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UK Bills - how to save on your Gas bill

Some of you may already know this. Well done!

If you're turning the radiator medium or high for 2 - 3 hours, turn it back off then turn it on when it gets cold each day, you are doing it all wrong. First no sufficient amount of heat. Second, that gas bill is going to be up to £300 more than what it should be! 4 months down the line.

So this is what you do. If room temperature is 12d set radiator dial to 15. If room temperature happens to be 15 set it to 17.5d max. Now, leave the temperature as it is! Do not allow it to fall below room temperature (then again the automatic switch on will do that trick). Leave the radiator on between 15 to 17.5d FROM MORNING ALL THE WAY BEFORE BEDTIME!

Think of it like this. When u drive a car and must stop in traffic, that car engine is left running. If you were to switch off engine then restart engine the petrol is going to be used up quicker. Boilers have the same principles. Setting it off on off on is no good! The more on / off made each day, the more energy being used up. Instead auto setting the dial is better so if radiators are gone down and falls below desired room temperature, it'll pop back on using least amount of energy possible. And of course before bed radiator should be set on 13d max so boiler does not shoot up in middle of the night.
Khenpal1 · M
Do more like Japanese, they almost don't use central heating
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Sazzio I think a lot of new homes are built in different ways, not just a brick cavity wall, but the big difference is what's in the roof.

Mine, a late-Victorian or Edwardian terrace, has foam board screwed to the rafters but there is very little insulation on the ceiling. In fact none, where the ceilings are visible (the loft is partially boarded) - you can see the plaster and laths!

The Vaillant boiler has its own settings but they are not easy to find and I had to obtain a copy of the operating manual the home's previous owners had not bothered to leave. The Danfoss room thermostat is quite separate and has just a simple rotary dial with a digital display.

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Ooh - SimilarWorlds in on the ball. This conversation has raised an ad for Gas Safe has appeared at the side of the screen, with a "Check the Register" arrow.

[For non-UK readers, Gas Safe is not a company but a legal register that certifies gas fitters in the UK. Use a non-registered installer and at the very least your home insurance is likely to be null and void. It is not cheap either. Gas Safe fitters have to renew their technical knowledge and registration regularly, costing a few hundred ££ in direct GS fees and for the self-employed fitters, lost earnings. They can recoup that only by spreading it around their invoices. It forms a tiny part of the bill for the big firms like British Gas but is significant for the self-employed tradespeople. It all adds to the business-overheads aspect clearly just not understood by those who complain about the cost of apparently very short and simple tasks. ]
Sazzio · 31-35, M
@Khenpal1 Ha! Yes UK demands and expects to use a lot then complain how it affects the environment... They do not stop using and expect Govt to do something about it.

Japanese Govt? I can imagine them doing a better job controling the people. "No means no cause we decided it!"
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Sazzio Whatever we do comes with environmental problems and costs of its own, as well as the financial ones.

What those expecting "the Government do something about it" fail to realise that the Government would need two things from the electorate.

One is consent - often difficult to obtain in a country that prefers its Government to serve it, not the other way round.

The other is the money!

 
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