is it cheaper to use electric rathar than gas

deano72_2

what do you think,with gas getting exspensive,is it more cost effective to leave the immersion heater on instead of using the boiler (gas) to heat the water!

Cardew

deano72 wrote:

what do you think,with gas getting exspensive,is it more cost effective to leave the immersion heater on instead of using the boiler (gas) to heat the water!

No.

Gas costs around 2p a kWh and even allowing for boiler efficiency it is still cheaper than Economy 7 rates of Electricity(if you have it) and approx a third the price of normal electricity.

Nicholas

Not only that, but anyone on Econ 7 has to pay roughly a 1.7p premium per unit electricity on top of standard daytime rates.

However, it is not as simple as that; a gas central heating system (or water heater) does require routine maintenance, so even after the initial greater installation costs compared with Econ 7, the boiler has to be serviced once a year so you have to cost in another £40-£70.

Personally, I think you cannot beat the power and versatility of gas and it would be my first choice everytime.

matto

Consideration should be made for the inefficiencies of heating a cylinder of hot water using a gas fired boiler.

Heat is lost to the flue and in the pipework between the boiler and the hot water cylinder. In comparison heating by an immersion heater seems pretty efficient.

However, I suspect that for standard electric prices gas is cheaper.

I wouldn't be so sure that gas is cheaper than Economy 7 though even including the premium.

However, using Economy 7 for heating hot water has its own problems, like you'll want to keep a tank full of hot water hot all day which will probably mean you heat it higher than necessary so then you'll lose more heat from the cylinder itself.

I suspect in most cases Economy 7 users don't have gas.