We all know that the cost of Electric, Gas and oil has gone sky high in the last couple of years. I have a feeling though, that as a general rule, the cost of Gas is perhaps the worst culprit. So, with this said I'm wondering if it has got to the point where most of the time it would make sense to let Electric heat the water via the cylinders immersion heater rather then let the Gas boiler do it? or put another way....does anyone know, generally speaking which is the cheapest option to heat one cylinders worth of water, Gas or electric? Ignoring complicated details like variables in tariffs, different cylinder volumes etc etc.

If your on mains gas then your laughing, cheapest by a mile, Us rural hicks have to use heating oil or lpg gas, wood burners or at a last resort electric. cheapest electrical method would be a very insulated tank heated using cheap night time electric , you do of course need a dual rate meter/tarriff and then you need to run the dishwasher, tumbler and washing machine at night too as the day rate is higher than the normal rate.


or live like a vanner and dont wash  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Oil fired Rayburn for hot water, radiators and if you can be bothered - cooking.

Cost of oil roughly 50p per lt. Just took delivery of 2000 lts of kerosene. Not wanting to buy the North Sea Oil fields, but feels like it. That should last me until the end of January that said.

Trouble is, being rural, no gas, so it's electric or LPG or Oil. Rayburn not the most efficient, but to replace it would not be cheap. Think they are 6-7k off the top of my head.

My Dads just had 20 solar panels put on his roof for free by a company

He get free electric through the day from what they produce, and just pays the slight bit of excess

So if your heat your water via electric in the day then you'll be using the free solar power unless you use more than that's been produced

Company was called "a shade greener" Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Worth a look. I did have an architect make up plan for a house I was considering having built. He had underfloor heating and a wind turbine. Very fuel efficient, just wasn't sure about a big windmill in the garden with the kids.

thread over on rrsport recently said turbines are not worth the time or effort

I think it was Tim in Scotland that said his local school had them installed for £20K and they kept breaking down and needing new turbines

as another idea, what about ground or air sourced heat pumps  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Yep, thats what I meant, for underfloor heating read heat pump. Thats where they set pipes in concrete and source heat from underground to heat the pipes and thus the house.

I agree re wind turbine, but I am told I am wrong in that view.

I never got the house built, but it cost me 3k for the detailed plans. It was for a large 5 bedroomed 1.5 story house to fit on half an acre. Any offers anyone?

We looked at turbines a couple of years ago in the fields we have behind our house and found them not worth it in the end. Other than that I'm not much use...I live in a flat at uni with electric and err...that's it! Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

i was having a chat with the mrs about it after reading a thread on the subject, but once i looked into the cost of ground sourced heating it wasn't worth it for me Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

We've just done some perimeter fencing work on a renovated but mostly new built property for a certain "Sir Robert McApine" or rather his son I believe. All very nice.........that had used heat sourced out the ground....but also had a conventional boiler system as well to "top up when required" Very nice if you can afford it!

I have 2 log burners, one being a "Jotul" which can peel wall paper off the wall if you let it get away from you. Alas there not practical for my family's life style in the week....just being a weekend treat.

So we are mains gas....maybe you guys are right but to be sure I'll have to do some research in finding out how much electric it takes to do a cylinders worth of HW in terms of units or KW, then find it's cost in pounds. I'm not on Economy 7.

kezman50 wrote:

We all know that the cost of Electric, Gas and oil has gone sky high in the last couple of years. I have a feeling though, that as a general rule, the cost of Gas is perhaps the worst culprit. So, with this said I'm wondering if it has got to the point where most of the time it would make sense to let Electric heat the water via the cylinders immersion heater rather then let the Gas boiler do it? or put another way....does anyone know, generally speaking which is the cheapest option to heat one cylinders worth of water, Gas or electric? Ignoring complicated details like variables in tariffs, different cylinder volumes etc etc.

Re our village and the subject of central heating by:

LPG: the most expensive fuel source - I know of no one who goes down this route. Worst carbon footprint.
Oil: expensive and the tankers can not get to our village because of narrow road and low overhanging buildings. Large carbon footprint.
Gas: nearest gas supply approximately 90kms - out of the question. Large carbon footprint.
Electric: possible and here electric reasonably priced - however electric heating alone consumes a lot of even cheap energy. Carbon footprint dependent upon type of generation: nuclear, coal, gas, water or wind.
Photovoltic Cells: cheap running costs, but would not provide a reliable and sufficient 24/365 source of heating. Very low carbon footprint. High initial installation costs.
Thermal Ground Water: not possible - it is hard rock here. Low carbon footprint High initial installation costs.
Thermal Air Compression: yes we have it - cheap running costs. Very low carbon footprint. High initial installation costs.
Wood Pellets: convenient, clean, deliverable in bulk, an efficient waste product fuel if you have the storage space. Carbon negative. Costs no more to instal than a conventional c/h system.
Wood Logs: inconvenient refuelling of c/h main burner unit, ash disposal, but, can be sourced at reasonable price if you chop logs to size yourself, delivered precut is expensive, large storage space required. Carbon negative. Costs no more to instal than a conventional c/h system.

So you pays your money and takes your choice.

Solar panels are good if you get the full (FIT) feed in teriff over 25 years you could get approx 8% return on your investment, 12K to 14K investment could return up to 28K to 34K over 25 years,

The free solar panels you get the free power which will return / save you approx £200 to £300 on you annual bill but the company how fitted them is rating your roof free, and there get the FIT so they get the 8% return over 25 years. ( if any thing goes wrong with your roof you have to sort it and could be billed from the company for lose of income from the panels, and is a pain when you sale the house)

we are about to get our panels fitted fitted the next few months ( its one of the best ways ?? to get a return on your saving, because the banks or giving you nothing at present) and when you sale the house the new people get the fit'S so its a plus point when selling the house.