Why am I using so much gas

Old_Grey_Mare

I’ll try and keep it brief.  Throughout the summer our electric bill was as high as it usually is and the gas was quite low.

I recently switched from using the immersion set for an hour a day to heat water to using gas as I thought this would be cheaper. The water was extremely hot and I used to hear bubbling.

We had a new boiler installed last year and also a new hot water tank. My husband fitted his home made thermostat which just reads high and low.  It turns out it was set to high. Anyway it was turned down and the water went cold.

I asked several heating engineers to come and take a look and to fit a new thermostat but most were too busy. One man felt sorry for me and said he could have a quick look but wouldn’t be able to start work until the end of February. He was quite horrified when he saw the thermostat and said the company who fitted the boiler should have made sure it conformed to regulations. He turned the DHW down from 65c to 50c on the boiler and advised us to get an electrician to fit a thermostat to the hot water tank.

The electrician is booked up for a few weeks but advised us to go back to using the immersion to heat the water. 

I’ve not had the central heating on, I occasionally use the gas fire which is an eco balanced flue and we have an electric oven but gas hob. I’ve become quite obsessed with reading the gas meter. It’s showing we are using 1 unit a day. My last gas bill showed we used 800kwh for the month. Is this normal?

StocktonFlyer

My October gas usage is usually where things start to go up drastically. From around 150kwh in the summer months to around 650kwh.

This peaks to around 2500kwh in January and February, before dropping again.

Old_Grey_Mare

StocktonFlyer said:

My October gas usage is usually where things start to go up drastically. From around 150kwh in the summer months to around 650kwh.

This peaks to around 2500kwh in January and February, before dropping again.

I think what I’m saying is apart from 1 hour per day heating the water, nothing has really changed from summer use. I’m no mathematician but my bills clearly show that it is far cheaper for me to use the immersion to heat the water and not the gas boiler which goes against everything I’ve been reading about.

diystarter7

A unit a day is a lot from what you have said.
Not sure what the answer is.
Have you had checked your gas fire?

[Deleted User]

My last gas bill showed we used 800kwh for the month.

800kWh for the month equates to 72 metered units (cubic metre) or 2+ units a day.

A gas fire will use anything between 1 to 3kW of gas per hour. 

I assume that you have an unvented hot water cylinder. It is illegal for anyone other than a plumber with a G3 annotation to work on unvented (pressurised) cylinders. These cylinders are fitted with 3 thermostats. They are fitted to eliminate the very small risk of an exploding cylinder of hot water. It is legal for a competent person to fit a 4th thermostat. In such cases, the adjustable cylinder thermostat is set at maximum 70C and the smart thermostat is set at a slightly lower temperature. 

Below are the 'Three Tier' safety control devices for unvented hot water cylinders:

• 1 A cylinder thermostat set at about 60 - 65ᵒC
• 2 A cylinder high temperature energy cut-out thermostatset to operate around 80 - 85ᵒC
• The high temperature energy cut-out thermostat, cuts off the heat source by shutting off the boiler and closing off the 2 or 3 port motorized valves, or by cutting off an electric immersion heater. The high temperature energy cut-out device is non self-resetting, i.e, you have to manually reset it therefore alerting you of a problem
•  3 A cylinder temperature and pressure relief valve set to operate around 90 - 95ᵒC and pressure relief set around 6 - 8 bar

PS Your electrician has offered you some sound and safe advice.

QrizB

Old_Grey_Mare said:

I’ve become quite obsessed with reading the gas meter. It’s showing we are using 1 unit a day. My last gas bill showed we used 800kwh for the month. Is this normal?

Is your gas meter metric - measuring cubic metres - or imperial - measuring cubic feet?

800kWh for the month is close to three units (cubic metres) per day if you have a metric meter, but is more like one unit (hundreds of cubic feet) if you have an imperial one.

I recently switched from using the immersion set for an hour a day to heat water to using gas as I thought this would be cheaper. The water was extremely hot and I used to hear bubbling.

The water was bubbling when heated electrically? That is not a good sign, the immersion heater should have its own thermostat to stop the water getting anywhere near boiling point.

We had a new boiler installed last year and also a new hot water tank. My husband fitted his home made thermostat which just reads high and low.  It turns out it was set to high. Anyway it was turned down and the water went cold.

One man felt sorry for me and said he could have a quick look but wouldn’t be able to start work until the end of February. He was quite horrified when he saw the thermostat and said the company who fitted the boiler should have made sure it conformed to regulations.

It sounds as though your husband's home-made thermostat is part of the problem. Did the boiler company fit their own thermostat, and your husband replaced it with his own? Is the boiler co's thermostat still around, and can you persuade your husband to remove his and replace theirs?

Old_Grey_Mare

[Deleted User] said:

My last gas bill showed we used 800kwh for the month.

800kWh for the month equates to 72 metered units (cubic metre) or 2+ units a day.

A gas fire will use anything between 1 to 3kW of gas per hour. 

I assume that you have an unvented hot water cylinder. It is illegal for anyone other than a plumber with a G3 annotation to work on unvented (pressurised) cylinders. These cylinders are fitted with 3 thermostats. They are fitted to eliminate the very small risk of an exploding cylinder of hot water. It is legal for a competent person to fit a 4th thermostat. In such cases, the adjustable cylinder thermostat is set at maximum 70C and the smart thermostat is set at a slightly lower temperature. 

Below are the 'Three Tier' safety control devices for unvented hot water cylinders:

• 1 A cylinder thermostat set at about 60 - 65ᵒC
• 2 A cylinder high temperature energy cut-out thermostatset to operate around 80 - 85ᵒC
• The high temperature energy cut-out thermostat, cuts off the heat source by shutting off the boiler and closing off the 2 or 3 port motorized valves, or by cutting off an electric immersion heater. The high temperature energy cut-out device is non self-resetting, i.e, you have to manually reset it therefore alerting you of a problem
•  3 A cylinder temperature and pressure relief valve set to operate around 90 - 95ᵒC and pressure relief set around 6 - 8 bar

PS Your electrician has offered you some sound and safe advice.

Thanks for that. The gas bill for October showed Consumption 25.5 units Energy used 808 kWh. It is a vented hot water cylinder. I’ve checked my gas fire manual and it said my fire uses 2.3kw per hour. It’s only on for a couple of hours probably 2-3 times a week. 

Yes for now, I’ve turned central heating and hot water off until the engineer can come out in March and will just use the immersion heater.

Old_Grey_Mare

diystarter7 said:

A unit a day is a lot from what you have said.
Not sure what the answer is.
Have you had checked your gas fire?

Thanks. No I haven’t. It’s a sealed unit and vents to outside wall. I’ve been outside and there’s no heat coming from it. 

pochase

You are been charged cubic feet units, what does your meter show, m3 or ft3 on the meter itself?

Old_Grey_Mare

pochase said:

You are been charged cubic feet units, what does your meter show, m3 or ft3 on the meter itself?

Just been to have a look. It shows ft3.

Sorry about all the questions. I’ve never had much to do with the practical side of things but my husband has now got dementia so it’s a steep learning curve for me. Serves me right but better late than never.

Old_Grey_Mare

QrizB said:

Old_Grey_Mare said:

I’ve become quite obsessed with reading the gas meter. It’s showing we are using 1 unit a day. My last gas bill showed we used 800kwh for the month. Is this normal?

Is your gas meter metric - measuring cubic metres - or imperial - measuring cubic feet?

800kWh for the month is close to three units (cubic metres) per day if you have a metric meter, but is more like one unit (hundreds of cubic feet) if you have an imperial one.

I recently switched from using the immersion set for an hour a day to heat water to using gas as I thought this would be cheaper. The water was extremely hot and I used to hear bubbling.

The water was bubbling when heated electrically? That is not a good sign, the immersion heater should have its own thermostat to stop the water getting anywhere near boiling point.

We had a new boiler installed last year and also a new hot water tank. My husband fitted his home made thermostat which just reads high and low.  It turns out it was set to high. Anyway it was turned down and the water went cold.

One man felt sorry for me and said he could have a quick look but wouldn’t be able to start work until the end of February. He was quite horrified when he saw the thermostat and said the company who fitted the boiler should have made sure it conformed to regulations.

It sounds as though your husband's home-made thermostat is part of the problem. Did the boiler company fit their own thermostat, and your husband replaced it with his own? Is the boiler co's thermostat still around, and can you persuade your husband to remove his and replace theirs?

Thanks for your reply. My gas meter is imperial measuring cubic feet. I’m sorry, I meant when I used the boiler to heat the water, it was then I heard it bubbling. As far as I know the immersion heater is fine. It was chaotic last winter when our old boiler broke and we had to have a new one fitted. At the same time our hot water cylinder leaked and water was pouring through our kitchen ceiling. My brother in law and husband fitted a new cylinder and my husband slapped his old ‘thermostat’ on. The heating engineer who came a couple of weeks ago said regardless, the boiler installers should have made sure the thermostat on the cylinder conformed to regulations. We want the thermostat replaced with a proper one and this is what the electrician will do when he can fit us in.