Combating energy prices

Dirk Diggler said:
The 1 hour time period is not the only factor, your water will reach temperature and then a thermostat will cut off the control signal that calls for heat. You'll probably find that the water is reaching temperature in around 15 minutes and the time period you've set is irrelevant.
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Darn, was hoping to claw back some usage, this is the bare minimum hot water needs for us.
 
I bought a Cat S60 as a gadget a while ago and will be offering it around to people this winter to check their house thermal leakage. Every little helps!
 
krooton said:
Does anyone know how to calculate the average usage of a boiler?

We have a standard gas boiler, 4 years old, that deals with central heating and the hot water tank. We also have a gas hob, but don't always use it.

I used to have it set for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening, but I recently dropped them both down to 30 minutes to see how we get on.

Yesterday we were out of the house, no central heating on and no gas hob usage, so the only gas that should have been used was 1 hour total.
However my usage was still over 8kWh, which makes no sense to me.

We've had days where the usage was only 6kWh, and that was back when it was on for 2 hours a day.

Any ideas what could be causing this?
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Get your energy bills. Find out what you were using in the peak of winter, and then find out what you're using now. The difference is going to be basically waht your heating system does. But to separate heating from domestic hot water, you're going to need two energy meters.
 
robj20 said:
Do you all think it's worth using something like this on the living room ceiling.

Celotex PL4025 Insulated Plasterboard 2400 x 1200 x 37.5mm | Insulation Superstore®

Fabricated from rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) with a blend of blowing agents that have low global warming potential (GWP) and zero ozone depletion potential ...
www.insulationsuperstore.co.uk www.insulationsuperstore.co.uk

It's the room that's heated the most and next on my list for decorating.
The current ceiling is coming down either way to be re-boarded.
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Do you use the room above it? That could be a reason not to bother as assuming your floor void isn't being washed by air from the cavity then your heat will be going into the room above.

The insulation's only going to be as good as the airtightness, so if you want to stop heat going upwards then an airtight membrane under the plasterboard will be helpful.

I'd also go for insulation with greater mass e.g. wood fibre insulation as noise through the floor is a common problem. Celotex isn't going to do anything for that.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Get your energy bills. Find out what you were using in the peak of winter, and then find out what you're using now. The difference is going to be basically waht your heating system does. But to separate heating from domestic hot water, you're going to need two energy meters.
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Yeah I've done that, I was just trying to see if I could save some money by reducing the hot water aspect, as it is the only thing we that goes one EVERY day even during the summer, but alas!
 
Harnser said:
Do you use the room above it? That could be a reason not to bother as assuming your floor void isn't being washed by air from the cavity then your heat will be going into the room above.

The insulation's only going to be as good as the airtightness, so if you want to stop heat going upwards then an airtight membrane under the plasterboard will be helpful.

I'd also go for insulation with greater mass e.g. wood fibre insulation as noise through the floor is a common problem. Celotex isn't going to do anything for that.
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I don't think they do thermal plasterboard with that material seems like celotex type or polystyrene. I'd also imagine the foil would be alright enough.
 
robj20 said:
Only other way wouldn't be as effective surely in-between the joists you'd end up with thermal bridging.
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The temperature differential of the insulation between joists and the joists themselves will be a couple of degrees max for an internal ceiling. The bridging isn't going to matter.

But if you want to do a full job, fill between the joists, tape the membrane and then put on thermal plasterboard.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Yeah bear in mind your hot water always gets mixed down. I’d limit it to 60C if you have a tank to prevent legionnaires and that’s it
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Yea, thanks for pointing that out - 60C is a minimum and to be honest I'm not sure how much difference a few degrees would make as I'm pretty sure it won't be set much above 60C to begin with
 
If you have a Combi boiler you can set the hot water quite low, it should help a little with energy usage. As the water isn't being stored there's no risk from the lower temperature unlike a tank. Ours is set to 45C on the boiler and its ideal for what we use it for, which is pretty much just the bath or shower. Saves on mixing it down so much.
 
andy_mk3 said:
If you have a Combi boiler you can set the hot water quite low, it should help a little with energy usage. As the water isn't being stored there's no risk from the lower temperature unlike a tank. Ours is set to 45C on the boiler and its ideal for what we use it for, which is pretty much just the bath or shower. Saves on mixing it down so much.
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He did mention that he has a tank, which is a little unusual for such a new system but some people prefer the pressure from a tank.

krooton said:
We have a standard gas boiler, 4 years old, that deals with central heating and the hot water tank.
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you can bound the time it should take for the boiler to heat the water in the tank (or part of the stratified tank)
so if your 30kw boilers been on for 20minutes thats 10kwh of energy and would have heated about 200L from 20->60C

volume in litres x 4 x temperature rise in degrees centigrade / 3412

(4 being a factor and 3412 being a given constant)

for example 100 litres of water, to be heated from 20ºC to 50ºC, giving a temperature rise of 30ºC would give –

100 x 4 x 30 / 3412 = 3.52 Kwh
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I learnt with recent experimentation my boiler can heat my water in about 10-20 minutes, its fairly fast so was in the past giving it too much time, but I still have the annoying pilot light always on problem all other times, and the high SC.
 
andy_mk3 said:
If you have a Combi boiler you can set the hot water quite low, it should help a little with energy usage. As the water isn't being stored there's no risk from the lower temperature unlike a tank. Ours is set to 45C on the boiler and its ideal for what we use it for, which is pretty much just the bath or shower. Saves on mixing it down so much.
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100% agree with this. I’ve been experimenting with this recently and was amazed how low I could set it without it making a real difference.
 
Another good tip is to just use cold water when you wash your hands after using the loo. I paid attention a couple of months ago on how I used the taps - normally, I'd set the mixer to full hot (or nearly full hot) and turn the tap on, and start using the water right away. Most of the time, the water had only just started warming up by the time I'd finished, which means all I'd done was waste some gas on heating the water in the pipes.

I know this is heavily dependant on when the taps were last used, how far away the taps are from the boiler, if the heating's on, etc. etc., but I think by using cold water only I'd save a good few quid over a year. Although it's probably offset by our en-suite shower which is at the opposite corner of the house from the boiler; even setting it to full heat when first turning it on, it takes close to a minute for that hot water to come through, meaning the boiler and water has been running for a minute before I can use the shower.
 
I've switched off as much as reasonable.
Microwave went off yesterday read an article saying how expensive running the clock is. Don't use it anyway the clock anyway.

I've started pouring a flask of hot water in the morning to make cuppers throughout the day.

The tip above about washing hands is a good one. I already do this. Mrs thought I was crazy for it!
 
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