Showers, is it cheaper to have electric shower or from gas boiler?

Ultrasonic

This is the other recent thread on this subject referred to above:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6344236/how-much-does-a-single-shower-cost/p1

Zandoni

Ultrasonic said:

Another factor here is if someone has a combi boiler that heats water on demand or a tank full of hot water that would largely go to waste if not used for washing. 

I won't go to waste if the tank is well insulated.

Zandoni

btr30 said:

Electricity is 27p/KWh, gas 7p/KWh
i would be sticking with gas to heat water 

It's not as simple as that, gas will be cheaper but not that much.

BooJewels

Zandoni said:

btr30 said:

Electricity is 27p/KWh, gas 7p/KWh
i would be sticking with gas to heat water 

It's not as simple as that, gas will be cheaper but not that much.

Indeed, my own brief experiment (in more detail on page1) showed that the gas powered shower used much more water, so heated more volume and used around 3kWh, compared to 1.2kWh of electricity for the same length of shower - if you add water and drainage costs to that - there doesn't seem to be very much in it.  Maybe if you only take a 2 minute shower, the difference might be greater.

Ultrasonic

Zandoni said:

Ultrasonic said:

Another factor here is if someone has a combi boiler that heats water on demand or a tank full of hot water that would largely go to waste if not used for washing. 

I won't go to waste if the tank is well insulated.

No insulation is perfect so there will be some wasted energy.

Ultrasonic

BooJewels said:

Zandoni said:

btr30 said:

Electricity is 27p/KWh, gas 7p/KWh
i would be sticking with gas to heat water 

It's not as simple as that, gas will be cheaper but not that much.

Indeed, my own brief experiment (in more detail on page1) showed that the gas powered shower used much more water, so heated more volume and used around 3kWh, compared to 1.2kWh of electricity for the same length of shower - if you add water and drainage costs to that - there doesn't seem to be very much in it.  Maybe if you only take a 2 minute shower, the difference might be greater.

I'm struggling to believe this is really the case. You have a combi boiler, right?

matelodave

Utimately the cost of the shower will depend on the volume of water flowing through it, the temperature of the water, the amount of time you stand there and the cost of the energy that's required to heat the water

 Simply, a given volume of water will require a certain amount of energy to raise it's temp by a given number of degrees. So if leccy cost four times as much as gas then an electric shower will cost four times as much as gas if the flow rate, time and temperatures are the same.

The best way to save money is to reduce the temp, reduce the flow rate and spend less time standing under it (and use gas)

Even my super duper highly efficient air source heat pump costs twice as much as gas to heat the hot water for a shower (but probably half as much as if it was an electric shower)

SAC2334

Snwps said:

I hate seeing my IHD when someone takes a shower in my house (electric) so I make sure everyone is quick, no long showers allowed in my house.

I ve got my electric  shower on now for only 1 minute 15 secs simply by using the on/off technique .I can then not rush myself and not have the shower on for the full 10 minutes blasting out wasting water as well .Switch on to wet yourself , then off..Then back on again for 45 secs to rinse off..Plus I use normal soap and don t get involved with the liquid soap/shower gel  con .Cost of my shower at 27 p /kwh is around 5 p .Much cheaper than a gas powered shower 

BooJewels

Ultrasonic said:

BooJewels said:

Zandoni said:

btr30 said:

Electricity is 27p/KWh, gas 7p/KWh
i would be sticking with gas to heat water 

It's not as simple as that, gas will be cheaper but not that much.

Indeed, my own brief experiment (in more detail on page1) showed that the gas powered shower used much more water, so heated more volume and used around 3kWh, compared to 1.2kWh of electricity for the same length of shower - if you add water and drainage costs to that - there doesn't seem to be very much in it.  Maybe if you only take a 2 minute shower, the difference might be greater.

I'm struggling to believe this is really the case. You have a combi boiler, right?

I don't really care if you believe me or not, but yes, that was my finding with gas meter readings - 3 decimal places - on a combi boiler - average use over the 3 showers measured = 0.28m³ = 3.16kWh.  But I can't manage to shower in 15 seconds like some people.  

matelodave

BooJewels said:

Ultrasonic said:

BooJewels said:

Zandoni said:

btr30 said:

Electricity is 27p/KWh, gas 7p/KWh
i would be sticking with gas to heat water 

It's not as simple as that, gas will be cheaper but not that much.

Indeed, my own brief experiment (in more detail on page1) showed that the gas powered shower used much more water, so heated more volume and used around 3kWh, compared to 1.2kWh of electricity for the same length of shower - if you add water and drainage costs to that - there doesn't seem to be very much in it.  Maybe if you only take a 2 minute shower, the difference might be greater.

I'm struggling to believe this is really the case. You have a combi boiler, right?

I don't really care if you believe me or not, but yes, that was my finding with gas meter readings - 3 decimal places - on a combi boiler - average use over the 3 showers measured = 0.28m³ = 3.16kWh.  But I can't manage to shower in 15 seconds like some people.  

You could try fitting a low flow eco shower head - ours delivers 6 litres/minute and I can shower in less that two minutes so that's only 12 litres of hot water.. My wife can shower in a lot less than five minutes. 

In our caravan we can get away with two of using the shower (independently, not shared) using only eight litres of hot water using the same technique as Utrasonic - we've fitted a trigger operated shower head.