why switch from gas to electric water heater?

lilac_dawn

Are there any benefits at all?? We had a gas water heater in out apartment - it was fine, hot water on demand, no problems. The landlord decided, without consulting us, to remove this and replace it with a large electric immersion heater. We are not on a day/night time tariff for electricity, there is no timer on the heater and also no way to switch it off as the socket for it has been placed behind a kitchen cupboard. I checked the supposed consumption from the manufacturer's website which says it uses in the region of 1.5 kw/h over 24 hours. With a normal electric tariff, the costs are 4 times as much as the gas heater.
Can anyone help explain this? Have I got it wrong? I thought the idea of these was to benefit places using high/low tariff, so cannot understand why this has been done. When I asked him, all I got was 'this is not my area of expertise.'

Andy_WSM

For the landlord it means no gas safety inspections, annual servicing costs etc. It will save him in the region of £200+ a year and the time involved in arranging inspections and servicing.

I'm not sure he'd need to "consult" you to do this work, but should have "informed" you it was being done - it's his property after all.

The costs won't be 4 times as much and if you are having the gas taken out and no longer paying a daily standing charge could even work out cheaper.

espresso

Your original gas water heater would be much cheaper to use but it would cost the landlord for annual gas safety check and any servicing required.

Landlords install electric heaters for their benefit NOT the tenants. Your large immersion heater will have at least one 3kW element and may have two i.e. it will cost a minimum of 3 units per hour to use.

You should insist that a timeswitch is fitted.

The 1.5kW over 24 hour manufacturers figure that you have found, is the amount of heat lost over 24 hours i.e. it is a measurement of how well insulated the tank is and how much energy is required to replace the lost heat, NOT the running cost.

lilac_dawn

No - still have gas central heating in the whole building.
I should say, not in the UK so (unfortunately) we pay for servicing of gas water heater, so inspections etc do not apply here.
Do you know how I work best work out how much this will cost?
Thanks

lilac_dawn

It's not lagged at all as it has been placed in the bathroom. The pipes are lagged though. The size of the bathroom is now 60 cm in width, but that's another problem!!
I know he didn't need to consult us, but this looks like it will drastically increase how bill, and after being tenants here for 10 years, I would have thought he would have had a little more consideration.
We have turned it off for the moment via the fuse box as there is no on/off switch on it. The socket has been placed behind a kitchen cupboard so we can't pull it out and we can't place a manual timer on it. Will it still be using up much electricity this way??

Andy_WSM

lilac_dawn wrote: »

Do you know how I work best work out how much this will cost?
Thanks

Easiest way is to look at your gas bill and see how many kW of gas you used for hot water. Multiply by the gas cost. Multiply the same amount of kW by your electricity cost and the difference is roughly the additional cost.

This ignores standing losses, boiler efficiency etc, but is a rough enough guide.

Andy_WSM

lilac_dawn wrote: »

It's not lagged at all

It must be. If it's white in colour then inside is a metal tank lagged and surrounded by either a painted steel or plastic surround.

If it was not lagged then the losses would be much more than 1.5W per 24hrs.

lilac_dawn

Will it not be different though as the immersion is permanently on, thereby switching itself on to keep the water at a constant temperature?
There was no water tank with the water heater, so it was hot water on demand.

lilac_dawn

Yes - lagged inside then. Lovely and white - you certainly can't miss that part :rotfl:.

Andy_WSM

lilac_dawn wrote: »

Will it not be different though as the immersion is permanently on, thereby switching itself on to keep the water at a constant temperature?

That's what the losses are - the amount of electricity needed to maintain the tank at a constant temperature 24/7 if no hot water is used.

At UK prices that would be about 20p per day. It's really not as expensive as you think it's going to be.

macman

Without knowing the differential gas/electricity pricing in your home country, it's impossible to advise.
Here in the UK it will be about 350% more to heat the water on standard rate electricity (non E7).