Heating help please!!

[hurricane501]

Hi,

Im new here and only made this account due to getting no help from the council or my energy supplier...

Im having issue with my central heating, it seems really expensive and doesnt even heat the house up!

Im on smart meters due to no standing charges but the heating just eats my credit.

I topped up £20 last monday when i had £5 credit and its used all £25 within a week, i only have my heating on for a max of 6 hours per day, ive timed it and it seems to use £2 for 2 hours usages, which seems stupidly high?

The radiators heat up fine down stairs and ive bled them myself which did seem to help, but the main bedroom rad doesnt get very hot and as soon as i turn the heating off its stone cold within 5 minutes while the rest retain heat for some time.

My boiler doesnt ever seem to turn off and just keeps heating the water, i thought its supposed to turn off when the house reaches a certain temperature? Mine doesnt..

So i know my rad in the bedroom is broken, but ive watched videos and done everything i can to fix it, yet it just doesnt get very hot and loses its heat instantly, this combined with the heating just eating my money makes me thing theres a bigger issue? £20 per week when i live alone and only have my heating on for VERY small amounts of time see stupidly high and my gas cost is pretty average/low.

Please somebody help me work this out.

 

[king of pipes]

This can be a common problem when was it last serviced? this needs doing every year, your GSI should carry out energy checks and advise on energy saving tips 300mm of loft insulation , cavity wall insulation , draught proofing your windows and doors, thermal lined curtains to keep heat in if you recieve any form of benift you may qualify for help and if not your energy supplier has a duty to help you insulate your home its the only way to keep the heat within your home start with a heating system health check . cheers kop

 

[SimonG]

6 hours a day isn't a very small amount of time.

 

[hurricane501]

6 hours a day isn't a very small amount of time.

6 hours per day is a lot? As soon as i turn the heating off its freezing so it needs to be on for some time.

The average cost per month is £48 yet id be paying over £80 and they have their heating on for over 6 hours a day? How long do you leave your heating on for?

Most my rads in this house are singles, its an old house, the windows are double glazed but all the rads are under the windows, where in my old house they were at the back of the room.

 

[Harvest Fields]

My heating is on 2 hrs in the morning and 2 at night. And it has only been on about the last 2/3 weeks. Must be one of the lucky ones with good insulation.

 

[king of pipes]

The rads could probably be undersized in the living space what boiler is it ? As i said before you need stop the heat escaping which will mean making some home improvements yourself . Kop

 

[hurricane501]

The rads could probably be undersized in the living space what boiler is it ? As i said before you need stop the heat escaping which will mean making some home improvements yourself . Kop

I understand that but i dont think this is the main issue, having good insulation will help but the rad in my bedroom going cold instantly while the others remain hot is not right.

Also the boiler not turning off and constantly going is that right? I thought combis heat your house up and then turn off at a certain temp? Im thermostat is in the passage near the front door, the rad gets really hot but is the heat escaping the front door and causing the boiler to go 100% none stop?

The council have checked the boiler and gas and said both are fine, they have not checked any rads and i had to bleed them myself they havent been bled in years, one of the bleed valves snapped when i put it back on...

Im pretty sure these rads are too small and old for this house but the council wont do anything about that.

Having heating on for 4 overs is only 2 hours less and sometimes i dont have my heating on at all due to the cost! How much a month are you paying for heating Harvest? Like i say i can time my heating and watch the money be eating, it really is that bad.

Also its a Potterton Promax combi?

 

[Ric2013]

Centre terrace house here. My heating is nominally on from around 7 in the morning to 10 at night and set to about 17°C in the warmest room. I don't heat bedrooms.
In practice, the heating will run constantly for about an hour in the morning to bring the temperature up, then is switched off by the room stat and then will typically come on for a few minutes per hour during the day, running a bit more in the evenings as the outside temperature falls, and heat losses increase. Then it switches off and I go to bed. If no one is oin during the day, I sometimes turn the thermostat down to 15°C, so the heating is usually not running at all.

Combi just means it gives you instant hot water.

What is your gas consumption in m2 or kWh, rather than in £? This may be the problem. Some energy suppliers sting you with a very bad rate on the first *** units, or a high standing charge.

If you genuinely aren't using much gas, try getting a price comparison from 'ebico' as this is the only company I know of that charges a flat rate of x pence per unit of gas used.

Also the boiler not turning off and constantly going is that right?

is the heat escaping the front door and causing the boiler to go 100% none stop?

The above sound like a contradiction? The boiler will switch on and off to keep the water in the rads hot. The room stat will switch the entire system (including the boiler) off when it feels warm enough: it does not set the boiler to 100% or otherwise, but it might continue running the heating when the lounge, say, is perfectly warm enough.

Do any of your rooms get hotter than you need them?

 

[SimonG]

The wife has ours on all day, controlled by the thermostat. So it comes in and out as required.

Start recording meter readings at start of day. Same time each day and record how long you have the heating on for.

It may well be you have an issue, but you need to take it up with the council. At least you will have data to back it up.

 

[hurricane501]

Centre terrace house here. My heating is nominally on from around 7 in the morning to 10 at night and set to about 17°C in the warmest room. I don't heat bedrooms.
In practice, the heating will run constantly for about an hour in the morning to bring the temperature up, then is switched off by the room stat and then will typically come on for a few minutes per hour during the day, running a bit more in the evenings as the outside temperature falls, and heat losses increase. Then it switches off and I go to bed. If no one is oin during the day, I sometimes turn the thermostat down to 15°C, so the heating is usually not running at all.

Combi just means it gives you instant hot water.

What is your gas consumption in m2 or kWh, rather than in £? This may be the problem. Some energy suppliers sting you with a very bad rate on the first *** units, or a high standing charge.

If you genuinely aren't using much gas, try getting a price comparison from 'ebico' as this is the only company I know of that charges a flat rate of x pence per unit of gas used.





The above sound like a contradiction? The boiler will switch on and off to keep the water in the rads hot. The room stat will switch the entire system (including the boiler) off when it feels warm enough: it does not set the boiler to 100% or otherwise, but it might continue running the heating when the lounge, say, is perfectly warm enough.

Do any of your rooms get hotter than you need them?

None of the rooms get hot lol, the rads are hot to touch but my feet are freezing and i still need to wrap up, i cant feel any heat really.

I got an oil rad from my dad and had that on and can instantly feel the heat but it eats the electric and only heats one room.

My tarrif =
Unit Rate 1* (pence per kWh) 7.896p for the first 180 kWh of gas per month
Unit Rate 2* (pence per kWh) 3.283p
NO standing charges.

I have no idea what my consumption is as i have no way to tell? but if i add it up by £ its VERY high for a single person. I only really want the bedroom rad on as thats the place where i spend most my time, but the thermostat rad you cant switch off and the thermostat on the rads needs to be at 6 or it doesnt even turn on. I swear this house is so old nothing works. I was on storage heaters before i moved here and they did destroy the electricity but your house was roasting.

My boiler never turns off, if i put the heating on it just keeps going 100% until i turn it off. The timers on it dont work at all, its ancient, nothing seems to work.

Running baths and cooking doesnt use much gas at all, its only the heating.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Sounds like your rads are undersized

 

[Ric2013]

I have no idea what my consumption is as i have no way to tell? but if i add it up by £ its VERY high for a single person

Yes, so your supplier is charging you more per kWh for the first lot of units in place of a standing charge, which is not unusual.

Assuming you have a bill, that will have the meter readings - but are you on estimated readings? I would suggest if you don't have a bill, you ask your supplier for details of what they have based your charges on, and, yes, do read your gas meter, as Simon has suggested. It will normally read in cubic metres or 100's of cubic feet and from there we can work out the approximate kWh.

For comparison, my gas from 10th October till today (6 days off two months) is 108 cubic metres, which is about 1188kWh, which, on my tariff, comes to £59, inclusive of VAT at 5%.

If your tariff is as you say (I'm assuming I need to add 5% VAT to your prices per kWh), 180 units = £14.92. This leaves £33 odd at the lower unit charge, so a further 960 units, making your total gas consumption 1139 kWh per month. (Don't bother with ebico - it would cost you more at this time of year if you are using this much gas.)

The other things you may wish to check with your supplier is that A you aren't paying off a previous occupant's debt (prepayment metres can do this) and B that you are only paying the higher rate on 180 kWh in December, in January etc etc - npower once averaged my higher rate at so many units per month, but when I asked them specifically, they admitted that actually, they charged more higher-rate units in winter than in summer, and that the stated number per month was just an average.

 

[Ric2013]

Getting back to your bedroom radiator - do you have TRVs (thermostatic radiator valves - the ones with numbers)? If it's only getting lukewarm, that will explain the fact that it gets cold more quickly.
Sounds like a stuck TRV, or balance/flow problem, which is your landlord's responsibility.
Or does it have the old fashioned manual valves?

 

[hurricane501]

Yes, so your supplier is charging you more per kWh for the first lot of units in place of a standing charge, which is not unusual.

Assuming you have a bill, that will have the meter readings - but are you on estimated readings? I would suggest if you don't have a bill, you ask your supplier for details of what they have based your charges on, and, yes, do read your gas meter, as Simon has suggested. It will normally read in cubic metres or 100's of cubic feet and from there we can work out the approximate kWh.

For comparison, my gas from 10th October till today (6 days off two months) is 108 cubic metres, which is about 1188kWh, which, on my tariff, comes to £59, inclusive of VAT at 5%.

If your tariff is as you say (I'm assuming I need to add 5% VAT to your prices per kWh), 180 units = £14.92. This leaves £33 odd at the lower unit charge, so a further 960 units, making your total gas consumption 1139 kWh per month. (Don't bother with ebico - it would cost you more at this time of year if you are using this much gas.)

The other things you may wish to check with your supplier is that A you aren't paying off a previous occupant's debt (prepayment metres can do this) and B that you are only paying the higher rate on 180 kWh in December, in January etc etc - npower once averaged my higher rate at so many units per month, but when I asked them specifically, they admitted that actually, they charged more higher-rate units in winter than in summer, and that the stated number per month was just an average.

Hi thanks for the info.

No them rates are with tax included, its the cheapest for a single person due to no standing charges, i only pay for what i use, so when im away from my house it doesnt cost me anything.

Ive just been on the phone to utilita and worked out it cost me 37p to cook some pasties in the oven for 27 m? This means it used 4.6 kwh at gas mark 7 for 27 m.

Im not sure this is right? and the guy on the phone said it doesnt sound right either. So its not just my heating thats the issue, it seems the oven is eating the gas too!

The guy has advised me how to track my daily usage so i will time it all and get some data to show the council.

Hes also sending my last few months usage but they cant give me times, its just daily usage, so i need to time it all myself from now on and use the daily usage to add it up.

 

[hurricane501]

Getting back to your bedroom radiator - do you have TRVs (thermostatic radiator valves - the ones with numbers)? If it's only getting lukewarm, that will explain the fact that it gets cold more quickly.
Sounds like a stuck TRV, or balance/flow problem, which is your landlord's responsibility.
Or does it have the old fashioned manual valves?

The council gas guy bodged a tvr on it and ive took it off to make sure its not stuck and its not, it moves fine, the rad gets hot but not really hot but doesnt retain heat, its a TINY rad for a massive bedroom too and its under the window, im pretty sure it should be bigger and be a double rad.