Yesterday morning I switched off my gas boiler, to allow it to cool down
for a service, and switched on my immersion heater (rarely used) and it
occurred to me that with the rising gas prices it was possibly now no more
expensive than using the boiler during summer months etc. Has anyone done
the sums? It's certainly more efficient at transferring the heat to the
water!
Michael

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 07:36:28 +0100, Michael Shergold wrote:

Yesterday morning I switched off my gas boiler, to allow it to cool down
for a service, and switched on my immersion heater (rarely used) and it
occurred to me that with the rising gas prices it was possibly now no
more expensive than using the boiler during summer months etc.

Your electricity prices haven't risen as well?

For gas it's probably still cheaper, oil is close.

Ball park good tarrifs should have electricity around 9p/unit, gas around
4p/unit. Even a crap ancient boiler at 50% effciency is still cheaper an
old boiler might be 75% and a good one 90%+.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 07:36:28 +0100, "Michael Shergold"
wrote:

Yesterday morning I switched off my gas boiler, to allow it to cool down
for a service, and switched on my immersion heater (rarely used) and it
occurred to me that with the rising gas prices it was possibly now no more
expensive than using the boiler during summer months etc. Has anyone done
the sums? It's certainly more efficient at transferring the heat to the
water!
Michael



Only figures I have written in front of me are from ebico and their
gas costs 3.77p /kwh
electric 13.85p /kwh

What % more efficient does elec have to be than gas before it's
cheaper?

And a DIY solar water heating system is cheapest. (I've seen someone
do a 2X20 tube thing all in for less than 1k)
--
http://www.freedeliveryuk.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:08:47 +0100, mogga wrote:

gas costs 3.77p /kwh
electric 13.85p /kwh

What % more efficient does elec have to be than gas before it's
cheaper?

I'll ask my nipper - he's doing GCSE maths ;-)


And a DIY solar water heating system is cheapest. (I've seen someone
do a 2X20 tube thing all in for less than 1k)

Depends how much hot water you use and other factors.

--
John Stumbles

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts

John Stumbles wrote:
On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:08:47 +0100, mogga wrote:

gas costs 3.77p /kwh
electric 13.85p /kwh

What % more efficient does elec have to be than gas before it's
cheaper?

I'll ask my nipper - he's doing GCSE maths ;-)


sounds cheap for gas and expensive for electric, but the answer is the
gas divided by the electricity . i.e. 27% gas efficiency=100% electric
efficiency cost wise.


And a DIY solar water heating system is cheapest. (I've seen someone
do a 2X20 tube thing all in for less than 1k)

Depends how much hot water you use and other factors.

If you can fully utilize all the hot water it makes in summer, a typical
installation can THEORETICALLY save you at best about 100 quid for a
couple of square meters.

In practice I'd expect a couple of grand of decent solar panel to save
about 60 quid a year.

Mind you, its better than having it in the icelandic bank I suppose ;-)


There are far better ways of saving energy for less cost ..solar panels
in the UK are firmly in room 101 labelled 'Ecobollox' as far as I am
concerned. Along with domestic windmills and CFL lamps.


They do well in more southerly latitudes though. Especially where its
sunny in winter. Typically a bit less latitude than Meditrerranean...

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

They do well in more southerly latitudes though. Especially where its
sunny in winter. Typically a bit less latitude than Meditrerranean...

Well, there's a company in Portishead that's positively thriving (it
woud seem)on the rising fuel prices.

Their "Sunray Solar" slogan is ... "It needn't cost the earth" and their
boards of instalations are popping up in gardens everywhere you look.

Seems to be a good business to get into if you're a plumber type person.

--
http://www.GymRatZ.co.uk - Fitness+Gym Equipment.
http://www.bodysolid-gym-equipment.co.uk
http://www.trade-price-supplements.co.uk
http://www.water-rower.co.uk

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:12:22 +0100, "www.GymRatZ.co.uk"
wrote:


The Natural Philosopher wrote:

They do well in more southerly latitudes though. Especially where its
sunny in winter. Typically a bit less latitude than Meditrerranean...

Well, there's a company in Portishead that's positively thriving (it
woud seem)on the rising fuel prices.

Their "Sunray Solar" slogan is ... "It needn't cost the earth" and their
boards of instalations are popping up in gardens everywhere you look.

Seems to be a good business to get into if you're a plumber type person.

"Installations from £3000. (subject to survey)!

Hells bells!

That buys a hell of a lot of electric and probably a lifetimes gas for
me, for hot water!

www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

They do well in more southerly latitudes though. Especially where its
sunny in winter. Typically a bit less latitude than Meditrerranean...

Well, there's a company in Portishead that's positively thriving (it
woud seem)on the rising fuel prices.

Their "Sunray Solar" slogan is ... "It needn't cost the earth" and their
boards of instalations are popping up in gardens everywhere you look.

Seems to be a good business to get into if you're a plumber type person.

Oh yes, it the con game of the millenium

I got one through my door today 'up to 35% reduction is fuel bills'


If my bills were £100 a year, I'd believe that.
My wifes father has put in these bloody things. He thinks its marvelous.
the sun shines and water in his collectors registers 55C. Its 45C in the
tank inflow. So that's probably only 80% efficient at that level.


The average isolation of the UK is about 125W/sq meter.

http://cms.ises.org/uploads2/SSF/pic...7/solarrad.PDF

Even if you can use that - and generally the last thing you want in
summer is more heat - thats only about 100W/sq meter with sensible
efficiencies. So about 876 units (Kwh) per year per square meter.

At say an average gas/oil price of about 5p per unit, thats the princely
sum of £40 saved per sq meter per annum of installed panel.

In mid winter when you need the heat the most, its less than half a unit
(kwh) a day per meter squared insolation! Worse up north.

To heat my house with solar panels would take approximately 50 square
meters of panels...haha. Probably something like £100,000 even if I
could find somewhere to put them.

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:12:22 +0100, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:

Seems to be a good business to get into if you're a plumber type person.

- with no ethical qualms bothering you.

--
John Stumbles

Hypnotising Hypnotists Can Be Tricky

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:22:18 +0000, John Stumbles wrote:

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:12:22 +0100, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:

Seems to be a good business to get into if you're a plumber type
person.

- with no ethical qualms bothering you.

Quite so.
If you can put the whole thing together using scrap and home grown skills
it might just, just, be worth it. Now oil has come down form its peak
price a few months ago, gas will follow sooner or later and the schemes
are becoming more marginal.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html