I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to the
boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating over
the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power of
the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it for.
Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and then the
costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on whether you are
on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or not.



To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create a
quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.

"T Bently" wrote in message
...
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make
our cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to
the boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating
over the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power
of the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it
for. Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and
then the costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on
whether you are on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or
not.



To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create
a quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to
reasonably say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas
or electric ? Since they have all my tariff details with them and account
number, etc.

I think they're politely telling you it's impossible for them to know and to
go and find out for yourself.....

They can only tell you how many pence per unit of each energy they're
charging you, they don't know what kettle you've got, how long it takes to
boil, the dimensions of the saucepan and whether it has a lid, how much gas
gets used by your particular cooker to boil X amount of liquid, the ambient
temperature of your kitchen etc.

The only accurate way would be to turn everything in the house off, take gas
and electric meter readings and then boil one litre of water in the kettle,
take another electric reading, then boil one litre of water in a pan and
take the new gas reading. Then subtract the old readings from the new, and
there's your consumption (in units or part units) for each type of energy.
Multiply those by the relevant unit prices, and you should have an answer.

T Bently wrote:

I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.

But they don't know any details of your kettle, hob, or saucepan.

The starting point in both cases, is to only boil the amount you require.

For an electric kettle, almost all the heat is released direct into the
water, but the cost per unit will be approx 3x higher. With the gas some
heat will be lost up the sides of the pan, less so with a larger pan,
but then you've got to heat a larger lump of metal as well as the water.

Do any storm kettles fit over gas rings?

On Thursday, September 19, 2013 11:06:47 AM UTC+1, T Bently wrote:

I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.
So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.
Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to the
boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating over
the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:
I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power of
the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it for.
Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and then the
costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on whether you are
on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or not.
To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create a
quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.


The amount of water you boil is irrelevant, as long as its the same in both cases. The power rating of the kettle is also irrelevant, as long as its within reasonable limits, power x time = energy is very close to the same whatever the power.

What matters is the cost of the 2 energies (the ratio is normally about 3:1 in favour of gas) and the efficiency of the gas heating arrangement. If the gas setup is over 33%, gas wins, if its under 33% gas loses. To maximise gas pan heating efficiency, use a (cocked) lid & make sure the hot gases get as much pan contact as possible. So a small ring tends to be more efficient, as it gets more pan contact area, and large high burner settings are less efficient as more hot gases rush by the pan without even contacting it.

This isnt something your supplier has any duty to advise you on, nor I daresay any interest beyond appearing to try to be helpful.


NT

Andy Burns scribbled...


T Bently wrote:

I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.

But they don't know any details of your kettle, hob, or saucepan.

The starting point in both cases, is to only boil the amount you require.

For an electric kettle, almost all the heat is released direct into the
water, but the cost per unit will be approx 3x higher. With the gas some
heat will be lost up the sides of the pan, less so with a larger pan,
but then you've got to heat a larger lump of metal as well as the water.

Do any storm kettles fit over gas rings?


Gas kettles usually have a ridge around the bottom, which often has some
fancy fluting.

T Bently scribbled...


I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to the
boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating over
the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I bet they have sent a copy of your letter to Jasper Carrot.

T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make
our cups of tea.

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/s...able/ho****er/

Theo

T Bently used his keyboard to write :


I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.

a tricky one to even start to calculate. You would need to actually
measure it to get accurate figures.

However assuming your gas is half the cost of your electric, for the
same heat value I would suggest electric will be cheaper for the same
amount of water heated through the same temperature range. My reasoning
is as follows....

Pans and kettles for use on gas are not very good at extracting the
heat from a gas flame. An electric kettle is 100% efficient. I would
guess a gas kettle might manage 50% or less efficiency in capturing the
heat from the flame. Add to that the fact that an electric kettle will
switch off when it boils, whereas a gas kettle does not, so more gas
may be wasted turning the water to steam. Modern electric jug kettles
are even better, in that you can boil a small amount of water and can
better judge how much you are boiling, gas has none of that.

You can though buy more efficient gas kettles, fitted with base
intended to extract more of the flames heat.





--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In article ,
T Bently wrote:
I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to
reasonably say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by
gas or electric ? Since they have all my tariff details with them and
account number, etc.


Find out how much gas your ring on that hob uses. Measure the time taken
to boil a given amount of water.

Your supplier has no idea what sort of hob you have, or which ring on it
you use.

You'd also have to figure in the costs of washing up the saucepan
afterwards.

--
*The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

The same number of kWh of energy are needed to be transferred to the
water in each case. Given that the price charged for an electric kWh is
typically 3 to 4 times that of a gas kWh, the electric kettle would need
to be significantly more efficient than the saucepan.

Please state the efficiency of your kettle and of your saucepan, also
the exact price you pay for gas kWh and electric kWh.

On 19/09/2013 11:20, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:


The only accurate way would be to turn everything in the house off, take
gas and electric meter readings and then boil one litre of water in the
kettle, take another electric reading, then boil one litre of water in a
pan and take the new gas reading. Then subtract the old readings from
the new, and there's your consumption (in units or part units) for each
type of energy. Multiply those by the relevant unit prices, and you
should have an answer.

Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours. [And for gas,
you're going to have to know how to convert cubic feet or metres into
kWHr - which foxes many people!]
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

In article ,
Roger Mills wrote:
Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours.

Pretty well all appliances state how much power they consume. So the total
can be easily calculated by that and the time in use.

--
*You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thu, 19 Sep 2013 11:06:47 +0100, "T Bently"
wrote:

I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

Kettle to boil it or microwave a mug full?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

mogga wrote:

"T Bently" wrote:

I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

microwave a mug full?

A link posted earlier showed that to be the less efficient then electric
kettle or gas saucepan ...

Surely the reason this is hard is that they would need to know exactly the
efficiency of the gas device and how much waste is going into heating the
air.

My guess at current prices is that Electric is best, and probably even
better if you can use off peak cheaper units, but then all your cups of tea
would have to be at night.
grin.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"T Bently" wrote in message
...
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make
our cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to
the boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating
over the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power
of the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it
for. Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and
then the costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on
whether you are on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or
not.



To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create
a quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to
reasonably say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas
or electric ? Since they have all my tariff details with them and account
number, etc.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

You'd also have to figure in the costs of washing up the saucepan
afterwards.

?

Do you wash out an electric kettle after each use?

On 19/09/2013 14:13, Roger Mills wrote:
On 19/09/2013 11:20, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:


The only accurate way would be to turn everything in the house off, take
gas and electric meter readings and then boil one litre of water in the
kettle, take another electric reading, then boil one litre of water in a
pan and take the new gas reading. Then subtract the old readings from
the new, and there's your consumption (in units or part units) for each
type of energy. Multiply those by the relevant unit prices, and you
should have an answer.

Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours. [And for gas,
you're going to have to know how to convert cubic feet or metres into
kWHr - which foxes many people!]

See the table he

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Gas_units

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
Phil L wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

You'd also have to figure in the costs of washing up the saucepan
afterwards.

?

Do you wash out an electric kettle after each use?

No - as it's not a saucepan.

--
*Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"T Bently" wrote in message
...
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make
our cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to
the boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating
over the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power
of the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it
for. Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and
then the costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on
whether you are on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or
not.



To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create
a quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to
reasonably say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas
or electric ? Since they have all my tariff details with them and account
number, etc.


The cheapest method is reckoned to be using and electric "jug" and only
putting in the amount of water needed.
You can put in as little as a couple of ccs.

On 19/09/2013 14:33, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Roger wrote:
Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours.

Pretty well all appliances state how much power they consume. So the total
can be easily calculated by that and the time in use.


That's as may be - but I was replying to someone who was suggesting
using the gas and electricity meters.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 19/09/2013 17:48, John Rumm wrote:
On 19/09/2013 14:13, Roger Mills wrote:
On 19/09/2013 11:20, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:


The only accurate way would be to turn everything in the house off, take
gas and electric meter readings and then boil one litre of water in the
kettle, take another electric reading, then boil one litre of water in a
pan and take the new gas reading. Then subtract the old readings from
the new, and there's your consumption (in units or part units) for each
type of energy. Multiply those by the relevant unit prices, and you
should have an answer.

Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours. [And for gas,
you're going to have to know how to convert cubic feet or metres into
kWHr - which foxes many people!]

See the table he

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Gas_units


I rest my case! I know plenty of people - present company excepted(!) -
who would be totally confused by a table like that.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Phil L wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

You'd also have to figure in the costs of washing up the saucepan
afterwards.

?

Do you wash out an electric kettle after each use?

No - as it's not a saucepan.

So what would you use to clean a saucepan that has been used to boil clean
water?

--
Adam

T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to
make our cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility
supply company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above,
and bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies
from you, please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring
to the boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2]
heating over the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the
power of the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are
using it for. Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you
have used and then the costs can be calculated and compared. It will
also depend on whether you are on the cheapest plan as per your
consumption patterns or not.


To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to
create a quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to
reasonably say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by
gas or electric ? Since they have all my tariff details with them and
account number, etc.

Invite them round round for a brew.

--
Adam

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.


Have a look he

http://www.theboilerwerks.com/about/

It does not answer your question - but it does indicate a possible
direction to take in achieving maximum efficiency of heat transfer from
burnt gas to water.

Note that the page mentions various other products which have similar
ideas behind them and might be more suited to your requirements.

It also gives rise to the possibility of using lots of other fuels -
subject to availability and price.

--
Rod

ARW wrote:
So what would you use to clean a saucepan that has been used to boil clean
water?

Boiling water, obviously. You want to make sure it's sterile after being
full of all that clean water.

Theo

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

So I sent this request to the technical department of my utility supply
company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you kindly be able to advise me from my account details above, and
bearing in mind that i take both my gas and electricity supplies from you,
please.

Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me to bring to the
boil, a litre of water; using [1] an *electric* kettle or [2] heating over
the *gas* hob in a saucepan (with the lid on) ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They sent this email in reply:


I would like to inform you that cheaper energy costs depends on the power of
the appliance you are using and the amount of time your are using it for.
Then you can have an idea as to how much energy you have used and then the
costs can be calculated and compared. It will also depend on whether you are
on the cheapest plan as per your consumption patterns or not.



To ascertain which plan would be cheapest for you, we would need to create a
quotation based on your actual consumption pattern.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



I dont feel i'm further ahead. Is it at all possible for them to reasonably
say which is the cheapest way to boil a litre of water by gas or electric ?
Since they have all my tariff details with them and account number, etc.


When you have the heating on, then it will almost certainly cheaper to
use the gas, as any waste heat will contribute to the home heating, so
there won't really be any "loss" from either method assuming you don't
put the extractor fan on for the pan and not the kettle...

--
Toby...
Remove your pants to reply

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:
Which would use less energy and therefore be cheaper for me...

Fundamental problem. Use of energy in absolute terms (e.g. how many
joules are needed) and cost, while bearing some relation in general,
might not follow each other in the expected way in your specific case.

That is, it might be cheaper to use more energy. Or not. Or it depends
on where the energy is measured.

--
Rod

In article ,
Roger Mills wrote:
On 19/09/2013 14:33, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Roger wrote:
Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you
have a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours.

Pretty well all appliances state how much power they consume. So the
total can be easily calculated by that and the time in use.


That's as may be - but I was replying to someone who was suggesting
using the gas and electricity meters.

But why would you use the electric meter? Using the gas one would be even
more tricky - unless you boiled many gallons of water and worked it out
from that. So it would be easier to find out how much the hob uses from
its spec.

--
*Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
ARW wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Phil L wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

You'd also have to figure in the costs of washing up the saucepan
afterwards.

?

Do you wash out an electric kettle after each use?

No - as it's not a saucepan.

So what would you use to clean a saucepan that has been used to boil
clean water?

Because in many areas it would no longer be sparkling clean. Would you
hang up a pot which looked dirty?

I suppose you could use a kettle designed for a gas ring.

--
*The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Theo Markettos wrote:
ARW wrote:
So what would you use to clean a saucepan that has been used to boil
clean water?

Boiling water, obviously. You want to make sure it's sterile after being
full of all that clean water.

You've never boiled a saucepan of water in a hard water area?

--
*I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't care.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:


I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

Well measuring the electric kettle energy use should be easy enough with
a clamp meter and a DVM. You should be able to time the boil time for
the litre and come up with a pretty close overall energy use.

For the gas I would start from the baseline of the smallest rings
normally being of a maximum heat output of around 1kW, and the larger
ones being perhaps 1.8kW.

Boil the gas kettle with the ring full on, and multiply by the power to
get the total energy. At that point it should be fairly evident how
close the race is, before needing to look at maximising the efficiency
of heat transfer to the water from the flame etc.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:


I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

Well measuring the electric kettle energy use should be easy enough with
a clamp meter and a DVM.

How many kettle leads come with the live and neutral separated for using a
clamp on meter?

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:00:12 +0100, Andy Burns
wrote:

mogga wrote:

"T Bently" wrote:

I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.

microwave a mug full?

A link posted earlier showed that to be the less efficient then electric
kettle or gas saucepan ...

So how about an induction hob?

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
Well measuring the electric kettle energy use should be easy enough with
a clamp meter and a DVM. You should be able to time the boil time for
the litre and come up with a pretty close overall energy use.

Why not simply look at the bottom of it and see how many watts it uses?
Far more accurate than a clamp meter.

--
*Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:36:24 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
Well measuring the electric kettle energy use should be easy enough with
a clamp meter and a DVM. You should be able to time the boil time for
the litre and come up with a pretty close overall energy use.

Why not simply look at the bottom of it and see how many watts it uses?
Far more accurate than a clamp meter.

Not necessarily. At about 242V on load, my current (sorry) kettle shows
about 2940W (so near enough for most purposes) but the last one was, IIRC,
about 28**W, where ** is mid-tens somewhere, so could be ~5% inaccurate.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Thu, 19 Sep 2013 22:49:58 +0100, Toby
wrote:

On 19/09/2013 11:06, T Bently wrote:
I got to wondering whether it was cheaper to use gas or electric to make our
cups of tea.


I've given this a bit more thought... It's cheaper here when the sun
is shining.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:36:24 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
Well measuring the electric kettle energy use should be easy enough with
a clamp meter and a DVM. You should be able to time the boil time for
the litre and come up with a pretty close overall energy use.

Why not simply look at the bottom of it and see how many watts it uses?
Far more accurate than a clamp meter.

You mean just like looking at the front panel of a bit of plastic cased 80's
hi-fi from Dixons?

--

In article ,
PeterC wrote:
Why not simply look at the bottom of it and see how many watts it uses?
Far more accurate than a clamp meter.

Not necessarily. At about 242V on load, my current (sorry) kettle shows
about 2940W (so near enough for most purposes) but the last one was,
IIRC, about 28**W, where ** is mid-tens somewhere, so could be ~5%
inaccurate.

And what's the accuracy of the clamp meter? Commonly +/- 2%.

--
*When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

mogga wrote:

I've given this a bit more thought... It's cheaper here when the sun
is shining.

And your task now is to work out the how long it would take to
pay back buying a 1 kW kettle, so that it is even cheaper for
more of the year, provided you can wait a little longer.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On 2013-09-19, John Rumm wrote:

On 19/09/2013 14:13, Roger Mills wrote:

Boiling one litre isn't going to use enough energy of either kind to
enable you to measure it accurately - especially electricity if you have
a digital meter which only displays whole kilowatt-hours. [And for gas,
you're going to have to know how to convert cubic feet or metres into
kWHr - which foxes many people!]

See the table he

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Gas_units

To get kWh, don't you need a "calorific value" (IIRC) that varies a
little from one gas bill to the next?