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 🙈

don't know where you are but that's probably on the low side - when we had that ten days of below-0 I couldn't get the house to stay warm at all, and it was probably on for a solid 6 hours each day from about 2/3pm. and there's been far more folk at home the last 8 days so again - heating on for longer.

Most insurance companies terms and conditions require the house to be heated to a minimum temperature even at night. If you don’t you invalidate your policy.

I think the problem with smart meters is they scare people into having unhealthily cold homes.

People turn on the heating when their house is cold (e.g. 12°C). The boiler ramps up to 100% and their smart meter tells them it's costing £2 p/h / £24 p/d. They panic and turn off the heating before the house has achieved the set temperature.

If they let the house achieve/maintain a temperature, the boiler would be and to modulate down to a much lower output and the smart meter would then show the true cost of heating the home.

Have you read your meter and checked how much you have used?

Heating will not have been running much of the time, ours would never come on at night set to 12C.

Costs are based on amount used,not hours switched on.

People turn on the heating when their house is cold (e.g. 12°C). The boiler ramps up to 100% and their smart meter tells them it's costing £2 p/h / £24 p/d. They panic and turn off the heating before the house has achieved the set temperature

I do agree with that - it's not very helpful to see something costing £2 / hr, because it will stop and then you get the actual cost when it's heated the house up.

I suppose it's education and understanding how a heating system works. But it's clear from here that there are people who don't understand the difference between "heating being on" and "the boiler actually running". Really "heating being on" should just be the target temperature.

But people have used ovens. Same concept You set the target temperature, oven heats up and then just maintains that temperature.

But it's clear from here that there are people who don't understand the difference between "heating being on" and "the boiler actually running".

There's also a difference between "boiler actually running" at 20% output and 100% output.

Looking at a heating app and seeing 'active boiler hours' is far too crude to estimate energy usage (for a modern gas boiler).

Indeed

Only way to measure energy usage is to actually measure usage!

Depends on the house. We have our gas CH set at 19 from 7am to 11pm (16 hours a day) and down to 15 overnight.

I reckon our gas bill for December will be around £220 worked out from meter readings (including daily charges)

No, because once it hits 18 degrees it goes off until it drops below the set temperature.

The Daily Express were running articles saying that a 400 watt fridge cost £3.40 a day to run because it was running 24 hrs a day, everyday. So they assumed that 24 *0.4 = 9.6 kWh a day of electricity.

They didn't realise that a fridge stops trying to cool down when it reaches its temperature.

I hate to think what they would say about a 24 kilowatt boiler

Down to 12 overnight, it's not going to be coming on when it's set that low is it. So you can stop lecturing.

I remember when my elderly PILs had central heating installed for the first time, and we tried to explain how a thermostat works. Turned out the concept was just too difficult for them to grasp (same for my DM). I think there may be some PPs on this thread who can't grasp the concept either.

Seemingly like my usage is pretty average then thank goodness!

You haven't mentioned your usage.

You will only know that from actual meter readings.

Have you taken those?

This post is garbled, but £200 for 68 hours is quite expensive. Ignoring the standing charge that's about £3 an hour, in comparison my 24 kW boiler runs at about £1.20 an hour when in full on mode.

I'm referring to my usage as averaging 4 hours per day.

I'd love to see you disputing a bill with your supplier and them agreeing to bill you in hours.

But you have only said how long your boiler has been running for.

2 cars could be running for 10 hours a week.
But both would use different amounts of fuel.

It's the amount of gas you need to think about rather than the time it's been running for.

People have posted the times they have the heating on for, but that does not relate to energy use, or even the time a boiler has been running for.

What were you hoping from this thread? Were you interested in seeing what other people's energy use was over the same time?

4 hours and 40 minutes per day actually with the boiler clicked on is a lot! Mine is set to be on for two hours in the evening, but not actually running all that time except in the cold snap. Then some morning and earlier afternoon use as needed on weekends in the cold snap. If you are home all the time I'd just turn it down to 16 in the day, 18 evening, 12 night maybe?

The amount of time is totally irrelevant, what have you used in kwh?
My meter is metric (m3) We’ve used 99 units (x 11.187) 1100kwh x 10.35p = £114.

Averages out at <40kwh / day. Under a fiver including standing charge.
That’s 19° daytime / 14° overnight from 10pm - 6am.

Boiler is set to 55° flow temp ( was 60° when minus 8 outside) .

It’s higher than last December but I’m at home a lot more as I used to be at DD’s house 3 full days a week before Dgs started full time Nursery.

What is your usage in kwh?

@Miss03852 dial down the Drama Llama. Set at 12, it's probably rarely coming in in the night, most houses don't drop to 12°

@Yippiedoo I don't know how many hours he heating has been on. I don't have a very 'smart' system. But given the cold snap we had, I'm not surprised it's been on more than you were expecting. What were you expecting it to be, to be surprised by this?

I usually have mine at 18° in the day and 7° frost setting for the pipes overnight (but that's a boiler setting, not a room temp) Room temp is 'off'

my daily use (on smart meter) doubled during the cold snap.

Going by last year, I expect to use more in Jan/Feb than Dec. I'm with BG, comparing last years usage graph to this years, I'm doing well, so it's costing about the same. Can you compare your kW used last Dec to kW used this Dec?

You also haven’t said if your boiler is a modern (modulating ) one, a combi or system, what the flow temp is set to.

A modern boiler starts on full power for a few minutes then modulates down to keep temperature, It also makes a difference if it is condensing efficiently ( flow return temp decides this, should be under 50°).

If you just give your usage in ft3, m3 or kwh since your last bill then someone will be able to work it out for you.

@ScroogeMcDuckling do you have someone in the house that needs the air to be that warm overnight? I'd do it in that situation, but I'd have to close my door & have my windows open wider, I can't sleep in that heat. I don't know what I'd do if I was told that for (say) a lung condition I needed the air to be that warm, I just can't sleep.

your house must be incredibly well insulated?!

Are you on a fixed rate?

I'd be thrilled with £200 for 3 months too with it in the settings you have it!!