Heating on 140 Hours!

[Yippiedoo]

So from 1st Dec upto today our heating is showing as being on 140 hours. I leave the heating on constant during the day set to 20, then down to 12 overnight.
Based on others usage, does 140 hours for a month seem reasonable or very high? It's the first time I've tried a full month leaving the heating on constant. My husband won't be happy if we have a huge bill 🙈

Where do you live? Because it was very mild here in Surrey for early December and our heating didn't even come on.

There's always one isn't there 🙄
No, he's not a child. He's fabulous as it goes. Heating wise - it was MY idea to trial it on constant, he prefers to have it on timed - hence its on me if it works out more expensive. Jesus wept, have a snowball and chill out 🤣🤣

Wow, that seems very reasonable! I hope ours is similar 🙏

I think the biggest confusion relates to heat loss. People don't realise that their homes are losing X kWh of heat every hour.

The heat loss is proportional to the outside temperature.

If you maintain a constant temperature, you're simply replacing the lost heat.

If you allow a home to cool, you then need to add back all the heat that has been lost since the heating was last on.

Now... because a cooler object loses less heat than a warmer object, you can save money by turning it off for prolonged periods, but you're then living in a colder house for prolonged periods. If you're out all day or happy for the temperature to drop overnight, that's fine. If you're in the house all day, I don't personally consider it a saving that I'm willing to make.

People also need to factor in boiler efficiency. Any savings could easily be cancelled out by the boiler running at 100% output for a couple of hours @ 75% efficiency Vs maintaining the temperature, using 'short burns' with the boiler running @ 90% efficiency.

*There's always one isn't there 🙄

No, he's not a child. He's fabulous as it goes. Heating wise - it was MY idea to trial it on constant, he prefers to have it on timed - hence it’s on me if it works out more expensive. Jesus wept, have a snowball and chill out*

well then you make your decision together. I had mine on constantly this month and the bill was over £400. H2h

We have just imputed are meter readings more regularly. I’ve realised I was being too cautious our costs so far including the discount was much lower than expected. My smart meter has been a load of rubbish.

Our gas usage for December= 217 metric units.

217 units X 11 = 2,387 kWh

2,387 kWh X 10.7p = £255

1930's semi with uninsulated walls.
100m2 floorplan.
Double glazed
10cm loft insulation

Heating set to:
19°C at night
20°C during day
21°C evening

I've never looked at the hours like this, it's quite interesting. Mine is 72 hours for December so far.

I'm not sure if that's good usage or not depends on boiler size, rate etc however you have saved me a few pence just realised how toasty I was in bed, I hadn't turned heating off for the night! Normal service resumed heating won't go back om until the first teen surfaces 😂

Glad it's not just me, thought I was going crazy.

We did an hour in the morning and an hour at night. 4 hours xmas eve and day at 18 degrees = £200 gas bill for December for 68 hours. I'm just on Eons standard tarriff.

So it's only costing us an extra 25% (£255) to run the heating 24/7 with a higher temperature (minimum of 19°C) as well.

Does that £200 include standing charges and the £67 government payment?

Our bill will be £188 + standing charges after the £67 discount.

What makes you think it's heating overnight? Do you not understand how thermostats work? At 12 degrees it probably won't come on at all in a reasonably well insulated house. Ours wouldn't and we have the bedroom window open all night.

Is it? Tell us what you do then.

Ours is set to 18 in the day and set so low that it doesn't come on at night. We are in all day as husband works from home.

We do 12 over night too and it only came on when it was very very cold - but we do 16-17 in the dagC occasionally 18 if I’m really cold! Our house is old and cold though.

Set at 12 overnight it shouldn't come on unless your thermostat is in a cold draft from the door or something, my house didn't drop below 15 even in the cold snap for instance. I find 3 hours a day can keep it at 18, an extra hour during the really cold weather on days when we were wfh

I live in greater Manchester and the cold kicked in in mid to late November. That’s when the heating was used more. The whole of early December was cold! After the cold snap it’s been more variable and less heat needed. But we don’t all live in the warmer south! People also all feel the cold differently and have houses that need more or less heat.

4 hours a day isn't much at all given the extremely cold weather we've had.

For once I'm grateful for having oil CH.

sorry if someone else has said this but you are writing like you are waiting and hoping that the bill won’t be high without you having any agency. Surely Just work it out ie how much you’ve used then you will know what bill is coming your way.

4 hours a day is not constant. I literally had mine on during daylight hours for a week in December and it still didn't get the house above 16. It was freezing outside and we had thick snow on the ground throughout. I'm in the southeast! Prior to that the heating was on for about two hours a day.

Do you turn the heating off if you go out for any length of time?

And this is why I like my Smart Meter.
Obviously people can take regular readings, convert to kWh and then to the price if they want to know what their heating is costing.

It's so easy to look at a Smart meter and to look at the app to see daily use. I can see what it cost me on cold days.

"On" doesn't mean "on and running" though.

I have my heating "on" all the time.
But at different temperatures during the day. All that means is that the boiler starts heating and circulating when it needs to to maintain the temperature.

I have a hive meter and it has be actively on for 150 hours in December so far. However, the flow on my combi boiler is right down, it is - by design - on longer as it is more fuel efficient than attempting to hit the target temperature in the shortest possible time. I did have it on overnight during those Baltic days this month - better than dealing with frozen and burst pipes.