How much per hour to run a standard gas fire?

penguinpolo123

Hi everyone, I can't find a direct answer to this anywhere - and I'm terrible at maths. I just want an estimate really.
We're not putting the heating on and just warming the one room with a gas fire - however, we both work from home and the gas fire is on a lot.
Roughly how much do you think it costs per hour to have a gas fire on? This will really help me budget, even just with an estimate.
Many thanks in advance

kuratowski

Does it have any markings?

My gas fire has a little plate behind the grille.  So according to the manufacturer, it's 6.95 kW on high, and 3.1 kW on low (the same info is in the manual).  At 10.3p per kWh, that would cost ~72p per hour on high, or ~32p per hour on low.

Taking a meter reading before and after using it one day is probably the most accurate, though!

victor2

penguinpolo123 said:

Hi everyone, I can't find a direct answer to this anywhere - and I'm terrible at maths. I just want an estimate really.
We're not putting the heating on and just warming the one room with a gas fire - however, we both work from home and the gas fire is on a lot.
Roughly how much do you think it costs per hour to have a gas fire on? This will really help me budget, even just with an estimate.
Many thanks in advance

Impossible to say, but assuming it has a thermostatic control, the first hour or so will use the most gas while getting the room up to temperature. After that, it should settle into a relatively low usage level. 
The best you can do is read your gas meter, before switching the fire on, then read it hourly while the fire is on. The outside temperature and level of insulation you have will have a large effect on the usage.
If it doesn't have a thermostatic control, the usage will be more constant, and expensive!
Your gas bill will show you the formula to convert the difference between two meter readings to kWh. From that you can calculate your cost.

Krakkkers

Mine runs at 2.5kw on the low setting and uses 0.22 units so 25p an hour.

InvertedVee

A small one like this is 3.1kW max. So approximately 33p/hour.
A larger one like this is 5.1kW max. Around 55p/hour.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

here's a wee CALC you can play about with.

penguinpolo123

This is great everyone - thanks so much for all the info. Merry Christmas all x

jvjack

Tested kw per hour on my 15 plus year old gas fire before the cold spell over 3/4days. On full was using 6kw per hour on full . Then trickled it to halfway as living room was ok and meter showed  2 to 3 kw per hour.
But for the 6kw per hour in colder weather i'm finding the gas central heating gives more whole house/flat heating overall for that same 6kw. I'm still testing with a new boiler.

 

macman

If your 15+ year old gas fire is an open-fronted design, then it will be very inefficient. maybe as low as 60% . Much more so than a new condensing combi, which will be around 90%.
So that will explain why, for the same 6kWh usage, you are getting more useful output from the CH. And the CH heat is distributed directly to all the rooms where you want it, not just in one room.
For the gas fire, at least 2 of those 6kWh of gas are just going straight up the chimney.

InvertedVee

jvjack said:

Tested kw per hour on my 15 plus year old gas fire before the cold spell over 3/4days. On full was using 6kw per hour on full . Then trickled it to halfway as living room was ok and meter showed  2 to 3 kw per hour.
But for the 6kw per hour in colder weather i'm finding the gas central heating gives more whole house/flat heating overall for that same 6kw. I'm still testing with a new boiler.

It's great that you're doing real world experiments and I'm looking forward to the results of your tests. All homes are different of course but it wouldn't be surprising for a whole house to require a constant 2kW to maintain a very comfortable temperature in cold weather.

wrf12345

radiant gas fires are much better than other types, efficiency is usually highest on the higher setting and I think those kw figures on the fire are consumption not output.