Is it cheaper to produce hot water from the kettle (electric) or via tap (gas)

BexTech

mikeyw wrote: »

This confuses me - why is it then we all seem to suffer with higher gas bills than electric ?

All we have on Gas is our boiler and yet our Gas bills are higher in price on a 2 to 1 basis.

All?

We pay £12 per month for gas (and get into credit), we however pay £30 per month for electricity.

PrinceGaz

If you want to heat water on an as-needed basis, and have both gas and electricity to choose from, gas will normally be cheaper for large volumes of water because of its lower cost per kW/h.

In an electric kettle, almost all of the electricity goes to heat up the water as the heating-element is in the water and that's where near enough all the heat ends up. A microwave is less efficient as the magnetron tube that generates the microwaves is typically only around 65% efficient, meaning 35% of the electricity consumed is converted to heat which is blown out of the microwave oven by its fan, with only 65% or so heating the water. So heating water in a microwave is a bad idea if you have a standard electric kettle you could use instead.

Gas will be cheapest (even compared with Economy 7 electric rates) if you heat a large amount of water in one go (I'm thinking a large pan over a gas-ring), but if you only want a small amount of water heated, an electric kettle will work out cheaper as almost all the energy consumed directly heats the water.

It's worth pointing out that there is no substitute for a water-boiler when it comes to taking baths-- you cannot fill a bath with water from a kettle or other improvised source and for it still to be warm enough once filled.

Cozworth806

A kettle full of water for me costs 1.38p (3.7mins in a 3kw kettle) and that is about 1.8l.
My gas boiler is about 24kw so although the gas is about x2.5 cheaper the boiler will take 20 seconds to use the same cost of fuel. Now it comes down to how long you have to run your boiler for to get decent hot water (mine is quite a while) but as mentioned it also depends to how much water you want.

A small amount of very hot water maybe worth doing in a kettle or microwave (although to get a boiling cupful in my microwave can take 3mins+) but for larger amounts then it is worth using the boiler/gas. (This is based on a combi boiler so there are issues regarding if the CH is on etc)

HarryH_3

mikeyw wrote: »

Guys,

In these days of astronomical gas prices I was considering turning the gas central heating & hot water off for the summer.

My wife argues she needs hot water all the time but I suggested taking hot water from the kettle. Assuming the water in the kettle is hot or warm enough most of the day and bringing it back up to temp will not need much energy would it be cheaper to do it this way than allowing the boiler to fire up and produce hot water every time it was needed ?

Over to the energy brains out there...

I'll be setting up camp fires in each room in the house during the winter at this rate !! :rotfl:

Mike

You'll save a fortune. If you have a boiler that is losing 100 W constantly, that is 432 kWh for half the year you will save. A badly lagged boiler will be much much greater than this.

I haven't had on demand hot tap water for 3 years. it really doesn't change your life.

Magentasue

Cozworth806 wrote: »

A kettle full of water for me costs 1.38p (3.7mins in a 3kw kettle) and that is about 1.8l.

In the Daily Mirror this week, it said that a washing up bowl of water (from gas boiler) about half a penny for 2litres. My small 6l bowl would therefore cost a penny and a half or between four and five pence if a kettle was used.

These are other people's figures but even if it cost the same, I'd use the boiler for convenience. I can't see that this is a major factor in the gas bill? Surely it's the heating, cooking and baths where you can make the real savings.

greenbee

Do you not need hot water to wash? I'm not just thinking of showers, but hygiene e.g. washing hands before preparing food, after going to the toilet?

You can make significant savings without going to extremes. I'm in credit on £10/month for gas, £20/month for electricity, and am still reducing my usage.

Heating the water using the boiler for an hour twice a day plus a bit of cooking on the hob (I use a gas kettle) used about 9kwH per day

Running the DW and WM a couple of times a week, plus laptop/router/docking station/monitor/printer for work 2 days a week, radio, fridge, freezer, a few lights and the oven a couple of times came out at an average of 3.15kwH per day.

Based on these figures, I'm expecting my bills to go down, as I've only really started making an effort in the last month, and I've identified other savings (such as showering at the gym in the morning - at least I'll get good value from my gym membership ). However, I don't think it's necessary to risk your health or make yourself too uncomfortable.