£200 dual fuel bill first month in new property...arrgh!!!

[NaiceShoes]

We have just moved in to a new property and it has wifi heating and underfloor (wet) heating. I was looking forward to 35% cheaper bills due to the underfloor heating but clearly I was misled. The first month the heating fired up at weird times and it turned out that the wifi controller was faulty. The company (Salus) sent us a new power cable to the wifi controller and I thought that that was the issue, but the heating doesn't seem to obey the controls from our app. Does anybody else have this problem?! I hark after the days when I could just turn a boiler off if I didn't want it on. This app/internet controlling thing clearly isn't working!!!

To explain the title of my post, yes that is my first month's bill, and no it is not an estimate .

For example, when I look at the app and the heating is set to 19 degrees centigrade the heating will be on even though the app says the room temperature is currently 22 degrees

Sorry, I can only offer sympathy (and a bump) rather than anything useful.

I'm also watching with interest, because I second your lack of enthusiasm for introducing app/wifi failures into something as important as the central heating.

the reading thermometer for the heat should be in the floor so really your readings should be the other way around as the floor should be warmer than the air

Is it definitely the WiFi controller that is broken? We had the same problem of the heating not switching off when reaching temperature and it turned out it was the 3 port Valve was getting stuck on the on position and needed replacing.

Thank you Tianc

Diseno the system has two portable thermostats. They are both kept on a shelf in the appropriate room. So the temperature on the monitor is the air temperature in the room. But that is not the point: if the temperature has reached the set temperature then the boiler should turn off!

Soph88Everything is apparently working now.Please tell me what a 3 port valve is.

It controls the water flow but can get stuck in the on position so the heating doesn't switch off. Ours is a smallish box white box in our airing cupboard that was changed.

Soph might have it. I've had a valve get stuck open in ordinary central heating too.

The wifi/app part introduces an extra dimension in which the heating can fail... but doesn't remove all the old ways!

Thanks guys, I will investigate.

How big is your house? My smart meter says I am spending £9 a day at the moment on gas and electricity. In the summer it was £3 or so.

£9 a day????? Fuck

I know :( Old house, we like it warm. Thermostat set for 21 degrees, 15 at night.

£9 a day?? Crikey - I'm freaked out if ours goes over £4 a day at the mo - which it is quite a lot as the tumble drier is on quite a bit. In the summer ours was under £2 a day. We have the thermostat at 19 when we're in and 15 when out/at night. Although I am going to try a constant 17 other than the morning/early evening at 19 as people say it can be cheaper as it doesn't take so long to get up to temp and now I have a meter I can test it out.

I'm about to move house - do I bother with a Smart meter?

I did a detailed thread about smart meters a few years ago. I think there have been minor refinements, but the issues remain essentially the same.

Anyone having a gas/leccy meter replaced with a Smart Meter? Something you need to know
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1327330-Anyone-having-a-gas-leccy-meter-replaced-with-a-Smart-Meter-Something-you-need-to-know

(The short answer for me would be, over my dead body. But you may feel differently.)

I have so far resisted all attempts (and there have been many) to give me a smartmeter. Mainly because no-one has been able to give me a reason why having one would improve my life. Am happy if someone wants to tell me differently (apologies for thread derail)

But Mrs Fezziwig, don't you want a handheld meter display instead of having to look in the cupboard?

You could carry it around, and the utility company could send it messages which crash it completely and stop you seeing how much credit you have or using it to put more on?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3377318-Utilita-smart-meter-frozen-and-switching-to-eon-possibly

Who could resist?

Smart meters only work if you change your habits!

Hey Naiceshoes, we had a humungous first bill for our new build, even though we had a smart meter and submitted readings for when we took over the property from the builders, but they still reckoned the whole of the bill, not from when we moved in and took over iyswim.
Check the bill for the starting date.
They may be charging you for the amount used when the house was being built and fitted.
Just a thought

You need underfloor on all the time. Most efficient is a burst twice a day then back ground. Ours doesn’t do that so it does on in October and comes off in March. Before I had it switching off and on off twice a day and it Cost a fortune. Much cheaper to keep it warm than heat the water from cold to hot. I have mine set to 16

Sorry I meant have it on hotter 2x 1 hour then slightly lower 22 hours a day

How big is your house? My smart meter says I am spending £9 a day at the moment on gas and electricity. In the summer it was £3 or so.
How big is yours?! That bill is worse than mine! House is a five bed.

Hey Naiceshoes, we had a humungous first bill for our new build, even though we had a smart meter and submitted readings for when we took over the property from the builders, but they still reckoned the whole of the bill, not from when we moved in and took over iyswim.
No, its not a newbuild, so it's not that. I've checked the dates on the bill.

Tianc I've heard bad things about smart meters too. I'm not going to get one but the first thing I thought when I got this bill was that I need an energy monitor so I can see what is costing what.

Marygubbins why do you think it needs to be on all the time? The room with the underfloor heating tends to stay very warm so tbh since this bill I have just kept it off. The room with the UFH seems to stay at 21 degrees minimum even in this cold weather despite being off, so I'm not bothering with it at the moment.

Much cheaper to keep it warm than heat the water from cold to hot. I have mine set to 16

I don't think this is true with combi boilers these days. You don't have to heat up tanks of cold water:its instant and efficient.

Keep it on low all the time. Letting the water in the system get cold and then heat it up from cold takes a lot of energy. Keeping it warm is much takes much less energy. If it’s not cold enough yet leave it off but once it’s on leave it on low all winter. Honesty, my smart meter reckoned was costing over £1 a day for my one under floor room when I switched it on and off. Now it’s on all the time it’s about 15p a day.