Energy & Gas Consumpion on a Semi Detached house

markin

FreeBear said:

markin said: The pipe going up from the tank to the loft seems to be lead! so a very old system.

The HW take-off from the tank is (normally) at the top, and any pipe going off to a header tank would be for expansion/overflow. Cold water feed to the tank is usually at the bottom - The pipe & tap on the left hand side would appear to be in the right position, and there looks to be a drain down point at the bottom. But.... The pipe appears to be capped off just above the timer/cables. [edit] There is a copper pipe at the back on the right hand side - Is this the cold feed to the base of the tank I wonder....

The two connections low down on the right are about the right location for the heater coil. What is confusing is the top one appears to be connected to the HW take-off from the top of the tank via a stop tap. In all, a very hinky setup. It would pay to have another engineer take a look at the plumbing with the view to ripping out the tank and plumbing the combi boiler in properly.

I brighten it in photoshop, they aren't connected, its just an air bleed valve.

The old pipe in the corner up to the loft is just painted and looks likes its capped.

markin

Turning of the immersion should save around £30 a month on the electric bill (95 kwh), In the winter the tank will at least be heating the house.

To save Gas you want to just leave the boiler on at 16c, 24/7 and turn the flow temp on the boiler down very low, Every time the house freezes the boiler simply has to work much harder to heat the house back up.


* The Rads probably do need upgrading to work with a lower flow of around 50C.




Modern radiator names.

Haydenlm1

markin said:

FreeBear said:

markin said: The pipe going up from the tank to the loft seems to be lead! so a very old system.

The HW take-off from the tank is (normally) at the top, and any pipe going off to a header tank would be for expansion/overflow. Cold water feed to the tank is usually at the bottom - The pipe & tap on the left hand side would appear to be in the right position, and there looks to be a drain down point at the bottom. But.... The pipe appears to be capped off just above the timer/cables. [edit] There is a copper pipe at the back on the right hand side - Is this the cold feed to the base of the tank I wonder....

The two connections low down on the right are about the right location for the heater coil. What is confusing is the top one appears to be connected to the HW take-off from the top of the tank via a stop tap. In all, a very hinky setup. It would pay to have another engineer take a look at the plumbing with the view to ripping out the tank and plumbing the combi boiler in properly.

I brighten it in photoshop, they aren't connected, its just an air bleed valve.

The old pipe in the corner up to the loft is just painted and looks likes its capped.

I just turned the red tap on the bottom right all the way to the right to turn it off.
The heating is on half on the boiler, and radiators are getting quite hot, got hot water downstairs and the tank is not warming up! In fact, its now cold!
Is that now gonna reduce my gas or electric bill?

The only issue now is that we dont have a hot water in the upstairs sink and shower. Luckily the shower downstairs works fine.

TheElectricCow

Haydenlm1 said:

markin said:

FreeBear said:

markin said: The pipe going up from the tank to the loft seems to be lead! so a very old system.

The HW take-off from the tank is (normally) at the top, and any pipe going off to a header tank would be for expansion/overflow. Cold water feed to the tank is usually at the bottom - The pipe & tap on the left hand side would appear to be in the right position, and there looks to be a drain down point at the bottom. But.... The pipe appears to be capped off just above the timer/cables. [edit] There is a copper pipe at the back on the right hand side - Is this the cold feed to the base of the tank I wonder....

The two connections low down on the right are about the right location for the heater coil. What is confusing is the top one appears to be connected to the HW take-off from the top of the tank via a stop tap. In all, a very hinky setup. It would pay to have another engineer take a look at the plumbing with the view to ripping out the tank and plumbing the combi boiler in properly.

I brighten it in photoshop, they aren't connected, its just an air bleed valve.

The old pipe in the corner up to the loft is just painted and looks likes its capped.

I just turned the red tap on the bottom right all the way to the right to turn it off.
The heating is on half on the boiler, and radiators are getting quite hot, got hot water downstairs and the tank is not warming up! In fact, its now cold!
Is that now gonna reduce my gas or electric bill?

The only issue now is that we dont have a hot water in the upstairs sink and shower. Luckily the shower downstairs works fine.

That should cut off the heating to the tank from the boiler, which would reduce your gas bill. As long as the immersion switch (middle one) is off and stays off you now shouldn’t  be using any electric for your hot water heating.

That’s interesting about the showers though, it suggests the upstairs hot water supply is still coming from that tank while the downstairs is plumbed straight to the boiler.

markin

2 showers mean the Combi probably can't supply both at the same time, So you probably want to keep the tank then? Restricting the flow on that tap but open a little so the Rads heat up faster is probably a good thing, trail and error. Also without the immersion On the is no hot water in the summer and is why the immersion was left on!

2 options i think, remove the tank, Or fit a diverter and thermostat on the tank so you can use the boiler to heat only water over summer.

Option 3, Hope prices come down no normal.

Haydenlm1

markin said:

2 showers mean the Combi probably can't supply both at the same time, So you probably want to keep the tank then? Restricting the flow on that tap but open a little so the Rads heat up faster is probably a good thing, trail and error. Also without the immersion On the is no hot water in the summer and is why the immersion was left on!

2 options i think, remove the tank, Or fit a diverter and thermostat on the tank so you can use the boiler to heat only water over summer.

Option 3, Hope prices come down no normal.

So just checked this now, it is still getting slightly warm when the heater is on and the water upstairs is somewhat warm..but not boiling..
The pipe where the red tap that i turned off is boiling hot to the point where i cannot touch it tho?
Is that normal?

theoretica

Haydenlm1 said:

markin said:

FreeBear said:

markin said: The pipe going up from the tank to the loft seems to be lead! so a very old system.

The HW take-off from the tank is (normally) at the top, and any pipe going off to a header tank would be for expansion/overflow. Cold water feed to the tank is usually at the bottom - The pipe & tap on the left hand side would appear to be in the right position, and there looks to be a drain down point at the bottom. But.... The pipe appears to be capped off just above the timer/cables. [edit] There is a copper pipe at the back on the right hand side - Is this the cold feed to the base of the tank I wonder....

The two connections low down on the right are about the right location for the heater coil. What is confusing is the top one appears to be connected to the HW take-off from the top of the tank via a stop tap. In all, a very hinky setup. It would pay to have another engineer take a look at the plumbing with the view to ripping out the tank and plumbing the combi boiler in properly.

I brighten it in photoshop, they aren't connected, its just an air bleed valve.

The old pipe in the corner up to the loft is just painted and looks likes its capped.

I just turned the red tap on the bottom right all the way to the right to turn it off.
The heating is on half on the boiler, and radiators are getting quite hot, got hot water downstairs and the tank is not warming up! In fact, its now cold!
Is that now gonna reduce my gas or electric bill?

The only issue now is that we dont have a hot water in the upstairs sink and shower. Luckily the shower downstairs works fine.

Seems worth trying to get some data on this - without heating that tank of water you hopefully will have lower gas bills - or more heat out the radiators for the same gas use.  Do you see a change in your use?  Do you find the house fine to live in this way or not?  If I am only turning a sink tap on briefly I use the cold one, no point firing the boiler up, getting hot water into the pipes and then turning the tap off before it comes out the tap.

Turning the red tap should have done nothing at all to the electrics, so probably confirmed that the immersion heater is indeed off, and the question about where the high electricity use is coming from remains.

How does your electricity use vary throughout the year?  Is it pretty much the same in winter and summer or does it have a pattern? 

theoretica

Haydenlm1 said:

markin said:

FreeBear said:

markin said: The pipe going up from the tank to the loft seems to be lead! so a very old system.

The HW take-off from the tank is (normally) at the top, and any pipe going off to a header tank would be for expansion/overflow. Cold water feed to the tank is usually at the bottom - The pipe & tap on the left hand side would appear to be in the right position, and there looks to be a drain down point at the bottom. But.... The pipe appears to be capped off just above the timer/cables. [edit] There is a copper pipe at the back on the right hand side - Is this the cold feed to the base of the tank I wonder....

The two connections low down on the right are about the right location for the heater coil. What is confusing is the top one appears to be connected to the HW take-off from the top of the tank via a stop tap. In all, a very hinky setup. It would pay to have another engineer take a look at the plumbing with the view to ripping out the tank and plumbing the combi boiler in properly.

I brighten it in photoshop, they aren't connected, its just an air bleed valve.

The old pipe in the corner up to the loft is just painted and looks likes its capped.

I just turned the red tap on the bottom right all the way to the right to turn it off.
The heating is on half on the boiler, and radiators are getting quite hot, got hot water downstairs and the tank is not warming up! In fact, its now cold!
Is that now gonna reduce my gas or electric bill?

The only issue now is that we dont have a hot water in the upstairs sink and shower. Luckily the shower downstairs works fine.

Just to confirm - if the heating is off, does running the upstairs hot tap now cause the boiler to fire? 

markin

Haydenlm1 said:

markin said:

2 showers mean the Combi probably can't supply both at the same time, So you probably want to keep the tank then? Restricting the flow on that tap but open a little so the Rads heat up faster is probably a good thing, trail and error. Also without the immersion On the is no hot water in the summer and is why the immersion was left on!

2 options i think, remove the tank, Or fit a diverter and thermostat on the tank so you can use the boiler to heat only water over summer.

Option 3, Hope prices come down no normal.

So just checked this now, it is still getting slightly warm when the heater is on and the water upstairs is somewhat warm..but not boiling..
The pipe where the red tap that i turned off is boiling hot to the point where i cannot touch it tho?
Is that normal?

Its direct from the boiler so its 60c - 80c 


Under 50C in the tank legionnaires is a small risk so you would want to turn on the immersion heater for 1hr a week.

BUFF

btw just in case you don't have the user manual for the boiler
 https://library.sparesbase.co.uk/flipbooks/RE/idlogc30_23306_t/mobile/index.html#p=1