Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 hi gents. Just got my radiator system up and running for the first time. 7 Rads, 2 bed semi, just me and the missus living there. Boiler is a new last year Baxi 830 combi, 24w i believe. Set at 60 for the heating system. Looking at my "Energy usage" its excessive, 105kwh a day and the rads were only on for a couple of hours. Looking at one of the spikes it was nearly 25kwh for a half an hour, that doesnt even seem possible? Am i misreading this or is this just normal these days? house has all new insulation, and it does hold the heat nice so i found that the heating on for an hour was enough for the evening pretty much. But 100kw?! doesnt seem possible. I expected this to be at least half that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonD Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 24.5kWh for half an hour with a 30kW combi boiler does seem rather wrong. Best way to check is by taking readings directly from your gas meter. Then calculate actual readings. BTW what heating controls have been installed? For a 2 bed semi, the heating output of this boiler is minmum about 6kW which is probable double your actual heat requirement on a mildish autumn day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 3 minutes ago, SimonD said: 24.5kWh for half an hour with a 30kW combi boiler does seem rather wrong. Best way to check is by taking readings directly from your gas meter. Then calculate actual readings. BTW what heating controls have been installed? For a 2 bed semi, the heating output of this boiler is minmum about 6kW which is probable double your actual heat requirement on a mildish autumn day. heating controls are Nest thermostats. Only need to be on for an hour to go from 17 to 20 and thats where it pretty much stays. Yeah it kidna doesnt make sense does it... I'll check the meters when i get in and see the numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 My guess is a dodgy connection... Does that 24.48kwh come after a time slot with apparently zero usage ? My guess is the meter wasn't able to update the system for awhile even though the boiler was running. So when it was able to send an update the system incorrectly assumed the calculated change in consumption all occured in the previous time slot instead of say averaging it over the time slots that were missed. I guess the same might happen for longer outages? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) What do grey bars mean? There are some grey and some orange the same size. Does grey mean no data received or similar error? Edited October 25, 2023 by Temp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, Temp said: My guess is a dodgy connection... Does that 24.48kwh come after a time slot with apparently zero usage ? My guess is the meter wasn't able to update the system for awhile even though the boiler was running. So when it was able to send an update the system incorrectly assumed the calculated change in consumption all occured in the previous time slot instead of say averaging it over the time slots that were missed. I guess the same might happen for longer outages? that is entirely possible, cant recall if it was plugged in actually as i just finished installing the rad tails. I cant see any grey bars though...? if you mean the like dashes, i guess that means no usage. It was barely on, so no idea how it was running at 50kwh, thats impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 Got home and checked my smart meter. The 21st was Saturday and the recorded usage was pennies, like £2.80. Honestly man, why is everything just a chew on. I hope the smart meter is correct rather than my British gas account... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparrowhawk Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 What happens if you set the heating system at 35 and run it for longer? If your Baxi can modulate down enough I understand that's the more efficient way to run it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 2 hours ago, Super_Paulie said: Got home and checked my smart meter. The 21st was Saturday and the recorded usage was pennies, like £2.80. Honestly man, why is everything just a chew on. I hope the smart meter is correct rather than my British gas account... Are you saying your in home display attached to the smart meter is giving different readings to your on line account with your energy supplier? That would worry me and I would want to get to the bottom of it, by taking dailiy readings from the meter itself, not the in home display, and comparing that with what your on line energy account says. So much for smart meters, I will stick to a dumb meter and a once a month reading submitted to my provider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2D2 Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 My bet would be British gas are using the same values as the smart meter but the smart meter tariff is out of date therefore showing a lower actual cost. Can you check the tariff or compare kWh instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 50 minutes ago, ProDave said: Are you saying your in home display attached to the smart meter is giving different readings to your on line account with your energy supplier? That would worry me and I would want to get to the bottom of it, by taking dailiy readings from the meter itself, not the in home display, and comparing that with what your on line energy account says. So much for smart meters, I will stick to a dumb meter and a once a month reading submitted to my provider. That's exactly what I'm seeing, yeah. I'll get onto the chat with them tomorrow as something of obviously very wrong with that, too couldn't use that much kWh with my setup, the boiler couldn't do it. Technology sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 6 minutes ago, Super_Paulie said: That's exactly what I'm seeing, yeah. I'll get onto the chat with them tomorrow as something of obviously very wrong with that, too couldn't use that much kWh with my setup, the boiler couldn't do it. Technology sucks. I would not contact your supplier yet. I would spend say a week gathering evidence. Daily meter reading on the display on the meter itself not the IHD, preferably at the same time every day. Keep a note of those readings and work out how many kWh is actually being used each day. Then get the daily usage figures from your suppliers web page and compare them. When you clearly have differing figures, then is the time to discuss it with your supplier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyt Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 I find this app a godsend, manual input but daily, weekly, monthly, annual analysis with export facility of data. I use for elec import, export, gas, water. i just I put meter figures off meter or in house display and now have 7 years of data, showing trends vis last year etc. I guess available on android too. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/meter-readings/id320551309 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) How on earth would I have used 25kw in 30 minutes as in the picture earlier. I mean I've got the heating on right now at 60°. Sack it all off for a log burner I say, at least I'll know for sure how many logs I've got. Edited October 25, 2023 by Super_Paulie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2D2 Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 17 minutes ago, Super_Paulie said: How on earth would I have used 25kw in 30 minutes as in the picture earlier 4 hours ago, Temp said: Does that 24.48kwh come after a time slot with apparently zero usage ? My guess is the meter wasn't able to update the system for awhile even though the boiler was running 1 hour ago, S2D2 said: Can you check the tariff or compare kWh instead? kWh for the day in question to compare against the app figures, that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 This is what I've used in an hour. Any gas monkeys know what the hell I'm looking at here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2D2 Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 9 minutes ago, Super_Paulie said: This is what I've used in an hour. Any gas monkeys know what the hell I'm looking at here? ~4.2kWh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Gas meters measure in cubic metres of gas. but it is billed in kWh. One of the boffins will be along soon I am sure with the conversion factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 1 hour ago, S2D2 said: ~4.2kWh Significantly less than what the app suggested the other day at 50Kwh! I'll record it at the meter the next few days and make a spreadsheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billt Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 The conversion method is shown on your gas bill; theoretically it varies slightly from time to time. Multiply cubic meters by 11.16 is about right. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 25, 2023 Author Share Posted October 25, 2023 It's crazy complex, I wonder why British Gas don't offer up a calculator... Actually I do know, they are a bunch of *****. I found this website which seems to work based on what S2D2 offered up. How my smart meter says a few quid but the official app and website suggest a fortune I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2D2 Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 13 hours ago, Super_Paulie said: Got home and checked my smart meter. The 21st was Saturday and the recorded usage was pennies, like £2.80. Honestly man, why is everything just a chew on. I hope the smart meter is correct rather than my British gas account... Press the "kWh" button on this screen and show us what it says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 2 hours ago, S2D2 said: Press the "kWh" button on this screen and show us what it says. this is as of this morning. Pretty different results depending where you look. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 The only thing that is "right" is the readings on the display on the meter. Have you been noting those daily? You need to check of those agree with the in home display. It does sound like you need a "discussion" with your supplier, but not before you are sure of your facts. People often ask me why I am refusing to have a smart meter. One of the reasons is to avoid this sort of grief when clearly it seems the technology is not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Paulie Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 2 minutes ago, ProDave said: The only thing that is "right" is the readings on the display on the meter. Have you been noting those daily? You need to check of those agree with the in home display. It does sound like you need a "discussion" with your supplier, but not before you are sure of your facts. People often ask me why I am refusing to have a smart meter. One of the reasons is to avoid this sort of grief when clearly it seems the technology is not working. yeah ive started recording actual figures as of yesterday. Dont blame you, especially British Gas seem overly crappy. 100kwh of heating for a few hours would be pretty toasty like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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