Unusually high gas usage of 43000kwh per year

Spoonie_Turtle

youravinalarrrf said:

giles007 said:

I don't think our settings are that drastic - we have played with them in the past - up down a degree, on / off for shorter hours etc, but all to no real discernable avail.

We have always turned the AGA off in the summer months, as yes it does heat as well as cook
Whilst the AGA was on though, the underfloor heating didn't ever kick in as the temperature was always adequate from just the AGA.

Yes it would have been just hot water in the Summer

Oddly the upstairs temp is controlled by a thermostat downstairs (odd historical house configuration) and it gets affected by the downstairs heat - we often complain its too cold upstairs.

I cant see any reason we would be pumping out heat and not be readily aware that we are

Try setting everything to 17 degrees across the board and turn it off overnight. You can always increase/override the settings in unusually cold periods or if you find that 17 degrees is just too cold for your comfort.

Or perhaps turn it off altogether for a couple of days, feel chilly, then turn it back on at 17 or 18℃ and it'll feel balmy.
[Or even down to 15 for a couple of days so the fabric of the house doesn't get cold, feel chilly, then back up to 17/18.]

Easier to feel a lower temperature is comfortable going from cold to warm than from hot to warm.

jvjack

giles007 said  "That figure for hot water - i had noticed we had the hot water on for too long morning and night last summer so for August i reduced the time it was on, so you can see the drop there. "   Is the Gloworm boiler a combi or system or regular ? 

New to smart meter myself and new combi boiler the monitors that come with it such as the in home display and an app called bright let you see useage without calculating etc. You would nail the issue in one week with it. 

theoretica

I have thought of another potential cross reference - are you on metered water?  How much do you use a year?  Of course not all water used is heated, but if you use more or less water than average in a year (150 - 160 cubic metres for 4 people)  it will give a sense check about what your hot water use is likely to be.

giles007

youravinalarrrf said:

giles007 said:

I don't think our settings are that drastic - we have played with them in the past - up down a degree, on / off for shorter hours etc, but all to no real discernable avail.

We have always turned the AGA off in the summer months, as yes it does heat as well as cook
Whilst the AGA was on though, the underfloor heating didn't ever kick in as the temperature was always adequate from just the AGA.

Yes it would have been just hot water in the Summer

Oddly the upstairs temp is controlled by a thermostat downstairs (odd historical house configuration) and it gets affected by the downstairs heat - we often complain its too cold upstairs.

I cant see any reason we would be pumping out heat and not be readily aware that we are

Here's my two penn'orth.

It's your money of course but unfortunately you seem to be in denial and until you understand and accept the basic principal that if your gas central heating, underfloor heating, AGA and any other gas appliance you may have is turned on your gas meter dials keep turning and it's increasing your usage and burning your money. The only way to reduce you usage is to turn the temperature settings down, reduce the time period they're turned on for or turn them off altogether.

As someone else has already commented the reality is that your temperature settings are set too high and on for too long.Try setting everything to 17 degrees across the board and turn it off overnight. You can always increase/override the settings in unusually cold periods or if you find that 17 degrees is just too cold for your comfort.

Are you heating rooms even when they're not in use? Turn the thermostatic radiator valves (TRV's) down to their frost protection setting in any unused rooms.

Why on earth is your heating on when everybody is in bed? You might as well sit in bed burning £5 notes? If you're in bed the heating doesn't need to be on as it's of no benefit to anybody. In my opinion it's just wasting your money unnecessarily.

Try the reduced settings for one full month (a day or two is not long enough for a proper comparison) and then compare your usage with the same period a year ago to see what difference it makes to your usage.

" .. gas central heating, underfloor heating, AGA and any other gas appliance .."

The AGA is off and has been for the past 3 months
We have no other gas appliances

Is 17 degrees a comfortable living temperature? to me that sounds pretty chilly, and I honestly don't believe the average household's temperature is set that low as its pretty cold. Unless you are saying that the average 5 bed house's gas kWh yearly usage is 17000kWh purely BECAUSE everyone wears 2 jumpers all the time?

The CH and UFH are off overnight as soon as the lower temperature schedules kick in and would rarely, if ever, come back on before the next daytime schedules, as the temperature rarely gets down to the levels set for those periods

I am not in denial, quite clearly something is amiss and it am trying to get to the bottom of it. I have friends and family members with similar sized houses and not new efficient boiler systems that have no where near our gas usage

giles007

jvjack said:

giles007 said  "That figure for hot water - i had noticed we had the hot water on for too long morning and night last summer so for August i reduced the time it was on, so you can see the drop there. "   Is the Gloworm boiler a combi or system or regular ? 

New to smart meter myself and new combi boiler the monitors that come with it such as the in home display and an app called bright let you see useage without calculating etc. You would nail the issue in one week with it. 

The Glow Worm is not a combi

Krakkkers

Just take daily readings and understand what is being used.
And 17 is quite a reasonable temp setting and not chilly at all.

InvertedVee

giles007 said:

I am not in denial, quite clearly something is amiss and it am trying to get to the bottom of it. I have friends and family members with similar sized houses and not new efficient boiler systems that have no where near our gas usage

I'm sorry that your first encounter with this forum has been a less pleasant experience than it should have been. You're trying to do the right thing and there should be no criticism or judgement by other people about some of the things they have chosen to do differently. We're all on a learning journey and if you hang around, some kind folks here will help.

I agree that 17C is not warm enough for many of us, me included.

Good luck!

Krakkkers

giles007 said:

Krakkkers said:

If you leave the solar system to avoid radiation from the Sun you will unfortunately expose yourself to Galactic and Cosmic radiation.

Can you have another read of the answer I gave to you at 7.53pm - and then have another think?

You would also use less gas?

jvjack

Giles007 said "The Glow Worm is not a combi"  thanks  So has tank maybe.
Sitting in 17 degrees can be miserable. 14 degrees or less is for certain. 15 degrees in morning is ok for me if moving getting up for work etc.  As above were all on a learning journey on this one.

macman

If you want a meter test, then the replacement will be a smart meter: dumb meters are no longer available from any supplier..