If you are considering buying an electric boiler, there is lots of information out there you will need to digest. In this short guide, we have compressed all of the key information into a 10-minute read.
We will tell you everything you need to know about what to look out for in a new electric boiler including recommending the best boilers and manufacturers on the market in the UK right now.
Trying to research an electric boiler is not as easy as you might think. There is a vast amount of information available about gas and oil boilers but finding accurate and up-to-date details about electric boilers is a lot harder.
In this guide, we have done all the in-depth research so you don’t have to. We have compiled a definitive guide to the best electric boilers, explained the main differences between electric and gas boilers, examined installation costs, and recommended the best manufacturers to consider.
It will only take ten minutes of your time to read this article. But when you are done, we are confident you will be much better placed to identify and buy the best electric boiler to suit your needs.
Who manufactures the best electric boilers?
Electric boilers tend to be manufactured by specialist companies rather than the household names that make up the gas boiler market.
But this doesn’t mean there is a lack of manufacturers to choose from. There is quite a broad range of supplies on the market. Below you will find the four manufacturers that our expert panel of advisors recommend:
Best electric boiler brands:
1. Electric Heating Company
As the name suggests, the Electric Heating Company is a business that is solely focused on electric heating. Specialism is generally a good thing and it comes as no surprise to us that the Electric Heating Company is one of the best manufacturers around right now.
They have been manufacturing for more than 13 years now and produce a high-quality range of electric boilers, radiators, water heaters, and unvented stainless steel cylinders.
They have an experienced team and a highly-regarded customer support staff. If you are new to the world of electric boilers, they are always more than happy to take the time to help ensure you get the right product for you.
Our heating engineers all agreed that Electric Heating Company boilers were all manufactured to a very high standard and are extremely competitively priced as well.
2. Heatrae Sadia
Heatrae Sadia is the electric heating arm of Baxi Heating, the company behind both the Baxi and Potterton gas boiler ranges.
Their reputation in gas boilers is for producing premium quality products and in Heatrae Sadia, they have transferred this over to the electric boiler market too.
As well as electric boilers and cylinders, they also offer a range of electric-powered hot water solutions.
Heatrae Sadia has an extensive network of UK engineers, as well as a super-helpful UK-based customer support network too.
While the brand is less well known than the Electric Heating Company at the moment, those engineers we consulted with who had seen their products, spoke extremely highly of them and all the customer feedback we have seen backs up that viewpoint.
3. Trianco
Trianco is a specialist boiler company that makes no effort to challenge the big names in the gas boiler market. Instead, they focus on electric and oil boilers, as well as compact boilers, and their products are really rather good.
While the name might sound Italian, Trianco is very much based in the UK. It has been going for many years now and its electric boilers have been popular in the market for some time now.
They are extremely competitively priced and come backed up with a great customer service team that will really put your mind at ease. High-quality electric boilers at great low prices.
4. Elnur
Elnur has been manufacturing electric boilers and other electric heating products for almost 50 years. These days, they are manufacturing almost a quarter of a million units for the UK market alone.
Their range encompasses not just boilers but also radiators, storage heaters, towel rails, and panel heaters, plus much more besides.
They only have a modest range of products but all are of the highest quality and highly regarded by heating engineers and customers alike.
For an established, modern, and British-made electric boiler, you won’t go far wrong with Elnur.
What is the best electric boiler (Reviews)
We would be confident in the quality of an electric boiler from all of these manufacturers, but we know our readers are keen for us to make a specific recommendation. So, we have put our expert heating engineers on the spot and asked them to choose a single boiler from these four manufacturers that stand out.
The near-unanimous choice was the Electric Heating Company’s Comet Combi.
The Comet Combi is the most popular boilers in the Electric Heating Company’s range and with good reason. If you are looking for an efficient electric boiler, this is about as good as you will find anywhere.
The Comet Combi can handle hot water storage up to 140L. This is more than enough to service most homes.
It is available in three different sizes, 9kw, 12kw or 14kw with the higher-powered models fine for larger properties.
It also comes complete with a stainless steel heat exchanger. This is something you won’t get with a cheap electric boiler, yet it is the part that can break down the most, so you want it to last. Offering one in stainless steel is an indicator of how serious the Electric Heating Company is about offering reliable and long-lasting products.
The Comet combi electric boiler is 100% energy efficient too. It has a built-in automatic air vent, a high thermal cut out, and even a magnetic system filter included as standard. This helps to keep sludge and other junk from building up in your boiler and should extend its life considerably.
The Comet combi comes with a 2-year warranty as standard and if you choose to buy it with the integral cylinder, that comes with a 10-year warranty.
If your central heating uses an external cylinder, the Comet combi isn’t the right product for you. You will need its sister-product, the Comet system boiler.
This boiler comes with all the features of a Comet combi including 100% efficiency, a stainless steel heat exchanger, and a magnetic system filter.
The warranty offer is even better with the option to upgrade to a 5-year warranty is you wish.
The Comet System boiler delivers everything the Comet combi does but for an external cylinder system.
Both boilers are manufactured to an extremely high quality and come at very competitive prices.
That’s why the Electric Heating Company’s Comet combi and Comet system boilers are our top recommendation.
Electric boiler vs Gas boiler (Comparison)
If you ask most people the difference between an electric boiler and a gas boiler, apart from the fuel they use, of course, the only answer you are likely to get is that electric boilers are more expensive to run.
It is just about the only fact most people know about electric boilers and, to be fair, it is true. If you opt for an electric boiler, your energy bills will be higher than if you had a gas boiler.
But there are plenty of other advantages that electric boilers have over gas boilers that are less well known, including:
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Eco-Friendly
There is a great push to get everyone into electric cars at the moment because they are so environmentally-friendly compared to their oil-guzzling equivalents. But there is no such movement to push us towards electric boilers.
The truth is that electric boilers are much more energy efficient than gas or oil-powered boilers.
Electric boilers have a typical energy-efficiency rating of around 99%. Some boilers, including our top recommendation, the Electric Heating Company’s Comet Combi claim 100%.
By comparison, even the best and most energy-efficient gas boilers can only get as high as 90% while older models are more likely to be achieving 60% or 70% at best.
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Low installation costs
New gas boilers cost a lot of money to install. Even the most cost-effective combi boiler being installed in a small flat is likely to set you back the best part of £1,700 (if you use a comparison website like WARMZILLA) including all installation costs. Complex installation can cost a lot more.
In contrast, electric boilers are much easier and faster to install, which brings the upfront installation costs right down.
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An off-grid solution
We don’t all live in big cities and town and not every home in the UK is hooked up to a mains gas supply. Without mains gas, your best options for a boiler are oil or electric.
Oil boilers are expensive to install and run and you are at the whim of the global oil prices in the same way as when you fill your car with petrol.
But an electric boiler is much cheaper to buy and install and while running costs are not as cheap as gas, they are at least stable depending on your electricity deal.
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Low Maintenance
If you have a gas boiler, you will need to get it serviced every year. That will cost you at least £80 a year plus any parts and other repairs that are required.
Electric boilers are much simpler and as a result, they are much easier to service and there is far less to go wrong. This means services are cheap and can be scheduled further apart.
Repair bills for an electric boiler are likely to be significantly lower than a gas boiler too over the lifetime of the boiler too.
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Noise
Gas and oil boilers can be very noisy. This can be caused by a number of issues but as they get older, the noise is likely to grow louder and the cost of fixing it higher.
In contrast, an electric boiler is pretty much silent meaning you never have to worry about your boiler disturbing your sleep, interrupting a movie, or affecting your audio on a videoconference.
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Location in your home
If you buy a gas or oil boiler, you will have no option but to locate it in a place where you can vent the harmful gases it produces outside your property. This usually means it has to be situated on an outside wall.
The only other option is to locate it is an airing cupboard and have a flue going up and out of your roof.
Electric boilers don’t create harmful gases and have no need for a flue. This means you can install them anywhere you like in your home.
Is an electric boiler right for you?
An electric boiler is not right for everyone. But there are plenty of situation where it is an ideal solution. Too often electric boilers are discounted but actually, if you meet some of the following criteria, they are well worth considering:
- Want an eco-friendly heating system.
- Want to avoid regular repairs and services.
- Want low installation costs
- Want a quiet boiler.
- Live in a property that isn’t connected to mains gas.
- Don’t want to rely on fluctuating oil prices for your energy bills.
- Want to locate your boiler in a specific location.
- Want to save space in your home.
Conclusion
Electric boilers have a lot more going for them than most people think.
Yes, they will push your energy bills up a little. But, there are other ways that they can save you money too and for a lot of people, particularly those not connected to mains gas or those who want an energy-efficient heating system, they are a great option.
In this guide, we have outlined the advantages and disadvantages of an electric boiler. We have also recommended the best electric boiler manufacturers and our top boiler from those manufacturers.
If you have used an electric boiler in your property and have any comments you think might be helpful to our readers, or if you have a question about something we haven’t covered in this guide about electric boilers, do leave us a comment below. We will try to answer everyone.