Just been reviewing my gas and eleckky bills and nearly s**t myself. I'm the first to admit
I'm hopeless at swapping to find the best deals, too complacent, but after realising I pay WELL
over a grand for both it's time to act.
First thing was to swap suppliers to a capped deal and I then looked at where I use most power.
1- Shower
2- Tumble drier ( don't think the missus knows about washing lines)
3- Kettle (my fault, bit of a tea belly
4- Power tools but they're exempt

Apparently kettles are designed to last 4 years at just over 1600 boils a year, just over 4 a day,
mine must do 10

So it got me thinking, as a unit of gas is cheaper than one of electricity, which is cheaper to boil
water taking into account a 3kw kettle and gas takes longer ??

Since your worried about your kettle, I presume you haven't got
a well lit heated garage with a lathe, welder, etc, etc....



Paul G

biggest saving on kettle, apart from getting next door too boil it is only have in the kettle the water you need.

I'm with Jon. Do a test - put two mugs worth of water in the kettle and time it to boil. Then try it with, for example, 6 mugs worth. A unit is a kW/hr. So say the kettle is rated at 3kW, and a unit costs 10p. If the 'two mugs' takes 2 mins to boil it'll have cost 2/60 x 10p x 3 = 1p; if the '6 mugs' takes 6 minutes then the cost will be 3p. Take your 10 boils a day over 365 days and 2 mugs is £36.50, and 6 mugs is £109.50, 73 quid could theoretically be saved. Of course that assumes you are like me and are happy to 'brew in the mug', unlike my significant other half who boils a whole kettle so she can warm the pot and make a pot-full for herself

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Originally posted by 907
Since your worried about your kettle, I presume you haven't got
a well lit heated garage with a lathe, welder, etc, etc....



Paul G

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get her a washing line, the tumble dryer probably uses as much energy as the kettle amd you can cut it out almost completely. the money saved can go on the car

Best way I found to reduce my gas bill was to get the cavity walls insulated - not kidding, it made a HUGE difference.

After that, anything that heats will cost you money.

David

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Best way I found to reduce my gas bill was to get the cavity walls insulated - not kidding, it made a HUGE difference.

After that, anything that heats will cost you money.

David

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Don't get me started... My problem is windows. Its a conservation area and I have wood sash windows. I want to keep them, trying to find decent secondary glazing. Some of the sash windows are over 8'o" high.
Anyone know of a decent system that fits internally?

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Originally posted by stevebubs

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Best way I found to reduce my gas bill was to get the cavity walls insulated - not kidding, it made a HUGE difference.

After that, anything that heats will cost you money.

David

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How much did it cost, if you don't mind me asking?

[Edited on 17/3/06 by stevebubs]

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Anything that gets hot uses lots of power. Tumble driers, irons, kettles, heaters etc.

Gas was cheaper than electricity per joule (OK kW hour, for those who like this travesty of a unit) but with recent price rises, I don't know anymore.

More than half of our electricity is made from gas. The gas boils water to steam which drived a turbine which drives a generator which pushes current through lossy wires into your kettle. Or you could use it to boil water to pour on your tea. Overall, a gas kettle is more efficient.

The cavity wall cost me a couple of hundred (and it's a 4-bedroom detached house), with a deal arranged between Poor-gen (sorry... Powergen) and the local council.

My house always got chilled very fast when the wind blew - not draughts, the walls got cold. Now it's a lot more snug, and the heating doesn't come on so often. I reckon I'll see pay-back time in a year or so.

There's a limited market for this though - if you've got a very old house then you won't have cavities, and if it's modern then it'll already be insulated. Anything from 1940's to 1980's should be ripe for it.

David

We recently had ours done FOC as we have an under 16 living in the house, there was a thread on here recently, CBA too find it though.

Iv just dont the insulation in my loft. Well half of it, still gotta do the other half. Its made hell of a difference to the heat held in the rooms underneath where ive done it. I want to get the walls done at some point. Theres a huge saving to be had from your heating bill after this.

My tumble dryer used to be on most of the time except in the summer. No i got a clothes horse and one of those line that pulls out over the bath. Tumble is only used when we have to now. Its saved a bit.

Just trying to educate the wife into not leaving every light on in the house and both tellies on. You can only be in one room at a time after all.

As said already. A kettle used sod all to heat 2 cups worth of water. Mine takes about 40 seconds at most.

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Originally posted by Danozeman
Just trying to educate the wife into not leaving every light on in the house and both tellies on. You can only be in one room at a time after all.

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Spookely enough my bill just turned up on the mat. £680 for lecky About half what it was since I changed some of the heating.

How much?!

Big house

Was an old nursing home. When I bought it there were mainly storage radiators, god awful things. Most have now gone. But the holiday flat still has storage radiators untill I get them changed.

Ever seen the film "The money pit" well thats here...boo hoo

[Edited on 17/3/06 by Lightning]

Just paid my bills for the last quarter -

Lecky ~ £113
Gas ~ £150

DJ

dunno how you lot do it,my bills are about £30 each for sparks and gas.
but then i dont have a dishwasher/tumble dryer/iron

git

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Originally posted by Jon Ison
We recently had ours done FOC as we have an under 16 living in the house, there was a thread on here recently, CBA too find it though.

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