Faulty boiler, high consumption of gas

[Danielle Mansfield]

Hi everyone,

 

this is my first time on this forum so I hope I'm doing this right...

 

I have some concerns over a recent energy bill that I've received and would greatly appreciate some advice, I have looked through some other threads that are similar but don't seem to find anything relating to my problem.

 

Anyway, here it is...

 

Since about September/October last year I have been having some major issues with my boiler. The pressure was either on zero everyday or over 3.1 which was too high, it had a leak that was going outside and it also wasn't heating the radiators at the front of the house enough and they were barely luke warm when the heating was on. The problem seemed worse as the colder months approached. My landlord has been very accommodating and arranged for a plumber to come out on a number of occasions since October 2012 but it's taken until now to resolve.

 

My problem now is that I've just received an energy bill (dual fuel) of £600 from Nov 2012 to March 1st based on an accurate meter reading. This is on top of £136 I pay direct debit each month. Now, I know energy has gone up in price but I was honestly shocked to see this bill so high. Out of the £600, £530 of it was on gas alone, for just over 4 months (like I said, on top of my monthly payments.)

 

So here are my questions, does that bill sound high to anyone and could the issues with the boiler cause me to have a bill like that?

 

Here is a rough breakdown of some info that may be helpful ...

 

I live in a 4 bedroom mid terrace house, double glazed throughout, loft insulation and carpeted in the majority of the house.

I have roughly had my heating on for about 5 hours a day (maybe a bit more during winter as I have a two year old) my gas oven is used of an evening to cook tea and we have two showers in the morning and some hot water throughout for dishes etc. My husband is out all day and I too work part time so not in the house 24/7. Over Christmas we were away for two weeks and also away for a week in Feb so I turned the heating down and know the gas wasn't being used nearly as much.

 

I've had a gas check in Nov and everything was apparently ok but I was still having problems with the boiler beforehand and afterwards. I know nothing about gas meters and if I want it checked I'll have to pay £90 if it's not found to be faulty which I can't afford. Could my landlord be liable for this cost does anyone know?

 

When I checked my bill from April/May to July/ August, even that was £435 (on top of my monthly payments) and I didn't really have the heating on but from what I recall, there were some niggling problems with the boiler even then and have records of me calling my landlord on my phone bill so I know I've been having continuous dealings with him over this issue.

 

I really don't want to have to fork out £530 but I have a felling that the plumber will say the boiler has nothing to do with the high gas consumption. Whan I contacted Npower about this and explained, he even thought that my consumption was quite based on what I said, which did surprise me.

 

I'm stuck as to what to do really. Any advice please?

 

I'm sorry this is so long but thank you in advance

 

Danielle

[Danielle Mansfield]

can I also just add that the boiler I have is a Baxi 105E, from what I'm reading so far, they're not very reliable anyway.

[pipestrangler]

Hi, firstly let me say in my experiance that the Baxi 105 is quite a reliable boiler. There are a number of issues here. The boiler pressure should be maintained at 1 bar when the boiler is cold and depending on the size of the system (how many radiators) will as the temperature increases increase normally to no more than 2.5 bar. If as you say this pressure is going above 3 bar then the pressuire relief valve should open and release the excess pressure so that will drop to zero so now the boiler needs topping up again.So it may be you have a faulty expansion vessel and also as you say it is 'always 'dripping/running outside then the pressure relief valve also needs replacing. If this problem has been going on for any length of time then its quite possible that the boiler and system hav become silted up for want of a better description and it takes a lot of energy, gas in your case to heat silt. This may also be the reason behind the problematic radiators not getting very warm or they may just need balancing. On top of all these posibilities the weather has been very cold so the boiler has to work harder anyway to heat not only the house but also the hot water. Obviously without actually being on site it is impossible to actually see what is going on but a good heating engineer should be able to identify any or all of these problems.

[Danielle Mansfield]

Thanks for getting back to me. The plumber has said for months (since well before christmas) now that it could be a blockage but hasn't done anything about it. Instead he whacked our heating up and said that would warm the house. He balanced the radiators and that wasn't the problem either and still, the radiators didn't fully heat up across the whole house.

 

I'm just annoyed now that I'm stuck with that bill despite me complaining about the boiler problem since last year. I find it all too convenient that since these problems with the boiler my bills have gone up a ridiculous amount. I think I need to seek some kind of legal advice because I don't think I'm fully responsible for that gas consumption, I think my landlord or plumber should be held accountable if they haven't dealt with the problems initially. I've worked out that since April last year, I've clocked up a duel fuel bill of around £1800+ most of it being gas charges which I think is a lot for two people and a toddler to use (considering that includes over summer)

 

Thanks again anyway for your help