Gas boiler for hot water versus electric immersion

dogbert27

Hi,

I have a gas central heating and use it for the hot water in the house.

I did not use the the immersion for hot water and disconnected it from the switch on the wall and instead connected a pump to the switch to provide enough pressure to the shower in the main bathroom.

I've rented out the house now and the new tenant isn't happy with gas central heating for hot water and wants the immersion re-connected.

Is heating the water with an immersion more cost effective than gas?

How would this affect the current set up with the pump? I think it should be okay as when the switch is off there's just no power to the pump. They would turn on the switch to get the immersion on and when the turn on the shower the pump should kick in.

antoinolachtnai

I would get the pump rewired properly so that it isn't dependent on the immersion to be switched on to run. There should be no problem having the pump wired like this but you need to get an electrician or someone familiar with such wiring to sort it out for you.

Gas is probably more efficient, but presumably the tenant is paying the bill, so if it makes the tenant happy to have an electric immersion, that is really up to them.

The usual setup is that there is both electricity and gas. It is handy with tenants, if only because it provides a backup if for some reason the gas boiler is not working.

Sleeper12

dogbert27 wrote:

Is heating the water with an immersion more cost effective than gas?

Gas is at least half the price of electricity when heating water.

Question : did you take supply direct from the immersion switch or did you take a spur off the immersion? The spur will have its own fuse. Usually 3 amp

dogbert27

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Gas is at least half the price of electricity when heating water.

Question : did you take supply direct from the immersion switch or did you take a spur off the immersion? The spur will have its own fuse. Usually 3 amp

I think it's direct supply.

I should probably get a second switch installed to have the two of them powered independently.

dogbert27

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

I would get the pump rewired properly so that it isn't dependent on the immersion to be switched on to run. There should be no problem having the pump wired like this but you need to get an electrician or someone familiar with such wiring to sort it out for you.

Gas is probably more efficient, but presumably the tenant is paying the bill, so if it makes the tenant happy to have an electric immersion, that is really up to them.

The usual setup is that there is both electricity and gas. It is handy with tenants, if only because it provides a backup if for some reason the gas boiler is not working.

I thought gas was cheaper too. Tenant doesn't want to use the gas central heating in the summer time to heat the water.

dogbert27

Back again trying to figure this out.

So, in the summer if the tenant turns down the thermostats on the walls to not heat the house but turns on the gas heating for say an hour or two to heat the hot water is this not equivalent to turning on an immersion for a few hours?

Does the gas boiler heat the water as fast as an electric immersion element?

Sleeper12

In the summer you turn the thermostat all the way up & turn off all the the rads for hot water. Turn the stat down and the boiler won't kick in

dogbert27

Sleeper12 wrote: »

In the summer you turn the thermostat all the way up & turn off all the the rads for hot water. Turn the stat down and the boiler won't kick in

Cheers.

Sounds like this will be a lot of hassle for the tenant. I guess if they wants an electric element connected up for the immersion then I can say okay but at their cost.

dogbert27

Sleeper12 wrote: »

In the summer you turn the thermostat all the way up & turn off all the the rads for hot water. Turn the stat down and the boiler won't kick in

Sorry, actually this confuses me. How does turning off the wall thermostats trip out the gas boiler?

Sleeper12

dogbert27 wrote:

Sorry, actually this confuses me. How does turning off the wall thermostats trip out the gas boiler?

Boiler kicks in when temperature in the room drops below the temperature set in the stat. If stat is turned down then boiler will never come on.

If you have stats at 15 degrees & it's 20 degrees in the house then boiler can't come on
In summer stats turn full up and rads off

dogbert27

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Boiler kicks in when temperature in the room drops below the temperature set in the stat. If stat is turned down then boiler will never come on.

If you have stats at 15 degrees & it's 20 degrees in the house then boiler can't come on
In summer stats turn full up and rads off

What if the stat downstairs is at 15 degrees and the stat upstairs is at 20 degrees?

Sleeper12

dogbert27 wrote:

What if the stat downstairs is at 15 degrees and the stat upstairs is at 20 degrees?

I haven't a clue what way the boiler is wired in so stats up full