Unexpectedly high energy use

MultiFuelBurner

We heat to 45oC 2 times a week which takes 40 mins from 20oCm does for four showers to hot too warm. Then a legionella burn which covers 3 days use.(un-vented system)

Usage is 5kwh with the heat pump but extrapolate that out to 15kwh for someone with just an immersion.

This is not to start the regular legionella back and fourths but if the OP does have an open tank (vented system) they may want to stick to getting it up to legionella killing status each heat.

TheElectricCow

GoingAlone123 said:

Alnat1 said:

How long is the immersion heater on for each day? Does this provide hot water for a shower/bath or do you have an electric shower?

The immersion heater provides hot water for shower and bath, no electric shower. It is on a timer to be on only at night when the night tariff applies. I've recently changed it from the midnight to 6am timer to 3am to 6am. I'm trying to work out if I can still have enough hot water for the day if it heats up for a shorter time. But if I'm honest I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to the immersion heater! 

Do you know for certain what times your E7 off-peak rates are? It can vary depending on where you live in the country, but an important note is that the times don’t usually change with the clocks for Daylight savings. The times should be noted on your bill, but it’s best practice to observe your meter at the expected switch over time in case these times don’t exactly match (especially older meters which can have a habit of drifting over time).

So right now, during BST, my exact E7 times are actually 1:35am-8:35am, but when the clocks change they’ll be 12:35am-7:35am.

If the immersion is controlled with a manual timer and was set to the current midnight, it’s possible it has been doing some or all of its heating at the expensive rate!

3 hours of immersion heating should be about enough to fully heat a tank from cold, but unless you use a lot of hot water or the tank is very poorly insulated it should never get completely cold with daily heating. For 1 shower per day you could get away with as little as 15-20 minutes of the immersion running, so it may be worth experimenting with the times to see what works best for you.

Robin9

GoingAlone123 said:

Hello all, 


Those are estimates provided by EDF Energy but I also have a smart meter and have checked the Hub. I haven't been with EDF for a full 12 months yet but looking at the Hub it seems I used roughly 745 kWh in colder months, 500 kWh in milder months and then around 250 kWh in summer months (no heating on). 

Have you the actual day and night units for these periods?

I note you changed your storage rad - can we have make and model please. I hope you haven't changed for a "magic dust" one.

markin

If the tank has a foam shell 40min gives a bath, 20min could be plenty for showers. use 2:30-3:30 range to be safe, but some meters can drift 12 hrs!

Chris_b2z

First set the Smart meter to send readings at 30 minute intervals if it isn't already. Within a week you should have an accurate daily usage chart available via the EDF Energy Hub in MyAccount. Then look for patterns to identify the worst offenders. Check the times of high usage on days when you're in the office, days when you run the washing machine & tumble dryer, nights when storage heater is on, etc.

Gerry1

Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test.

Running a storage heater on a timer is a bit of a bodge and a risky one at that: get it wrong for any reason and you'll be heating at expensive day rates.  Similarly, another pitfall is that your cheap rate could be split e.g. 2230 - 0030 and 0230 - 0730 GMT so up to  two hours at peak rate.

Far better to use an E7 circuit switched by the meter so it can never overcharge.  However, this does mean modern High Heat Retention NSHs (e.g. Dimplex Quantum) need an additional 24h circuit.

Don't use an instantaneous electric shower.  Make sure any boost immersion heater (halfway up the tank) is left switched off and the main one at the bottom is on an E7 switched circuit.

ArbitraryRandom

Gerry1 said:

Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test.

This is exactly the link I was looking for and couldn't find when typing my earlier response  

dealyboy

Hi GoingAlone123 ...

I must admit I may have misunderstood your original post but I don't follow the logic of most of the subsequent posts and your responses to them ...

......................

"I am currently with EDF Energy on their Standard (variable) - E7 tariff. I have started looking at possibly changing because of the standing charge increase and when I typed my annual usage figure into Octopus' website I realised that my usage figures are considered 'high'. The figures I have are day: 3,371 kWh and 3,201 kWh.

Those are estimates provided by EDF Energy but I also have a smart meter and have checked the Hub. I haven't been with EDF for a full 12 months yet but looking at the Hub it seems I used roughly 745 kWh in colder months, 500 kWh in milder months and then around 250 kWh in summer months (no heating on)."

......................

Are you saying that 3,371 kWh and 3,201 kWh are EDF (day/night) annual estimates and that your actual usage (from the Hub is 745 kWh in colder months, 500 kWh in milder months and then around 250 kWh in summer months in not quite a year? If so the thread progression should be quite different, EDF estimates lag by months/years and are inconsistent depending on where you look on the dashboard. The 'Energy Hub' is accurate as should your bills be (but not guaranteed).

Spoonie_Turtle

dealyboy said:

Are you saying that 3,371 kWh and 3,201 kWh are EDF (day/night) annual estimates and that your actual usage (from the Hub is 745 kWh in colder months, 500 kWh in milder months and then around 250 kWh in summer months in not quite a year? If so the thread progression should be quite different, EDF estimates lag by months/years and are inconsistent depending on where you look on the dashboard. The 'Energy Hub' is accurate as should your bills be (but not guaranteed).

I interpreted that to mean those figure per month in each of the colder/milder/summer months.

If indeed it's total, i.e. a total of 250kWh used across all the summer months, then yes this thread definitely went in the wrong direction!

dealyboy

Spoonie_Turtle said:

dealyboy said:

Are you saying that 3,371 kWh and 3,201 kWh are EDF (day/night) annual estimates and that your actual usage (from the Hub is 745 kWh in colder months, 500 kWh in milder months and then around 250 kWh in summer months in not quite a year? If so the thread progression should be quite different, EDF estimates lag by months/years and are inconsistent depending on where you look on the dashboard. The 'Energy Hub' is accurate as should your bills be (but not guaranteed).

I interpreted that to mean those figure per month in each of the colder/milder/summer months.

If indeed it's total, i.e. a total of 250kWh used across all the summer months, then yes this thread definitely went in the wrong direction!

@Spoonie_Turtle yes probably considering that the OP didn't correct a misinterpretation. I was thinking of my own usage figures which are very close to the figures if totals  .