Vaillant ecoTec 831 R1 Gas Rate

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by Jay 2 0, Jan 8, 2020.

  1. Jay 2 0

    Jay 2 0 Member

    Hi All,

    I am desperate to get an issue sorted with my Gas Use. My Gas bills alone are nearly £300/month. According to my bill I am submitting meter reads in excess of 200m3 (metric) each month. I can see this as I am the one submitting the reads. Question is where is all that Gas going??
    I want to conduct some tests and I want to Gas Rate my boiler. I live in a standard three bedroom house, nothing fancy. The only extra is a 40sqm rear extension which has underfloor heating, but that's not new. It's four of us in the home and we don't abuse the use of heating. But £300 Gas Bill is madness surely. So can someone tell me what settings should the boiler be set to so that I can conduct a reasonably thorough Gas Rate, and what figures I should expect. As I said these Bills are crippling me and I need to get an answer. It could be my Gas meter up the ****, but of the supplier tests it and it passes then it's not cheap to pay the cost of the test. The only other Gas appliance in the house is the hob. I am at my wits end.. please help.
     
  2. kiaora

    kiaora Guest

    Hi
    It’s quite simple to rate the boiler, on a cold system turn the heating on full, room stat to 30, and simple take the readings , either how long to use cubic ft or how much in 2 mins if metric meter,
    It’s safe to do ,
    google it,

    when you get results compare with boiler manual gas usage

    good luck
    Peter
     
  3. Jay 2 0

    Jay 2 0 Member

    Thanks Peter. I had a look online and it's all seems straightforward. However do the Boiler controls need to be set a certain way? Does it need to be done with DHW or CH? Cheers

    Jay
     
  4. The Teach

    The Teach Screwfix Select

    Sometimes it depends on which boiler you have. Have a read of 'checking gas rate' in the installation servicing manual.
     
  5. Jimbo

    Jimbo Screwfix Select

    If it’s a combi just open the hot tap on the bath fully.

    re costs. Average cost of gas is 4p/kWhr hence £300 would be about 7,500 kWhr which in 30 days averages out at about 10kW on a steady state basis.

    If you have uninsulated cavity walls, tending to that is by far the most cost effective change you can make. If loft insulation is less than 4” increasing that can pay for itself quickly too. After that we come to windows and doors, new double glazing will lose heat at a quarter of the rate that single glazing will. But the wall area is much larger generally, hence the cavity insulation being the place to start.

    Also, turn the boiler flow temperature down so that the heating return pipe to the boiler doesn’t go higher than about 50*C. This will keep the boiler condensing (the 831 is very efficient).
     
    The Teach likes this.
  6. The Teach

    The Teach Screwfix Select

    Jay 2 0,if you have a combination gas boiler and along with the sparse information supplied. your system may be incorrectly installed to achieve cost savings.

    Maybe get a smart meter fitted to monitor the gas burn or invite greta (no school) what name to move in-she is the expert :)
     
  7. Jay 2 0

    Jay 2 0 Member

    Hello All,
    Thanks for all your responses. This morning I woke up and felt I had to look at stuff a little more closely, and before I went tinkering with my Boiler I decided to dismantle my Gas Bill. There I found the problem, the fools were actually billing me at Imperial Rate, which carries a factor of x2.83 rather then the Metric rate. Hence my Bills were coming in at nearly 3x what they were supposed to. I absolutely gunned the supplier and have now submitted a complaint. They did apologise for the error, but these fools have my Gas Meter Serial Number - WTF!! I do feel relieved now.. having calculated my Units consumption per month for the last year I am now content with the figures. I have asked Utility Point (my supplier) to credit my account with 200 squid as compensation telling 'em that I had to force the wife/kids to have cold showers etc.. lol See how they respond.. ****** Amateurs!!
     

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