Kettle or boiling on gas-how do I work out what’s cheaper

Blue_fairy

If my kettle is 1500 w how do I work out if it’s cheaper to switch it on or boil same amount on gas?

pochase

Welcome to the forum.

This has been discussed in a few threads. For example here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79576099#Comment_79576099

Astria

For your comparison, consider that if you can put a single cup in the kettle and it takes 1 minute to boil then 1.5 / 60 = 0.025kWh, so less than 1p per boil @ 34p/kWh

wittynamegoeshere

Yep, target the things that use big amounts of energy such as heating and hot water rather than worrying about the kettle, which many seem to think uses a lot more energy than it does.

They can use up to 3kW, which would be around £1 per hour, but they're only ever on for minutes rather than the hours that the heating and hot water are on for.

pseudodox

Having a combi boiler means I can safely drink from the hot tap, so if I happening to be running the hot water to wash up or wash my dirty gardening hands & intend to then sit down with a cuppa I run hot water into the kettle then just bring it up to the boil when I'm ready to brew up.  Or I suppose I could even run the hot tap into a flask for use a bit later for drinks or cooking.  But even this Yorkshire tyke doesn't worry about every last penny, as long as I take good care of most of them.

Alnat1

@pseudodox If you did worry about the pennies, you'd be washing your hands in cold water, so the combi didn't fire up 

Astria

pseudodox said:

Having a combi boiler means I can safely drink from the hot tap, so if I happening to be running the hot water to wash up or wash my dirty gardening hands & intend to then sit down with a cuppa I run hot water into the kettle then just bring it up to the boil when I'm ready to brew up.  Or I suppose I could even run the hot tap into a flask for use a bit later for drinks or cooking.  But even this Yorkshire tyke doesn't worry about every last penny, as long as I take good care of most of them.

You can safely drink from the hot tap without a combi-boiler though, what makes you think you can't?

The absolute worst thing you should drink from is a shower, as the shower pipe typically runs at about 37c and can be left unused for days at a time, so is one of the most bacteria-ridden places in the home, particularly for legionella.

pseudodox

Alnat1 said:

@pseudodox If you did worry about the pennies, you'd be washing your hands in cold water, so the combi didn't fire up 

I mostly I do wash in cold water, but this time of year when I have been up to my armpits in cold dirty pond water, as I was yesterday, and my hands and arms are frozen it is my treat to wash them in nice warm water - those are the pennies I don't have sleepless nights over!  No matter what the cost I did not spend all that money on a combi to NEVER fire it up.  It hasn't been used to heat the house since April, so the occasional use of hot water is not exactly decadent.

I was brought up not to drink water from the hot tap, that had been sitting in the copper tank, which was fed from the lidless zinc tank in the loft via the back boiler in the Aga.  I will not drink from a hot tap unless I know it is a combi boiler.

Apodemus

Astria said:

pseudodox said:

Having a combi boiler means I can safely drink from the hot tap, so if I happening to be running the hot water to wash up or wash my dirty gardening hands & intend to then sit down with a cuppa I run hot water into the kettle then just bring it up to the boil when I'm ready to brew up.  Or I suppose I could even run the hot tap into a flask for use a bit later for drinks or cooking.  But even this Yorkshire tyke doesn't worry about every last penny, as long as I take good care of most of them.

You can safely drink from the hot tap without a combi-boiler though, what makes you think you can't?

The absolute worst thing you should drink from is a shower, as the shower pipe typically runs at about 37c and can be left unused for days at a time, so is one of the most bacteria-ridden places in the home, particularly for legionella.

Actually, you are probably more at risk of Legionella by showering in an infected water supply than by drinking it, as the normal route of infection is by aspiration directly into the lungs. 

I, too, was brought up in circumstances where you tended to assume that the header tank for the hot-water system was an open tank, with all manner of life (and death!) in it and best avoided for drinking.  However, my outlook changed when living in the tropics, where the cold water is often more risky than the hot water and I now have a daily fight against the muscle-memory that makes me reach for the hot tap when I want to brush my teeth.

Astria

Apodemus said:

Astria said:

pseudodox said:

Having a combi boiler means I can safely drink from the hot tap, so if I happening to be running the hot water to wash up or wash my dirty gardening hands & intend to then sit down with a cuppa I run hot water into the kettle then just bring it up to the boil when I'm ready to brew up.  Or I suppose I could even run the hot tap into a flask for use a bit later for drinks or cooking.  But even this Yorkshire tyke doesn't worry about every last penny, as long as I take good care of most of them.

You can safely drink from the hot tap without a combi-boiler though, what makes you think you can't?

The absolute worst thing you should drink from is a shower, as the shower pipe typically runs at about 37c and can be left unused for days at a time, so is one of the most bacteria-ridden places in the home, particularly for legionella.

Actually, you are probably more at risk of Legionella by showering in an infected water supply than by drinking it, as the normal route of infection is by aspiration directly into the lungs. 

An infected water supply is typically a commercial building though as it's incredibly rare for a residential property to have any significant build up to cause problems. Most residential properties have a hot water supply that is typically at a temperature where it's either too cold for bacteria to grow, too hot that they are killed off, or uses sufficient water that its no longer stagnant.

photome

Astria said:

pseudodox said:

Having a combi boiler means I can safely drink from the hot tap, so if I happening to be running the hot water to wash up or wash my dirty gardening hands & intend to then sit down with a cuppa I run hot water into the kettle then just bring it up to the boil when I'm ready to brew up.  Or I suppose I could even run the hot tap into a flask for use a bit later for drinks or cooking.  But even this Yorkshire tyke doesn't worry about every last penny, as long as I take good care of most of them.

You can safely drink from the hot tap without a combi-boiler though, what makes you think you can't?

The absolute worst thing you should drink from is a shower, as the shower pipe typically runs at about 37c and can be left unused for days at a time, so is one of the most bacteria-ridden places in the home, particularly for legionella.

I always assumed you can’t drink water from the hot water tap, why would my water from the hot water tap be any safe than from my shower the water comes from the same place