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Petriix

Great idea. Unfortunately a kettle will cost more to boil the more water you put in it and, unless your flask is perfectly insulated, more heat will be lost the longer it's sitting around for. So you're objectively better off boiling only the water you need, exactly when you need it.

In fact you'll save a small amount of energy if you add a little cold water back into the kettle as soon as you've emptied it as the ambient temperature of the house will be fractionally closer to boiling than the cold water from the tap.

Currently gas is ~ 1/5 of the price of electricity so using the gas hob will be cheaper for most. For those of us lucky enough to have solar panels, waiting for the sun to shine is a good plan.

Gerry1

Petriix said:

In fact you'll save a small amount of energy if you add a little cold water back into the kettle as soon as you've emptied it as the ambient temperature of the house will be fractionally closer to boiling than the cold water from the tap.

Sadly not, at least during the heating season.  The kettle will cool down the kitchen, acting like a cold radiator, so the boiler will have to work just that little bit harder !

daveyjp

"I will contact the Express newspaper."

Not like the Express to print anything which isn't true!  I'd not even rely on it to tell me the date.

stewie_griffin

Nicola_Smith92 said:

I saw this statistic in a news article, I haven't just made it up. 
Just trying to help cut people's energy bills with some 'helpful' tips.  Not welcoming loads of challenge on my first ever post!
Descaling will help cut the cost too.

I've seen the same article doing the rounds, but unsurprisingly it doesn't look like anyone checked the maths first. I'm sure the true cost is around 2p and not 20p, so even someone who has lots of hit drinks would probably only save 50p a week. Still better than nothing I guess.

Petriix

Gerry1 said:

Petriix said:

In fact you'll save a small amount of energy if you add a little cold water back into the kettle as soon as you've emptied it as the ambient temperature of the house will be fractionally closer to boiling than the cold water from the tap.

Sadly not, at least during the heating season.  The kettle will cool down the kitchen, acting like a cold radiator, so the boiler will have to work just that little bit harder !

Very true. On the other hand, it may help keep you cool in the summer. 

Marvel1

I have a one cup kettle, brilliant.

markin

Nicola_Smith92 said:

Gerry1 said:

Nicola_Smith92 said:

people are so unkind.  Ignore if you like but no need to be rude.  I’m out

Who was unkind or rude?  Unfortunately you were factually incorrect; why shouldn't this be noted?

someone implying that the tea wouldn't taste nice, someone else implying my facts are wrong.  I will contact the Express newspaper now on behalf of everyone on this thread and get them to amend the article that I saw this on and I will never post again.

Journalists make stuff up or 'make mistakes' Hopefully you learnt something useful from this thread, but you may want to visit the old style board for real money saving tips.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/old-style-moneysaving

uss_tish

@Nicola_Smith92 so sorry you have had such a rough introduction. It can be shockingly brutal and rude sometimes and some people just have to be right. Hope it doesn’t put you off as mostly it’s a really helpful friendly site. 

wild666

Nicola_Smith92 said:

If you're anything like me you probably drink several hot drinks every day. Did you know it costs around 21p on average each time you boil your kettle? It's probably the most expensive to run home appliance!

When you make your first hot drink of the working day, fill your kettle and boil it - make your drink. Fill a thermos flask with the rest of the boiled water and use that for your next drinks. You could save up to £1 a day depending on how much water your thermos flask holds. That's £5 per week and up to £20 per month!! and it's greener.

Would be worth the investment of a decent thermos in the long term if you don't have one. Every little helps!

I use a 1.1 litre flask and fill it on a morning with the first brew then pop in a couple of teabags and drink the tea throughout the day. The flask keeps the tea hot all day, the flask makes 4 to 5 cups of tea using the cup provided or 3 cups if I use one from the cupboard.

poppellerant

Marvel1 said:

I have a one cup kettle, brilliant.

Brilliant other than the fact that they don't boil the water and the temperature it comes out at means it's really only good enough for coffee.  Tea takes longer to brew, resulting in even colder tea.

I know this, because I've owned several.  After that I realised that properly brewed hot cups of tea made from boiling water is the proper way.

Also how much does your hot one cup machine save you, compared to what it cost?  Let's say it costs 2p to boil a kettle for a cup of tea.  Let's also assume your one cup cost around £30 brand new (I've seen ones for over £100, so I'm being somewhat generous here).  You'd have to make 1,500 cups of tea before your energy assumption cost £30 - then that's where your minute savings would happen.