High electricity use of gas boiler

LexyBoy

Hi all,

Our gas system boiler seems to be using a lot more electricity than it should (and used to) - around 200 to 300 W, which doesn't change much whether it's running or not. This started a few weeks ago I think, noticed as our smart meter was always showing much higher usage when there was nothing running in the house.

Otherwise it's working fine, any ideas what might be causing this? I worry that it might be a sign of imminent failure (as well as the waste of electricity) 😬

EssexHebridean

Have you confirmed that the high background load definitely is the boiler? Either by being able to isolate just that, or by checking room by room that nothing else has been plugged in, left switched on, etc? 

pensionpawn

My Viessmann has averaged around 437 Whrs a day so far this year.

Qyburn

Maybe a dodgy microswitch in a done valve, keeping a pump running unnecessarily. Can you tell us more about the system, apart from the boiler what ekse do you have In the way of pumps, valves etc?

macman

Nothing else running at all? Fridge, freezer, router, phone charger, standby devices?
Have you tried switching off the boiler power supply and then rechecking what the drop in consumption is?

FreeBear

Deleted User said:

Do you have additional distribution pumps on your system - they consume power.

A circulation pump should only use 50-80W. Even a real old one should be less than 100W. Without a pump running, I would expect a boiler to consume no more than 20W.

300W is excessive - Might pay to have an engineer take a look at it fairly soon.

alanwsg

My Ideal logic combi uses 85W when its supplying the C/H or DHW.
200/300W is way too high for a boiler.

LexyBoy

Thanks for the replies, sounds like I'll have to get someone to look at it at some point 😔 it's definitely the boiler (or some part of that system, it's all run off one plug), although checking now it's more like 100-150 W, maybe it varies though.

Qyburn said:

Maybe a dodgy microswitch in a done valve, keeping a pump running unnecessarily. Can you tell us more about the system, apart from the boiler what ekse do you have In the way of pumps, valves etc?

Possibly, I've tried listening to it on and off but can't hear anything obvious. There's only the boiler and two valves that set the circulation (not sure of proper name).

macman

The two valves, if beneath the boiler,  are probably just the filling loop valves, they don't require a power source.

Mister_G

More likely to be the motorised valves of a S plan system?

70sbudgie

Have you bled radiators recently? If not, air in the system could be causing the circulation pump to work a bit harder?