Help - power consumption

[Chris Hogg]

But if hcf stands for hundred cubic feet as it probably does, then you've actually used 30,000 cu.ft. Put that into the calculator I linked to in the beginning gives 8792 kWh, not exactly the same as the figure of 9502 given on the EON bill, but not a million miles away, and probably accounted for by different values of the other factors being used (my calculation doesn't say what it assumes those are). It also explains why they use 2.83 as a conversion from cu.ft to cu.m as it takes into account the apparently missing factor of 100 mentioned earlier (300 x 2.83 = 30,000 x 0.0283).

In which case the calculation looks OK to me. Whether ~9000 kWh of gas is a lot over approximately the three winter months, I can't comment.

[astrog29]

Yes, if we had set the heating high, but not so noticeable if it was low/medium settings. This is a big 1930's house, so not so well insulated as modern builds. My point was that with timer control it was always on during the time periods, whereas the thermostat will cut out when the required temperature is attained, hence using less fuel overall.

Astrog

[Tim Streater]

I agree the poor OP's meter could be much more clearly marked. :-)

[Tim Streater]

Agree entirely.

[AnthonyL]

Yes, vendor submitted and I confirmed it on taking possession. Might have been 1 unit difference.

[AnthonyL]

Yes - the reason we were not seeing eye to eye is I was reading the fourth figure as cu ft and not as units. Just took a long time for me to get there.

This all started when I was talking to an alternative supplier who would not believe I had used 16,000kWh in the 6 months from the end of October and general looking around showed that to be high.

[michael adams]

Ideally you'd want to trace the source of this abnormally high usage using a process of elimination. But while in Summer its possible to forgo central heating, the same can't be said to apply to the hot water system, or cooking.

However as others may have already suggested, before considering changing supplier it might be more useful to try and trace the source of this abnormally high consumption. I'm pretty confident that if you researched "typical consumption" for various categories of house and usage you'd be able to confirm this for yourself.

michael adams

...

[Andy Burns]

My gas has been about 9100 kWh the past 12 months which is only about

3/4 of usage the previous year due to mild winter. 3 bed semi, old cast iron lump of a boiler (which I have no desire to update) gas used year-round for hot water, no specific turning on the heating in autumn, or off again in spring just left on the programmable stat, sometimes temperature boosted one or two days per week while working from home.

[AnthonyL]

I'd be more than happy with that.

[AnthonyL]

That'd be easier if I didn't have to sit and count the little dial go around 14 times for 1 unit. :(

Well there is no doubt there are cheaper deals for me to go on regardless of whether I know the cause so the sooner I start saving money the better.

[Andy Burns]

probably your easiest "quick win" is to fit a programmable stat instead of the missing room stat, having the boiler just on a timer and relying on its internal temperature setting isn't giving you much control. The advantage of the programmable stat is to set different temperatures throughout the day e.g. for wake-up/get-up periods, during the day, evening. If the parts of the house you spend time in is more variable, consider a wireless one and take it around with you.

[AnthonyL]

onto a Baxi105HE? I suspect the control (for some reason in the pantry) was disconnected when the boiler was moved to the converted utility room at the end of the flat-roofed garage instead of up in the loft which is where everyone else around here seems to have theirs.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, you just leave the boiler itself set at "on" and the programmable stat acts as both timer and roomstat, usually they learn how long it takes the house to heat up, so it comes on earlier on colder mornings,

If wired you'd need a three core plus earth cable to where you site it (four core plus earth if you want separate hot water timer), wireless might be easier a) as the receiver can be sited near boiler provided it gets signal, b) you can move the thermostat to whichever room you care about setting the temp for.

e.g. wired version, without separate H/W timer

[Reentrant]

Just a thought - a bungalow would have more external wall/roof/ground floor area than a house of the same volume, so might cost more to heat proportionally.

[AnthonyL]

Good point which has just prompted me to properly look at the EPC that came with the house. I'm a D and adopting suggested improvements should make it a B. I'll study it in a bit more detail.

[AnthonyL]

Which I gave in my OP for my property.

[Michael Chare]

Where do you buy that oil? I would be happy to pay £1 litre.

See

[Michael Chare]

The gas consumption looks on the high side, but you are measuring during the winter months when my oil consumption is greatest and you do have a gas cooker.

I use a programmable thermostat to control central heating.

My electricity consumption is more than double that!

Maybe you should check your gas meter each week. The initial reading might be wrong.

[AnthonyL]

It is gas hobs, the ovens and grill are electric. I haven't paid much attention to which my wife uses the most.

I've been checking every bill time and my spreadsheet comes out with the same value as the subsequent bill. The initial reading agreed with the vendor and I took a photo at the time to ensure no arguments.

I've just checked up on a query I had with the vendor (a 40 something couple on their own + dog) on power usage and he advised that his last

12 months was:

Electricity usage in 12 months - Total 4,309 kWh Gas use in the last 12 months - Total 13,319 kWh

So a lot more electricity and a lot less gas.

[AnthonyL]

A question about gas boilers, and my Baxi 105HE combi/condensor in particular.

Once it is burning does it just burn flat out or are there lower and higher burn settings depending on whether it is hot water or central heating or both?

The reason I ask is that I can measure very accurately the gas consumption over a small period as it takes 14 rotations of the dial to register 1 cu ft.

Based on that I did a preliminary test which showed 1.22 revolutions in 130secs. This was whilst the ch was on last night. Now I just need to work that figure into kWh and I can get a figure of fuel burn rate. If it is reasonably accurate it will help with reconciling and understanding burn rates for different appliances - gas hobs, shower (and length of time in the shower) etc.

Can someone work out the figure which I can then x-check please?