My mother's energy bills

poppellerant

Is the house old, because it sounds it due to your mentioning of the chimney.  Could you block the chimney up safely? A carrier bag, or bin bag, filled with something you won't miss will help to stop the heat going up the chimney.

I'd go round all the internal and external doors with draught insulation foam and door brushes and perhaps even consider home made door snakes, if you have enough material and are handy with a sewing machine or needle

ariarnia

if using draft excluders then you need to be careful about your mum tripping on them. you can make ones that are like a hotdog roll with the door in the middle. not sure how to describe it but a sausage on either side of the door and a bit of fabric that goes under the door to connect them together. then when the door is opened or closed the excluder goes with and isn't in the walkway.

like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draft-Excluder-Door-Draught-Double/dp/B08WKGHTP1/ref=sr_1_9

Georget79

ariarnia said:

if using draft excluders then you need to be careful about your mum tripping on them. you can make ones that are like a hotdog roll with the door in the middle. not sure how to describe it but a sausage on either side of the door and a bit of fabric that goes under the door to connect them together. then when the door is opened or closed the excluder goes with and isn't in the walkway.

like this

Super, thankyou 

Georget79

poppellerant said:

Is the house old, because it sounds it due to your mentioning of the chimney.  Could you block the chimney up safely? A carrier bag, or bin bag, filled with something you won't miss will help to stop the heat going up the chimney.

I'd go round all the internal and external doors with draught insulation foam and door brushes and perhaps even consider home made door snakes, if you have enough material and are handy with a sewing machine or needle

1940's I think. I've ordered a chimney blocker so I'm looking forward to seeing how that changes things. Thanks for the other suggestions 

BUFF

Georget79 said:

BUFF said:

Georget79 said:

BUFF said:

Georget79 said:

macman said:

Temp varies between 20C and 30C?! Tell us you're not serious!
20C is a reasonable average. 21C is about the max that most people are comfortable with. If you are seriously turning it up to 30C, then you've answered your own question: it will never achieve that temp, but in trying to do so the boiler would be running full bore all the time. Is it on 24/7 in the heating season?
She will get £400 credited back on her electricity bills in 6 bites from October, plus the usual WFP and the additional pensioner allowance., so £500  if 77. Plus £150 CT credit on bands A to D.
If she has dementia, then she may count as SMI and so can be disregarded for C Tax, which means that you will get a 25% SPD discount, if there are no other adult residents.
Check the loft insulation is up to standard, very easy to fix if not.

I've just checked and the radiators don't even come on unless the dial is past 25. Would this indicate a faulty boiler? I'll be giving them a call.

Or a faulty thermostat. As mentioned already if you can get some form of thermometer to verify what the actual room temperature(s) is/are that will help narrow things down.

Can you say what exact make/model of boiler, programmer, room thermostat & if TRVs are fitted?

Yes I'll get a thermostat to check the actual room temperature. The boiler is a Potterton Promax combi HE plus. The thermostat is just a box on the wall with a dial, no logo. It does appear there are TRV's on the radiator. There is dials to turn up the heat on them, although having had a look online I see there are some quite intelligent TRV's so not sure they are the same thing you are referring to. 

Is there a TRV fitted in the same room as the wall thermostat? (this would generally be considered a bad thing as they can conflict - if there is open the TRV to max)
What setting are the TRVs generally set at?

No TRV in the hall where the thermostat is. The rest are set differently, living room is max, as is her bedroom. Set to zero all upstairs, full in kitchen and bathroom we change it about. 

What is the wall thermostat set to normally ( 20-30C is a big difference)?
Max/5 on a TRV is usually 28-30C depending upon the manufacturer. 4 would be ~25C, 3 ~21C.
Obviously if the wall thermostat is set to 20C then your bedroom is unlikely to ever hit 28C (unless there is an additional heat source) as the system will have been shut down by the wall stat. 

btw I don't know how cold it gets upstairs but I would set them to * (frost, usually ~7-8C) in order to prevent any potential frozen pipes & hence expensive leaks.

Altior

Is the boiler being regularly serviced?

macman

System might also need a flush. Are the rads still cold at the bottom when hot at the top? Have you bled the system recently? Is the combi showing correct pressure, usually around 1 bar?

Alnat1

Make an easy draught excluder by rolling up a bath mat and putting a couple of elastic bands round the ends to keep it wrapped up.

Georget79

BUFF said:

Georget79 said:

BUFF said:

Georget79 said:

BUFF said:

Georget79 said:

macman said:

Temp varies between 20C and 30C?! Tell us you're not serious!
20C is a reasonable average. 21C is about the max that most people are comfortable with. If you are seriously turning it up to 30C, then you've answered your own question: it will never achieve that temp, but in trying to do so the boiler would be running full bore all the time. Is it on 24/7 in the heating season?
She will get £400 credited back on her electricity bills in 6 bites from October, plus the usual WFP and the additional pensioner allowance., so £500  if 77. Plus £150 CT credit on bands A to D.
If she has dementia, then she may count as SMI and so can be disregarded for C Tax, which means that you will get a 25% SPD discount, if there are no other adult residents.
Check the loft insulation is up to standard, very easy to fix if not.

I've just checked and the radiators don't even come on unless the dial is past 25. Would this indicate a faulty boiler? I'll be giving them a call.

Or a faulty thermostat. As mentioned already if you can get some form of thermometer to verify what the actual room temperature(s) is/are that will help narrow things down.

Can you say what exact make/model of boiler, programmer, room thermostat & if TRVs are fitted?

Yes I'll get a thermostat to check the actual room temperature. The boiler is a Potterton Promax combi HE plus. The thermostat is just a box on the wall with a dial, no logo. It does appear there are TRV's on the radiator. There is dials to turn up the heat on them, although having had a look online I see there are some quite intelligent TRV's so not sure they are the same thing you are referring to. 

Is there a TRV fitted in the same room as the wall thermostat? (this would generally be considered a bad thing as they can conflict - if there is open the TRV to max)
What setting are the TRVs generally set at?

No TRV in the hall where the thermostat is. The rest are set differently, living room is max, as is her bedroom. Set to zero all upstairs, full in kitchen and bathroom we change it about. 

What is the wall thermostat set to normally ( 20-30C is a big difference)?
Max/5 on a TRV is usually 28-30C depending upon the manufacturer. 4 would be ~25C, 3 ~21C.
Obviously if the wall thermostat is set to 20C then your bedroom is unlikely to ever hit 28C (unless there is an additional heat source) as the system will have been shut down by the wall stat. 

btw I don't know how cold it gets upstairs but I would set them to * (frost, usually ~7-8C) in order to prevent any potential frozen pipes & hence expensive leaks.

At the moment 20 during the day if its warm outside and 30 from evening onwards. I really need to get to grip with all the settings in relation to the TRV's as I've always let it go over my head. I don't think it works properly either, it's what I'm thinking after seeing all the replies. She's due a boiler and gas service so I'll get them in.

I just read the gas meter too. Since their reading on 9th August she's used 920 khw, so 43.809 per day average. According to their readings between 12th May and 9th August she used 5,943 khw. That's an 89 day period so averages 66.775 khw per day? 

I find it hard to believe gas usage has gone down that much in the last 21 days compared to what we'd be using during peak summer months with all the heatwaves we had? Or am I missing something here... 

QrizB

Georget79 said:

TheBanker said:

Georget79 said:

TheBanker said:

Are you heating the whole house? If so, is it possible to turn off the radiators in un-used rooms and just heat the room your mum is in at the time, and her bedroom before bedtime if needed?

And yes, as the poster above suggested, look into whether there is any funding available to improve your insulation. If you have an open chimney then the heat will all be going up there rather than staying in the room. I have no idea what support is available in Scotland but your mother's condition may open up additional sources of help. Your energy supplier might be able to make some suggestions, have you had a look on their website? Or your local council, or the Citizens Advice?

Do you/your mother own the house, or is it rented (and if so, is it from the council/HA or a private landlord)?

Yes I will make sure everywhere else is off. I've also just realised the radiators don't even come on until the dial is at 25 so this explains a lot. I'll need to find out what's going on.

Does it feel like it's 25 when you're in the house? That would be like a warm summers day. 

To achieve that, it would need to be set to 30 and also have the small electric heater on in the living room. So no, 25 is nowhere near a warm summers day.

I was sitting on the beach this afternoon, and took a dip in the sea. All very pleasant and my car thermometer thought the air temperature in the shade was 23deg C.

Either your room thermostat is faulty or you're used to much warmer summer days than I am!