Does anyone have an electric boiler?

coffeehound

matelodave said:

The same with hot water - it takes about 10kwh to heat a 150 litre tank from 10-60 degrees, so you'd just about manage it with a 3kwh immersion heater in three hours.

I wonder how warm the water tank is at the end of the day in most homes; perhaps about 30º at worst I would think; a bit below lukewarm.  From there it would need 30º lift during off-peak hours.  In that condition a 250 litre tank could (just) be heated within the 3 hours, so that tariff would probably work for most people with up to 250-litre cylinders.

Reed_Richards

Just two adults in my household, I am currently reheating my hot water cylinder using my solar panels to power the 3 kW immersion heater.  Typically it takes roughly 100 minutes of power (always more than 1 hour, usually less than 2).  So that's about 50 minutes per person.  

Swipe

Reed_Richards said:

The trouble with Economy 7 is that the night rate isn't nearly as cheap as it used to be and the day rate can be extortionate.  A quick check for my area cannot find a night rate less than 10p per kWh and the day rate going with it is over 20p per kWh.  It looks to me as if Economy 7 has been quietly phased out to the point where it saves you next to nothing.    

I recently switched to a 2 year fix with EDF. 8.8p night rate but 21.21p day rate. Luckily I use 16,000kWh night and around 1200Kwh day rate. 24p standing charge. Still not cheap but not so bad when you are the sole occupant and use 95% of your usage overnight.

flushed

I would not advise anyone get an electric boiler!

We have just moved into a rental, our dream cottage which has a 12kw electric boiler. We have no gas supply. Wow, just wow.

I don't think I've ever monitored our usage but in a week I loaded £120 onto the meter. I'm scared to even switch it on but we need hot water to bath in.

I would estimate we use £3.66 per hour while it's on so it stays off! Our landlord had no idea it would cost so much and has helped us out loads even paying for a load of logs for the fire and bringing round rugs and thermal curtains. E7 is out of the question as even though it would cost .07 per kwh to run at night this would only benefit the hot water and is useless in the day when we want the central heating on and costs even more at .27p per kwh. So I've spent money on extra quilts for us and the kids and blankets, heaters which run on 500- 1500 watts, but I'm still wondering am I just spending frivolously on these heaters. We have single glazing too so need to get some film to go over them.

Seriously, if you have a gas supply then use it. I don't advise anyone to switch to electric.

QrizB

flushed said:

I would not advise anyone get an electric boiler!

We have just moved into a rental, our dream cottage which has a 12kw electric boiler. ...I would estimate we use £3.66 per hour while it's on

@flushed sorry to hear about your electric boiler costs, they sound awful.

Do you know which supplier you are with and which tariff you are on? £3.66 per hour for a 12kW boiler would be 30.5p/kWh, which is unusually high even for a prepayment tariff.