Insanely High electric bills due to rointe heaters - help with thermostat

Ernie84

Hey Folks,

I posted a thread earlier in year after I received a bill which equated to 800euro a month electricity ( standard bills in summer for me are around 75e) so as you can imagine a significant increase

As always, everyone on here was very helpful and advised I tested each item in house and monitored what was using the units.

After a few weeks of testing, i found nothing was using the units and thus the only culprit is the two Rointe electric heaters, that are only used in the months with said bills.

I'm running a 7 element one with thermostat at 18c for around 3 hours a day in a small room and a 9 element one in a very large room at 21c for 2 to 3 hours in evening., 

Rointe have claimed it cant cost this much (13e a day) and asked for square footage. Its obv the 9 panel heater is not big enough

Thing is though, this is a rental and it took my long enough to get new heaters in. The reality of reconfiguring the walls so a larger heater can fit is not realistic at present so I'm stuck this winter.

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Sorry for long intro, but my question is this:

If I'm setting it to 21c and it can never get to that, would that mean heater is full power constantly? Would that explain the cost?

And would it be therefore cheaper to set it at 17/18c for longer knowing it would maintain that easier?

Is there anyone who has had experience with adjusting it this way and seen significant savings? Cos tbh if it goes from 800 to 600 id rather just freeze to death at 200e

Thank you in advance

burtner

the nine panel heater is less than 1Kw so will use less than one unit per hour even if constantly on ! You say its only on 3 hours a day so around 1 euro ! it cant be the heaters or someone else is connected to your electricity, is it a flat or a house ?

Wearb

You need to get an experienced electrician in as soon as possible.

BTW I'm going to move this to the electoral forum.

Ernie84

Its flat but above a shop

Thing is, when the heaters aren't on (March to October) my bills are normal. when the heaters are on they are astronomical

So yeah I assumed at first something is wrong but cost always coincides with heaters on

kirk.

Based on that sounds like there's additional heaters or something on your metering

Assuming all the readings are actual readings and no errors etc

Could be something else too . Probably need more information. Meter readings and setup etc.

kirk.

Post up some closeups of the readings on the bills anyhow month to month before and after when the change happens

If it jumps from 300 to 900 seasonally on actual readings

My assumption anyway would be there's additional heaters in shop or elsewhere , might not be that of course

10-10-20

A 9 element Rointe stone core is 1500w and a 7 element is around 1100w.

https://rointe.ie/electric-radiators/natural-stone/aria-1000w-stone-core/

Given that 13 EURO of electricity is around 30 units/kWh, (at 0.43 EUR per kWh) you'd have to be running them both at full power for 11hrs a day to use up 30 units.

One one of the days when it's relatively cold outside, turn off the power at your consumer unit (fuse box), make a note of the reading at the meter and walk out for the day. Then on your return you'll either observe that the shop below is cold or that the breaker has been switched back on. 😀

kirk.

Agree with your suggestion and see if the meter moves , not necessarily the below as the heaters could be connected elsewhere upstream of the ops board

"Then on your return you'll either observe that the shop below is cold or that the breaker has been switched back on"

Seems the obvious scenario outside of billing discrepancies.Op hasn't provided much info , billing info or pics of metering or boards

Ernie84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121273580#Comment_121273580

Hey,

Sorry yeah busy day at work. I really appreciate the replies

ill get a doc done tonight with ideas of readings

One strange occurrence I will say is my bill for June/July was half my bill for Aug/Sept (Both were still low) - and neither periods i used heating, so it was a weird increase.

Ill post an update later with some numbers

kirk.

You'd be better off probably posting images of the bills it's easier to interpret what's going on

Remove any private info

Close up photos of the boards (fuseboxes) and metering

Ernie84

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Hey,

Went through bills and set up a excel doc showing units used across billing periods and thus the average daily usage - showing alongside when i used heating

Pics also of box downstairs which has shop, my flat and a second flat I negated to mention earlier. (the 3 meters) and a random fuse box n meter in my house which seems to be a prepay i think for fuse box. Either way I've never engaged with it and it sits at 0 credit.

I need to pop out for couple hours so no rush on any ideas.

One thing to note tho, Im a single male and a creature of habit so it doesn't even make sense why june/july is so low compared to bills either side.

Cheers

kirk.

Nearly a 1000 units a month with heating on if they're actual readings

There's a few breakers there probably for communal area ,.wonder who's paying for that or if there's heaters

kirk.

Short of getting a REC in to investigate the wiring

You can check your fuseboard there and see is there breakers that don't belong to your flat

To check if you're paying for units used elsewhere during winter turn off everything in the flat , immersion, heater wall switches etc and check the meter movement ,don't switch anything off at fusebox

There could be branches upstream for the shop , or you're paying for the communal circuits or there's circuits wired from your fusebox

If that's even the issue at all

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121275895#Comment_121275895

If this is 'just a flat', why are there so many circuits - is that what you're thinking Kirk?

Any chance of a close-up of just this area, OP?

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121276111#Comment_121276111

No the breakers in the main panel top right probably communal

There's a good few in apartment board above too

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121276206#Comment_121276206

On the CU though, that's jammers for a flat, no?

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121276218#Comment_121276218

Ya looks that way

He's best to switch off everything inside the apartment

Leave all breakers on at board and check usage that way

Ernie84

Ill give the turn everything off and monitor a go again. I work from home so ill try it after work tomorrow.

Ill say this tho, when i first brought this situ to boards.ie earlier in year i did kind of mount an investigation of my own and turned everything off, then did a day with just laptop(work) then next day shower and washing etc and nothing really showed up

Worst i had was a 4 unit day

However that may have been after winter bill so ill give it another shot.

I assume though you're saying this situation isn't normal?

I could ask landlord/agency (who owns entire building, to send out a sparky or maybe electric Ireland(albeit they said if they can find no fault they'd charge me 180e for the pleasure.

Wee side plot here, One of heaters was switched on for few weeks at wall, as socket was behind furniture, without heater itself on. I assume that not gonna make a big difference.

Ernie84

I did not however check the heaters, so ill do that for a couple hours tomorrow also.

Could there be some sort of fault with wiring on heaters themselves ?

wench

It's been 18 months since you first posted about this.

Have you had your landlord look at it at all yet?

Ernie84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121276585#Comment_121276585

hey, yeah, there is a second post though from May this year.

Landlord in US - agency runs shows. Ill chat to them too

I really wanted to get ahead info wise, so i know who I'm asking and what.

wench

Having people give you all the same advice they already did back in May won't get you any closer to a solution.

Only an electrician looking at the actual setup in your building can do that.

Get on to the agent now, before you spend another winter paying massive bills.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121277044#Comment_121277044

Op is better off checking for erroneous usage first and having some info upfront

Check for erroneous usage upstream by switching off all current using devices inside the apartment and check for meter usage

If theres meter usage showing with everything in apartment off he can repeat the test turning off the main switch in the apartment.

If meter usage stops with the 2nd test the usage is circuits connected to his apartment board

If meter usage is still present the erroneous usage is likely at main panel or elsewhere

That's if it's the issue at all , could be something else entirely related to billing or metering