New Boiler Using More Gas

[goodgoalie]

I had an 'A' rated Worcester Greenstar condensing boiler fitted two weeks ago, which works well and I'm very happy with it; also had an extra radiator fitted in the main downstairs room.

I'd taken a reading before the fitting and took one today and was alarmed to see that I've used nearly double what I was using in the previous few weeks. I have not increased how often I have the heating/hot water on, so can the increase be due to the extra radiator? I only took a reading today to cheer myself up by seeing how little gas the new super-efficient boiler was using. Really hacked off.

[Etch]

Are you sure about the "cubic metres" bhg481? In a similar situation to you, my average usage over the last quarter has been about 2.5 units per day. My meter 'units' are 100s cu ft: the bills say (for example):
"This is how we convert gas units into kilowatt hours (kWh):
40.00 imperial units used
x 1.022640 volume correction
x 2.83 to convert to metric
= 115.76 metric units
x 39.3 calorific value
÷ 3.6 to convert to kWh
= 1,263.71 kWh"
So my 2.5 units per day equates to about 7 cu m per day, and I can't believe that there is that much difference in our consumption.

[bhg481]

Etch - yes, you are right, my reading are 100s of cubic feet, so about 200 cubic feet per day - a little lower than yours.

[goodgoalie]

Thanks for your answer bhg, which underlines the point of my post. You have your heating on for 9 hours a day yet only use 2 units (what the meter records) to do so; I had my heating on (and no hot water) for just over an hour and it used 1 unit. That is what's troubling me about all this.

I've taken my neighbours' readings this morning, and will see what they are again in 3 or 4 days to find an average of what they use.

[bhg481]

For your information, these are my last few meter readings:

21st Oct. 2021 1575.0 Customer reading
21st Nov. 2021 1616.0 Customer reading
21st Dec. 2021 1674.0 Customer reading
21st Jan. 2022 1734.0 Customer reading

[goodgoalie]

Thanks bhg. Yes, you used about 2 units per day for the last (and coldest) month, and you have it on for nine hours!

I send in quarterly readings, and the last quarterly reading to 23rd December was 42 units in total. Very fed up.

[Etch]

goodgoalie, be careful when trying to compare things in 'units' (i.e. what the meter reads). From what you said at 22:55 Fri 28th Jan 2022, it seems your 'units' are 'cubic metres', which are about 2.8 times smaller than bhg481's, and my, 'units' which are '100s of cubic feet'. So 1 of your 'units' is only 0.36 of our 'units'.

[davebro]

you need to be clear what you are comparing

100 cu ft = nearly 3 cu metres = 30 kwh

Is your "unit" 100 cu ft or 1 cu metre?

[davebro]

If your meter was changed from measuring 1 unit as 100 cu ft. to measuring 1 unit as 1 cu metre it will look like you are using 3 times as much gas.

[goodgoalie]

Just checked - my meter measures in cubic metres

[Etch]

Hi goodgoalie, any update on your apparent increase in gas usage? I've been monitoring my usage in more detail for the last few days and it has varied from 1.6 to 2.5 'units' per day. As mentioned before, my 'units' are 100s of cu ft, so that's 4.6 to 7.2 cubic metres per day.

[goodgoalie]

Hi Etch. In the three weeks up to the boiler installation on 14th January I was using around 1 cubic metre per day; since the new boiler it's 1.6, and, as I said in my original post, I've been using it in exactly the same way, - putting it on for a set amount of time each day (about an hour), with same amount of hot water usage (very little).

Contacted Worcester Bosch who said the consumption seems correct, but that does not explain why the old one was using so much less. My next-door neighbour, who is in her 80s and has her heating coming on at 6:30am for a total of around nine/ten hours a day averages 5.5 cubic metres - which sounds about right to me.

I reckon I've come to the end of the road on this to be honest. Not what I was expecting when I forked out for an 'A' rated boiler. Thank goodness, though, that my gas and electric tariffs are fixed till October!