Gas Usage Sanity Check

Happy_Sloth

Mstty said:

Can you reduce you hot water heating, take showers only and shower quicker before it runs out?

Some of this could be age of boiler and too large a tank not insulated properly as well.

Boiler is less than 3 years old, the tank is a large one but it's well clad with insulation. 

Happy_Sloth

molerat said:

QrizB said:

We used to have a house with electric heating but a gas cooker. Looking back at the bills from then, and comparing to current prices, cooking would have cost us about 20-30p a day (plus standing charge).

I'm quite surprised by how much gas you're using for water heating. We're a family of four in a 3-bed semi and we're currently using around 10kWh/day (75p/day) to heat water, for one bath and a couple of showers every day plus hand & dish washing etc.

molerat said:

I suggest reading the actual meter and doing the sums rather than believing the toy in case they have managed to program it in cu ft.  36.9 / 2.83 = 13 so a much more believable figure.

Happy_Sloth has been posting about energy for a while; the IHD readings are consistent with their bills and metered gas consumption.

We've finally found a way to connect to our smart meter and it appears we are using 36.9kwh per day in gas at a cost of £2.99 per day. (On average)

They did not state how they "connected" so I took that to mean they are reading the IHD and that could be programmed wrongly.  So reading the actual meter and doing the sums would provide the sanity check needed - or just doing the sums if they trust the IHD meter readings.

Hi there, i have been takinf manual meter readings once per week for a while now.  directly off the meter, these readings are coming from the EDF app while gives me daily numbers and they are in-line with the figures i've been taking myself.  

So i'm reasonable sure they are they tally up, even if 36KWH does seem silly.  

if it is an average of £2.99 per day thats basically £90 a month which is crazy just for hot water and the occasional hob.As we mostly use electric to cook with, relying on a pressure/slow or rice cooker most of the time.   

molerat

The app is putting a 3rd party calculation in the middle. What is your daily meter unit consumption ? Have you multiplied your daily consumption by 11.2 to see what that comes out at ?

QrizB

Happy_Sloth said:

Mstty said:

Can you reduce you hot water heating, take showers only and shower quicker before it runs out?
Some of this could be age of boiler and too large a tank not insulated properly as well.

Boiler is less than 3 years old, the tank is a large one but it's well clad with insulation. 

Can you try turning the boiler off for a day? Will the rest of the household be happy to go without proper hot water for a day, in the interests of science?

[Deleted User]

Happy_Sloth said:

Mstty said:

Can you reduce you hot water heating, take showers only and shower quicker before it runs out?

Some of this could be age of boiler and too large a tank not insulated properly as well.

Boiler is less than 3 years old, the tank is a large one but it's well clad with insulation. 

How long is the pipe run between the boiler and the cylinder? Are the pipes insulated: most are not.  When the boiler first comes on, heat will be removed from the HW cylinder until such time as the temperature of the water in the coil exceeds that of the water in the tank. 

Heating the cylinder avoids the pipe run/coil problems. For example my 250l cylinder is heated using electricity and the immersion heater is ‘on’ from dawn to dusk. I have had a shower and my wife has had a bath. She also has a built in dislike of dishwashers. So far today, cylinder re-heating has used 3.11kWh.

Alnat1

We realised that apart from showers we don't actually need much hot water so we've gradually reduced the time we heat our 200l tank. Firstly we turned down the boiler temperature to 50C, left it 3 days, still plenty of hot water. Knocked the time down by 10 mins every 3 days until we hit the point the water ran cold (30 minutes).

Now on for 40 mins from 7am, plenty for 2 showers, hubby's shave and some hand washing etc. and we're using around 4kWh a day which includes using the hob a bit. We do use a dishwasher. If either of us fancy a bath we pop it back on for 15 mins.

markin

Have you turned the heating off on the controller or thermostat? Just turning off all the rads wont do it, it will come on all day, overheat and cut off, cool down for 30min and repeat. 

chrisw

Alnat1 said:

We realised that apart from showers we don't actually need much hot water so we've gradually reduced the time we heat our 200l tank. Firstly we turned down the boiler temperature to 50C, left it 3 days, still plenty of hot water. Knocked the time down by 10 mins every 3 days until we hit the point the water ran cold (30 minutes).

That's a bit low. Hot water should be stored at a minimum of 60C to kill off legionnaire's bacteria.

That would give a temperature of around 50C at the taps.

Happy_Sloth

QrizB said:

Happy_Sloth said:

Mstty said:

Can you reduce you hot water heating, take showers only and shower quicker before it runs out?
Some of this could be age of boiler and too large a tank not insulated properly as well.

Boiler is less than 3 years old, the tank is a large one but it's well clad with insulation. 

Can you try turning the boiler off for a day? Will the rest of the household be happy to go without proper hot water for a day, in the interests of science?

We actually turned off the boiler for the day last Thursday because we had a radiator fitted, they took it off the wall Wednesday and it was put back on Friday we turned the boiler off because we drained the entire system and it was easier/safer.  

Gas came in at 61p that day (Only day it was off all day)... which i suspect was standing charge plus cooking 9I can't precisely remember what we ate that day but it seems sensible.  

Happy_Sloth

molerat said:

The app is putting a 3rd party calculation in the middle. What is your daily meter unit consumption ? Have you multiplied your daily consumption by 11.2 to see what that comes out at ?

Yes it seems more or less inline with the figures i have.