I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two bedroom
semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and really guzzled
gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make with the new boiler but
as it turns out I am not saving much at all! The house has full double
glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and brings
the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees during the day
and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm, then 16 degrees
through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month at this time of year.
Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it is only two of us and the hot
water is only really used for a couple of baths a week as the dishwasher
heats its only water and so does the washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one of
these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal for a
house like mine?

Jay

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:01:53 GMT NTL News wrote :
If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and
brings the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees
during the day and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm,
then 16 degrees through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month
at this time of year.

How big/old is the house? Are you in during the day - if not 17.5 sounds
unnecessarily high.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.12 released 8 Dec 2005]

"NTL News" wrote in message
...
I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two
bedroom semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and
really guzzled gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make
with the new boiler but as it turns out I am not saving much at all!
The house has full double glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and
brings the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees
during the day and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm,
then 16 degrees through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month
at this time of year. Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it
is only two of us and the hot water is only really used for a couple
of baths a week as the dishwasher heats its only water and so does the
washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one
of these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal
for a house like mine?

Blimey!!!!! We had a new condensing boiler fitted just over a year ago
and found a big difference. We have a terraced, 4 bed, split level
house with double glazing and we are paying £39 per month and that is
for gas and electric combined!!! We get our gas and leckie from
Scottish power.

How big/old is the house? Are you in during the day - if not 17.5 sounds
unnecessarily high.



The house is a two bedroom semi, but only really the size of a typical
northern terraced house. It's 120 years old. 17.5 may be a little high I
suppose, but I am in about out all day so I need it slightly warm.

My other question is, what setting do I have the dial on the front of the
boiler at? Its a Worcester 24i I think and the dial goes from 1 to 6. It
doesnt seem to make any sense having a temp control on the boiler when I
have a seperate one in the hallway, so what is the optimum setting to have
the dial at?

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:28:58 GMT, "Ophelia" wrote:


"NTL News" wrote in message
...
I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two
bedroom semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and
really guzzled gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make
with the new boiler but as it turns out I am not saving much at all!
The house has full double glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and
brings the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees
during the day and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm,
then 16 degrees through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month
at this time of year. Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it
is only two of us and the hot water is only really used for a couple
of baths a week as the dishwasher heats its only water and so does the
washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one
of these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal
for a house like mine?

Blimey!!!!! We had a new condensing boiler fitted just over a year ago
and found a big difference. We have a terraced, 4 bed, split level
house with double glazing and we are paying £39 per month and that is
for gas and electric combined!!! We get our gas and leckie from
Scottish power.

4 (small) bed 3 storey 1 year old Barrett townhouse end terrace, last
3 months gas cost £120.

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:39:34 GMT NTL News wrote :
My other question is, what setting do I have the dial on the front
of the boiler at? Its a Worcester 24i I think and the dial goes from
1 to 6. It doesnt seem to make any sense having a temp control on the
boiler when I have a seperate one in the hallway, so what is the
optimum setting to have the dial at?

The thermostat in the hall controls how hot the house gets (assuming
it's wired correctly of course g). When the set temperature is reached
the boiler stops running.

The knob on the boiler controls the maximum temperature that the boiler
heats water to. If you set it too high the boiler runs less efficiently
and will be stop/starting unnecessarily often. If you have it too low
then the house will never get warm or take a long time to do so. If the
boiler is also heating a HW cylinder then setting the boiler stat low
(which is a good thing from an efficiency pov) has the disadvantage of
extending the time to reheat the cylinder after a bath, which may or may
not be material in your case.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.12 released 8 Dec 2005]

120 year old building could have 9inch solid brick walls with little
insulation value, esp if there is a large area of gable end. Double
glazing would only save a bit. Draught reduction could help. What about
turning it off at night and all the times when nobody is home?

cheers
Jacob

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:01:53 GMT, "NTL News"
wrote:

I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two bedroom
semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and really guzzled
gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make with the new boiler but
as it turns out I am not saving much at all! The house has full double
glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and brings
the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees during the day
and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm, then 16 degrees
through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month at this time of year.
Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it is only two of us and the hot
water is only really used for a couple of baths a week as the dishwasher
heats its only water and so does the washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one of
these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal for a
house like mine?

Jay



It's sounds an awful lot. My 3 bed decent sized semi, with an old
boiler will be about £130 for the qtr and I never alter the thermostat
from around 20.

You've not got one of these new meters that reads in cubic meters but
the bill is still mulitiplied by 2.83 thinking it's measuring 100ft3.

It's a fairly common occurence with changed gas meters where the
company don't have the updated record.

Andy

"NTL News" wrote in message
...
I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two bedroom
semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and really guzzled
gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make with the new boiler
but as it turns out I am not saving much at all! The house has full double
glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and
brings the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees
during the day and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm, then
16 degrees through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month at this
time of year. Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it is only two
of us and the hot water is only really used for a couple of baths a week
as the dishwasher heats its only water and so does the washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one of
these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal for a
house like mine?

Jay


No way!! We have a 4 beds extended semi and pay nPower about £47pm for gas
and £48 for electricity both of which are rising in line with the rest of
Europe. Do tell us who is ur fuel supplier, and are you not profiting from a
duel-fuel monthly direct-debit scheme? Apart from this horrendous monthly
gas account, is your electricity bill yet another sting? You failed to
inform us.

Is each cavity wall insulated? Have you any expanses of single glazing? Are
your drapes (lined, hopefully) drawn closed during cold spells? Try to
reduce the duty cycle of ur hot water system, ifr hardly used.
Regarding either of your washer goods' ability to heat up its supplied
water, surely if that is imported hot enough to start with, the heater
element will not come on, or maybe might just top it up, using hardly any
kWhs, till the water-temp sensor is happy.
Jim

it is costing me over £100 a month
at this time of year.

Sounds very high to me. We've got a 4-bed detached chalet bungalow (i.e.
not much roof insulation!), run the CH and HW 24 hours per day and pay
about 250 for the worst Winter quarter.

Al.

No way!! We have a 4 beds extended semi and pay nPower about £47pm for
gas and £48 for electricity both of which are rising in line with the rest
of Europe. Do tell us who is ur fuel supplier, and are you not profiting
from a duel-fuel monthly direct-debit scheme? Apart from this horrendous
monthly gas account, is your electricity bill yet another sting? You
failed to inform us.


Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is British
Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter in years, in
fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see it. I checked the
rate on the meter that it is supposedly charged at and it is about 3% out so
that won't account for the amount that we are paying. However I phoned BG
tonight to ask them about the problem and while they acknowledged that they
were indeed the supplier they have no records of ANY payments I have ever
made on my card :-S

Something is certainly amiss somewhere and I hope that I am due to a big
refund, but if they cannot find records of payments I might be scewed.

It's sounds an awful lot. My 3 bed decent sized semi, with an old
boiler will be about £130 for the qtr and I never alter the thermostat
from around 20.

You've not got one of these new meters that reads in cubic meters but
the bill is still mulitiplied by 2.83 thinking it's measuring 100ft3.


My meter is not new, its a prepay meter thats about 10 years old.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
NTL News wrote:



Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is
British Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter
in years, in fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see
it.

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one into which
you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas. Such a meter would
have to be emptied regularly. But you also mention payments made on your
*card*. What card is that - a credit card? How does the system work. Haven't
*you* got records of what you've paid, even if BG haven't?

FWIW, my gas bill (Scottish Power - capped) has averaged £47 per month for
the last 3 months. That is for a 4-bedroom detached house with the heating
on all day - plus a gas fire in the lounge for a lot of the time to keep my
96-year-old father-in-law warm.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is
British Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter
in years, in fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see
it.

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one into
which you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas. Such a
meter would have to be emptied regularly. But you also mention payments
made on your *card*. What card is that - a credit card? How does the
system work. Haven't *you* got records of what you've paid, even if BG
haven't?


The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped card
that you take to the post office and charge it up with however much you want
to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter and it allocates the
credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on it every 3 days.

"NTL News" wrote in message
...

Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is
British Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter
in years, in fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see
it.

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one into
which you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas. Such a
meter would have to be emptied regularly. But you also mention payments
made on your *card*. What card is that - a credit card? How does the
system work. Haven't *you* got records of what you've paid, even if BG
haven't?


The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped card
that you take to the post office and charge it up with however much you
want to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter and it
allocates the credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on it every 3
days.

I don't know anything about pre-payment rates and top-up cards (ie, no coins
accumulating in the compartment). Maybe the metering or credit mechanism is
faulty so flow/availability is wrongly recorded.
Go see the CAB and see if they have a known protocol for redressing your
rip-off. Until you get your deserved rebate, best not to mention switching
to another alternative supplier just yet to BG.
They will know what the ball-park figure /consumption guideline for a
dwelling your size should be. Then get a proper meter installed. They owe u
that much.

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:46:31 GMT, "NTL News"
wrote:

The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped card
that you take to the post office and charge it up with however much you want
to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter and it allocates the
credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on it every 3 days.


Well 3 days gas this qtr. will cost me about £4.50 so I would spend
some time checking on alternatives like doing away with the
pre-payment meter and comparing unit prices from other suppliers.

You can use a site like www.uswitch.com to start your search.

Andy

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:46:31 GMT, "NTL News"
wrote:


Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is
British Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter
in years, in fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see
it.

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one into
which you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas. Such a
meter would have to be emptied regularly. But you also mention payments
made on your *card*. What card is that - a credit card? How does the
system work. Haven't *you* got records of what you've paid, even if BG
haven't?


The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped card
that you take to the post office and charge it up with however much you want
to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter and it allocates the
credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on it every 3 days.



Do you have receipts to prove your spend? Fingers crossed you do.
Well worth getting the meter checked & changed for a cheaper option

Insulate and you'll save money (loft and walls if possible)
Turn the thermostat down and you'll save money
Shut the curtains at dusk and youll save money
Do some draftproofing ...

--
Get money off vouchers for everything
http://www.moneyoffvouchers.co.uk

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
NTL News wrote:

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one
into which you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas.
Such a meter would have to be emptied regularly. But you also
mention payments made on your *card*. What card is that - a credit
card? How does the system work. Haven't *you* got records of what
you've paid, even if BG haven't?


The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped
card that you take to the post office and charge it up with however
much you want to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter
and it allocates the credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on
it every 3 days.

Ah, I see - things have moved on a bit since I was a kid!

Does the meter tell you how much credit you've got?

How much does 1 kw.Hr of energy cost when bought in this way?

Did you *choose* to have a pre-payment meter? Could you swap to a credit
meter - it would probably be cheaper?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

NTL News wrote:
No way!! We have a 4 beds extended semi and pay nPower about £47pm
for gas and £48 for electricity both of which are rising in line
with the rest of Europe. Do tell us who is ur fuel supplier, and are
you not profiting from a duel-fuel monthly direct-debit scheme?
Apart from this horrendous monthly gas account, is your electricity
bill yet another sting? You failed to inform us.


Well this is bizarre - I am on a prepay meter and my gas supplier is
British Gas. To my knowledge there has been nobody out to the meter
in years, in fact I can't remember when there was someone out to see
it. I checked the rate on the meter that it is supposedly charged at
and it is about 3% out so that won't account for the amount that we
are paying. However I phoned BG tonight to ask them about the problem
and while they acknowledged that they were indeed the supplier they
have no records of ANY payments I have ever made on my card :-S

Something is certainly amiss somewhere and I hope that I am due to a
big refund, but if they cannot find records of payments I might be
scewed.

Is your name on the top-up card? if not you might have someone else's card,
going by what you have said about BG not having any records of you not
making payments.

Good luck, british gas have two left hands.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

NTL News wrote:
If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and brings
the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees during the day
and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm, then 16 degrees
through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month at this time of year.
Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it is only two of us and the hot
water is only really used for a couple of baths a week as the dishwasher
heats its only water and so does the washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one of
these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal for a
house like mine?

Not really, unless you leave the doors and windows open, or live
where it's extremely cold. The indoor temperatures you mention
aren't excessive, either. Have you got a leak, or a meter prob.?

In message , Set Square
writes
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
NTL News wrote:

I don't quite understand. My notion of a pre-payment meter is one
into which you put coins and which then allows you to use some gas.
Such a meter would have to be emptied regularly. But you also
mention payments made on your *card*. What card is that - a credit
card? How does the system work. Haven't *you* got records of what
you've paid, even if BG haven't?


The pre-pay meter that we have is a Quantum meter - you get a chipped
card that you take to the post office and charge it up with however
much you want to put into your meter, you then slot it into the meter
and it allocates the credit. At the moment I'm sticking a tenner on
it every 3 days.

Ah, I see - things have moved on a bit since I was a kid!

Does the meter tell you how much credit you've got?

How much does 1 kw.Hr of energy cost when bought in this way?

Did you *choose* to have a pre-payment meter? Could you swap to a credit
meter - it would probably be cheaper?

I'm also wondering how long the OP has been in the house. I have heard
of cases of people with pre-payment meters paying over the odds as the
meter was set to charge a higher amount because the previous user had
got into debt and was paying it off.
--
Chris French

In article ,
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Is your name on the top-up card? if not you might have someone else's card,
going by what you have said about BG not having any records of you not
making payments.

It also sounds as if it has been set to pay off arrears.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:01:53 GMT, "NTL News"
wrote:

I recently had a new Worcester condensing boiler fitted to our two bedroom
semi. The previous boiler was a thirty year old thing and really guzzled
gas. I didn't know what sort of savings I would make with the new boiler but
as it turns out I am not saving much at all! The house has full double
glazing and reasonable loft insulation.

If I have the heating set so that it comes on at 8am for an hour and brings
the house to 20.5 degrees and then drops down to 17.5 degrees during the day
and then back up to 20.5 degrees from 5pm until 11pm, then 16 degrees
through the night, it is costing me over £100 a month at this time of year.
Sure it heats up the hot water as well, but it is only two of us and the hot
water is only really used for a couple of baths a week as the dishwasher
heats its only water and so does the washing machine.

I had no idea that heating a house would be so expensive even with one of
these so called economical boilers. Is £100+ per month about normal for a
house like mine?

Sounds alot to me. I have a 4 bedroom detached, heated by a 17-year
old boiler and I pay £35 a month (and I still run up a large surplus
every year).

My electric is almost £100 a month however...mostly because no one
else in the house seems to know how to turn of televisions, lights,
computers, etc when they aren't being used!

Tony Bryer wrote:


The thermostat in the hall controls how hot the house gets (assuming
it's wired correctly of course g). When the set temperature is reached
the boiler stops running.

The knob on the boiler controls the maximum temperature that the boiler
heats water to. If you set it too high the boiler runs less efficiently
and will be stop/starting unnecessarily often. If you have it too low
then the house will never get warm or take a long time to do so. If the
boiler is also heating a HW cylinder then setting the boiler stat low
(which is a good thing from an efficiency pov) has the disadvantage of
extending the time to reheat the cylinder after a bath, which may or may
not be material in your case.

Thanks for that, cos it was going to be a question from me :-)

We have a power shower and I usually set the boiler temp so that with
the shower control vertical, we get a comfortable shower, but this
winter I have left the boiler temp on its summer setting.

Dave