Domestic Electricity Use 8000-10,000kWh pa

MoreApples

The 2 rate meter is historical and likely predates the GCH. It was too old a style for the meter chap to load test, if that means anything.

MoreApples

chris_n said:

I'm quite astounded that you can't understand why you use a lot of electricity.  Electric blankets all night, 1kWh EACH. Convector heaters, normally 2kW so on for half an hour 1kWh EACH. You are using an electic shower when you have a combi, this is madness showers are likely 1kWh EACH. 
I make that somewhere around 8 -10 kWh per day.

It's what we've had to do to be vaguely warm, it includes cosy pyjamas at bed time. Pre-insulation, I think the house lost heat very readily.

My calculation with the plug-in meter and research has the electric blankets at 0.6-0.7kWh each when used overnight. The convection heater in the 2 bedrooms are 0.5kWh/ half hour.

I've never encountered a shower run from a combi boiler before but will look that up. The showers were installed by the previous owner and we've not had cause to change them or funds to indulge redoing the bathrooms.

Sea_Shell

So you don't have any standard "over the bath" showers that run off the bath taps (mixer) or boiler fed hot water feed, like the sinks??

MWT

Apologies if I missed it, but how much gas are you using each year?

MoreApples

Sea_Shell said:

So you don't have any standard "over the bath" showers that run off the bath taps (mixer) or boiler fed hot water feed, like the sinks??

The showers are in separate cubicles so not over the bath. The hot water for the taps is via the boilers. My previous property we installed electric showers when we redid the bathrooms and there was no mention of showers running from combi boilers. I grew up in an area that did not have mains gas so it was not a feature of my childhood.

I'm now prompted to research combi boiler showers, though. Just had never head of them.

macman

There is no such thing as a 'combi boiler shower'. It's just a standard shower that is not an electric shower, and not a power shower, which requires a tank supply, as it's pumped. 
If the boiler and mains supply can deliver sufficient flow and pressure, it will be adequate.
The same shower could also be used on a tank supply as well.

matelodave

As macman says, almost any shower mixer will work with a combi boiler. Our previous house had one, both my daughters have combi's and both have showers. There's nothing special about them.

markin

How old is the boiler? It sounds old/undersized if it takes 15min to run a bath so may not be suitable for a shower, You can change bath taps to a mixer tap with shower and fit a shower rail, You can also buy showers that fit over the taps.

Just set the combi to 40c.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Single-Shower-Dresser-Rubber-Fitting/dp/B07HLZKGNH/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=rubber+shower+hose&qid=1653857446&sr=8-8


Is the not a heating timer that could be set 40min before getting out off bed? Hopefully you no longer need much heat with the new insulation.

What is the total electric July Average?

MoreApples

MWT said:

Apologies if I missed it, but how much gas are you using each year?

Gas is around 28400 kWh pa. on the latest annual estimate based on monthly submitted readings. It's not a mystery. There are 2 boilers and a house that was not maximally insulated until May this year. The gas does the hot water and the hob too.

The gas was £40 in May, £27 in June and £28 in July. A little would have been used for heating in May but the heating has been off completely since mid-May.

MoreApples

At risk of deviating from the main subject, new showers would not go over the baths - one is free standing and we'd bump our heads on the ceiling; the other isn't used because it was a spa bath installed by the previous owners which leaks through some faulty jet things. We've never used the spa bath because of this.

I think changing the showers would involve breaking tiles so not a quick easy solution but one that I shall bear in mind for some point in the future.

I have tried reading the stickers on the underside of the showers for the wattage but I'm too late - they are worn away and can't be read.