What type of kettle to get?

Rodders53

ElephantBoy57 said:

The electric element is inside a kettle, whereas the gas flame just goes all over with a lot of wasted energy. The metal kettle is heated by the gas too, with electric it can be just one cup of water.

Elements have been encased at the bottom of electric kettles and the vapours heat the whole kettle body... and there are losses in the wiring to the kettle. 

Gas flame hits the bottom above which sits the water?  Vapours warm the rest.

Not sure there's any diffrence.

You can boil a cup of water on gas - and even less than the minimum allowed in many electric kettles, if you want.

As Scotty said on Star Trek ....  (it's something to do with Physics, I believe).

NB with gas cooking, Scouts were always taught to keep the flame under the base and never have it licking around the sides to conserve enegy.

neilmcl

Rodders53 said:

 electric is MUCH quicker. 

Oh no it's not. 

It depends on the heat input ratings of the devices!
500W electric kettle will be slower than a 1kW gas ring. A 3kW gas ring will still beat a 2.4kW electric.  3kW gas and 3kW electric ratings will be very similar speed.

About the same cost gas or electric

How do you get to that conclusion, as the cost of gas per kWh is much less (1/4) than that of electricity (normal/peak rate).

Oh yes it is. Even a with a 3kW rated gas ring you're still losing a great deal of energy as it's transferred to the pot/kettle. I've never seen any gas hob boil water quicker than an electric kettle of any sort. Boiling water on a gas hob is really inefficient.

elsien

I'd have to factor in the cost of a new stove kettle every time I forgot about it and it boiled dry. The auto cut off is a godsend when you have the concentration of a gnat and the whistling ones are far too irritating.

TuppenceHapenny

Rodders53 said:

So mains gas (circa 5p/kWh) must be cheaper than peak rate electricity (circa 20p/kWh)

I agree with this - electricity is 3 to 4 times more expensive per kWh, so even if you accept that electric kettles are a bit more efficient than kettles on a gas hob, the gas option must be cheaper because of the huge cost difference between gas and electricity.

For example, when I want hot water to come out of the taps I'm pretty sure that using my gas boiler to heat the water is MUCH cheaper than using the electric immersion heater, even though the immersion heater is directly inside the hot water cylinder whereas the water heated by the gas boiler has to be moved through pipes half way round the house to reach the hot water cylinder.

neilmcl

TuppenceHapenny said:

Rodders53 said:

So mains gas (circa 5p/kWh) must be cheaper than peak rate electricity (circa 20p/kWh)

I agree with this - electricity is 3 to 4 times more expensive per kWh, so even if you accept that electric kettles are a bit more efficient than kettles on a gas hob, the gas option must be cheaper because of the huge cost difference between gas and electricity.

For example, when I want hot water to come out of the taps I'm pretty sure that using my gas boiler to heat the water is MUCH cheaper than using the electric immersion heater, even though the immersion heater is directly inside the hot water cylinder whereas the water heated by the gas boiler has to be moved through pipes half way round the house to reach the hot water cylinder.

They're not a "bit more efficient", they are a lot. As stated before there's actually probably little in it in terms of cost given that an electric kettle can boil water probably 4/5 times as quick as a gas hob. The main advantage in using an electric kettle is the speed and convenience.

A_Lert

"Am I right to imagine that a 'stove' kettle used on a gas hob should be cheaper to use than an electric kettle"

Probably not. With an electric kettle the power goes straight to heating the water. Gas is cheaper per joule than electricity but gas cookers end up wasting a lot of the heat, so it ends up not much difference.

"should last longer (as there's nothing in it to go wrong"

A good electric kettle will have a reasonable lifespan

"should also be cheaper to buy?"

Without looking, probably not much in it. Electric kettles cover a wide price and quality range. I expect the same will apply for stovetop kettles. In Britain stovetop kettles are niche nowadays and that tends to mean higher prices.

"Is there any reason why I would want to get another electric kettle?"

Way quicker and more convenient. Consider the value of your time. Of course how much that matters depends on whether you have a few hot drinks a week, or several every day.

Jackmydad

neilmcl said:

TuppenceHapenny said:

Rodders53 said:

So mains gas (circa 5p/kWh) must be cheaper than peak rate electricity (circa 20p/kWh)

I agree with this - electricity is 3 to 4 times more expensive per kWh, so even if you accept that electric kettles are a bit more efficient than kettles on a gas hob, the gas option must be cheaper because of the huge cost difference between gas and electricity.

For example, when I want hot water to come out of the taps I'm pretty sure that using my gas boiler to heat the water is MUCH cheaper than using the electric immersion heater, even though the immersion heater is directly inside the hot water cylinder whereas the water heated by the gas boiler has to be moved through pipes half way round the house to reach the hot water cylinder.

They're not a "bit more efficient", they are a lot. As stated before there's actually probably little in it in terms of cost given that an electric kettle can boil water probably 4/5 times as quick as a gas hob. The main advantage in using an electric kettle is the speed and convenience.

Hardly any loss really. Most of the electricity is turned to heat which mostly goes directly into the water.
People are getting "cheaper" mixed up with "more efficient"

FWIW, no gas here anyway, but choice would still be an electric kettle. Fast and efficient.
Having had a couple of "designer" kettles costing around £60 some years ago, and having had them fail within a short time, we went over to cheap ones. Latest one is a Tesco one. Must be 8 years old and still works well. Under £20

Helen28

It takes my 3kW electric kettle 75 seconds to boil 600 ml of water straight from the cold tap cost 0.0095 pence

It takes 7 minutes to boil the same amount of water at the same temperature on my gas ring. If the gas ring consumes 5kW per hour that would cost me 0.0163 pence.

So electric cheaper than gas and of course less time waiting for the water to boil in the electric kettle.

wilfred30

I have one of each.  I use the electric one all the time but have the gas stove one for use if there's a power cut