Cheapest? Oil or Electric

zarazara

I have an oil combi boiler and usually set it to heat the water for the washing machine. Is it cheaper to let the washing machine heat up the water to the correct temperature using electricity? Does anyone know?

Cardew

You have a hot and cold fill washing machine? Most are just cold water these days.

Heating water by oil CH is about 50% cheaper than letting the machine heat it using electricity(unless you have Economy 7 tariff and use your machine at night)

That said modern machines use very little electricity for their whole cycle, including heating water, these days as few washes are hotter than 40C.

My machine typically uses 0.6kWh for a cycle(say 4p) so you will not save much. You also have to take into account there will be heat loss in the HW pipe from boiler to Washing machine.

So unless you use your machine a lot at high washing temperatures your savings will not be great.