Gas boiler is using 2.4Kwh electricity when being used-is that normal?

Olinda99 · 15 April 2022 at 2:40PM

yes if the motor isn't turning then all the supply sees is the DC resistance of the windings and a large current would flow heating the pump to a high temerature.

Hope there is now a circuit breaker or fuse on the new pump supply ! 🙂

Zandoni · 15 April 2022 at 2:57PM

There’s no way that a stuck pump would be using 2.4 KW the wiring would melt, assuming the circuit didn’t trip.

BUFF · 15 April 2022 at 5:46PM

Reed_Richards said:

The part that is likely to draw the most power is the pump that circulates the hot water around your heating system. If that has developed a fault it might be the cause of your problem.

probably also fan-flued so the fan too.

Spies · 15 April 2022 at 9:49PM

Boiler should shutdown if fan flue malfunctions.

BUFF · 15 April 2022 at 9:56PM

it also should with a pump malfunction. you would like to think that it would shut down if anything was malfunctioning & drawing 2.4kW ...

midimuso · 4 May 2022 at 11:59AM

I would like to apologise for the length of time it has taken to respond. You have all been wonderfully helpful, and I am grateful for your advices, concerns and opinions. What a wonderful place this is, quite simply.

There was an issue with the Boiler (and, in part, with my understanding of the way it works).
British Gas, to their credit, came out under their HomeSure agreement for free and did some checks and rectifications.
It seems the boiler we have (and I am still uncertain what model etc!), when fitted at the time, was meant to heat up quickly and serve the size of house that we have (fairly large, spread over a good sized SqM etc) and the number of facilities we have (22 radiators, 3 showers, 3 baths etc) evenly and consistently and quickly (that seemed to be the buzz word the engineer used a lot).

So, the initial drain on the boiler IS 2kwh and that lasts for around 5 minutes (after starting up on lower wattage) dependant upon whether it is heating the house or just occasional usage of hot water for washing dishes etc. I admit I did not test the smartmeters for much longer than 2-3 minutes. Then it drops down to much less when in constant use, say running a bath or shower. In other words, a quick blast of extra power to get things heated quickly (his words). They said that nowadays (17 years after this was first fitted), modern boilers can cope quite easily with our setup and the average boiler would be much, much less even on initial startup and use etc. The boiler is wired for 13 amps, we have not experienced surges or overheating of the boiler unit or wiring etc, he verified that there where no surges nor past wire melts/burns and said we were compliant with wiring and safety standards and requirements).

Since this, we have been able to reduce elec consumption by turning the boiler down and still not experiencing lengthy delays in warming the water etc for baths. We had turned it down, previously to 3 (out of 6), but the engineer said it could go even further to 2 and even 1 in the summer and not affect the speed of hot water delivery to baths and showers etc, despite the distance travelled across the house.

I just wanted to put all this down, so that you may be assured we were in no danger, but that my puzzlement at the usage is mainly down to my own fault of not understanding the system, and that indeed, I am as dense as a concrete slab!

All the very best and thank you all, yet once again.

Midi

Zandoni · 4 May 2022 at 12:44PM

midimuso said:

I would like to apologise for the length of time it has taken to respond. You have all been wonderfully helpful, and I am grateful for your advices, concerns and opinions. What a wonderful place this is, quite simply.

There was an issue with the Boiler (and, in part, with my understanding of the way it works).
British Gas, to their credit, came out under their HomeSure agreement for free and did some checks and rectifications.
It seems the boiler we have (and I am still uncertain what model etc!), when fitted at the time, was meant to heat up quickly and serve the size of house that we have (fairly large, spread over a good sized SqM etc) and the number of facilities we have (22 radiators, 3 showers, 3 baths etc) evenly and consistently and quickly (that seemed to be the buzz word the engineer used a lot).

So, the initial drain on the boiler IS 2kwh and that lasts for around 5 minutes (after starting up on lower wattage) dependant upon whether it is heating the house or just occasional usage of hot water for washing dishes etc. I admit I did not test the smartmeters for much longer than 2-3 minutes. Then it drops down to much less when in constant use, say running a bath or shower. In other words, a quick blast of extra power to get things heated quickly (his words). They said that nowadays (17 years after this was first fitted), modern boilers can cope quite easily with our setup and the average boiler would be much, much less even on initial startup and use etc. The boiler is wired for 13 amps, we have not experienced surges or overheating of the boiler unit or wiring etc, he verified that there where no surges nor past wire melts/burns and said we were compliant with wiring and safety standards and requirements).

Since this, we have been able to reduce elec consumption by turning the boiler down and still not experiencing lengthy delays in warming the water etc for baths. We had turned it down, previously to 3 (out of 6), but the engineer said it could go even further to 2 and even 1 in the summer and not affect the speed of hot water delivery to baths and showers etc, despite the distance travelled across the house.

I just wanted to put all this down, so that you may be assured we were in no danger, but that my puzzlement at the usage is mainly down to my own fault of not understanding the system, and that indeed, I am as dense as a concrete slab!

All the very best and thank you all, yet once again.

Midi

Can you have a look at your boiler and see what the Make and model is, because there is no way that a gas boiler will use that amount of electricity. Unless it’s some sort of hybrid that heats with gas and electricity.

BUFF · 4 May 2022 at 3:47PM

Zandoni said:

midimuso said:

I would like to apologise for the length of time it has taken to respond. You have all been wonderfully helpful, and I am grateful for your advices, concerns and opinions. What a wonderful place this is, quite simply.

There was an issue with the Boiler (and, in part, with my understanding of the way it works).
British Gas, to their credit, came out under their HomeSure agreement for free and did some checks and rectifications.
It seems the boiler we have (and I am still uncertain what model etc!), when fitted at the time, was meant to heat up quickly and serve the size of house that we have (fairly large, spread over a good sized SqM etc) and the number of facilities we have (22 radiators, 3 showers, 3 baths etc) evenly and consistently and quickly (that seemed to be the buzz word the engineer used a lot).

So, the initial drain on the boiler IS 2kwh and that lasts for around 5 minutes (after starting up on lower wattage) dependant upon whether it is heating the house or just occasional usage of hot water for washing dishes etc. I admit I did not test the smartmeters for much longer than 2-3 minutes. Then it drops down to much less when in constant use, say running a bath or shower. In other words, a quick blast of extra power to get things heated quickly (his words). They said that nowadays (17 years after this was first fitted), modern boilers can cope quite easily with our setup and the average boiler would be much, much less even on initial startup and use etc. The boiler is wired for 13 amps, we have not experienced surges or overheating of the boiler unit or wiring etc, he verified that there where no surges nor past wire melts/burns and said we were compliant with wiring and safety standards and requirements).

Since this, we have been able to reduce elec consumption by turning the boiler down and still not experiencing lengthy delays in warming the water etc for baths. We had turned it down, previously to 3 (out of 6), but the engineer said it could go even further to 2 and even 1 in the summer and not affect the speed of hot water delivery to baths and showers etc, despite the distance travelled across the house.

I just wanted to put all this down, so that you may be assured we were in no danger, but that my puzzlement at the usage is mainly down to my own fault of not understanding the system, and that indeed, I am as dense as a concrete slab!

All the very best and thank you all, yet once again.

Midi

Can you have a look at your boiler and see what the Make and model is, because there is no way that a gas boiler will use that amount of electricity. Unless it’s some sort of hybrid that heats with gas and electricity.

Indeed, my thoughts too. I certainly understand a gas boiler going to max. burner output from a cold start for a short while but I don't understand why that should affect electricity use by the boiler to a level of 2.4kW draw.