Approximate cost of boiling a kettle??

jayteecork

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask.

Just wondering how much.

I gave up tea for a while and my ESB bill reduced drastically.

Now I'm off the demon drink and am back drinking at least 10 cups a day.

I have a fancy high speed boiling kettle and I fear it's driving my bills through the roof.

My bill went from 80e to 160e this cycle.

If it cost say 10c to boil a kettle for one mug of tea, and I did this on average 10 times a day. That's a euro a day and 60 euro extra for the 2 month billing cycle.

Are these figures anyway right?

Would changing my kettle to a regular one help?

Thanks.

Idbatterim

easiest thing to do it just pour one cup of water in to the kettle! i.e not boiling any more than you need, the cost of the boil would depend on a number of factors though, amount of water in kettle, efficiency of said kettle, cost of your electricity provider etc...

Cuddlesworth

Assuming a 2 minute boil, 10 times a day, 30 days in a month, that's 10 hours of roughly 2250 watts a month, which is roughly 45 units or 4 quid a month.

If your bills have shot up, I would start with the heavy drain appliances. Electric heaters, heating pumps, fridge/freezers, washing machines, dryers and ovens.

But its possible that your increased cost is simply your normal usage patterns. Opening the fridge more during the day, using the oven/grill more, more washes, more kettle usage, a laptop on all day, lights left on, heating being run, TV on all day. All these could add a couple of Euros each over two months but in overall context would increase the bill overall by a large amount.

nudger

High speed kettle 3kw taking say 2 minutes to boil.
Average unit 1Kw hour €0.18.
So €0.18 x 3 = €0.54 for an hour.
1, 2 minute boil = €0.54 divided by 30 so €0.018.
With vat and bits and bobs about 3c a boil.

In our house the Kettle is always on at least 30 times a day so that's about €1 a day.

jayteecork

Idbatterim wrote: »

easiest thing to do it just pour one cup of water in to the kettle!

lol I'm not that thick.

pawrick

Moved to a new apartment a couple of weeks ago with control panel on the meter which shows the cost of the units you are using at that moment etc. It's the turning on and forgetting about it so that it has to be reboiled that adds up a lot more then people think. Also over filling for your needs means it takes longer to boil.

That and a drier - it eats electricity compared to anything else in the house.

mood

Electric bill are always higher in winter so maybe it's down to that. If you have a smart phone there is a Electric Ireland app (free I think) that allows you to calculate the cost of running any household appliance.

nudger

Heard a guy on with Joe Duffy the other day who boils the kettle in the morning makes his tea and then fills a big flask and that covers the tea till dinner time.
Not a bad idea the guy said he was saving €20 a month.


Interesting to have a look at this.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/resources/images/video/wattage_calculator/wattage_calclulator.html

mood

nudger wrote: »

Heard a guy on with Joe Duffy the other day who boils the kettle in the morning makes his tea and then fills a big flask and that covers the tea till dinner time.
Not a bad idea the guy said he was saving €20 a month.

...and drinks horrible tea

nudger

mood wrote: »

...and drinks horrible tea

You could throw it on the spuds for dinner.:)

Forest Demon

If you bought 10 cups of tea a day in cafe it would be costing you €7300 a year at €2 a cup. Your saving a fortune. Enjoy your tea.

Milk & Honey

Lighting can be up to 20% of an electricity bill. Lights are on for longer in Winter so bills go up for that reason. Water coming in from the mains and in the attic tank is colder so the cost of using all appliances which heat water e.g. immersion, washing machine, dishwasher, electric showers and kettle is higher.
fridges can be a major drain because they are on 24/7 and if the thermostat goes it can be massive.

Procrastastudy

Jesus I remember the specific heat capacity of water. 4200J. That A-level in chemistry was worth something after all!

Victor

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Jesus I remember the specific heat capacity of water. 4200J. That A-level in chemistry was worth something after all!

Indeed. Hope for you yet.

Boiling one litre of water from 0 degrees to 100 degrees takes 0.12 of a unit* (one kilowatt hour) so 2 cents for a litre, 4 cents for two litres. There would be some heat loss, but that is off-set by the water starting at more than 0 degrees.

Anything that creates heat, especially heating water, will use a lot of energy compared to the perception, then light, whereas sound uses very little energy.


* (4200J/kg/degree) x (100 degrees) / (3600000Js/kWh)

dickwod1

Theres an app available http://www.siliconrepublic.com/clean-tech/item/23523-esb-app-for-iphone-and-andr tells you the consumption/cost of most appliances

tara73

OP, would be very easy to check how much your kettle uses.

write down the actual meterreading, put on the kettle, look again how much was used.. there you have it:)

10 cent is way too much, even for a completely filled kettle average 1 litre.

victors figures sound right.

John Mason

using the electric ireland applicance calculator

https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential-energy-services/reduce-your-costs/appliance_calc/appliance_calculator.jsp

Mr. Loverman

nudger wrote: »

Heard a guy on with Joe Duffy the other day who boils the kettle in the morning makes his tea and then fills a big flask and that covers the tea till dinner time.
Not a bad idea the guy said he was saving €20 a month.

I can't help but feel that's a grim life though...

Jo King

If you have an open fire you can suspend a kettle of water over it and have it boiled for free.

jayteecork

Jo King wrote: »

If you have an open fire you can suspend a kettle of water over it and have it boiled for free.

I do in me hole.

mood

Jo King wrote: »

If you have an open fire you can suspend a kettle of water over it and have it boiled for free.

You would also have to burn fuel all day long so unless you do anyway it's hardly a cost effective solution. Also that would be very dangerous is you didn't have a stove/range.

Sarn

nudger wrote: »

Heard a guy on with Joe Duffy the other day who boils the kettle in the morning makes his tea and then fills a big flask and that covers the tea till dinner time.
Not a bad idea the guy said he was saving €20 a month.[/url]

Alternatively, assuming a person works, you could make your tea in work and then fill a flask before you go home.

In addition, if your workplace has a shower...(saving on energy and future water charges!)

mood

Another option is to drink less tea.

nudger

Sarn wrote: »

Alternatively, assuming a person works, you could make your tea in work and then fill a flask before you go home.

In addition, if your workplace has a shower...(saving on energy and future water charges!)

Now your talkin, does your workplace have a dishwasher or a washing machine?:D
Maybe they have a few Euro bins out the back as well.:cool:

jayteecork

mood wrote: »

Another option is to drink less tea.

Can't, MUST HAVE TEA.

It's the cup that cheers, but not inebriates.

mood

jayteecork wrote: »

Can't, MUST HAVE TEA.

It's the cup that cheers, but not inebriates.

Then you MUST PAY simple as that.

Fighting Irish

get one of those flask things that keep the hot water hot, so any hot water left over after boiling can be saved for the next time someone wants hot water

jayteecork

Fighting Irish wrote: »

get one of those flask things that keep the hot water hot, so any hot water left over after boiling can be saved for the next time someone wants hot water

Why don't I check public phones and vending machines for change while I'm at it.

I'm not a miser.

jayteecork

mood wrote: »

Then you MUST PAY simple as that.

I feel I'm paying too much though.

gonna buy a cheap normal boil kettle and see how that goes.

Fighting Irish

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

I can't help but feel that's a grim life though...

no more waiting for hot water to boil 11ty times a day though

mood

I'm sure you could find other, better ways of cutting bills etc.

Bruthal

jayteecork wrote: »

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask.

Just wondering how much.

I gave up tea for a while and my ESB bill reduced drastically.

Now I'm off the demon drink and am back drinking at least 10 cups a day.

I have a fancy high speed boiling kettle and I fear it's driving my bills through the roof.

My bill went from 80e to 160e this cycle.

If it cost say 10c to boil a kettle for one mug of tea, and I did this on average 10 times a day. That's a euro a day and 60 euro extra for the 2 month billing cycle.

Are these figures anyway right?

Would changing my kettle to a regular one help?

Thanks.

About 1 cent per minute is a good enough estimate for a 3kw kettle.
About 1 cent per minute and 40 seconds for a 2kw one roughly.

Both will cost the same to heat the same amount of water.

nudger

Fill an empty 2 litre bottle with fresh water each morning and put it on top of a radiator, should bring it up to 25 degrees.

If you don't have any rads stick it down the back of your trousers.:)

MadsL

Switch to iced tea \o/

Qualitymark

jayteecork wrote: »

I have a fancy high speed boiling kettle and I fear it's driving my bills through the roof.

My bill went from 80e to 160e this cycle.

This sounds insane.

If you have a friend with an ordinary kettle, borrow it, then turn everything in the house off and read the meter. Boil your fancy kettle and check the reading. Boil the ordinary kettle and check the reading again. That should tell you.

If it's this one

http://www.superkettles.co.uk/html/technical.html

the problem may lie in this:

Function. SuperKettles are designed to be filled and left on continuously, so near-boiling water is available any time for hot drinks, 'instant' foods, filling flasks, speeding pasta or vegetable cooking, etc. They do not need to be emptied, just topped up with cold water at 'quiet' times when hot water is not needed for the short period of heat-up.

If it's keeping the water hot all the time, of course it'll gobble up energy.

Incidentally, do not think of using hot water from the immersion to make your tea. For a start, it'll taste nasty; also, you risk verdigris poisoning.

Bruthal

Qualitymark wrote: »

This sounds insane.

If you have a friend with an ordinary kettle, borrow it, then turn everything in the house off and read the meter. Boil your fancy kettle and check the reading. Boil the ordinary kettle and check the reading again. That should tell you.

If it's this one

http://www.superkettles.co.uk/html/technical.html

the problem may lie in this:



If it's keeping the water hot all the time, of course it'll gobble up energy.

The fact the op says its a quick boil one, suggests it is not a continuous on type one. (You never know though)

If its a high speed boiling kettle, it is possibly a 1 cup one, and so will be cheaper than the standard kettle, boiling only the amount required.

If it is just a standard type kettle with a higher powered element, it will still cost the same as boiling the same amount of water as a lower powered element one. Not filling the kettle to capacity for one cup of tea, will help.

No need for meter reading comparisons of two kettles.

Incidentally, do not think of using hot water from the immersion to make your tea. For a start, it'll taste nasty; also, you risk verdigris poisoning.

I doubt many would do that.

Qualitymark

robbie7730 wrote: »

I doubt many would do that.

Don't doubt it. Someone I knew was using water from the hot tap to mix her baby's food until the doctor quizzed her after yet another tummy upset and told her to stop.

By the way, this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-HD4644-Energy-Efficient-Kettle/dp/B001EHF3OG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1351153550&sr=8-3

claims 66% less energy use.

Bruthal

Qualitymark wrote: »

Don't doubt it. Someone I knew was using water from the hot tap to mix her baby's food until the doctor quizzed her after yet another tummy upset and told her to stop.

Yea it wouldnt susprise me that.

But a person drinking something themselves from the hot tap water wouldnt do it for long. As you say yourself, I wouldnt think the tea would be too nice from it, even when boiled in the kettle.

Bruthal

Qualitymark wrote: »

By the way, this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-HD4644-Energy-Efficient-Kettle/dp/B001EHF3OG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1351153550&sr=8-3

claims 66% less energy use.

Likely due to the fact it has a 1 cup of water level indicator, and so you can just boil the amount being used.

Rasmus

The electric Ireland app is amazing, but alarming.

BrensBenz

My Leader of the Opposition regularly heats / reheats a teacup of water in the microwave and then adds the tea bag. This is too close to cookery for my taste but the arithmetic might be interesting, i.e. 800 to 1000Watt microwave for 20 seconds vs. a 2000+Watt kettle for 2 minutes.

Qualitymark

Another solution might be to get a big teapot and use real tea instead of teabags, and put a tea-cosy on the teapot, so you get lots of hot cups of proper tea that tastes of tea, not of bag-paper. Delicious tea (I like Barry's Gold Blend), and you don't have to keep boiling kettles for each cup.

nudger

Just thought I'd throw using gas into the equation.
http://suite101.com/article/gas-or-electric-kettle-which-is-greener-to-use-a184664

When cooking/boiling veg, pasta etc, boil the electric kettle to fill the pot, don't boil cold water on the gas.

mood

jayteecork wrote: »

.

My bill went from 80e to 160e this cycle.

Chances are that the bill increase is not only due to boiling water for tea. It is now winter and everyone know bills are higher in winter due to more light being used etc.

Qualitymark

mood wrote: »

Chances are that the bill increase is not only due to boiling water for tea. It is now winter and everyone know bills are higher in winter due to more light being used etc.

All depends, though - if OP is boiling a separate kettle for every cup, that could add up.

(But yes, you're right - it could be a huge bill because of an earlier estimated reading, for instance.)

mood

Qualitymark wrote: »

All depends, though - if OP is boiling a separate kettle for every cup, that could add up.

(But yes, you're right - it could be a huge bill because of an earlier estimated reading, for instance.)

Yes. OP assuming you are living in the same house/apt, with the same amount of people, with the same electrical appliances/gadgets (and same usage) why not take out the bill form the last few years and compare them for this time of year (taking into account and rate increases)?

Did you try the Electric Ireland app yet?

langdang

BrensBenz wrote: »

My Leader of the Opposition regularly heats / reheats a teacup of water in the microwave and then adds the tea bag. This is too close to cookery for my taste but the arithmetic might be interesting, i.e. 800 to 1000Watt microwave for 20 seconds vs. a 2000+Watt kettle for 2 minutes.

I doubt it would be more efficient than boiling just what you need in a kettle.
The losses would be higher in the microwave would be my gut feeling!

Bruthal

BrensBenz wrote: »

My Leader of the Opposition regularly heats / reheats a teacup of water in the microwave and then adds the tea bag. This is too close to cookery for my taste but the arithmetic might be interesting, i.e. 800 to 1000Watt microwave for 20 seconds vs. a 2000+Watt kettle for 2 minutes.

An 800 watt microwave wont boil a cup of room temperature water in 20 seconds, or anything remotely as quick as that. Anyone that tries it now will see a time closer to 2 minutes.

It will also take about 1300 to 1400 watts to output 800 watts.

The 3000watt kettle will put must of that into the water, so one cup in a kettle v one cup in a microwave, the kettle is better. The kettles where the element can be seen in the bottom of it, so its surrounded by water, are slightly more efficient than the flat bottom ones.

Bruthal

langdang wrote: »

I doubt it would be more efficient than boiling just what you need in a kettle.
The losses would be higher in the microwave would be my gut feeling!

Your gut feeling is correct. My 800 watt one takes 1350 watts from the electrical supply. 60% efficient. The kettle would be in the 90`s id say.

Bruthal

nudger wrote: »

Just thought I'd throw using gas into the equation.
http://suite101.com/article/gas-or-electric-kettle-which-is-greener-to-use-a184664

When cooking/boiling veg, pasta etc, boil the electric kettle to fill the pot, don't boil cold water on the gas.

They seem to assume the electricity to boil the kettle just exists in the house. Since the site asks which is greener to use, the electricity generation should be taken into account.

nudger

Far to much time on my hands.

My 3k kettle v my 800w microwave, mug of water in each one.

Kettle 55 seconds to boil, Micro stopped at first bubble in mug 170 seconds.

Stuck a thermometer in both roughly the same 90c.

Micro works out best but if you are right about the micro pulling 1300w to output 800w then the kettle is best, and quicker anyway.