Why Go Electric?
One of the main advantages apart from having a potential to be eco-friendly, an electric boiler is smaller than an equivalent gas boiler. A compact size electric boiler will fit in your kitchen cupboard or other narrow spaces where you previously struggled to fit a gas boiler or larger models. As well as this, an electric boiler is much less likely to require any expensive maintenance costs or out-of-the-blue repairs. Most boiler types can be iffy, hence why they often come with long warranty periods. As soon as that warranty is up though, you could easily find yourself forking out hundreds on repairs, parts and check ups. With the electric combi boiler, that risk is at a minimum and you don't need to service it as much.
Price-wise, they are no different than their gas alternatives with electric boiler prices hovering around the £1,500 and £2,000 mark. The only downside to electric boilers is that the running costs are more expensive if you are still connected to the grid. Heat-only electric boilers are much cheaper than that – just around £400. The boiler installation costs for a typical electric combi can be comparable to the gas alternative but it may actually incur additional costs too because some older heating systems may require an upgrade to make sure that radiators further from the boiler can heat up in a timely manner.
Electric boilers are a popular choice in high-rise buildings because they don’t need a flue. Getting a boiler replaced on the 5th floor or above might prove a very costly job because we would have to erect scaffolding to be able to work on the flue. This is, unfortunately, completely out of reach for a large portion of people living in multi-storey apartment buildings. There is no such issue if you choose an electric combi boiler. It doesn’t need a flue and can be installed as high as on the top floor of a sky-scraper. All it needs is water supply and electric feed and you’re sorted.
Also, from the point of view of safety and maintenance, electric alternatives have an edge. You can’t control the temperature of a gas flame but you can control heat with electricity. With natural gas, the average temperature inside the flame is 1960 degrees. With such extreme temperatures, heat exchangers and other parts are subject to overheating and excessive wear. There is no such problem with an electrical heating element – electricity allows you to regulate temperature precisely, so the boiler parts never heat up more than it’s actually required. It’s very rare for an electric boiler to develop mechanical faults – something that can’t be said about gas boilers.
Unlike some other big name companies, who don’t yet install electric boilers, we at Glow Green do. If you think your home would benefit from an electric boiler, give us a call on 0330 113 9488 and speak to one of our advisors to discuss your options or and find out more information.
