degree, rest of the house at 17 degree.

Even with using the costly immersion heater it makes still sense for us as the boiler we currently have is old and uses still a pilot light, which seems to be using a large amount of gas, even without using the boiler at all. Different articles say it can be easily 1600KWh per year just for the pilot light.

Regarding the standing charge a big part of the increase is to cover for the cost of energy suppliers failing and covering the cost for other companies to take the customers on, and honour the credit they had,.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-is-the-energy-price-cap/?_ga=2.53954350.760036830.1646482855-154881808.1640942753&_gl=1*14q4j04*_ga*MTU0ODgxODA4LjE2NDA5NDI3NTM.*_ga_X74CWQS9F0*MTY0ODg4MjQ5My4zNC4xLjE2NDg5ODIzMjYuMA..#accordion-content-0336620245-1

Leodogger

pochase said:

Don't forget that by switching off CH you will have to use the immersion heating for hot water. That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

We use currently a gas fire for heating as the boiler has a problem, and we are still thinking if we should try to get it repaired once again, replace it (which would require to put it to a new place) or go for a heat pump.

We found that using the gas fire was much cheaper, 80p per day at the old fix, and now 2.50 per day with a new fix at 9p gas per KWh. Gas fire running between 12 to 14 hours a day and temperature in the room at 21 degree, rest of the house at 17 degree.

Even with using the costly immersion heater it makes still sense for us as the boiler we currently have is old and uses still a pilot light, which seems to be using a large amount of gas, even without using the boiler at all. Different articles say it can be easily 1600KWh per year just for the pilot light.

Regarding the standing charge a big part of the increase is to cover for the cost of energy suppliers failing and covering the cost for other companies to take the customers on, and honour the credit they had,.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-is-the-energy-price-cap/?_ga=2.53954350.760036830.1646482855-154881808.1640942753&_gl=1*14q4j04*_ga*MTU0ODgxODA4LjE2NDA5NDI3NTM.*_ga_X74CWQS9F0*MTY0ODg4MjQ5My4zNC4xLjE2NDg5ODIzMjYuMA..#accordion-content-0336620245-1

I haven't had an immersion heater since the 70's !    We have a brand new Worcester Greenstar combi boiler and we were told that it is very efficient.   We did turn the heating down to 55c and the water down to 50c to save some money.    I wouldn't have thought that taking over customers from Avro etc. (likeus) would cost the kind of money they are trying to recoup, since most of the work is digital and done by computer !   After all, it is not like they changed the meters !

Ultrasonic

Leodogger said:

pochase said:

Don't forget that by switching off CH you will have to use the immersion heating for hot water. That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

We use currently a gas fire for heating as the boiler has a problem, and we are still thinking if we should try to get it repaired once again, replace it (which would require to put it to a new place) or go for a heat pump.

We found that using the gas fire was much cheaper, 80p per day at the old fix, and now 2.50 per day with a new fix at 9p gas per KWh. Gas fire running between 12 to 14 hours a day and temperature in the room at 21 degree, rest of the house at 17 degree.

Even with using the costly immersion heater it makes still sense for us as the boiler we currently have is old and uses still a pilot light, which seems to be using a large amount of gas, even without using the boiler at all. Different articles say it can be easily 1600KWh per year just for the pilot light.

Regarding the standing charge a big part of the increase is to cover for the cost of energy suppliers failing and covering the cost for other companies to take the customers on, and honour the credit they had,.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-is-the-energy-price-cap/?_ga=2.53954350.760036830.1646482855-154881808.1640942753&_gl=1*14q4j04*_ga*MTU0ODgxODA4LjE2NDA5NDI3NTM.*_ga_X74CWQS9F0*MTY0ODg4MjQ5My4zNC4xLjE2NDg5ODIzMjYuMA..#accordion-content-0336620245-1

I haven't had an immersion heater since the 70's !    We have a brand new Worcester Greenstar combi boiler and we were told that it is very efficient.   We did turn the heating down to 55c and the water down to 50c to save some money.    I wouldn't have thought that taking over customers from Avro etc. (likeus) would cost the kind of money they are trying to recoup, since most of the work is digital and done by computer !   After all, it is not like they changed the meters !

The cost was not just the transfer itself but also the energy used afterwards, since the companies people were transferred to were forced to do so for less than it cost them. Like you I also got moved when a supplier went bust. As we've both benefitted from the protection I don't really think it's reasonable to complain about paying for it.

On the boiler front I also have a combi boiler and have temperatures set as you do. On mine choosing not to use the central heating makes no difference to using it to provide hot water and I'm sure it won't for you either.

MWT

Leodogger said:

I wouldn't have thought that taking over customers from Avro etc. (likeus) would cost the kind of money they are trying to recoup, since most of the work is digital and done by computer !   After all, it is not like they changed the meters !

I really would suggest reading the links already given...

The costs include having to purchase energy at spot market prices to cover the unpredicted demand from all the new customers and also the cost of providing all the refunds to the customers of the failed suppliers.

All those 'protected' customer balances are protected by everyone else paying higher standing charges to cover the cost, the money doesn't get transferred from the failed supplier as for the most part they don't have the cash to meet all their liabilities so at best they may eventually be a small recovery from them.

As for the work being 'done by computer' it is amazing how useless a computer is without the staff to prepare and extract the data from the old systems and reformat it for the new supplier, along with the additional customer support to deal with a few hundred thousand new customers with questions...

FreeBear

Leodogger said: We keep the gas fire on the lowest setting.

Even if this gas fire is a room sealed appliance, get a Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm fitted in that room - It could save your life should the fire ever develop a fault.

(apologies if you already have one).

Gerry1

pochase said:

Don't forget that by switching off CH you will have to use the immersion heating for hot water. That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

Faulty logic, I'm afraid.  You should be able to use the gas boiler just for hot water: if not, change the programmer.

pochase said:

That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

Unfortunately, you've confused power with energy.

'That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3kW power, or for 1.5 hours that's 4.5kWh of energy, costing about £1.26 at SVT which is almost equal to 17kWh gas.'  FTFY !

Leodogger

Gerry1 said:

pochase said:

Don't forget that by switching off CH you will have to use the immersion heating for hot water. That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

Faulty logic, I'm afraid.  You should be able to use the gas boiler just for hot water: if not, change the programmer.

pochase said:

That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3KWh energy, or for 1.5 hours 0.70£ which is almost equal to 10KWh gas.

Unfortunately, you've confused power with energy.

'That is usually 1 to 2 hours at 3kW power, or for 1.5 hours that's 4.5kWh of energy, costing about £1.26 at SVT which is almost equal to 17kWh gas.'  FTFY !

Of course you are correct, you can use the hot water without using central heating.   To be honest I didn't think there were any gas boilers which didn't cater for both.

markin

Is the fire from the 70's with a lot of heat going up the chimney or a more modern? Can you not read the meter manually?

Leodogger

markin said:

Is the fire from the 70's with a lot of heat going up the chimney or a more modern? Can you not read the meter manually?

We have had the fire about 6 yrs and it is a coal "effect" open front (no glass).    We can read the meter manually yes.

northernsoul

At a gas rate of 3.94p / kwh.
For my Vaillant 837 28kw boiler on the 20/12/21 , 21/12/21 , 22/12/21 , 23/12/21 the cost for 15 hours respectively were £2.71 , £1.95 , £2.23 , and £1.91 
Once up to temp (18C) it costs between 10p and 12p per hour.
For my Canon Coalridge fire costs are consistent per hour , they do not depend on temperature or sun.
On setting 1 - 4p / hour

On setting 2 - 6.5p / hour

On setting 3 - 10.7p per hour

Setting 2 or 3 achieves the same 18C as the central heating depending how cold it is.
As you can see , once the central heating is up to temp , the whole house is heated for the same price as the fire heats 1 room (the lounge).
I therefore try to keep it on setting 1 at about 16/17C