Gas central heating

[abbey44]

I've just moved into a house with gas central heating, and my first bill has just arrived...I think it's expensive, but I was wondering whether I'm a bit out of touch. I've been living in a house with oil-fired underfloor heating, which I always thought was much more expensive than other forms of heating, but the gas bill is pretty much comparable.

The house is 4-bed Victorian detached, so no cavity walls with insulation, and I know that's going to impact, but there's not a lot I can do about that. It does have double glazing in the windows though.

I have had the boiler serviced and the man set the timer (it was on some weird setting that meant it was on pretty much all the time and was costing over £10 a day in gas) so it's on for two hours in the morning, two hours in the evening, and I use a gas fire in one room in the evenings. To be honest, the house is bloody freezing most of the time (I work from home so notice it!) but it's still costing £6 a day, though I have the radiator thermostats in two of the bedrooms and half the downstairs turned right down, and the thermostat is set at 16.

Even though this adjustment is 'saving' £4 a day, my next quarterly gas bill is still going to be £500-ish. I think this is a lot, but am I just way of touch? If you have gas central heating, how much is your bill?

About 50 a month in the winter & I moan like fuck about it.

Is your loft insulated to 270mm?.

Oh, just checked - yes, the loft is insulated.

How many cubic metres were actually used, by the meter readings? Over how many days?

Estimates are no good, and neither are direct debit amounts, which may bear no particular relation to amount of gas used.

Get a small diary, and take your own meter readings, preferably monthly. While you are investigating, you can do it more often.

Is the meter measuring in cubic metres or feet?.

I've got a smart meter and the bills are based on the readings from that. It doesn't say what it's measured in, just the total it's cost so far today, and what the current cost per hour is (which depends on whether the heating and/or the fire is on).

When I spoke to the woman at British Gas she said that the meter was right, and that if I wanted to pay by direct debit it was going to be £300 a month (although that was with electricity as well). The electricity usage showing on the meter is roughly what I was paying in my other house, so it's just the gas I'm concerned about.

If I've got a smart meter fitted, will I still have an ordinary gas meter as well? There is a meter box on the outside of the house, but it's taped shut with heavy duty duct tape, so I assumed it was redundant.

Have you asked the neighbours what they pay?.

When you look at the meter itself, doesn't it display cubic metres used?

I haven't looked t the meter itself, if you mean the one in the box outside. I think I might investigate that tomorrow when I can see it properly. The smart meter, can't work out whether there's a display for cubic metres used. I'll go and have a fiddle with it...

Haven't met the neighbours on either side yet, but I'll see if I can catch them over the weekend - that's not a bad idea, as all our houses are roughly similar.

You are right that's way too much. How old is the boiler, if it's over 15 years old you should get replaced. Another option is to turn the heating off during the day, and just run an electrical rad in the room where you work. You ought to be giving the utility company monthly readings so they don't build up a massive credit/interest free loan from you. They hate sending refunds back. My mum was owed £1500 by her provider.

You must be on the silly sods tariff. Check a comparison site and spend your savings on something nice for yourself

If the meter box is taped up, it's usually because the lock is broken.

A new one costs about £4 and you fit it using a spanner.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Newest-Distribution-box-Gas-Utility-For-Gas-Electric-Meter-Cam-Lock-Key-UK/124044458740?hash=item1ce1a03af4:g:-CoAAOSwsgdeHDl~

If the hinges are broken it will be more.

I'll have a look at what's under the tape tomorrow - thanks for that link. I'm sure I can sort out a broken hinge or lock, if that's what it is.

And I'll check the comparison websites too, although the woman from British Gas said I was on their best tariff - I'm not convinced that's the cheapest around though...

I've actually got no idea how old the boiler actually is, though it could be over 15 years. The engineer who serviced it last week said that it was in good working order and, to be honest, I can't actually afford to replace it just for the moment, so that'd have to wait.

Post a photo of the boiler with its flap open, and any names or numbers, and the outside flue, somebody may recognise it.

Have you got a hot water cylinder? What colour?

I'll take a photo in the morning - its a combi boiler, so there's isn't a hot water cylinder.

Dig out the boiler manual, you can find pdf versions online, and check how to set water temperature.

My pil had a new boiler factory set to 70, I adjusted it to 60 & the gas bill went down.

I've been looking at the smart meter and found that when the heating is on it's using 16kW an hour of gas, and the heating is on for four hours a day. When I multiply that out, it comes to 23,000 kWh, which is well into the high category when I look on usage charts. And that's with half the radiators shut down, and the house doesn't feel warm at all. Well, for 20 hours a day the heating is off, so it's bloody cold, in fact. I just don't know... I don't even know where to go for some advice on why it's so high - the boiler engineer last week said everything is working fine. Still seems really bloody expensive to me though, just to feel so cold I can't think straight.

if the house is cold, it's not surprising that the boiler is using a fair amount of gas to heat it up. From the description of your house, it might well use 20kW to keep the house at 20C indoors when it is 0C outdoors; and you will use more for a time when heating from cold. As well as heating 100 litres or so of water in the radiators, it has to heat the steel radiators, all the air in the house, and try to heat the cold brickwork of the walls, before the house can get warm.

It will use more gas in the first hour of heating from cold, than in the second hour.

There are about 11.2 kWh of heat in one cubic metre of gas. Do you know how many cubic metres you've used in the last month? (or some other convenient period)?

The gas fire is less efficient than your CH, though it will be good for warming the pigeons on the chimney. Do you know its usage per hour, and have you deducted that from the figure you quoted?