[Technology] Using an immersion heater instead of a gas boiler for heating water?

Deleted member 37369 · Jul 6, 2022

swindonseagull said:
At the moment with a combi boiler and gas cooking my gas bill is £12 per month

Maybe if you had a 5 min shower instead of 30 mins ??

Very similar ... combi boiler + gas hob ... and recently, £14.14 on gas in May and £13.42 in June on my current fixed rate deal ... which sadly will go up on just one month!

And a 5 minute shower is plenty. I put shower on to wet hair and then turn it off. Wash hair ... then rinse hair and wet body. Shower off again ... soap up

D) then shower on to rinse again! Shower is actually on for 5 minutes max.

Mrs HS has shower on the whole time though ... and after 40 years I've no chance of changing her behaviour

Weststander · Jul 6, 2022

Combi boiler here, 4 of us, 3 of whom love baths.

Summer's gas costing us £40 and elec £93 per month.

But about to double, with Octopus.

Bold Seagull · Jul 6, 2022

Weststander said:
Combi boiler here, 4 of us, 3 of whom love baths.

Summer's gas costing £40 and elec £93 per month.

But about to double, with Octopus.

The Bold boys (there are 3 of us) only have a bath if all three can jump in one after the other. Those is the rules. The Bold girls do not even entertain being part of this. And who could blame them... :lolol:

Weststander · Jul 6, 2022

Bold Seagull said:
The Bold boys (there are 3 of us) only have a bath if all three can jump in one after the other. Those is the rules. The Bold girls do not even entertain being part of this. And who could blame them...

We did that for many years, until our then teenage kids made claims of urrrggghh, yucky water. Plus the later bathers weren't happy about not having red hot water.

Shropshire Seagull · Jul 6, 2022

swindonseagull said:
At the moment with a combi boiler and gas cooking my gas bill is £12 per month

That's pretty impressive given that 30 days of the gas tariff-cap standing charge of 27p per day is about eight quid of that!

BrightonCottager · Jul 6, 2022

B-right-on said:
Try girls.

If my 16yo daughter spends more than 5 minutes in the shower , I warn her then turn the boiler off after a minute. She gets the message and now switches the water off when shampooing her copious hair. Myself, I use the Navy / Australian technique:
1 get wet. Turn shower off
2 soap up and scrub using my designated flannel or Mrs BC's scrubbing thing (if she's annoyed me)
3 rinse off.

Rogero · Jul 6, 2022

We had the bath taken out 5 years . It’s better and a lot cheaper by having a shower .

Shropshire Seagull · Jul 6, 2022

I have one shower a month whether I need it or not ....

Since1982 · Jul 6, 2022

We have a gas combi boiler and two of us in a sizeable but relatively modern house. Induction hob so gas is only used for showers and any other hot water needs. In June Electricity was £105, gas £20.

Notters · Jul 6, 2022

beorhthelm said:
are you missing a "0", living in a cupboard or have a broken meter?

Ours was £9 for June with four of us having baths/showers every day.
I suspect you're talking about an average month (including heating) rather than a summer month?

Electricity was £48.

METALMICKY · Jul 6, 2022

Only 4 of us ( 2 adults & 7 year old twins) in modest 3 bedroom house. Combi boiler fitted 2 years ago and heating has been off for 2 months.

This months combined gas and electricity bill ( from readings not estimated) from Bulb £202! :rant:

Average combined bill used to be only £90

swindonseagull · Jul 6, 2022

beorhthelm said:
are you missing a "0", living in a cupboard or have a broken meter?

No ‘0’s missing at all

We have been with Octopus many years, we pay £178 per month what has gone up from 120 per month but we are still building up credit as we always do over the summer months .

All of our lights were converted to LED last year and the only things that run all the time are , freezer in the garage, fridge freezer in the kitchen and 2 pond pumps none of those draw much electricity,

No kids in the house on the TV or play stations/ whatever all day

Washing machine and dishwasher go on when full and certainly not daily.

B-right-on · Jul 6, 2022

Notters said:
Ours was £9 for June with four of us having baths/showers every day.
I suspect you're talking about an average month (including heating) rather than a summer month?

Electricity was £48.

No chance mate. Standing charge for gas is 27p a day which is £8 a month, so you used £1 of gas for a family of 4 with daily showers?

Either reading is wrong or you had a credit which they've used against your bill.

I'd estimate £200 p/m for both based on what you say.

chip · Jul 6, 2022

B-right-on said:
Is the only gas appliance your boiler? That sounds a lot. Is it old? We've gone for a top of the range Valliant one that's super efficient on gas usage. Going to be more economical in the long run.

I had one of these fitted last year. My gas usage went down from 18Mw to 12Mw and the heating works much better, I hope you find the same. Gas is still 1/4 the price of electricity, not wise to heat water this way.

Tony Towner's Fridge · Jul 6, 2022

Change at Barnham said:
With energy bills going through the roof I’ve noticed that two thirds of our energy bill total is the amount we pay for gas.

Our washing machine and dishwasher use cold feeds and we don’t have the heating on in the summer. Therefore the boiler fires up twice a day for an hour to heat up our water for our showers.

Can anyone advise if they think it would be more efficient to use the immersion heater each time we want a shower instead?

I had the same conversation with my Brother in Law last week I put my 19kw boiler on for an hour a day to heat the water. This costs about £1.30a day. A 3kw immersion for an hour would be 81p or so. Best would be one of these under sink Point of Use (POU) heaters that gives hot water on demand, but then it would only service one sink. At this time of year a 4kw solar array connected to feed the house and warm the immersion would be good but the capital install costs would seem excessive.

Interesting to see if there are any other alternative proposals?

TNBA

TTF

NooBHA · Jul 6, 2022

This theory doesn't work. My building is " all electronic " and they are trebbling in the same way as gas is.

happypig · Jul 6, 2022

I'm having to use the immersion as we're having work done and the chimney, with the gas flue going up it, has been removed.

Notters · Jul 6, 2022

B-right-on said:
No chance mate. Standing charge for gas is 27p a day which is £8 a month, so you used £1 of gas for a family of 4 with daily showers?

Either reading is wrong or you had a credit which they've used against your bill.

I'd estimate £200 p/m for both based on what you say.

OK I've double checked. It was just the usage.
Standing charge is 24.75p so more like £19 a month. (Circa £80 in the winter).

Still on a fixed rate mind.

bomber130 · Jul 7, 2022

Surprised this hasn’t already been mentioned but why not install a power shower. Apologies if it has been mentioned.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

VAL1850 · Jul 7, 2022

phoenix said:
My emmersion goes on for 40 min cheap rate at 5 am (I've wired in a timer 3kw) and stays hot all day even after my shower. I try to shower as late in the day as possible. But i'm a single person occupant. Total cost 40p per day.
Whole family would be quite expensive i would imagine.

That's exactly what I do, however 5of my showers a week are in the gym...

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[Technology] Using an immersion heater instead of a gas boiler for heating water?

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