High heating bills for steam heat building using natural gas
Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 1 vote
Hello everyone!
I have been living in an older home (100+ years) for about 2 years. The house is on radiator heat. We bought a new steam boiler during the winter of 2021. I've been told that boilers are an efficient heating source, but we've generally seen extremely high heating bills i.e. $300+/month during the winter season. The gas company has come out and said that the meter is fine, but I feel like there's something that's causing the higher bills. I was wondering 1/ if anyone has dealt with a similar problem and could tell me how they went about fixing 2/ I'm assuming a natural gas plumber would be the best person to call to get an assessment, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts around the best professional to use in this situation. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
Hello everyone!
I have been living in an older home (100+ years) for about 2 years. The house is on radiator heat. We bought a new steam boiler during the winter of 2021. I've been told that boilers are an efficient heating source, but we've generally seen extremely high heating bills i.e. $300+/month during the winter season. The gas company has come out and said that the meter is fine, but I feel like there's something that's causing the higher bills. I was wondering 1/ if anyone has dealt with a similar problem and could tell me how they went about fixing 2/ I'm assuming a natural gas plumber would be the best person to call to get an assessment, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts around the best professional to use in this situation. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
Good Luck,
KC
@Carey Ransone, everything @KC Pake said about the efficiency of your home was VERY good but I will add a couple more things.
A "boiler" CAN BE very efficient, BUT boilers can be used to generate hot water or steam. Steam boilers are limited in their efficiency to about 85% I think with most around 78-82%. Hot water boilers can 95+% efficiency for a super high efficiency condensing boiler.
So, you should expect "average" heating bills with steam heat because the efficiency of steam boilers don't fall into the high efficiency range.
In addition to focusing on making your home more energy efficient you might look at your natural gas supplier. Some states such as mine (Pennsylvania) allow you to shop around and choose who provides the actual natural gas. Shopping around might save you 10-20% off your bill. Not all states have this though.
Hi Carey,
I live in Maine, so the cost of heating is always at the forefront of my mind. In your situation what I would recommend is to firstly, get an experienced heating technician to come out service the boiler. Let them know you are having higher than expected heating costs. The boiler may be malfunctioning so they can help with this. Getting the boiler serviced each year is always good to do.
Secondly, you could have an energy audit done on your home. In Maine there are companies that specialize in this area. You may have parts of your home that aren't well insulated or are drafty, and that would certainly cause your heating bill to rise. Once the audit is done they will give you suggestions on how to make the home more efficient.
Lastly, there are some grants available to help reduce energy costs. In Maine we have several different options, so I'd recommend looking into what you have in your area and taking advantage of them.
We manage many 100+ year old buildings. The odds of you having any insulation value above R2 are very slim. Most of those buildings the studs have brick in between or nothing. That's your insulation. Then we can talk about windows as well if they're old. Your boiler will be working hard to keep the place warm, just is what it is.