electric or gas?

[TopTrumper]

fellas,
gas fires or electric fires, whats your opinions on pros and cons?

 

[conny]

If you've got loads of money, Gas.

If you've got loads +loads, +loads of money Electric.

If you've got no money,

A Donkey Jacket!

 

[davy_owen_88]

Pros for electric heaters:
You can install one yourself - they usually come with a moulded 13A plug so require no certification etc. and even if they don't, installing a FCU is not notifiable work (unless its going in the kitchen)
You don't need to get them serviced, no chimneys to sweep and no chance of being gassed while you sleep.
Don't need the extra ventilation that gas burning appliances do so I suppose you could argue that if your house is well insulated then they are going to be more efficient.

Cons for electric heaters:
More expensive to run than gas.
They don't look as nice as a real flame.


There are probably more pros and cons for each but that will depend on the actual heater you are looking at.

 

[NewOrder]

For cooker gas everytime, its cheaper to run and you don't need to worry about if the CU can handle that 10kw load on top of the dizzians of computers/washing machines/dryers etc running.

We had a Corgi remove the old gas fire because we felt an electric one would be safer long term as you can't get carbon monoxide poisening etc. It uses about 1.5kw it dosn't get hot but its better than nothing.

We don't have an electric shower either as it is just another potentional problem, the preasure is so great that you don't need a pump and the boiler can warm the tank up in 10 minutes.

 

[NewOrder]

Pros for electric heaters:
You can install one yourself - they usually come with a moulded 13A plug so require no certification etc. and even if they don't, installing a FCU is not notifiable work (unless its going in the kitchen)
You don't need to get them serviced, no chimneys to sweep and no chance of being gassed while you sleep.
Don't need the extra ventilation that gas burning appliances do so I suppose you could argue that if your house is well insulated then they are going to be more efficient.

Cons for electric heaters:
More expensive to run than gas.
They don't look as nice as a real flame.


There are probably more pros and cons for each but that will depend on the actual heater you are looking at.

I think you have got it spot on . We have had our electric fire for 8 years now and never had so much as a glow light fail on it. It is one of them fake flame ones. With a gas fire it costs a fortune to get them serviced.