Why using kettle costs more than you think

Did you know that you could save £000’s per year by not having staff standing by a boiling kettle ?

Changing from a kettle to a hot water boiler not only reduces the amount of time spent waiting for a cup of hot water but time and energy.

Clearly, each workplace is different, so to help you hears some financials.

The essential question to ask.

Q: How does an Water Boiler save you money?
A: You no longer have to waste time waiting for a kettle to boil.

An average 3kW kettle takes 4 minutes to boil and if all the water in each kettle is actually used, it will produce 5 mugs of hot water.

Scenario:

If you have 20 staff that each have 4 hot drinks per day (80 mugs), the kettle will be boiled a minimum of 16 times. It will probably be boiled more often as no-one ever empties it entirely each time they use it. So assuming they do actually use all the water every time, the kettle is boiled 16 times a day.
… 16 x 4 minutes = 64 minutes or … let’s say an hour.

If the person, or the people, who make the hot drinks are on a salary of £20,000pa and they work a 40-hour week, their hourly wage is £9.62/hour.

You are paying £9.62 per day whilst the person waits for the kettle to boil.

£9.62 x 5 days = £48.10 per week
£48.10 x 52 weeks = £2501.20 per year
30 staff, 120 mugs a day = £3751.80 per year
40 staff, 160 mugs a day = £5002.40 per year
and so on …

Comparisons between a kettle and a hot water boiler

Energy Consumption:
In terms of actual energy consumption, there is very little difference between a kettle and an water boiler. In fact, the boiler becomes cheaper to run the more people use it; Unit of Electricity in kW/h = 12 pence (approximately).

The Kettle: An average kettle is 3kW and takes 4 minutes (0.07 hours) to boil.
So 3kW x 0.07h = 0.21 kWh, 0.21 x 12p = 2.5p
So it costs 2.5p to boil a kettle of water. If all the water in the kettle is used it will produce 5 mugs of hot water.

Taking the same scenario; if you have 20 staff that have 4 mugs a day each, that’s 80 mugs, so the kettle is boiled a minimum of 16 times.
So 20 staff, 80 mugs, 16 boils 16 x 2.5p = 40p per day
30 staff, 120 mugs, 24 boils 24 x 2.5p = 60p per day
40 staff, 160 mugs, 32 boils 32 x 2.5p = 80p per day
and so on …

The Water Boiler:

Standby (Idle Mode): The electrical consumption of the 5  litre 3kW water boiler, whilst on standby is 0.07kW/h, which means it will use one unit of electricity (12p) in 14 hours (0.86p per hour), or 20.6p per day. A free timer allows you to turn off the boiler when it is not likely to be used – e.g. at night when the staff go home.

Energy usage (when in use): Water Boilers are designed so that it only boils the water that is used each time. It will run for approximately 30 seconds for each mug of water drawn-off … 1 minute for 2 mugs, 2 minutes for 4 mugs …
So for 20 staff, requiring 80 mugs, it will be on for 40 minutes (0.66 hours) throughout the day;

So 3kW x 0.66h = 1.98kWh 1.98 x 12p = 23.7p
Add this to the standby amount of 20.6p per day gives a total of:
For 20 staff, 80 mugs; 44.3p per day
For 30 staff, 120 mugs; 56.6p per day
For 40 staff, 160 mugs; 68.5p per day

In conclusion

Using kettle or water boiler the energy costs are mostly the same.

But the savings are made on the staff time !