Best kettle

paul991

using stay warm feature on neostar uses very little energy , less that very seldom need to import using it and can be heated when solar exporting on on economy 7

Raxiel

We have a Vektra Insulated kettle. It's 1.35kW, holds 1.2l and will happily boil a single cup at a time. The insulation means that very little heat leaks out during its (admittedly) longer boil time, and it stays hot for quite some time after, needing only a short re-boil if the hot water is left too long.

It is quite expensive, although the price appears to have gone up quite a bit since we bought ours. We're very happy with it though, it's well made and its never once left a horrid taste in the water (what with all parts of the jug in contact with the water being steel). It has no external fill indicator, but we tend to fill it with a mug so we know we're only heating the water we need.

QrizB

Bumping this thread ...

I have recently bought a stovetop gas kettle. I've been using it for a couple of weeks but it hasn't been until today that I've had a chance to test it under controlled(ish) conditions.

• Kettle like this one.
• Filled with 502g of cold tap water, measured as 13C.
• Gas meter reading at start of experiment: xxxx7.381 m3
• Placed on medium-sized gas ring, nominal output 2kW (but not run at 100% to stop flames from licking up the side of the kettle)
• Heated until a steady whistle is emitted from the kettle (probably 15s beyond the initial boil)
• Boiling time 4m 57s
• Gas meter reading at end of experiment: xxxx7.392 m3

Total energy input: 0.011 m3 of gas, at a notional 11.3kWh/m3 that's 0.1243kWh or 447.5kJ.

• The energy required to heat 502g of water from 13C to 100C is (87 x 502 x 4.2) = 183.4kJ or 0.0509kWh, so it seems my gas kettle was only 41% efficient.
• In cost terms, 0.1243kWh at the current EPG cap of 10.3p/kWh would cost 1.28p.
• (Aside, based on the amount of gas consumed and the time that it took to boil the kettle, the actual power output of the gas ring was 1.5kW.)
  

For comparison, I did the same experiment a year ago with my electric kettle. It used 0.059kWh which at the current EPG cap of 34p/kWh would cost 2.01p.

I realise I'm not going to get rich by saving two-thirds of a penny each time I boil the kettle for a pot of tea, but at the same time I thought you might appreciate the experimental data!

(Real life is more complicated. My gas tariff is Octopus Tracker and today I'm paying 8.02p/kWh, less than the EPG. It's also partly sunny so with careful timing I'd be able to boil an electric kettle on solar PV for free.)

Exiled_Tyke

This is very similar to the results I had.  But I think I used slightly more gas and with the difference in gas and electric costs found the savings even less.  

Telegraph_Sam

Gut feel having read the various interesting contributions: On a practical day-to-day level there's likely to be little to beat a bog-standard Asda Tesco 1.7 rapid boil kettle on sale @ £ 10 - 12. I need 1 litre, I boil 1 litre using the fully immersed heating element. If I boil too much I leave it in the kettle for next time.  Even @ peak rates the differences are minimal. Saves faffing around with stove tops, retro kettles, camping stoves, wood / oil burners you name it. For what's involved (pence) it's literally a no-brainer. Which is why I feel entitled to pontificate on the matter

QrizB

For anyone who's baffled by this thread being bumped, I linked to it over on the "Energy" forum

Updated calculations (for boiling half a litre of water) based on the current Ofgem cap:

• Electric kettle: 0.059kWh @ 24.5p/kWh = 1.446p
• Gas kettle: 0.1243kWh @ 6.24p/kWh = 0.776p

Saving from using gas kettle = 0.67p per boil

Cost of a gas kettle = £10 approx

Number of uses to break even = 1500

Quantity of tea* drunk by me = 5 pots a day

Time to break even = 300 days

I've had my gas kettle since September 2022 so I'm definitely in profit by now!

* It's not all tea, in the morning some of it is coffee. The kettle is also used to boil water for other purposes in addition to tea/coffee.

Telegraph_Sam

I'll save you from being subjected again to my mantra about a mod rapid boil elec kettle being more "flexible"  (efficient) than the others.  10 p/kWh # 10 p/kWh. In my situation ..

Telegraph_Sam

QrizB said:

For anyone who's baffled by this thread being bumped, I linked to it over on the "Energy" forum

Updated calculations (for boiling half a litre of water) based on the current Ofgem cap:

I confess to being baffled. I'm subscribing to 2 separate threads at the same time.  One seems to be truncated.

Petriix

Other factors to consider:

• Some of us already own a stove top kettle for camping. 
• For at least 4 months of the year the 'waste' heat is actually useful. 
• Using 'free' solar energy loses us the 15p per kWh we could have earned from exporting it.
• (Anecdotally) with more parts and complexity, electric kettles need replacing more often.
• Electric kettles make plasticy tasting water. 

Having said all that, I don't think I'd buy a different kettle just for the tiny saving. 

Telegraph_Sam

@petriix:  I think you make the point very well:  The net differences or savings that are in question don't amount to much in the Grand Scheme of Things. 
I can recall getting into discussions, in a different thread, over the trade off between losing "the 15 p" as opposed to mowing the lawn when there was no sun to offset.  The maths got very complex and in the end I gave up trying to out-think the system
Edit:  Margin of error:  We need to be aware of the trap that comes from quoting figures to 4 decimal places when the reality justifies far less