Heating costing £150 per month - what's wrong?

[Tinitus]

I have recently moved to a smaller house and have been surprised by the gas bill and i am in the trade, some good suggestions on here ie insulation draughts etc. Do you have any open flues as they do funnel the heat out of a room quickly and create draughts. Also the price of gas has increased a lot, A good room thermostat in the right location is a must so is keeping doors closed. I am off work at present and am embarrassed to say I have been reading the gas meter daily (sad). I have a 28kw combi and have relised it costs 50p an hour to keep our house warm. 3 hours in the morning 5 hours at night =£4 a day x 106 days = £400 plus . Realize it wont be this all year but a lot of money for a 2 bed house .

Paul

 

[kentmonkey]

1) Round the windows are a favourite place for draughts, badly fitted windows can contribute to it. Window seals ok? Checked at the top of the windows for draughts?
(round the interior trim and the wall)
2) Have you checked for draughts down low at skirting level?
3) Pipes under the floorboards on the ground floor should be insulated, it’s a ventilated space so lots of heat can disappear outside. Draughts can come from here too.
4) There should be a purpose built hatch to get under the floor assuming that there is a crawl space. These can be anywhere but favourite places are understairs cupboard or hallway.
5) Nice thick carpet underlay can help. Carpet better than laminate.
6) Checked the loft hatch?, badly sealing ones letting all the heat escape, consider insulating the hatch too.
7) Bet the “little” room has two outside walls? Got similar and it’s more difficult to heat.

Thanks for the post.

1) They're double glazed but 'badly' I think. 1992 Anglian windows. There were loads of drafts when we moved in, but I've sealed them for now with that foam stuff. No drafts now, but only temporary fix.
2) A few drafts, I assume from the groundfloor void.
3) Oh god. Not looking forward to doing that, but more than one recommendation now so will definitely look into it.
4) I'll have a look for that, I had no idea. Could involve a lot of carpet lifting though.
5) Yup, have very thick carpets and it feels like thick underlay, due to the bounce as you walk.
6) Loft hatch is okay. Has been sealed around and has a foam pad on it about 9/10 the size of the hatch. I don't think perfect, but better than most perhaps. Our old place didn't have anything on the loft hatch.
7) Bang on. And I think where it's been expanded out into the eaves that they haven't put any insulation between the sloped roof of the room and the roof tiles. Just a hunch there. I've turned the TRV down in that room to 1 today, because I can't get it warm so it seems pointless trying. We use the room but only sporadically.

 

[doitall]

As above, the heating will have been sized for whole house, not partial, meaning if rads are turned off/down the rads in the working rooms will be undersized.

 

[kentmonkey]

Ah. At the moment though I have all doors closed, as it's not particularly warm, so would that make a difference if a room was cooler? I assume so though, heat will probably escape through interior wall.

 

[doitall]

Yes heat will escape through the walls

 

[Nige F]

[Tony

What a confrontational chap you are.

Only just moved into the house. We don't 'know' it is badly insulated. We're assuming it's not insulated. We've been here two months.

If you read the thread, you'd see that the system had been balanced. Twice. By a Gas Safe registered plumber.

I phoned 11 plumbers, yes. I phoned 11, . So you phone one 'I'll be round Friday', they don't turn up. You phone someone else. The same happens. You phone someone else, etc.

Amazing really that so many people have contributed in the thread and been constructive and pleasant with it, .[/quote] .....................................Couple of things - you don`t need a Gas Safe bod to balance rads or advise on insulation . You do need them to undertake any repairs to the boiler and associated Gas pipe etc. You don`t need to worry about cavity wall insulation unless you are in a house with dodgy brickwork/pointing and in an exposed position . Where are you in Kent ? Possibly , you might need to check that your gas supplier has correct details of your meter , is it imperial/metric etc. . I`m not gas safe reg. but I`ve done a bit of plumbing/heating since apprenticed in 1970