What is more efficent, boiling a kettle for a few things or hot tap water cleaning?

ryouga

I live alone so normally I just have like a pot/pan to wash and 2 plates and cutlery, often its less than that.

I just wondered what is the best way for so little? Just as I was thinking by time the boiler heated the water and water wasted till then it may use as much electric/gas but I could be far from the mark.

Also for the kettle method I often have leftover hot/warm water if say cooking something that needs boiling water and I wash pans before I eat my food.

Mad question just wondered.

casper_g

If your mains hot water is electrically heated, using the kettle will almost certainly be more efficient - especially if there is hot water sitting in the kettle anyway.

If you have a gas boiler then the kettle will probably still use less energy, but for the same amount of energy gas is cheaper than electricity. So, in this case you should probably use the gas.

HappyMJ

ryouga wrote: »

I live alone so normally I just have like a pot/pan to wash and 2 plates and cutlery, often its less than that.

I just wondered what is the best way for so little? Just as I was thinking by time the boiler heated the water and water wasted till then it may use as much electric/gas but I could be far from the mark.

Also for the kettle method I often have leftover hot/warm water if say cooking something that needs boiling water and I wash pans before I eat my food.

Mad question just wondered.

Mad question it is not.

You'll need to calculate it yourself. Measure how much water is wasted waiting for it to be hot enough. That should be easy enough to measure if you've got a bottle/jug/bucket.

You know the cost of that water as it's listed on your water bill.

How much time was the boiler running for? You can figure out the cost of the gas consumed.

How much cold water does your kettle have in it and how long does that take to boil that many litres?

It's different for everyone.

You could also measure how long does it take to boil a kettle using your gas hob...as gas is cheaper it might work out a lot cheaper. Although the calculation might show an electric kettle to be slightly cheaper the wasted heat will also heat your kitchen and then your house so it won't actually go to waste unless it's a warm day and you don't want heat.

I'd use the gas hob in winter to boil a small amount of water and the electric kettle in summer.

Lungboy

Don't waste the water running the tap, catch it and use it to water plants or similar.

Norman_Castle

I boil a kettle to wash up. If my boiler is cold it takes 11 litres of running the hot tap before the water is hot enough to use. When the tap is turned off there will be 11 litres of hot water left in the pipes unused. With the kettle I use all the heated water and don't waste water running the tap. This will vary in different homes depending on the distance between the boiler and tap.
I believe that although gas heating is more efficient and cheaper, gas boilers cost about the same as electricity when heating water.

no1catman

You don't need to literally 'boil' the water in a kettle to use to wash up - as that would scald you when you start! You only need to heat up for a short time, pour over the dishes, refill the Kettle (you've got do that anyway at some point), then rinse off.