How does my underfloor heating work???
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Hi All
This is a bit long winded but please bear with me.
I have underfloor heating in my council flat. It's so old the thermostats are in Farenheit!!
When I first moved in I couldn't quite figure out how it worked, so a nice young man from the council came round but said he didn't have a clue. So through trial and error I've struggled through.
I know the basics, like how it heats up during the night with cheap electric etc, but my latest electric bill has just arrived and the heating alone for Nov - Jan was £183. For the same period last year it was £79.
I queried this with my EDF, and they said it was correct and the price per kilowatt had gone up from 5.26 a unit to 10.25 a unit.
They suggested I turn my thermostat down. I usually have it on 70 degrees all the time so I've turned it down to 65 degrees but it's not warm enough.
I was told to turn it down at night and then turn it up during the day. I thought that if I turned it down at night, it wouldn't have heated up enough to use during the day and would run out of heat...a bit like storage heaters.
I hope you're not as confused as me...and someone can explain how I can make it more efficient to run before I have to turn it off completely.
£183 is a lot of money to heat a small one bed flat!!
Thanks for listening
:embarasse
This is a bit long winded but please bear with me.
I have underfloor heating in my council flat. It's so old the thermostats are in Farenheit!!
When I first moved in I couldn't quite figure out how it worked, so a nice young man from the council came round but said he didn't have a clue. So through trial and error I've struggled through.
I know the basics, like how it heats up during the night with cheap electric etc, but my latest electric bill has just arrived and the heating alone for Nov - Jan was £183. For the same period last year it was £79.
I queried this with my EDF, and they said it was correct and the price per kilowatt had gone up from 5.26 a unit to 10.25 a unit.
They suggested I turn my thermostat down. I usually have it on 70 degrees all the time so I've turned it down to 65 degrees but it's not warm enough.
I was told to turn it down at night and then turn it up during the day. I thought that if I turned it down at night, it wouldn't have heated up enough to use during the day and would run out of heat...a bit like storage heaters.
I hope you're not as confused as me...and someone can explain how I can make it more efficient to run before I have to turn it off completely.
£183 is a lot of money to heat a small one bed flat!!
Thanks for listening
:embarasse 0
Comments
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Hi Jackie
70 F (21 C) is a bit warm for underfloor heating. We use the underfloor to give only background heating and run it at 18 deg C (65 F) and boost the room temperature when we are around, resting or whatever with an electric convector thermostatically controlled. More economical that way.0 -
That's an idea worth looking into, thanks.
Do you turn your thermostat down overnight?0 -
There's probably not much heat storage capacity. Find out the exact times when the eight hour underfloor supply is available and reduce or cut out the overnight use until it's not warm enough in the day and evening. Make sure the immersion heater is on the heating supply and and that any Boost switch is always turned off.
The room and water heating should be on a separate circuit. You can check this by watching the 'Heating' meter rocketing up when first switched on after everything has gone cold. If any heating is on the day, evening or weekend tariff then it will cost a fortune.
I trust that you are submitting monthly readings?0 -
Hi Gerry 1
I think we had a conversation a couple of days ago regarding my heating costs and EDF.
The heating comes on from midnight til 7am and I think the immersion does too. They also come on for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I turn my immersion off at night so it only heats up in the afternoon.
I have a day rate, an evening and weekend rate, a night time rate and a heating rate. My day rate is higher than normal standard rates as I get cheaper night rates.
Does that make sense?
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Gerry 1
I used to do 2 month readings but will now do monthly 0 -
You need to make sure that the immersion heater is on the heating rate. It may well be a supplementary immersion heater connected to the 24h supply and is intended for use ONLY if you run out of hot water in the day time. If so, using it will cost you a fortune.I turn my immersion off at night so it only heats up in the afternoon.
When the water is cool, switch off everything else and switch on the immersion heater as usual, but see which register is rocketing up. You may be unwittingly relying on the expensive 'Boost' heater because the main immersion heater (the one on the 'heating' circuit switched by the meter) has failed or is switched off.0 -
It's just a dense slab of concrete with wire running though it.
- exotic tariff + exotic meter
- unlike NSH can't turn example bedroom off
- 10 or more hours is +3 more expensive than E7
Minefield, meter, CU, wiring etc. Suggestion should hold +/- 30kWh released over 10 hours sized slab. Scotland ?. Don't use on 'core' expensive day rate. Get on E7 cheapest supplier tariff, personally put 6 weekly reads into your online supplier account. Get back to previous tenant averages.
No room heat 6 months, lotsa room heat 6 months. Water summer + winter needs night stat/heating element (bottom one) in tank to kill eColi. My CAC way is 12 month view divided by 12 = my monthly payments. No surprises, never in arrears, works for me. O/P may take a different view.
Best of luck.Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ0 -
Gerry 1
I think my hot water is on the heating rate, but not 100% sure.
I can switch it off anytime but can't switch it on . It comes on automatically at night and in the afternoon. My neighbour says she never has her hot water switched on, she uses her shower to wash and boils a kettle for washing up etc.
I don't think I'd want to leave my water off permanently :eek:0 -
Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »It's just a dense slab of concrete with wire running though it.
- exotic tariff + exotic meter
- unlike NSH can't turn example bedroom off
- 10 or more hours is +3 more expensive than E7
Minefield, meter, CU, wiring etc. Suggestion should hold +/- 30kWh released over 10 hours sized slab. Scotland ?. Don't use on 'core' expensive day rate. Get on E7 cheapest supplier tariff, personally put 6 weekly reads into your online supplier account. Get back to previous tenant averages.
No room heat 6 months, lotsa room heat 6 months. Water summer + winter needs night stat/heating element (bottom one) in tank to kill eColi. My CAC way is 12 month view divided by 12 = my monthly payments. No surprises, never in arrears, works for me. O/P may take a different view.
Best of luck.
Sorry Richie but I don't really understand what you're saying.
I guess your third paragraph is saying to average my yearly cost and pay by DD.
I used to pay by DD but it kept going up and up. They eventually put it to £110 per month and I just couldn't afford it, so I cancelled and paid 2 monthly when my bills came in . It has obviously always been higher in the colder months but the heating cost of my last bill is over double what it was a year ago and so I need to cut back0 -
Sorry Richie but I don't really understand what you're saying.
I guess your third paragraph is saying to average my yearly cost and pay by DD.
I used to pay by DD but it kept going up and up. They eventually put it to £110 per month and I just couldn't afford it, so I cancelled and paid 2 monthly when my bills came in . It has obviously always been higher in the colder months but the heating cost of my last bill is over double what it was a year ago and so I need to cut back
It (DD) will. Both you leccy company and yourself are each responsibe for never going into arrears. You control their "put the price up" 'bot' bot with diligent meter reads or it will make increasingly incrementally higher DD payments.
I would hate to face your heating needs/type my friend. You need an annual cost/12 paid regular or less room heating or a £10 duvet from Argos or alternate solution. Most can deselect kitchen/passage/staircase/ bedroom. You can not. Best of luck.Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ0
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