HELP NEEDED DO I SWITCH FROM AN ELECTRIC BOILER TO GAS

[patatbat]

I currently live in a 4 bed end of terrace victorian house, with 11 radiators and two towel rails.

Currently have installed a 6kw potterton gold electric boiler, which heats a hot water cylinder and provides heating to the radiators.

My electricity usage is extremely high and killing me financially typically i have the heating on for 6/7 hours a day and have the hot water running throughout the day. Worth noting that when the heating is on in all rooms it can never produce a radiator that is too hot to touch. They are always luke warm.

My smart meter tells me that im using around 70kwh of electricity a day, this includes other appliances. But the bulk of this is the heating/hot water.

7hours x 6kwh = 42kwh a day, plus an additional 10-15wkh for having the hot water consistently on. Leaves me with 13kwh a day for other appliances which add up.

If I were to move to gas, id suspect id need a 30kwh boiler for the amount of radiators I have. Would it be safe to say I would need half the amount of time and have hotter rads?

In that case it would work out a lot cheaper, to heat the place. What do you guys think?

 

[SimonG]

Why do you have electric and not gas?

Do you have a mains gas supply?

 

[gpbeck]

To do this properly you need to calculate the heat loss of your home. Online calculators are available which will give an approximate answer. That is the size of the boiler you need. Not sure why you would wish to only run the system for 3 hours, it will just cool down. Best to run a gas boiler for a longer time with the radiators less hot. The room temperature is what matters, not red hot radiators. I suspect you home might need a lot more than 6kW to match its heat losses. You might find it helpful to upgrade insulation. A gas boiler would probably deliver more energy than at present, but at a 3rd of the cost per kW. Electric boilers are easy to fit but horrendously expensive to run.

 

[patatbat]

I do have mains gas, but the builder explained that electric in the long run would be a good idea. Its now costing me a fortune!

If i were to switch to a gas boiler (lets say a 30kwh) boiler. If thats on all day surely its using significantly much more gas (30kwh) an hour which will probably end up costing more than the electric boiler.

30kwh at 10p a unit is £3 per hour
6kwh at 36p a unit works out at £2.16 per hour

Is that the right way to look at it? Or would a gas boiler be on less of the time? As it heats up the rads quicker

 

[Murdoch]

I must say that a 6KW electric boiler seems a little on the small side for a home of that size

 

[Gasmk1]

I do have mains gas, but the builder explained that electric in the long run would be a good idea. Its now costing me a fortune!

If i were to switch to a gas boiler (lets say a 30kwh) boiler. If thats on all day surely its using significantly much more gas (30kwh) an hour which will probably end up costing more than the electric boiler.

30kwh at 10p a unit is £3 per hour
6kwh at 36p a unit works out at £2.16 per hour

Is that the right way to look at it? Or would a gas boiler be on less of the time? As it heats up the rads quicker

Boilers do not run at full rate all the time now they modulate so yes your calculations are wrong

 

[Knappers]

Gas boiler is going to be around 90% efficient so to get the same level of service you do currently 57Kwh of electric, you would use about 63Kwh of gas so you can do the maths using your energy rates.
You also need to consider that a 30kw gas boiler will have the capacity to work much better and make your home more comfortable/warmer but that this extra comfort would be at the cost of higher useage.
There's likely no reason you couldn't keep both systems connected so if you have any problems or things change, you could just switch back to electric.

 

[Knappers]

Electric £19 a day for heat based on 34p/kwh
Gas £6.50 a day for heat based on 10.3p/kwh

Moral of the story - don't listen to a builders advice on hating

 

[Knappers]

That's a 3k boiler install paid back in 8 months (prob 12 when you factor in seasonal changes)

 

[SimonG]

Already said above but worth a repeat.

Never listen to builders with regard to plumbing and heating.

 

[Murdoch]

Already said above but worth a repeat.

Never listen to builders with regard to plumbing and heating.

or electrics

 

[patatbat]

thanks for the information.. Could you guys reccomend a good gas boiler? Ideally one that is not too loud, as it will sent in the loft near a bedroom. Issue I now have is that I need to make a hole in the roof for the flue which will be costly im guessing

 

[patatbat]

Electric £19 a day for heat based on 34p/kwh
Gas £6.50 a day for heat based on 10.3p/kwh

Moral of the story - don't listen to a builders advice on hating

How do you work this out? It works out to be 63kwh of gas.. That would mean the boiler is only on for two hours??

 

[gpbeck]

How do you work this out? It works out to be 63kwh of gas.. That would mean the boiler is only on for two hours??

Gas boilers rarely run flat out. Why do you think like this? Lower for longer is the whole point of central heating. 63 kWh of gas might last 8 hours with boiler running at 25%, matching the heat loss from your home, keeping you comfortable rather than from roasting to shivering.

 

[patatbat]

Gas boilers rarely run flat out. Why do you think like this? Lower for longer is the whole point of central heating. 63 kWh of gas might last 8 hours with boiler running at 25%, matching the heat loss from your home, keeping you comfortable rather than from roasting to shivering.

Ok, this is all very comforting to hear.. I assumed they worked in a similar fashion to the electric one. Its either off or running at 6kwh.. There is no inbetween.

Game plan is to rip this thing out. If anyone wants an electric boiler (5 months old) please do get in touch

 

[Knappers]

thanks for the information.. Could you guys reccomend a good gas boiler? Ideally one that is not too loud, as it will sent in the loft near a bedroom. Issue I now have is that I need to make a hole in the roof for the flue which will be costly im guessing

Baxi boilers are light and quiet but I doubt any modern boiler would be too noisy.
Worcester, baxi and viessmann are the brands I work with.