First month of heating: reduced gas usage by 33%

Ally_E.

I wanted to share some of my success in getting the gas bill down. October bill is the first one after we turned on the heating and first month in this house where we can compare 2022 usage to 2021.

It's a solid wall period home and quite draughty. Our gas usage went from 6,200kW/h in old 3 bed end of terrace to 25,000kW/h in 3 bed detached 😩 EPC C to E

I have made a few changes that now resulted in October bill for 2022 being 33% lower than 2021.

Things I've done:
🔹 Reduced thermostat temp from 18.7 to 18.2
🔹 Reduced hot water temp from 65 to 60 (system boiler)
🔹 Reduced frequency of hot water heating 
🔹 Reduced central heating flow temp to 45 and only put it up on cold days when the system struggles to heat the house
🔹 Bought a chimney sheep for the open fire

33% less gas is quite shocking to me. I also tracked average temperature and last October was warmer than this year, it was 12.38C Oct 2021 vs 11.52C this year. So should have used more gas this year due to this.

Hope this encourages others to make small changes and reap the rewards. I'm hoping we'll reduce usage to 18,000kW/h a year  🤞

We also made similar savings on electricity and use around 190kW/h a month now vs 250kW/h when we just moved in. 

QrizB

That's very encouraging, I look forward to hearing about future months!

[Deleted User]

I thought you were being decadent having a chimney sweep on permanent retainer - then I reread the post and realised!

Good effort, keep us updated.

ariarnia

yay. well done. do you have any plans in mind or anything you still want to do for the next months readings? i'm trying to convince the pets having a door closed somewhere in the house doesn't mean there lost and alone and unloved. failing that i think were going to put pet doors on the internal doors! 

Spoonie_Turtle

ariarnia said:

yay. well done. do you have any plans in mind or anything you still want to do for the next months readings? i'm trying to convince the pets having a door closed somewhere in the house doesn't mean there lost and alone and unloved. failing that i think were going to put pet doors on the internal doors! 

If our cat were still alive that's absolutely something we'd have been considering!

Ally_E.

ariarnia said:

yay. well done. do you have any plans in mind or anything you still want to do for the next months readings? i'm trying to convince the pets having a door closed somewhere in the house doesn't mean there lost and alone and unloved. failing that i think were going to put pet doors on the internal doors! 

I still want to do more, I have foam anti-draft tape for windows and around front and back doors. Possibly a thermal curtain for the front door too as the post box design is very unfortunate and lets in a lot of cold during Nov-Feb months. 

I'm also making more effort in heating the human and not the house hence why we could let the thermostat go down to 18.2, but sometimes it goes down to 17. I bought a lot of thick socks and joggers in preparation, but I noticed I'm so used to 18C now that I get away with wearing my lighter jumpers and only summer socks. It's amazing how quickly the human body can adapt. 

FreeBear

Previous years, I'd been running at around 8000KWh p.a. on gas. Reduced the DHW temp to 50°C (legionella bacteria will still be killed off, just takes a little longer). Thermostat is set to ~16°C as a base line, and goes up to 17.5°C or 18°C depending on time of day. Turning the gas off during the summer months has had a significant impact as the pilot isn't running 24/7 - Now down to 4500KWh p.a..

Fitting new DG windows/doors, and insulating walls & ceilings (an ongoing project) is slowly paying dividends in terms of killing draughts and keeping heat in.

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - we bought a heavy large curtain from eb@y last year for the front door (£10 curtain & £10 shipping) and it resulted in average temp in hallway increasing by 2 degrees.  

Our 1st winter here we used in excess of 20000 kWh - last winter cut that by half - although this was mitigated by only using the log burner in evening instead of GCH. Wood sourced from local tree surgeon & further seasoned in several wood stores here. This year hoping to reduce even further through using only air fryer & slow cooker. I WFH so have moved office to a small room which benefits from afternoon sun trap of a window. This means the GCH is only on one hour in morning and one hour at lunch instead of all day like last year. Log burner heats the whole place 5pm onwards. No heating at night. Hoping to reduce gas significantly with these measures compared to last year. 

Thanks OP for reminding me about the anti draft tape - ours has failed on the French doors - that’s a job for me in morning 😊

Ally_E.

I also WFH and the office room gets afternoon sun, it's west facing just like living room, but the living room is shielded by the hedge. It's a lifesaver in the summer, but in the autumn can mean 2 degrees difference between office and living room. I can't decide if trimming it down is worth it, as it was so important in keeping the living room cool during the heatwaves. 

ariarnia

about the door curtain. a few years ago we had a really heavy curtain in the hall and a round dowel on two cup hooks as a 'rail'. but it was a pain to go in and out because it was so bulky (velvet type material lined with upholstery fabric so a full bin bag when in the attic and defo at least 10kg).

i saw portiere rods (they attach to one wall next to the door then the door and lift up/away when the door is open to move the curtain out of the way) suggested somewhere (maybe on old style) and picked up a fairly cheap one (30 not 100!) but it couldnt take the weight of the curtain. so i also picked up a basic set of pencil pleat thermal curtains from dunelm in the sale for less than 30 (so 60ish outlay in total). one 90/66 curtain does a standard door so i could put a curtain on both doors out of the hall (outside and to the lounge)

the thermal curtains are really thin like normal curtains but a little stiff almost like shower curtains (but they don't look plastic). because they are lighter the rod can move them out of the way automatically twhen you open the door (so no faffing to try and bring the curtain across behind you when your going out or batting it out of the way when you come home). plus i havent noticed any loss of insulation compared to the bulky set. there might be some (we don't linger in the hall) but its definitely warmer than no curtains. works for us. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09BR9THR9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

Grumpy_chap

Thanks OP - that "chimney sheep" idea is one I will investigate.

We have made a big difference by keeping internal doors closed.
We also fitted close-fitting blinds to the windows, which make a massive difference - all our windows now get condensation on the outside.  The blinds are sheer so the light passes through and we can see through to the same extent as voils / nets.