Gas vs electric

simonineaston

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, so I will... in the eternal Gas v Leccy debate, there's one area at least where gas is king... show me just one professional chef who cooks with leccy by choice and I'll eat my hat! (Atfer I've cooked it, that is.)

matelodave

I think a few of them now use induction hobs. they are cleaner than gas and just as controllable.

We've had gas, halogen and now induction and wouldn't go back to gas.

Kitchen_Sink

simonineaston wrote: »

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, so I will... in the eternal Gas v Leccy debate, there's one area at least where gas is king... show me just one professional chef who cooks with leccy by choice and I'll eat my hat! (Atfer I've cooked it, that is.)

Jamie Oliver



In case you believe Jamie is not using electric here "by choice", here's Neil Perry.



Enjoy your hat
(You can use whatever power source you prefer to cook it first )

Kitchen_Sink

matelodave wrote: »

I think a few of them now use induction hobs. ...

Correct

Why London’s Top Chefs Are All Cooking on £99 Induction Hobs

“I wouldn’t ever go back to gas.”

https://munchies.vice.com/en_uk/article/78mvqa/why-londons-top-chefs-are-all-cooking-on-99-induction-hobs

Jonesya

Kitchen_Sink wrote: »

Correct

https://munchies.vice.com/en_uk/article/78mvqa/why-londons-top-chefs-are-all-cooking-on-99-induction-hobs

If you read the article, it says cheap portable induction hobs are being used in temporary, pop-up and outdoor restaurants and eateries. That makes a lot of sense, because gas would need large and heavy gas bottles, a portable electric hob just needs an extension lead.

Kitchen_Sink

Jonesya wrote: »

If you read the article, it says cheap portable induction hobs are being used in temporary, pop-up and outdoor restaurants and eateries. That makes a lot of sense, because gas would need large and heavy gas bottles, a portable electric hob just needs an extension lead.

Whilst that may be how the article strats off, and indeed relates particularly to the £99 hob, I would urge you to read the whole article.

e.g.

James Ramsden is proprietor of fellow East London restaurant Pidgin as well as the recently opened Enfant Terrible wine bar (currently shut due to venue issues), where he has installed only induction hobs.

"I wouldn't ever go back to gas," he declares.

Ramsden has [FONT=&quot]earned a Michelin star[/FONT] at Pidgin.

Pidgin is not a temporary, pop-up or outdoor restaurant/eatery.



In regards to outdoor food, street sellers, etc, I see many people use this type of stove



You also see them being used on TV cooking shows filmed outdoors. They are useful where there is no electricity supply. They run on small gas canisters

Anthorn

tk47 wrote: »

But, with the greatest respect, it's not as straightforward as simply applying the first law of thermodynamics (known by some as the law of conservation of energy)

Electrical heaters are typically 100% efficient.
An older gas boiler could be typically 60% efficient (and further losses can accrue in a gas fired heating system due to losses from pipework, and indeed the electrical pump required to pump water around a system.) Even the newest of gas boilers are typically no more than 91% efficient. New gas boilers must be at least 88% efficient.

Gas is currently about 3-4p kWh
Electricity at normal rate (so will probably be used to power heating pumps) costs typically between 13-16p/kWh

You can get cheap rate electricity at about 6-8p/kWh

Even with gas running at 88% efficiency and electricity running at 100% efficiency it's still cheaper to run a gas central heating system than an electric central heating system.

The following quote is from an American site but electricity is electricity and gas is gas wherever it is, even in Outer Mongolia. Or to put it another way if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck it's probably a duck. It's also interesting to note that the cost difference between gas and electricity is also apparent in the U.S.

Also, electric central heaters are considerably slower than and not as efficient as gas heating units.

Gas systems are recognized as amongst the fastest and most efficient central heating units. As compared to electricity, gas systems offer a better response time, so that you can feel the results in much less time.

https://www.doityourself.com/stry/electric-central-heating-vs-gas-central-heating

Lastly related to the above, go back to my previous post and note the "same container" bit. Some containers are more efficient at boiling water than others and the less efficient use more energy. For example if I boil 1 litre of water in my dome whistling kettle it boils in a third of the time than 1 litre of water in my Judge brand Bain Marie which has a thick composite base! In short, some of the energy is used to heat the container before it starts to heat the water!

coffeehound

Anthorn wrote: »

The following quote is from an American site but electricity is electricity and gas is gas wherever it is

The quote doesn't really apply to the UK situation. American CH is a central blown-air setup with a 'furnace' in the basement or garage that is powered by gas or electric. When they say 'efficient' they are meaning that it works more quickly to heat the home. The main reason for that being that the electricity supply limits the amount of power that can be put into heating the air whereas the gas supply is not limited in the same way.

As a previous poster wrote, you really have to consider the whole-life costs of heating systems, which significantly evens up the situation between gas and electric, though gas is still likely to be be cheaper overall.


On the induction hobs, one thing that someone mentioned here is they couldn't get a very low heat setting for the Indian method of cooking rice. Presumably it's like some TV volume settings where the lowest setting is still too loud sometimes.

newfoundglory

Definitely GCH.
The last place I had was elec storage from dimplex quantum (apparently the best), and a 3kwh immersion heater for water. all electric. The quantum always struggled with a sudden dramatic change in weather, not enough stored heat, but probably depends on the energy efficiency and age of the property.

Only after moving into somewhere with a combi boiler, with heating a hot water on demand, is the difference appreciated. As much or as little as you like, instantly.

However, I suspect that an energy efficient new build on economy 7 would stand up to GCH well.

wavelets

cherryblossomzel wrote: »

Thanks. I have been using storage heating for the last several years, and though I'd prefer not to, at least I know what I'm letting myself in for and I have experience of keeping the bills down.

I think I should put GCH on my "nice to have" rather than "must have" list, if it's otherwise a good choice.

As Kirstie (I would just knock that wall down and open it all up) Allsopp would say, it's location, location, location you should concentrate on.

You can change everything else, except the location.
... but will will need to compromise on some things.