Locating where the high gas usage is coming from

atarisrocks

I have moved into a new house, and we have our first energy bill and it seem really high for gas.

 

In our old house we used 2.7kwh of gas a day on average this is based on a combi boiler being used for 2 showers a day or 1 shower 1 bath as well as general hot water use for hand washing and, in the kitchen.

 

We are now using 13.9kwh of gas a day we have a combi boiler which from what I can work out heats the kitchen tap which I have used hot water from for maybe a total of 10 mins total to give the sink a rinse after cleaning it and will heat the house when it is needed.

The showers and the other taps in the house are heated by a water heater which is run by electric which we run for 2 hours a day.

We do have a shower that drips which I have made use the dial is on cold, so it only drips cold water just in case it is trying to heat the dripping water.

Our oven is electric and no other known gas products

There is no smell of gas anywhere

 

What could I start looking at to work out where all this gas is being used?

 

Also why on this topic how easy is it for a heating engineer to change the rest of the house to be run by the boiler instead of the heating tank and will the fact it has a pump to improve the water pressure and is controlled by hive change this?

shiraz99

Given this is your first bill it will be based on whatever was given as the opening reading, maybe this was incorrectly given at the time. What you need to do yourself is take a couple of readings now over a few days to get a more accurate reading.

Doozergirl

You can get a gas engineer to do a drop test for you to ensure that there isn't a leak between the meter and your appliances. 

At the same time, you can get a quote for connecting your water up properly to gas.  Your system sounds a bit odd, are you sure you're not on a system boiler with an electric override on the tank?  

As above though, perhaps take readings from day to day to check your first bill wasn't wrong.   We were proudly presented with an estimated electricity bill for nearly £3,000!  Real cost?  £19 plus standing charges.  

daveyjp

Without details of the period of time of the energy bill your estimate of use don't mean much.

If you have concerns just take readings every day,

grumbler

Doozergirl said:

You can get a gas engineer to do a drop test for you to ensure that there isn't a leak between the meter and your appliances.

IMO, you don't need an engineer and a drop test. Just make sure the appliances are off and take the readings 2-3 hours apart.

Alnat1

Are you sure the water tank is heated by electricity and not gas? 

We have a heat only boiler and use it to heat a tank for 40 minutes a day, gives us enough hot water for 2 showers, hubby's shave and some left over.

Can you give us the make/model of the boiler.

Robin9

Where are you getting your readings from ?  The actual meter - is it Smart ?    Are these your readings or from the bill - are they estimated ?

atarisrocks

 I have been checking the gas meter every day since we got the bill so the average is from the pass 10 days and it is close to matching what we have been charged.

There is no gas pipes that I can see after climbing in the airing cupboard so this is what makes me think it a electric boiler the only marking I can see on it is TIH 650 which is the heating element.

The boiler is a glow worm 24c installed last year which I have turned off and still get hot water everywhere except the kitchen tap.

ic

I recently had an old (30 to 40 years, G or F rated) system boiler (i.e. heats both radiators and tank of hot water) replaced with a modern combi (A+ rated).  My gas usage on hot days when there was zero demand for heating, only hot water, dropped from 4m3 to 0.35m3 (that's two showers a day).  I'd added a jacket to the tank to prevent heat escaping - it already had a good layer of insulation.

It'd be useful if you could post pictures or model numbers of your boiler, tank and system timer/programmer.  As others, I expect your tank is heated by the system boiler, and the electric element is probably an unused backup for use incase the gas boiler fails.  Ease of replacement will depend on what exactly you have now - I had a complete system replacement (new pipework, rads and relocated the boiler and meter) - it consumed the house for a week and a half!

Nearlyold

A TIH 650 is an immersion heater, branded Tesla part of the Wolsey Group

A Glow Worm 24C is a Combi Boiler.

It's a very odd set up if the boiler heats water for the kitchen tap but not the other taps.

Are there any tanks in the Loft?

atarisrocks

There is a tank in the loft we have been told it disconnected and just up there as it was too much effort to remove but we do not have a ladder big enough yet to get into the loft and check for ourselves.