Underfloor heating running costs

R

record

Registered User
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I know there are a few posts on this, but just to update the discussion.....

For September / October, what has anyone's ESB bill been for underfloor heating?

Our house is 3,000 sq. ft., well insulated, etc. and running underfloor heating with a geothermal pump. Our ESB bill was €450, which sounds very high to me! The system is set to make best use of the night-tim ESB rates.

Just wondering what anyone else's experience is?
 

for the record, record....

whats your building construction... specifically

whats your build type (cavity wall, icf, timber frame etc)?
type and thickness insulation in floor?
type and thickness insulation in walls?
type and thickness insulation in walls?
Is there a mechanical Heat recovery system?
How many heating zones have you?
Did you get an air tightness test done?
 
Record,

214 euro, the previous one was 197 euro.
We moved in a year ago and the initial bill was about a thousand euro and it has come down steadily since thank God; it seems to be settling around the 200-220 mark. We had heard that it can take about a year for the bills to stabilise.
 

Build type: Mostly timber frame, although an older part of the house is block built.

Type and thickness of insulation in floor and walls: Don't know.

Is there a mechanical heat recovery system: No

How many heating zones? Six

Air tightness test done? No

I know all these things obviously make a difference and would knock a certain percentage off the heating bill, but I'm really just looking at a ball park figure for heating costs. I suspect my system itself is not working as it should.
 
I think your system is working alright, I think you probably have a large problem with your older block built part of the house. If it is pre 1990 or so then it will probably have no insulation at all and then your heat transfer rate will be through the roof. hence your floors will have lost all of their heat by the time the system comes on at night and then your geotherm will have to work like the clapeprs to get the temps back up!! So even if you are using night rate you are still using alot of it so the bills will be very high! Do you have a break down of the bill.....i.e. how many night units you are using and how many day units you are using? it would be interesting to find out!!

Your best move would be to get an external thermal image of your house done and you will then see what level of heat you are losing and where!!

Rgds
Inchy
 
Thanks for the reply.


The older part of the house certainly does not retain the heat as well as the newer (timber-frame) part. However, as far as I know, it was re-insulated fairly well when the newer part was built. If it turns out that it wasn't insulated, what would be the options open to me at this stage? (I think the walls are mass concrete - the roof is definitely insulated properly.)

inchbyinch said:
Do you have a break down of the bill.....i.e. how many night units you are using and how many day units you are using? it would be interesting to find out!!
Click to expand...

I have been keeping track of the ESB units used during the day and night for the last while. Roughly, at night the system uses 30 units (cost: €2.50), it uses about 34 units during the daytime (cost: €6).

What do you make of that?
 

Priscilla, do you mind me asking how you managed to bring the cost of the bills down so much?
 
record,

Have you not gone back to your geo/UFH supplier and ask these questions to them, i have geo/UFH installed and moving in 2 months, will be turned on in a week or two.if i was getting these bills i would be asking serious questions to the suppliers of the pump and UFH design, at that rate, oil would be cheaper to use
 
johnnyg said:
Have you not gone back to your geo/UFH supplier and ask these questions to them, if i was getting these bills i would be asking serious questions to the suppliers of the pump and UFH design.
Click to expand...

JohnnyG, thanks for the reply. Yes, I have been on to the guy who installed the system and he will be out to me in the next few days. Small glitch is that he did not install the system for me - it was installed by the previous owner of the house.
 
Hi Record,

We got on to our heating installers after we got our first big bill, they came around to check that the night rate was properly set up. The outdoor sensor hadn't been connected completely and they corrected this, they did say, and I've heard from several others that it can take a year for the bills to settle.
Hopefully ours will stay around our last two bills as the year is almost up. Our first bill of a thousand included all the tradesmen work that had been carried out before we moved in so I guess that was why it was so high but throughout the year we didn't really change anything except change the heating from spring to summer and now to autumn. I know we could improve things by putting on the appliances at night but I just keep forgetting to do that and end up with dirty dishes in the morning which drives me mad.

Anyway, hope you get your bills sorted, Priscilla.
 
I have bought a house from a builder who installed his own underfloor heating system. Boiler (not sure of make/spec but very modern looking) is in garage and has an oil burner connected to it. I want to get someone to look over the system and ensure that it is working ok. Any ideas as to where I can find someone who could do this?


Thanks
 
We moved into our new house in dec 08....the house is 2877 sq feet with an underfloor geothermal heating system. Our first bills seem to be coming in around 400 per mth but that includes all power to the house which I dont think is too bad. We have a very high ceiling in the hall and kitchen and the temperture seems to be grand. I do miss having a stove though but we cant afford to fit one at the moment. We also have a HRV system which seems to be working too. With regard to the controls..sometimes I feel a bit chilly from 6 to 9 in the evening but the heat is only set on the night rate and at the moment I have cut it to 4 hours a night. I suspect the next bill will be around the same...System cost us a fortune to put in so I am hoping that we will get back what we put in over the next 10 years. Time will tell though!
 

Hi, who did you go with for your underfloor heating and HRV??
 
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