Heating help please!!

[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.

 

[Chester]

I too suffer with a cold house at this time of year, things I changed were - curtains or furniture covering your rads? Check whether you have drafts from windows and under your external doors, if your front door is letting the cold in 24/7 your thermostat might never reach temp for obvious reasons and keep boiler running. As others have said the rads could be undersized.

 

[hurricane501]

Okay, ive just putting the heating on now, turned off all rads in the house and only the bedroom rad is on. When i first put the heating on it was so hot i couldnt touch it! its been on 30 mins now and its luke warm, i can easy hold the rad.

So it can heat up, but wont heat up? This is doing my head in, its fking freezing!

 

[Ric2013]

The radiator is doing its job - it's supposed to lose its heat to the room and I would expect it to cool over half an hour.

If it is getting hot when other rads are off and wasn't before, then the system isn't balanced properly.

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.

Lots of companies have zero standing charge tariffs, so it is worth shopping around, now you know your precise usage. I've been told before 'we are the cheapest for you' but the company was basing that claim on an average person, and we're all different.

4.6kWh for half an hour of oven does sound like a lot (more than my boiler could use in that time!), but probably best putting a separate thread on this specific question. I expect the registered gas installers on this site will know what is typical for an oven...

 

[neilrj]

This isn't a cubic metre reading versus a 100's cubic ft reading on the meter is it - that's an error of nearly x3 from memory - not that I can remember which way? What does it say on the gas meter about it's measuring unit, and what does the bill say - not the kW figures but the meter figures before conversion?

 

[hurricane501]

Okay the rad is not supposed to lose heat when the heating is still on, its supposed to stay hot, not go luke warm in 30 mins, ive never been in a house thats done that...

The 37p for 27 mins is 4.6 khw at 8p which is what im on, its mega high and it shows how bad my system is. Due to this it also shows its not just my heating, it seems theres an issue with the gas feed.

Im not plumber so have no clue but im good with numbers and have been on at the council for months about this, ive changed supplier twice since ive moved here, thinking it could be a supplier issue but my tarrif seems good for me and i couldnt see any other company that doesnt have a standing charge or cheaper than this at my address.

My bedroom rad is set to 3 but if i set to 5 it makes noises and heats up, if i set to anything under 5 it will stop making noises and go cold, even though the heating is on. The pin is not stuck as i have taken the top off and checked and by turning it up and down shows the pin is fine.

If i had the money id put a full new system in, there seems to be so many different issues and its costing me too much to run, even now the heating has been on nearly 3 hours and my feet are freezing, the rad is not even a meter away from my feet and i cant feel it...