using less gas...

Coates_2

a few pointers if someone can help, i'm currently figuring out my gas usage but i will assume i use too much (4 people live in my house, the gas boiler heats up all the water for washing machine, shower, radiator etc).
anyway... what can we do to lower our gas usage, will turning the thermostat down help? or simply just the amount of time it's on for? we each have a shower each day but wouldn't change that! perhaps less loads of washing?
any tips greatly appreciated.
i'm already giving everyone in the house grief for leaving appliances on after just two days on this forum!

Cardew

The major consumption of gas is heating the house and not the hot water.

Turning the Thermostat, assuming you mean the room termostat and not the boiler thermostat, will give the greatest saving.

Ken68

Taking readings several times a day, will build up a picture of what (or WHO) is wasting energy.
Then insulate getting grants where you can.
These people can help.....http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
Even better read this board, every thread. Only a couple of years old.

Coates_2

Cardew wrote: »

The major consumption of gas is heating the house and not the hot water.

Turning the Thermostat, assuming you mean the room termostat and not the boiler thermostat, will give the greatest saving.

i don't touch the boiler at all (too scared of breaking it!)
the thermostat is in the hallway, as far as i know it just affects the temp of the radiators in our house if it's on! the higher the dial (goes up to thirty) the hotter it gets, i've been told that it should be around the 18 mark and that should be sufficient. will this save our gas usage even if it's on for the same amount of time as before at a higher level?
forgive my ignorance i don't have much experience living away from home just yet!
i will continue to read more but can only check the forum a bit while i'm at work, getting fired might seriously hamper my ability to save money!

Cardew

Coates wrote: »

i don't touch the boiler at all (too scared of breaking it!)
the thermostat is in the hallway, as far as i know it just affects the temp of the radiators in our house if it's on! the higher the dial (goes up to thirty) the hotter it gets, i've been told that it should be around the 18 mark and that should be sufficient. will this save our gas usage even if it's on for the same amount of time as before at a higher level?
forgive my ignorance i don't have much experience living away from home just yet!
i will continue to read more but can only check the forum a bit while i'm at work, getting fired might seriously hamper my ability to save money!

The thermostat in the hall doesn't affect how hot the radiators get(the boiler thermostat does)

What is does is regulate how warm the hallway gets, and it does this by switching off and on the central heating for the whole house.

What you need is Thermostatic Radiator Valves(TRV) on every radiator in the house and then you can control the temperature in each room in the house independantly.

Until you get TRVs fitted you want to turn down the hallway thermostat as low as you can, whilst still being comfortable in the living room(s)

mum2one

Sorry if im being basic - dont do technical,

This is what we do.
the valves on raidiator that way each one can be set independantly, the one in my daughters rm, we have that on 3 (goes up to 6), the others are on 2.

The control box which is in the hall, think that controls the raidiator as thats the only one in the house that has not got the valves fitted, we had a combi boiler put in 2 yrs ago.

When the engineer set it, he left it at 18C b4 the raidiators cut in, weve adjusted it, this is what we do.

6.30AM (17.5c) - 7.30AM (15C) - TAKES THE CHILL OFF 4 WHEN WE GET UP

7.30AM ONWARDS - PRESET AT 15C - ONLY CUTS IN IF DROPS BELOW 15C

3.00PM (17C) - 4PM (15C) - DAUGHTER GETS HOME FROM SCHOOL 3.3OPM, LIKES A BATH THEN

THAT STAYS AT 15C

6.30PM (14C) - 7.30PM (15C) - JUST TAKES THE CHILL OFF B4 DAUGHTERS BED.

To be honest we find 15, or even 14.5 plenty warm enough, we have a gas fire, (but that got condemned 2 yrs ago - hense new heating).

We cook with gas, and the water is heated by the combi boiler, as the boiler is upstairs, sometimes does take a bit longer to get hot water out, so we do simple things.

Dont wash up just a couple of cups.
If any water left in kettle, we use that towards washing up, the 1st batch of water from tap cools the hot.

We really noticed a massive difference in our gas bill with the raidator valves, and the lowering of the temperature, were saving at least £100 a year.

mum2one

Sorry, 4got to say thats 3 adults and a child in our house.

A lot of it is simple things re saving money, my worst sins were

leaving mobile phones on charge overnight - they now go on in day, but in rm that were in so when charged, comes off.

charging laptop and using it same time - there are times where I have to, but 95% time now leave it to charge.

microwaves - did I really need the time displayed when I have a clock on kitchen wall.

x

far

This is interesting reading. My (retired) parents got their first central heating system installed recently. They both suffer badly from arthritis so need quite a bit of heat but the usage has been alarming to say the least! The program was initially set to be at 19c overnight before giving a 4 hour boost to 22C until 1pm and again from 8pm till midnight with it at 21C at all other times except after midnight when it was set to go down to 5C (so shut off). They are very high gas users anyway but this consumed an alarming 8-9 units on their metric meter a day - the same as heavy use of their 2 gas fires. A little adjusting with the program so it came on only for 8 hours at 22C and didn't come on at all at other times has seen little difference - in fact one thing that alarmed me a little is when the boiler is in use, it can consume up to 1 whole unit an hour. This is a brand new condesing combi boiler (Ideal ISAR 24he). Is this normal? If so, any ideas on how to reduce the cost?

One thing I forgot to add, I tried turning off 4 of the 6 rads using the TRV's but no difference was made to the amount the meter went up by in a day - is this something unusual too?

Cardew

mum2one wrote: »

Sorry if im being basic - dont do technical,

This is what we do.
the valves on raidiator that way each one can be set independantly, the one in my daughters rm, we have that on 3 (goes up to 6), the others are on 2.

The control box which is in the hall, think that controls the raidiator as thats the only one in the house that has not got the valves fitted, we had a combi boiler put in 2 yrs ago.

When the engineer set it, he left it at 18C b4 the raidiators cut in, weve adjusted it, this is what we do.

6.30AM (17.5c) - 7.30AM (15C) - TAKES THE CHILL OFF 4 WHEN WE GET UP

7.30AM ONWARDS - PRESET AT 15C - ONLY CUTS IN IF DROPS BELOW 15C

3.00PM (17C) - 4PM (15C) - DAUGHTER GETS HOME FROM SCHOOL 3.3OPM, LIKES A BATH THEN

THAT STAYS AT 15C

6.30PM (14C) - 7.30PM (15C) - JUST TAKES THE CHILL OFF B4 DAUGHTERS BED.

To be honest we find 15, or even 14.5 plenty warm enough, we have a gas fire, (but that got condemned 2 yrs ago - hense new heating).

We cook with gas, and the water is heated by the combi boiler, as the boiler is upstairs, sometimes does take a bit longer to get hot water out, so we do simple things.

Dont wash up just a couple of cups.
If any water left in kettle, we use that towards washing up, the 1st batch of water from tap cools the hot.

We really noticed a massive difference in our gas bill with the raidator valves, and the lowering of the temperature, were saving at least £100 a year.

I will try to be 'basic' then!!

The radiator valves are the TRVs I wrote about in Post #5 and they are crucial in setting the temperature of individual rooms.

I don't know what CH control system you have, but believe me a temperature of 14.5 to 15C(58F) is not bearable for most people and is below the legal minimum temperature for a workplace.

The only way to measure the actual temperature in a room is to use a proper 'stand alone' thermometer.

That said, if the system works for you then fine, but i will bet that the temperature of your living rooms is way above 15C

BexTech

Coates wrote: »

a few pointers if someone can help, i'm currently figuring out my gas usage but i will assume i use too much (4 people live in my house, the gas boiler heats up all the water for washing machine, shower, radiator etc).
anyway... what can we do to lower our gas usage, will turning the thermostat down help? or simply just the amount of time it's on for? we each have a shower each day but wouldn't change that! perhaps less loads of washing?
any tips greatly appreciated.
i'm already giving everyone in the house grief for leaving appliances on after just two days on this forum!

Switch the heating off, wear more layers of clothing instead of walking around in t-shirts, switch the hot water off, have cold showers, cook using the microwave. That should help, I think.

Bismarck

"That should help, I think."

It would help get me into big trouble with the rest of the family.....really looking at cutting the amount we spend on our gas so will be following the threads on here closely...