Very high gas usage - help

Workerdrone

Section62 said:

TrevS_4 said:

I am just about to order a smart thermostat to help better schedule and monitor the heating but not sure how much we could reduce our overall consumption...

If you are running the heating all day because you are at home working then it isn't clear how a smart thermostat will help reduce consumption much. A better investment might be making the heating more zonal, or heating the work space by alternative means.

The one thing which springs to mind is whether the smart home system uses an opentherm bridge for boiler communication or just the old dumb relay to cycle it on an off. Using opentherm the boiler will more tightly modulate the flame down to match heat demand from the system whilst still trying to keep the optimal conditions for condensing mode. We have a full Honeywell evohome system in our house so bedrooms are heating morning and evening for just the time it takes. The kitchen is kept at a constant temperature lower than the lounge and I can control the lounge temperature very specifically without affecting the rest of the house.

Astria

Section62 said:

TrevS_4 said:

I am just about to order a smart thermostat to help better schedule and monitor the heating but not sure how much we could reduce our overall consumption...

If you are running the heating all day because you are at home working then it isn't clear how a smart thermostat will help reduce consumption much. A better investment might be making the heating more zonal, or heating the work space by alternative means.

I can control my heating from my PC and/or phone, and find this works perfectly. It comes on in the morning to warm up the whole house, but then it seems that my office takes a lot longer to cool down if I keep the door shut, so the office can easily be at 18c whilst the rest of the house is at 15c. Therefore the thermostat is at 15c during the day and I can boost it if I get cold.

However, I have noticed that it takes an equivalent amount of gas to get the rest of the house back up to 18c as it does just leaving the office door open and having the heating on all day at 18c, and it's a lot more comfortable when leaving the office to do other things. Over a week it appears to use approx an extra kWh per day leaving the heating on, so about 3.6p.

markin

TrevS_4 said:

Hi all

I like many are assessing their energy usage at the moment. After reviewing my energy statements over the past 12 months we are worried about our gas usage. We have a 4-bed detached house and our estimated energy usage is 4980 kWh for electricity and 31700 kWh for gas per year.

We have a 40kw combi boiler for heating and hot water but all cooking etc is done on electric. We do leave the heating on throughout the day due to home working but I am currently being much more cautious by reducing the thermostat temp down etc.

Can someone tell me if 31,700 kWh a high number for a detached property? According to British Gas the average consumption for a large 5 bed house is around 17,000 kWh per year. So, our usage seems very high.

Also is there any way I can test usage e.g. take a meter reading each day for a week or purchase some kind of smart meter to help monitor the usage?

Thanks

Trevor

What are your actual readings 12m apart? Have you only been in the house a year? I wouldn't trust the estimated energy usage on the bills unless you have checked them. And what age is the house?