Cost of Heating Difficult Calculation

[htb]

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[Big J]

Interesting thread. 

 

I can't say much about the gas, as we're not had mains gas for almost 15 years and now live in a country where it doesn't seem to exist.

 

I agree though that the way it's charged for is unnecessarily complicated.

 

We're principally electric heating. A ground source heat pump that does the central heating. An air/air source heat pump, which does the main living space. And a stove for the kitchen/dining and upstairs.

 

We're trying to be super economical with the electricity as the price has shot right back up again here. I think it's averaging about £0.40 per KWH this month, up from about £0.21 a month ago. 

 

So geothermal is set to 15c, stove is on continuously and the air source in the living room is set to 16c, but temperature is actually about 18.5c. Kitchen is warmer.

 

It's cooler than I'd like, but until I start working in January, we have to watch the pennies. We have a lot of wood that hasn't cost anything. We're using on average 23-26 KWH a day, so it's costing £9-10 a day to heat and power our house. 

 

But for context, the high temperature outside today was minus 5c and it was minus 11c at 09:00 this morning. 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, MattyF said:

My sister told me her gas and electric bill is around £500 a month, nearly the same as their mortgage! 
Our only heating cost is the genny going off an hour or two a day to charge the electric that the water pumps are using in the wood boiler.. usually free during the summer thanks to solar but it’s amazing how useless solar is during the winter ! 

Yes but for two days running the solar has produced over 5kWh which is exceptional for this time of year, generally output in December and January is dismal.

 

If I didn't burn logs I would be burning gas and the cost would be a few quid a day. I just hope I can keep chopping it.

[AHPP]

32 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Yes but for two days running the solar has produced over 5kWh which is exceptional for this time of year, generally output in December and January is dismal.

 

If I didn't burn logs I would be burning gas and the cost would be a few quid a day. I just hope I can keep chopping it.

My panels are flat to a wall, which I like to think gives me every advantage in low winter sun. Probably not much difference but it makes me feel good. They obviously don't collect snow either.

[Billhook]

As my father used to say “. ‘tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good “ and the Lockdowns were painful but at least they made me look for something to do so the Lockdown Splitter and a good heap of split Ash and Sycamore are drying nicely in the old grain store.  
The great thing about wood is that the work has been done and you can really enjoy the heat without having to keep monitoring dials and thermostats

[Mesterh]

14 hours ago, Billhook said:

 

 

it seems to me in conclusion that the suppliers of gas try to hide the running costs by making the calculation so difficult, just pay your bill and be thankful that you have any gas at all!

 

 

I thought the exact same thing when I tried to work ours out! I gave up but with a bit of help from your mathematical skills I may have another try

 

 

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, AHPP said:

My panels are flat to a wall, which I like to think gives me every advantage in low winter sun. Probably not much difference but it makes me feel good. They obviously don't collect snow either.

The main thing is that in direct sunlight no matter what the orientation they will produce much more than on a cloudy bright day. As panels are relatively cheap I intend to put a few more up in non ideal positions but am waiting to see if I can have them grid tied with permission from the DNO (as there will be a large excess in summer) or just battery charging and curtail production in summer.

[Billhook]

9 hours ago, Mesterh said:

I thought the exact same thing when I tried to work ours out! I gave up but with a bit of help from your mathematical skills I may have another try

 

 

It reminds me of my maths lessons at school where I would just go into a trance and my gaze would go from the blackboard to the window to watch the girls playing games in the field outside!

 

m3 × Calorific Value × 1.02264 ÷ 3.6 = kWh

The caloric value of natural gas is the parameter that changes. It's usually around 40.0; depending on the quality of natural gas it can deviate +/-5%. 1.02264 is a correction factor, and 3.6 is the conversion factor for kWh.

 

Pay attention at the back Billhook!!

[John Skinner]

15 hours ago, htb said:

Royal Oak Tree Services: Tree Surgeon Scotland

WWW.ROYALOAKTREESERVICES.COM

---

Royal Oak Tree Services Ltd are Award Winning Tree Surgeons and Arborists, based in the east of Scotland. Hire an expert tree surgeon for your commercial or residential property. Contact...

 

 

Dropped them an email last night and got a reply this morning. Sorted for when they are working my area 👍

 

Thanks again, that was a great shout.

 

.

[htb]

3 minutes ago, John Skinner said:

 

Dropped them an email last night and got a reply this morning. Sorted for when they are working my area 👍

 

Thanks again, that was a great shout.

 

.

Good good.