In order to try and keep the
heating bills to a minimum this year, and, in an effort to keep warm I have decamped
in to one room for the winter months, where I now sleep, sit to watch the
television, and, work at my computer when required. The reasoning for this is so that I can
switch off the redundant radiators in the rooms I am not using. This has effectively left me with the boiler
heating four radiators. Two in the bed /
sitting room, one in the hallway, and, one in the bathroom. Fortunately when I cook in the kitchen, the
heat generated by the appliances manages to adequately warm the room.
To monitor the cost of my
bills I have set up a spreadsheet to record the value of the gas and
electricity readings on a daily basis, along with the times that the heating is
on. My current utility tariff which does
not expire until September 2017, see me paying 3.263p per KWh of gas, 11.687p
per KWh of electricity, in addition to a standing charge of 19.13p per day for
each service.
From my analysis the current
cost of running the gas central heating for the four radiators is on average
15p per hour. This is with the boiler
set on the minimum setting as at the moment the weather has been relatively
mild. It should be noted that the cost
for the first hour is higher averaging around 25p, due to the fact that the
boiler has to initially work harder in order to heat the cold water / air up. This means that for six hours a night the
central heating gas bill is 90p.
In an effort to squeeze out
all the available heat from the radiators in the bed / sitting room, where I
spend the most time I have bought some of those reflective foil sheets which
slip behind the radiators. The reason I
didn’t make these out of normal tin foil, was because I read that after a while
normal tin foil reacts with the heat and air, and, loses the ability to reflect
the heat. Although the installation of the
reflective radiator sheets did not lower the cost per hour of the boiler, it
did feel as if the heat was distributed more evenly around the room, resulting
in a more comfortable environment. I
installed the reflective sheets so that the top part protruded above the
radiator, and, was angled to try and push the hot air into the room instead of
letting it rise directly to the ceiling.
At the moment this is a bit unsightly, however, I am more about keeping
as warm as possible than the aesthetics!
Another device that
interests me is the Radfan. This is a
product which sits on top of the radiator, and, using the heat generated blows
the hot air inwards in to the room. The
theory is that instead of letting the hot air just rise upwards to the ceiling
it is more evenly distributed, and, leads to a more comfortably heated
room. The marketing literature
associated with this product states that the fans only cost around £2 a year to
run. I can fully see the benefits of
this system, and, how it may work, however, I am not yet fully convinced how
long it will take to recoup the initial investment of £40 for the device.
The other thing I also considered
was whether to replace my current non condensing boiler (15 years old, energy
efficiency rating E of 77.2%), with a new condensing one (energy efficiency
rating A of 90%). The reasoning behind
this is that the newer condensing boilers are more efficient at heating the
water through recycling waste heat, and, therefore use less gas. However, in calculating the figures I found
out I would only save around £46.40 a year, which would take over 30 years to
recoup the cost of the installation (£1,500) for a new condensing boiler! It must be said though that this calculation
is based on my gas consumption of 10,000KWh per year, which is quite miserly by
all accounts. The calculation for anyone
that is interested is as follows.
Multiply the efficiency of
your current boiler (77.2%) by the KWh of gas used on your bill
(10,000KWh). This gives the value gas
you would have used if the boiler had been 100% efficient. 72.2% x 10,000KWh
gives 7,720KWh.
Divide the 7,720KWh calculated
in the previous step by the efficiency of the new condensing boiler (90%). 7,720KWh / 90% gives 8,578KWh. This is the amount of gas you would use with
a new boiler as opposed to the 10,000KWh for the old one.
Therefore with a gas tariff
of 3.263p per KWh, the current boiler gas cost is 10,000KWh multiplied by
3.263p, totalling £326.30, and, the new boiler gas cost would be 8,578KWh
multiplied by 3.263p totalling £279.90.
The saving in the gas charge each year for replacing the boiler is
therefore £46.40. Obviously if you
increased your usage the savings would be greater, but even doubling your usage
would still take over 16 years to recoup the cost of the boiler.
Anyway I shall leave it
there for now. I will continue to record
my usage, and, let you know of any developments.
As always feel free to
comment.
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