Extractor fan and gas bill

[ScienceBoy]

We have a utility cupboard, just deep enough for drier and washer side by side. It has a double door front. We also have a shelf in there with some cleaning products on.

It has an extractor fan but I never know if it should be always running on its lowest setting?

When we run the drier with the door closed we always turn it on boost so it doesn’t get too hot in there. We do try to dry with the door open instead with the fan on normal.

Are we doing it right? Bit worried as the gas bill was £80 a month over winter for our tiny two bed linked home! Shocked a little as our home should we well insulated. I think we must be doing something wrong!

Any thoughts that might help us get our bills down?

The temp settings are too high IMO but I’m working on reducing that with the wife so looking for more practical solutions to help.

Is the extractor use the issue here?

I guess my first port of call is draught excluders on the door that leads to the room with the thermostat?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I would assume the extractor runs off electricity so why would that impact on your gas bill? If you think consumption is high then the issue is elsewhere.

When we had snow recently did it stay on your roof or did it melt? If it stayed then your loft insulation is okay. If it melted then get that sorted. If your roof and walls are insulated then that is good news as everything else is in your control.

In general terms, does your wife ever wear a jumper in the house or is she a t-shirt lady? Sounds daft but sometimes mine complains about the cold whilst wearing a summer top. I hate being cold but I recognise that winter = jumper and that means the heating is not set to "melt" level. Close doors when in a room to trap heat, something my kids fail to pick up on, as that helps.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Not sure about the snow, didn’t check.

House is only just over a year old so you would hope it’s well insulated.

I’m going to go over the heating profiles for the thermostats, check all the doors and see what’s going on.

I’m guessing I can make an impact but should I be running the extractor all the time for the room or just when washing/drying? I can move some of the cleaning chemicals to under the sink and swap with stuff under there. Never quite sure if I’m worrying too much about that...

Hope to sort this out and have a cheaper bill by a lot next month.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I would assume the dryer is a condenser dryer, and unless its on an outside wall and vented out, it should be. I would be inclined to turn off the extractor fan and just put some venting and grill it at the bottom of each door. The heat escapes, and also helps heat the property in the process.
What sort of hot water system do you have?
I swapped a couple of years back from an old school indirect system to a new large combi, and my gas bill was £60 for the last quarter. The only thing thats gas in my house now is the combi boiler.

 

[DCB]

What is your room thermostat set at ? Do you have thermostatic radiator vales ? What are they set at. Is your shower off the DHW system or is it an electric shower unit ? These could all be factors.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

If the dryer or washing machine are not running then there is no need to have the extractor fan on. Bunkermagnet makes a good point about vents in the doors. Obviously you don't want either appliance to over heat and cause a fire.

As the house is a newbuild it should be really well insulated so presumably the issue is a human one. Time to think about how you are in the house

 

[Rooter]

i would be looking at using the residual heat from the machines. vent the doors to allow the heat into the house and install a humidistat extractor that will only switch on when the air is a certain humidity. win win.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Im convinced it’s our usage and draughts thats the issue. Summer is no problem as the bills are low, it’s just this winter is 40% more than any other bill I’ve had...

 

[DCB]

What has your weather been like this winter ? Locally, we've had it colder than last year which will affect fuel useage.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

To revisit my point about the dryer, it should be a condenser dryer or a vented dryer thats exhausted out through the wall otherwise you will get damp damage. Assuming its a condenser dryer type, putting some vents into the bottom of the cupboard door will allow quite a bit of the exhausted heat to help your hetaing bill, plus allow the dryer to be more efficient.(for want of a better way..think nox and cars )

I would expect a dramatic rise in fuel costs through the winter, thats normal compared to the summer.

 

[Jacko_G]

£80 is buttons for gas usage.

My wife is a cold thing and our winter bills are sky high.

Don't need to see melting snow or not on your roof, pop your head up into the loft space. If your loft is hot it's an issue if it's cold your insulation is good.

 

[jim8flog]

£80 a month for gas must come down to the human element or not shopping around for the best deal.

I have 5/6 bed open plan and my gas bill (heating only) is £70 a month.

I am at home most days and the heating is run from 6.30 am to 11.30 pm but I only run the thermostat at 20.5C day and 21C evenings. (Combi boiler)

 

[ScienceBoy]

23-24C was the issue and my wife was ramping it up when it went down during the day and leaving it on. Was set to burst to that for her but it seems to have wandered...

Been round and rationalised all the heating. Bedroom was set too high overnight too. It’s not until you get a silly bill that you wake up to all your bad habits.

Yes the extractor was also on all the time, at some point we stopped turning it on and off so that’s another issue.

Kitchen and a couple of other radiators was also on max...

So now the highest our house goes is 21 for a few hours in the evening and morning, 15 when downstairs isn’t used. Upstairs goes to 18 overnight and to 15 during the day. Instead of being 22 all day downstairs during weekend it’s now 20...

Wife has agreed as long as she can ramp it up if chilled and turn down when done or leaves the house.

Wondering if I still need draught excluders but will see what febs bill looks like first!

Looking at it all, no wonder the bill was so ugly!

Will report back in a month!

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Invest in hive. Then lock her out of the controls..

You can set it to turn off when your wife’s phone leaves the area

 

[ScienceBoy]

Invest in hive. Then lock her out of the controls..

You can set it to turn off when your wife’s phone leaves the area

Not her fault, it’s our behaviour as a whole.

Made sweeping changes and to be honest I hardly noticed the difference over the evening and this morning.

Let’s see how it impacts the usage.

I will look into it for next winter or the year after but pointless now as we can potentially get huge gains without it.

 

[jim8flog]

If nobody is in the house during specific periods of the day switch to a programmable thermostat. With mine you can have 6 different time settings during the day and different settings at the weekend.

I never let the house drop below 15 degrees at any time of day or night and in that way the 'fabric' of the house does not need major reheating.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

My heating goes off at night, why do you want to heat a house when your wrapped up in bed? As it is I have a bedroom window open all night all year round.
During the day when no one is at home, don’t see any point in heating more than 12 degrees. The house soon warms up once the heating comes on, which is about 20 minutes before we normally get home.

 

[DCB]

Running your heating with a setpoint of 20°C is a good start. raise that to 21°C and it could cost you approx £90 extra per year. If you've been running it at 23-24°C then you can easily see where your extra costs are coming from.

As Bunkermagnet has said, why heat the house at night ? A modern well insulated house should never drop too drastically. Set the "on" time half hour before you get up and you should be fine. No need to heat the house overnight. Same with during the day, turn the heating off and time it on an hour before you get home during the winter and you'll be fine. Remember to trim back your running hours as the year progresses.

 

[Beezerk]

Running your heating with a setpoint of 20°C is a good start. raise that to 21°C and it could cost you approx £90 extra per year. If you've been running it at 23-24°C then you can easily see where your extra costs are coming from.

As Bunkermagnet has said, why heat the house at night ? A modern well insulated house should never drop too drastically. Set the "on" time half hour before you get up and you should be fine. No need to heat the house overnight. Same with during the day, turn the heating off and time it on an hour before you get home during the winter and you'll be fine. Remember to trim back your running hours as the year progresses.

Same as our set up, stat is set to 20 and we very rarely have to turn it up, even on the coldest nights. Heating goes off when we go to bed and starts 30 mins before the alarm goes off. I also installed Hive so I can turn off the heating whenever I want, say if I'm working away and the missus isn't home until 7, why have the heat roaring from 4.30?

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Not her fault, it’s our behaviour as a whole.

Made sweeping changes and to be honest I hardly noticed the difference over the evening and this morning.

Let’s see how it impacts the usage.

I will look into it for next winter or the year after but pointless now as we can potentially get huge gains without it.

Hive was the best thing I had installed when I moved into my house.. £200 its prob paid for itself

I set schedules for diff temps at diff times

during the winter we have the heating on from 05:30 - 08:00 at 19 degree, and again between 17:30-20:00 that gets the babies room a nice temp for when she wakes and when she goes to bed overnight we set it at 18 so it doesnt click on as much but if we have a cold night it comes on.. during the day 17 degrees so it only comes on if the temp drastically drops

Yesterday the cost of gas (including cooking) for my house was about £1.20.. today £2 because its been much colder today

can boost the heating from my phone if we need to

one of the best devices I purchased for sure