How much do you spend on gas each day?

[Dickster]

We’re in a drafty Victorian detached house. When we moved in 11 years ago average monthly bills were £175. I sent in meter readings yesterday covering 3 weeks and it was £490.

I got up this morning and discovered we’ve got no water at all

 

[chic0821]

We had our annual boiler service on Monday. Guy asked "any problems", no its fine. Footered about, "thats it done" & left. I put on the heating & lo & behold, water pouring out.. Switched it off, phoned the company so he arrived back an hour later. Footered about again, "thats it" & left. I started tidying up, then noticed a drip. F##k sake, but he was in his van, so came back in. Changed an O ring then said "That nut is not tight enough" so got out his grips,. I was a bit concerned as it was a plastic nut, but he is the "expert", "thats it" then left. I had a good look but still a slight weep. Double F##k sake, rushed out, still in his van. Back in "think we need to replace that bit & looks like the nut is split. Surprise, surprise. Will take a couple of days to get it" Weep was not much so I said ok. That day the stat would not get past 18 deg (its set to 23degrees & no problem before he came), next day the same. Treble F##k sake. Anyway, phoned to say part was in. Another guy came up, had a good look. Original guy fitted the wrong washer & forgot to order the replacement nut. Words fail. This guy said he will come back when I relayed the tale of woe. Be next week now. Await part 2

 

[W1ghty]

On a sort of related subject , draughts . I found this out the other day , that adjustment of all upvc double glazed windows to stop draughts is possible with the little lock thingys , they move sideways to loosen or tighten the window/door and seals against the frame .
30+ years of DIY I ever new that (I have even fitted upvc windows )

 

[SpikyMikey]

On a sort of related subject , draughts . I found this out the other day , that adjustment of all upvc double glazed windows to stop draughts is possible with the little lock thingys , they move sideways to loosen or tighten the window/door and seals against the frame .
30+ years of DIY I ever new that (I have even fitted upvc windows )
View attachment 134914

It's an eccentric cam. Good aren't they?

 

[merc07]

We had our annual boiler service on Monday. Guy asked "any problems", no its fine. Footered about, "thats it done" & left. I put on the heating & lo & behold, water pouring out.. Switched it off, phoned the company so he arrived back an hour later. Footered about again, "thats it" & left. I started tidying up, then noticed a drip. F##k sake, but he was in his van, so came back in. Changed an O ring then said "That nut is not tight enough" so got out his grips,. I was a bit concerned as it was a plastic nut, but he is the "expert", "thats it" then left. I had a good look but still a slight weep. Double F##k sake, rushed out, still in his van. Back in "think we need to replace that bit & looks like the nut is split. Surprise, surprise. Will take a couple of days to get it" Weep was not much so I said ok. That day the stat would not get past 18 deg (its set to 23degrees & no problem before he came), next day the same. Treble F##k sake. Anyway, phoned to say part was in. Another guy came up, had a good look. Original guy fitted the wrong washer & forgot to order the replacement nut. Words fail. This guy said he will come back when I relayed the tale of woe. Be next week now. Await part 2

Apart from break it, what do they actually do on a service, never had my last one serviced in 20 years, and in this house it must be 6 years ?

 

[SpikyMikey]

Apart from break it, what do they actually do on a service, never had my last one serviced in 20 years, and in this house it must be 6 years ?

On ours a service is clean out the burner, clean out the MagnaClean, general check over for leaks and plug in the gas analyser to get a printout of burner efficiency ( a bit like the emissions test part of the MOT ).

 

[W1ghty]

It's an eccentric cam. Good aren't they?

They are now buddy . Just done the whole house , some of them were well stiff (25-30 years old) so lubed all moving parts with GT85 .
I’ve got a tub of new window seals for the oldest windows but that’s a warm summers day job .
Its one of those jobs that needs doing on older houses , fortunately I can do things like this , but the oldies or the not practicals you could never find someone to do these things .

 

[merc07]

On ours a service is clean out the burner, clean out the MagnaClean, general check over for leaks and plug in the gas analyser to get a printout of burner efficiency ( a bit like the emissions test part of the MOT ).

What's the cost, I have no idea - guess cleaning the magna is a simple enough DIY job ?

 

[W1ghty]

Apart from break it, what do they actually do on a service, never had my last one serviced in 20 years, and in this house it must be 6 years ?

Most of them they just plug a probe in to check and that’s it . It’s rare to see the good ones hoovering out a combustion chamber anymore .

 

[W1ghty]

What's the cost, I have no idea - guess cleaning the magna is a simple enough DIY job ?

10 mins job , just did mine this morning .
Turn the boiler off , turn the isolation valves off either side of the unit .
Vent pressure to the magnet trap .
Either open the lid and remove the magnet and filter around the magnet to clean and replace , OR
drain the unit after removing the magnet so that you can top up with inhibitor .
Put everything back together , with some silicone grease on the cap rubber o ring (or replace it occasionally) . Open the isolation valves either side and bleed the air out the top vent .
Check for leaks
Reset boiler pressure if it need it .
Plenty on YouTube as well

 

[ChrisHGTV]

On a sort of related subject , draughts . I found this out the other day , that adjustment of all upvc double glazed windows to stop draughts is possible with the little lock thingys , they move sideways to loosen or tighten the window/door and seals against the frame .
30+ years of DIY I ever new that (I have even fitted upvc windows )
View attachment 134914

Good spot! That's my evening entertainment sorted!

 

[W1ghty]

The other thing a ”learnt “ the other day , is trickle vents on the top of double glazed windows . A relatives flat had these and they were leaky as hell (I’m not opening a debate about their uses for ventilation or any knock on problems by blocking them )
A quick look at YouTube and you can use silver heavy duty aluminium tape to seal the hole (after removing the vent , there is a screw either end behind a cap) . Then refit the vent over the top again .
If you get a Fensa issue just remove the foil again .

 

[190]

I confess that I'm still running a 30 year old conventional cast iron wall boiler which apart from one replacement thermocouple has been 100% reliable. I do a general clean including the burner. Until the recent tariff increases, I was happy that the bullet proof reliability of a simple boiler outweighed the poor inefficiency but I'm not so sure now. I'm thinking I should be giving the system a good internal clean and flush, then fitting one of these magnetic cleaners which I presume will improve heat transfer. One thing I have done to improve overall efficiency is devised a means of pump overrun so that when the boiler shuts down the residual heat in that big lump of cast iron is recovered.

 

[W1ghty]

I confess that I'm still running a 30 year old conventional cast iron wall boiler which apart from one replacement thermocouple has been 100% reliable. I do a general clean including the burner. Until the recent tariff increases, I was happy that the bullet proof reliability of a simple boiler outweighed the poor inefficiency but I'm not so sure now. I'm thinking I should be giving the system a good internal clean and flush, then fitting one of these magnetic cleaners which I presume will improve heat transfer. One thing I have done to improve overall efficiency is devised a means of pump overrun so that when the boiler shuts down the residual heat in that big lump of cast iron is recovered.

Yep ,magnet trap makes debris removal and inhibitor adding so much easier

 

[chic0821]

Most of them they just plug a probe in to check and that’s it

Yes he did that & cleaned the magnetic filter. Whether he did it correctly or not, who knows

 

[DITTRICH]

Being cooped up in a mid floor apartment, I sorted out the drafts and leave the electric heaters off. There is no gas. The immersion and other consumers cost around £2.3k per year based on the latest projection. The other apartments are doing a good job of helping me keep warm. The internal temperatures improved after I sorted out the drafts (trickle vents, door & window gaps). Its the best I can do. I also attended to some communal area window leaks too on the QT. Even the floor corridor is warmer now the garbage room door shuts properly and the size of the garbage window grille was also reduced in size to cur down on the volume of -ve centigrade air entering our floor.

 

[Piff]

Are these stove-top fans effective? I considered one in the past but they seem to be a fearful price for all they appear to be

Have got one - had it from when the wood burner was fitted so not sure what the effect would be by removing it.
But, standing in front of it, it doesn't seem that effective.

 

[DITTRICH]

The other thing a ”learnt “ the other day , is trickle vents on the top of double glazed windows . A relatives flat had these and they were leaky as hell (I’m not opening a debate about their uses for ventilation or any knock on problems by blocking them )
A quick look at YouTube and you can use silver heavy duty aluminium tape to seal the hole (after removing the vent , there is a screw either end behind a cap) . Then refit the vent over the top again .
If you get a Fensa issue just remove the foil again .

My 23y/o trickle vents had plastic springs inside them. During lockdown I emailed the german manufacturer (who had bought the UK manufacturer) and jokingly asked for some free plastic springs based on a photographed broken 23y/o spring. I got 2 packages in the mail, one from their sales department, and one from their technical department. I now have enough for the next gazillion years. I felt obliged to leave a massively beneficial google review. All this by tracking down the logo and brand on the trickle vent. The wife would never allow me to tape up the vents.

 

[merc07]

Have got one - had it from when the wood burner was fitted so not sure what the effect would be by removing it.
But, standing in front of it, it doesn't seem that effective.

It obviously depends how close it is to the flue pipe and how hot the burner is running.
I sit mine about 8-10 inches from the pipe so it draws air from it and above 180C it's like a hair dryer on low setting - definitely helps to move the heat in a different direction if you need to.
I have quite a shallow fire place so the burner sits in the room more and heat doesn't just go straight up the chimney area - if yours is the opposite it may help there too..

 

[W1ghty]

My 23y/o trickle vents had plastic springs inside them. During lockdown I emailed the german manufacturer (who had bought the UK manufacturer) and jokingly asked for some free plastic springs based on a photographed broken 23y/o spring. I got 2 packages in the mail, one from their sales department, and one from their technical department. I now have enough for the next gazillion years. I felt obliged to leave a massively beneficial google review. All this by tracking down the logo and brand on the trickle vent. The wife would never allow me to tape up the vents.

It’s not the front flap of the trickle vent that leaks air in my case , it’s the trickle vent itself where it meets the window frame that leaks , the cheap plastic shape distorts and let’s cold air in . Now of course no more cold air coming through with the tape . So the double glazing is now doing its job