gas or electricity??????

wanderer

the new house we moved into has ecomomy 7. we havent used it as the timer is faulty. At present we use gas to heat up the boiler. we use in only for an hour. will we make any savings if we change to economy 7. replacing the timer may be expensive. kindly advice

paul_h

If you are using a mains gas CH boiler to heat up the water, it is unlikely that you will make any saving using economy7. There are many variables, such as your gas and electricity tariffs, but generally mains gas is still cheaper in practise.

Don't forget that economy7 rates only apply during the night, any water heated during the day will be much cheaper by mains gas. Many people find that a standard sized cylinder does not store enough hot water overnight to last a family all day, larger 'economy7' cylinders are available because of this.

Incidentally, if your economy7 timer is a standard Horstmann or Newlec type, they are relatively easy to change as the unit plugs into a standard base - it's usually a matter of undoing a couple of screws to replace them. Anyone with the confidence to isolate the circuit correctly should be capable of changing it.

wanderer

thanks paul