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 🙈

"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."

I thought that too. I got used to it pretty quickly @SkylightSkylight .

@Boulshired have you checked that your smart meter display unit has your correct tariff on it?

@FourTeaFallOut

cDo you know what your flow temp is set at?

I had a Worcester Bosch repair guy out a few weeks ago. I had to have the heat exchanger replaced. I asked the very nice bloke to set it as he would his own. He set it at 60°, as he has his own. I tried it for a few days, but couldn't get the temperature up to 18° from about 13° for hours & hours & I was cold, so I put it up to 75 instead. It now heats up in a reasonable time,but not as quickly as it used to. I think it must have been at max (82) for a long while. I'm wondering if changing it to 70 will be much of a cost saving and if it will be too slow?

I always thought my place was quite well insulate, because I didn't have a problem getting/keeping it warm. Turns out it could be improved! I'm being much more mindful this year & will change some insulation over the summer.

Im lucky to be on a fixed deal until Dec 23, so this winter I'm seeing where I can make savings for next year.

@Yippiedoo

but tgats what oeople have been trying to explain to you!

let me gave a go...

if your oven is switched in at the wall for 10 hours, but you only turn it on to 200° for half an hour to heat a pizza. It's going to cost you very little.

however, if you put it on at 180° for 8 of those hours to cook something slowly, it will cost a LOT more.

'boiler hours' is, in basic terms, when it's 'awake' and seeing if your house is the temperature you'd like it to be (say 18°), but it's only using gas if it detects it's only 16° And heats up until it gets to 18° at which point it turns the heating off again. That may have taken 20 minutes, but it's been 'on' and checking for hours.

your usage is the time it's heating, not just checking!

you need to read your meter! (And weekly/monthly) if you want to know how much gas you're using.

I think it is 65c but it's in the loft and can't remember for certain.

From 26th November - 24th December we were 636.30kwh, which was £53.44 in a 2 bedroom flat on the South West coast of Scotland.

I think it is easier to turn the flow down when your radiators are quite large. I don't think it works as well otherwise

www.which.co.uk/news/article/one-simple-way-to-adjust-your-boiler-to-lower-your-heating-bill-atXmR3z2RY92

It mentions here about insulation and radiator sizes when reducing the flow.

What's large? We have two 70cm ones in the sitting room. Boiler goes up to 80 according to the manual, no numbers on the dial, set on 'e' as recommended and it works fine.

I don't know, sorry. I just remembered that snippet of info.

Oh, do you mean my own radiators? We have upright ones, taller than I am...so maybe 180cm tall and 70cm across?

I've never seen radiators like that! My two in the sitting room are 70cm across, 60cm high. Smaller ones in hallways. I don't know what is large or small, but it's a new build so I assume they are appropriate for the space.

I fully understand all of the above, I didn't need it explaining to me, but thankyou anyway.

I understand once it reaches temperature it switches off and will only come on should it drop below said temp.

The app on my phone shows me how many actual hours my boiler came on, as in using gas.

My heating has actually been 'on,' as in 'using gas' for 140 hours during December- so this was my initial question, wondering if that was similar to others.

My heating has actually been 'on,' as in 'using gas' for 140 hours during December- so this was my initial question, wondering if that was similar others

Clearly you don't understand as every boiler uses gas differently depending on the conditions.

Like a car engine uses petrol.

My heating has actually been 'on,' as in 'using gas' for 140 hours during December- so this was my initial question, wondering if that was similar to others.
Many people don't have an app so wouldn't know. Comparing kwh would be easier. Also someone with a lower set boiler temp would use less gas but for longer than someone with the boiler on max, so even hours on an app are not directly comparable.

The only way you will know your bill is to take some meter readings.

Just like the only way you know how much petrol your car uses is to measure how much petrol it's used.

140 hours is meaningless 🙄
It could be running at full whack for all of that time, using 500kwh a day ( old inefficient, not modulating, not condensening)
or, if it’s a modern efficient boiler with smart controls / trvs, weather compensation with a properly balanced radiator system and set up to condense, it can modulate down to 5kwh so use under 50kwh a day, like mine.
As many of us have tried to patiently explain, there are varying degrees of ON .
To the PP set at 75° flow temp - your boiler wont be condensing unless you have a 25° drop across your system, the hot water needs to be returning to the boiler at 50° or under. It is possible, if you have massively oversized radiators throwing out lots of heat, if not then you are wasting 10-15% of energy straight out of your flue.

I only have 8 rads and struggle to lose even 12% via the rads so luckily 55-60° works.

Thanks everyone for your replies. The question I needed answering has been answered. The questions I didn't need answering have also been answered 🤣🤣

Happy New Year!

Well I hope people's responses made you figure out if December's bill is going to be a huge bill.

Hi

My mother in law lives in a block of flats. Hers and next door was sold at the same time by the same “buy to let” management/ownership company.

Before they were sold, they were done up identical (they mirror image each other) same boiler, same plug points, same windows, same kitchen and bathroom.

They had reinstated the fireplaces to for extra ventilation.

The landlord Tony - told her to leave the thermostat in the window of coldest room in the flat, which he assumed would be the bathroom with all of the tiling and cold water, leave the boiler constantly switched on and set the thermostat at 18 degrees, but if she felt colder turn it up 0.1 of degree at a time, til she got it right for her, and he assured her that leaving the boiler to get the flat, all the brickwork, the concrete floors and ceilings to be thoroughy warm thru takes a few days in autumn, and then the boiler will kick in for a few minutes every hour or so, and he told her if she did it that way instead of keep fiddling with boiler switching it on and off it would be cheaper he reckoned save £1 a day each for the gas and the electric, the shower is on the gas which she loves in the morning as is the bath which she loves before bedtime.

She liked him a lot, and he was true to his word.

Next door reckons her gas and electric bill combined is £120 a month, thinks it’s a waste leaving the heating on, ESPECIALLY when you leave all the little windows open too, (Tony told Mother-In-Law to do this, and as Tony said it ….) she isn’t paying to heat up outside, yet she has to buy mould cleaner.

My mother in laws flat, is roasty toasty, feels very clean and airy, and costs less than £700 a year for both gas and electric.

As for why do I leave it on 18 all the time, except, in the mornings when I turn the thermostat right down to air the house for half and hour, it does seem to be a lot cheaper to keep the house lovely and warm, we do have a dehumidifier on the first floor landing on constantly from November to February (for the bathrooms and the moisture from the drying of laundry) and most importantly, the dog tells us he loves being warm xxx