Are there benefits to having an electric combi boiler instead of a gas?

sillyd67

Help I ended up with a huge gas bill apparently because of the cold winter causing my boiler to use more gas to heat my water?

I am looking into a new boiler and someone suggested an electric combi boiler, but apparently they are more expensive to run is this still the case now that gas cost so much:o

penrhyn

Electricity is four times the cost of gas.

molerat

Electricity costs more than gas to do the same job is the simple answer.

You will use fewer kWh of electricity than gas doing that job but a kWh of electricity costs almost 4 times that of gas so a gas boiler would need to be below 25% efficient to be more expensive. Even the most inefficient gas boilers come nowhere near that low figure, worst case probably 55%.

Nada666

This is a British forum. Much of our electricity is gas-fired rather than nuclear (although we were supposed to be cutting down). As such an increase in the cost of gas is not going to not affect both.

dogshome

As already posted, an Electric boiler will cost more to run than Gas

Whilst a more efficient New Gas Boiler will be less costly to run than an old one, the differential often isn't huge - A thorough look at the quality of insulation in the building and spending money to improve it wherever possible, costs less than a new boiler and gives a greater return

Pincher

Lower maintenance cost.

lstar337

Nada666 wrote: »

This is a British forum. Much of our electricity is gas-fired rather than nuclear (although we were supposed to be cutting down). As such an increase in the cost of gas is not going to not affect both.

I believe (simplified figures) it to be around:

• Gas 40%
• Coal 30%
• Nuclear 20%
• Renewables 7%
• Hydro 1.5%
• Oil 1%
• Other 0.5%

These were for 2011, there may be more up-to-date info somewhere on the net.

molerat

Pincher wrote: »

Lower maintenance cost.

Probably why only landlords will install them, don't care about the energy costs but need little or no maintenance or checks.

Pincher

Too right.

I am trying to get the gas safety certificate done, and the engineer never turns up when he says. The tenant doesn't want us turning up when he can come, because the baby is sleeping. Just a pain in the neck, EVERY year.

gc_bus

Also they tend to be quieter and also, of course, no chance of them emitting carbon monoxide. In addition they don't need to be sited on an outside wall so installation costs can sometimes be cheaper. Insulation is the key thing to bringing electric combi running costs closer to those of a gas fired boiler.

macman

No it's not, because if you could insulate a property to such a standard, you could still use a gas boiler in it and the remaining (lower) bills woud still be a third of the cost of an electric boiler.
Everything else being equal, the same no of kWh's would still be needed to heat and hot water the property to the same temp. The only saving is the capital cost of installation and the annual servicing cost. That does not begin to offset the greater unit fuel cost, and probably never will.