Electric or Gas

[CptnCrackoff]

Not brewing...but heating my water!!

With the credit crunch etc etc.. I am trying to save money.

Would anyone be able to tell me if generally it is cheaper to heat water in the summer using Gas or Electric??

My thinking would be that electric is 20p (ish) per kwh, Gas is 6p (ish) per kwh (primary units) so it would be cheaper to use gas!?

Would it help if i posted details of the boiler and immersion heater.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i've been sitting looking at numbers for a while and my brain hurts!!


jon

 

[unclepumble]

The cheapest way at the moment is by renewables, i.e solar or photovolatic cells to power your electric.

The gov will pay you to generate power, even if you use the power yourself, therefore fit some photovoltaics will cost you 10k ish though, and the gov will give you 8% return on your investment as part of a green energy scheme.

Failing that the cheapest way is to get a log burner with a back boiler on it, and burn any wood you can get your hands on, however its bloody hard work and time consuming!

UP

 

[brewzone]

If the HLT is well insulated then Electric is less wasteful of heat as it directly heats the water.

It's also more convenient as it can be set on a timer for early morning brewing sessions.

However I tend to use LPG Myself.

 

[Moley]

BZ: I think the Captain was asking about domestic hot water, as in baths, showers and washing up.

UP: I'm also guessing that the Captain doesn't have £10k (-8%) to spend on photovoltaics, and thought it took 20 years plus to recoup the installation costs of solar.

Captain: My vote's for a condensing combination boiler on gas.

 

[unclepumble]

BZ: I think the Captain was asking about domestic hot water, as in baths, showers and washing up.

UP: I'm also guessing that the Captain doesn't have £10k (-8%) to spend on photovoltaics, and thought it took 20 years plus to recoup the installation costs of solar.

Captain: My vote's for a condensing combination boiler on gas.

I was listening to a program on radio 4 a couple of weeks ago, now I don't remember all the specifics, but from what I gathered, they were saying it made sound economic sense, to fit solar, photovoltaic or wind due to the incentive payments given to you via the Gov, they said the Gov now pay you for every KWH you produce regardless of wether you use it up yourself or if its fed back to the grid and based over 10 years you will be in considerably in profit based on electrickery costs, and installation cost.


It was even suggested that if you don't have the money to do the green electrickery generation improvements to your house it still made great financial sense to borrow the money to do the upgrade as you will still be quids in.

However Before rushing out to borrow loads of £££££££££££, Do Your own research, I am no expert just a well informed Fool :grin:

P.S. Electrickery is my Pet Name for electricity
UP

 

[Moley]

P.S. Electrickery is my Pet Name for electricity

“Electrickery” (mains) has been in common usage for many years, certainly on the waterways forum I use.
“Lectrix” is usually confined to 12v domestic and automotive systems.

 

[Springer]

Gas is much cheaper by far. (Not LPG for brewing because of the way most people buy it and the enormous heat losses )
Some people don't know, in most cases, if you are on Economy Seven or whatever its called now, you pay more for your day time units. :evil:
When Economy Seven was introduced, I don't think this was the case "you got it cheaper because you were helping to balance the load at the power station ". I was only running our fridge and freezer and by coming off night tariff and getting cheaper day time units I saved over £100, what a con that was :evil:
Modern gas boiler are now over 90% efficient, very old ones were down at 35%, 20 years ago they were 60 %, big saving there to update, but quite a lot of cash. Lots to be saved by shopping around though

 

[TheMumbler]

P.S. Electrickery is my Pet Name for electricity

“Electrickery” (mains) has been in common usage for many years, certainly on the waterways forum I use.
“Lectrix” is usually confined to 12v domestic and automotive systems.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get an eye test

 

[brewzone]

BZ: I think the Captain was asking about domestic hot water, as in baths, showers and washing up.

UP: I'm also guessing that the Captain doesn't have £10k (-8%) to spend on photovoltaics, and thought it took 20 years plus to recoup the installation costs of solar.

Captain: My vote's for a condensing combination boiler on gas.

That'll teach Me to read before I reply.

 

[CptnCrackoff]

BZ: I think the Captain was asking about domestic hot water, as in baths, showers and washing up.

UP: I'm also guessing that the Captain doesn't have £10k (-8%) to spend on photovoltaics, and thought it took 20 years plus to recoup the installation costs of solar.

Captain: My vote's for a condensing combination boiler on gas.

That'll teach Me to read before I reply.

Thats ok, having re-read my original post I can see it wasnt that clear!!

I rent the property, the gas boiler is old, its called a myson economist, i dont think the landlord would want me installing things, solar panels, new boilers etc etc

plus ATM i hardly have two pennies to rub together!!

 

[snail59]

UP: I'm also guessing that the Captain doesn't have £10k (-8%) to spend on photovoltaics, and thought it took 20 years plus to recoup the installation costs of solar.

Dont think you need to have anything like 10K Moley.

Try this. http://www.bigginhill.co.uk/solar.htm