aftermarket gas meter to verify usage?

Skatedude

I'm looking for a bit of advise on my gas heating. Our gas bills are always huge, way more then they have a right to be 600+ every bill.

We have the boiler running for 4.5 hours a day since just after Christmas and the last bill was 750?? and the meter reading is a match to the bill.

According to an bord gais we used 50000kwh last year ??? , thats for a 4 bedroom house and we had all the rads off for months during the summer months??

We have already had the gas company check for leaks, faults etc and can't find anything wrong. The only thing the engineer can think off is that the meter is over reading.

Is it possible to add an after market meter to the boiler to verify the amount of units been used?

K.Flyer

Yes you can fit a second gas meter between the Gas Networks meter and your appliances, but it must be fitted by a Registered Gas Installer.

Skatedude

K.Flyer wrote: »

Yes you can fit a second gas meter between the Gas Networks meter and your appliances, but it must be fitted by a Registered Gas Installer.

Grand, I've already contacted one to see about adding in a smart thermostat system, so will ask him to add in a meter as well

Tom44

Get opinion on the boiler you have too.
Some are way more efficent than others.
Installer should be able to give advice on the complete system.

Skatedude

Tom44 wrote: »

Get opinion on the boiler you have too.
Some are way more efficent than others.
Installer should be able to give advice on the complete system.

I've had independent as well as bord gais engineers looking at the boiler and they all say it's fine.
The boiler is a baxi 35/80 ie D rated so not the most efficient, but still a reasonable one and wouldn't be the cause of the very high usage, I do want to change it to an A rating eventually, but simply cant afford it for a while.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

K.Flyer

testicles wrote: »

I think if you change to Calor, they'll give you a new boiler for free.

Not really an option as Calor Gas is more expensive.
Also, from the Calor Gas website...

If you are currently using natural gas we would not recommend that you switch to a Calor LPG bulk tank supply

DGOBS

No need to install a secondary gas meter (very expensive way to check you meter)

Well worth having an RGI gas rate your boiler.

Confirm Working and Burner Pressure correctly set
Confirm Injector size correct
Calculate Gas Rate usage for boiler on full rate output
Compare result to manufacturers instructions

As all the boiler settings were verified, it can now be calculated from running to boiler for 2 minutes (or longer if required before the boiler modulates) how much gas the boiler will consume (according to the meter dial) in 1 hour.

If this result correlates to the correct figure for that boiler, you can infer that the meter dial is correctly measuring the gas.

If the result shows that the boiler is way over-firing (using too much gas) then there is a distinct possibility that the meter is out of tolerance, and you could request Gas Networks Ireland to check and/or replace the meter for you.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

antoinolachtnai

That is very good advice.

A few things to check.

Is it a modern digital meter? If it is, there is a high probability is accurate, but it's not guaranteed.

Are you sure the readings on your bill correspond to readings on your meter? It is not unheard of for meters to get mixed up.

Can you try reading the meter, running the gas for 10 minutes (to heat the water) and then read the meter and calculate how much gas has been used. If you can keep some records like this, it will be a big help when you discuss with the boiler guy or with GNI.

If money is short, I would concentrate on saving towards replacing the boiler. Stuff like putting in secondary meters will cost a lot of money and not provide much benefit.

phester28

dont forget some boilers modulate. I.E burn more gas at the start, then as the water heats they turn themselves down rather than short cycle.

but the start usage would be a worst case and if its an old one it may not modulate.

antoinolachtnai

Yes, try running it from a cold start and read the meter every 5 minutes for the first 15 minutes, then every 15 minutes thereafter. That will give you some sort of sense of how the boiler is using gas.

And needless to say, check readings to make sure that when the boiler is off, absolutely no gas is being consumed!

DGOBS

No, turn boiler on from cold, allow about 5 mins to heat up, then take 2 exact readings from the meter dial exactly 2 minutes apart, x30= the boiler gas rate.