Electricity cost of water circulation pump on back boiler

W123-80's

Hi all,
I'm looking for some help!
I'm going to try to explain my dilemma as simply as I can. Sorry for the long post, I am not really clued in on heating systems.
Built a new house and moved in December '17.
House has solid fuel stove and back boiler, solar panels, triple glaze windows, heaps of insulation etc. To be fair it's simple heat it.
We have used virtually no oil since moving in. The stove and back boiler heatd the house in no time. Over the last couple of months, I thought I discovered a genius trick of keeping the radiators warm. I started turning the thermostat on the water circulation pump down to about 10 degrees at night. This kept semi warm water circulating and I only put a fire on every 3 days or so. Burnt no oil at all.
We just got out electricity bill for the last 2 months. Over €800.
Our last bill was €175. I'm worried that it's the circulation pump. Could this pump possibly use that kind of electricity over a 2 month period?
Any thoughts welcome

agusta

Do you have 4 pipes or 2 pipes plumbed from stove..,Did you check if the immersion is turned on.Where is the semi warm water coming from
.
Ps A neighbour of mine built a new house 10 years plus ago.Told people his solar panels were magical.Roasting hot water every day.First couple of esb bills were between 400 and 500.Turns out the immersion was on constant,no led light on the switch.immersion switch was disconnected and never used since

W123-80's

agusta wrote: »

Do you have 4 pipes or 2 pipes plumbed from stove..,Did you check if the immersion is turned on.Where is the semi warm water coming from
.
Ps A neighbour of mine built a new house 10 years plus ago.Told people his solar panels were magical.Roasting hot water every day.First couple of esb bills were between 400 and 500.Turns out the immersion was on constant,no led light on the switch.immersion switch was disconnected and never used since

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure where the semi warm water is coming from to be honest, I assumed it was from the boiler and just stayed half warm.
The immersion has been on from time to time over the last 6 weeks, but nothing out of the ordinary. Definitely nothing to give us an €800 bill!!!

dathi

when you say you have solar panels do you mean evacuated tubes or the much maligned thermodynamic solar?

W123-80's

dathi wrote: »

when you say you have solar panels do you mean evacuated tubes or the much maligned thermodynamic solar?

No idea. How would I tell the difference?
Could they be contributing in some way to that huge bill I got?

John.G

W123-80's wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm looking for some help!
I'm going to try to explain my dilemma as simply as I can. Sorry for the long post, I am not really clued in on heating systems.
Built a new house and moved in December '17.
House has solid fuel stove and back boiler, solar panels, triple glaze windows, heaps of insulation etc. To be fair it's simple heat it.
We have used virtually no oil since moving in. The stove and back boiler heatd the house in no time. Over the last couple of months, I thought I discovered a genius trick of keeping the radiators warm. I started turning the thermostat on the water circulation pump down to about 10 degrees at night. This kept semi warm water circulating and I only put a fire on every 3 days or so. Burnt no oil at all.
We just got out electricity bill for the last 2 months. Over €800.
Our last bill was €175. I'm worried that it's the circulation pump. Could this pump possibly use that kind of electricity over a 2 month period?
Any thoughts welcome

Max consumption of a circulating pump even if running 24/7 @ 100 watts, 2.4 kWh say 50 cents/day or - €30 per 2 months-

W123-80's

John.G wrote: »

Max consumption of a circulating pump even if running 24/7 @ 100 watts, 2.4 kWh say 50 cents/day or - €30 per 2 months-

Right!!
Thanks for that. So it may not be the circulation pump. On a side note was that a good idea turning the thermostat down to keep the warm water pumping around the house even though I had no fire on?

dathi

W123-80's wrote: »

No idea. How would I tell the difference?
Could they be contributing in some way to that huge bill I got?

vacuum tubes (and flat plate) work only during the day during sunshine thermodynamic panels claim to work 24hrs a day . if you have the first no they wont add to your bill. if you have the second as your pump draws heat out of your cylinder at night the heatpump built into the system will not be able to keep up with demand and switch on its own built in immersion

John.G

W123-80's wrote: »

Right!!
Thanks for that. So it may not be the circulation pump. On a side note was that a good idea turning the thermostat down to keep the warm water pumping around the house even though I had no fire on?

If it's the back boiler thermostat you are turning down then h
you are wasting power/money because you are only circulating water at room temperature as you are only lighting the boiler every few days. I assume that you are not changing any settings in the solar controller.

agusta

John.G wrote: »

If it's the back boiler thermostat you are turning down then h
you are wasting power/money because you are only circulating water at room temperature as you are only lighting the boiler every few days. I assume that you are not changing any settings in the solar controller.

John,my take on this after looking at post 1 is that the circulating pump is pumping water far hotter than room temperature.No stove or oil turned on for 3 days,so where is the heat coming from..

Im wondering if there is thermodynamic panels fitted and going to heat exchange coil in cylinder.Also stove plumbed with 2 pipes,circulating through a heat exchange coil in the same cylinder.With stove circulating pump cooling down the cylinder and the thermodynamic panels unable to heat cylinder to 55 degrees which will bring on the integrated immersion. is this a possibility...

John.G

agusta wrote: »

John,my take on this after looking at post 1 is that the circulating pump is pumping water far hotter than room temperature.No stove or oil turned on for 3 days,so where is the heat coming from..

Im wondering if there is thermodynamic panels fitted and going to heat exchange coil in cylinder.Also stove plumbed with 2 pipes,circulating through a heat exchange coil in the same cylinder.With stove circulating pump cooling down the cylinder and the thermodynamic panels unable to heat cylinder to 55 degrees which will bring on the integrated immersion. is this a possibility...

It certainly is, if a TD Panel is fitted and running continuously then there could be a double hit....the TD panel consuming - 500 watts & the electric immersion cutting in/ out as well, don,t really know what is going on until the OP clarifies what type of solar he has, ie conventional or TD, would suggest he turns the thermostat back to its normal setting and monitor the electrical consumption

rightjob!

Have you definitely used no oil?
Its hardly the heat from the cylinder of hotwater that you are taking the heat from? As in the coil is getting the heat from there?

W123-80's

John.G wrote: »

It certainly is, if a TD Panel is fitted and running continuously then there could be a double hit....the TD panel consuming - 500 watts & the electric immersion cutting in/ out as well, don,t really know what is going on until the OP clarifies what type of solar he has, ie conventional or TD, would suggest he turns the thermostat back to its normal setting and monitor the electrical consumption

Hi,
Sorry for the late reply.
It's tube solar. But they aren't actually connected yet! We moved in in a rush December '17 and never got them connected up! Shocking I know but two very young kids, both working full time etc. Took the foot of the pedal with the house for the last year after getting in. We have a load of jobs getting done at the moment to finish the house (13 months after moving in!)
So oil and solid fuel are our heating options at the moment and we have been soley using the solid fuel. Anyway, that's besides the point. I'm still trying to figure how I have an €800 esb bill!
Thanks for all the comments by the way guys.

W123-80's

rightjob! wrote: »

Have you definitely used no oil?
Its hardly the heat from the cylinder of hotwater that you are taking the heat from? As in the coil is getting the heat from there?

I think we have used oil twice since October and that was just for a boost of heat. Other than that we are burning turf and timber full time

Gooser14

We're your previous electricity bills based on estimated or actual meter readings? If the previous bills were based on estimated readings the high bill might be a correction based on actual meter readings.

Also, have you been on a reduced unit price promotion which has now expired. This on its own wouldn't account for the vast increase but could be a contributing factor.