Warning - Don't let the builders leave your boiler running

[AliG]

I noticed @lizzie had this problem today also.

 

I just checked the gas meter for the second time today, first time was just after it was connected in late January.

 

When the boiler was installed the heating controls were not in place, so the builders switched it on and left it running 24 hours a day. This was necessary to some extent to dry out the house.

 

We moved in in mid March and the builders would often be working with multiple doors/windows open. They would think nothing of having the heating running and the house open whilst it was freezing outside.

 

The heating controls were eventually connected at the end of March and eventually I had to tell them to just use the garage door to get in and out as my wife was freezing. This was probably early April.

 

There were also two large holes in the plant room wall awaiting ventilation to be installed. They were blocked off but at some point someone opened them up. For most of April, basically 1000 square foot of the house was open to the outside. They also drilled a hold in the kitchen wall which is our main living area to bring a gas pipe into the fireplace. I couldn't understand why it was so cold one day and there was a draught as I wasn't there when they did this. Eventually it will be under ground level and sealed off.

 

Finally much as the house is very well insulated and has triple glazing, the seals have still not been completed around the outside of the windows which is probably adding to heat loss.

 

Anyway, I checked and we have used £1700 of gas since the meter was installed in January. This seems absurd until you realise that a 42kw boiler running 24 hours a day would use over £30 a day of gas. The boiler was probably running almost constantly for two+ months.

 

So if you install your boiler in the middle of a very cold winter, don't let it just be left running if you don't want a large bill. Also don't let builders run the heating and then open every door and window in the house when they get too warm which seems to be how they like to work. And finally watch for the builders making holes in the outside of your house and then just leaving them open whilst they work at normal builder pace.

 

 

[vivienz]

Bloody hell! £1700!!!!!  Outrageous!  Makes me glad I won't have any gas!

[Cpd]

I can relate as the house i live in has virtually no insulation and the electricity cost per year is barbaric (£2000+) i had hoped to have gotten round to this house but  got carried  away on the cottage next door and due to a prolonged health issue it got delayed but the electric bills did not...... having found this forum i am completely sold on the idea of “insulate,air tight and ventilate” being a key mantra. Its been said so many times that unless you are either doing the work yourself or are on site all the time and know what to look out for then the “devil in the detail” is easily overlooked and then covered over and forgotten about.... until the gas / leccy bill come in or some such thing. Hope that when you get it all fixed up you see a really good improvement. 

[Alexphd1]

That's a heavy bill, does that include heating the pool? 

[AliG]

Nope, just space heating and hot water.

 

There were no thermostats or timers connected for 2 months so the boiler would have pretty much run constantly.

[lizzie]

Mine appears to be the same scenario although costs are less - it was running 24/7 My bill was over £300 for an un occupied house airtight fully sealed house  - that was for a couple of months with thermostats on but no timers so running full time at 20 odd degrees just on and off on thermostats - no mvhr running and front door open most of the time too.