Gas or Electric Heating

[Bul]

Does anyone have knowledge on how the Lifetime cost of gas and electric compare in a domestic application. Almost by default gas central heating is installed assuming that it’s cheaper option.

 

[Deleted account]

Hi @pirate. I like the term effective heating as opposed to efficient heating.

I do get what your saying regards cost of installing gas.
Cost off installing gas combi with say 8 rads. £6000.
Or a few electric rads £1000.

If your yearly energy bill is £1200 as electric and by converting to gas it could drop to £900. It would take 20 years to get your money back and then you would probably have to have a new boiler fitted due to age.

Under those conditions electric is more financially viable.

I agree that off peak storage heaters are not efficient, because you have them on when you don’t need to heat the house and controlling the output during the day is nigh on impossible. By 5-6pm when you get in from work there is no heat left so you have to turn on the day tariff electric heaters.

 

[Deleted account]

I love the technology and idea behind airspurce heat pumps, but I have also come to the conclusion they are not as viable as the claims made by manufacturers.

The only thing I can see a use for them is to heat an outside pool in the summer months.

 

[GBDamo]

I love the technology and idea behind airspurce heat pumps, but I have also come to the conclusion they are not as viable as the claims made by manufacturers.

The only thing I can see a use for them is to heat an outside pool in the summer months.

They will work in a communal or estate heating system where larger HPs work in concert this way you can invest heavily in control systems and monitoring to hit the efficiency numbers.

 

[pirate]

Oh, I love a quiz!
Imagine a workshop, twin brick outside walls, no cavity insulation, concrete floors covered in a vinyl layer, single storey, well insulated ceiling with 300mm insulation squeezed under 22mm chipboard loft flooring. Floor area is 100 square meters, ceiling height is 3 meters, windows and doors take up 10% of wall area, and glazing in these is top notch. What would be the likely requirement in KW to keep this building at 22 degrees assuming the stats keep the heaters on to maintain internal temperature regardless of outside temperature?
Or is that just too much of a guess?

 

[GBDamo]

4kw without calculating.

 

[GBDamo]

4kw without calculating.

Closer 8Kw after rereading your post.

 

[Leesparkykent]

I’d put in an ASHP on its own board and bang it on the other side of the meter

 

[7029 dave]

Does anyone have knowledge on how the Lifetime cost of gas and electric compare in a domestic application. Almost by default gas central heating is installed assuming that it’s cheaper option.

IMO, gas is cheaper.

 

[ferg]

Electric heating is cheaper to install but much more expensive to run.

What really ----es me off is when companies like Fisher heat come along and tell some old dear that they can slash their bills by removing the storage heaters and installing their super duper German engineered panel heaters.

In my experience the opposite is true.

I put in a price to install Dimplex Quantum storage rads at about 1/3 of the cost this bunch of cowboys were quoting for the bollox heaters they sell and still lost out!!

The poor soul that fell for it kept telling me that it wasn't my fault I couldn't understand the new technology but the nice salesman would explain it to me.

Funnily enough I asked to arrange a meeting with client and said salesman but he didn't turn up.

 

[telectrix]

Oh, I love a quiz!
Imagine a workshop, twin brick outside walls, no cavity insulation, concrete floors covered in a vinyl layer, single storey, well insulated ceiling with 300mm insulation squeezed under 22mm chipboard loft flooring. Floor area is 100 square meters, ceiling height is 3 meters, windows and doors take up 10% of wall area, and glazing in these is top notch. What would be the likely requirement in KW to keep this building at 22 degrees assuming the stats keep the heaters on to maintain internal temperature regardless of outside temperature?
Or is that just too much of a guess?

save loads.......
turn it down to 15 and buy an army greatcoat from the surplus store.

 

[GeorgeCooke]

Hi @pirate. I like the term effective heating as opposed to efficient heating.

I do get what your saying regards cost of installing gas.
Cost off installing gas combi with say 8 rads. £6000.
Or a few electric rads £1000.

If your yearly energy bill is £1200 as electric and by converting to gas it could drop to £900. It would take 20 years to get your money back and then you would probably have to have a new boiler fitted due to age.

Under those conditions electric is more financially viable.

I agree that off peak storage heaters are not efficient, because you have them on when you don’t need to heat the house and controlling the output during the day is nigh on impossible. By 5-6pm when you get in from work there is no heat left so you have to turn on the day tariff electric heaters.

Rethink those figures. Gas is 1/3 of the price of electricity. (Look at your KwH cost on your bills).

 

[pirate]

GBDamo, that was a very good second guess! The actual installed capacity is 7.350kw. There is even some over capacity in there as there are 2 toilets and each needed a 350W panel. which is more than really necessary.
The walls are white gloss painted which is maybe too reflective for maximum efficiency, but the panel supplier had estimated we needed at least 12kw. Our calculation was guesstimated from previously using about 9kw via portable oil-filled rads while the building was being renovated, and before the ceiling insulation was installed.

 

[Deleted account]

Rethink those figures. Gas is 1/3 of the price of electricity. (Look at your KwH cost on your bills).

Yep I’ve been on the conservative side there. Gas is 3rd of price, but there is still the electric oven,hob shower, dryer etc....

If shower was converted to mixer and gas oven and hob fitted then possibly the cost of energy would half, maybe.

So original energy bill £1200

Cost heating install gas oven and hob install shower mixer £7500 ish

Dish washer, wash machine, dryer, kettle. All high energy would still be electric.

New energy bills £600 ish maybe.

12 years to pay for itself.

Is that viable. Depends how old you are.

These figures are educated guesses so it could be massaged either way to suite.

 

[Nishan singh]

as heaters produce more heat when compared toelectric heaters in the same amount of time. Since gasis generally cheaper than electricity, a gas heater has lower operating cost. Electric space heaters are cheaper only when a small space is to be heated at lower temperature settings. i am using instant water heater that is operating on electric power.

thanks
Nishan Singh
money saving store

 

[davesparks]

as heaters produce more heat when compared toelectric heaters in the same amount of time. Since gasis generally cheaper than electricity, a gas heater has lower operating cost. Electric space heaters are cheaper only when a small space is to be heated at lower temperature settings. i am using instant water heater that is operating on electric power.

thanks
Nishan Singh
money saving store

Gas heaters will only produce more heat if they have a higher power rating than the electric heater they are being compared to. If you compare a 12kW gas heater to a 6kW electric heater you will get more heat from the gas, if you compare a 12kW electric heater to a 6kW gas heater you will get more heat from the electric heater.

To make statements like this credible you need to quantify exactly what you are comparing, not just make a statement.

 

[SparkyHarry]

Hi @SparkyHarry, was that a miss type. Should it have been 30 % cheaper or 3 times cheaper maybe.

Either way I agree gas is cheaper than electric. Unless it’s the off peak electric tariff storage heaters, which are plain rubbish.

Sorry, I meant to put 3 x cheaper.

 

[MJPD29]

Gas. If it's available it's the better option