Combi to heat garage

[vman2000]

Hi, I'm in the process of converting my garage into a hair salon (with WC) so my wife can work from home. The garage is not physically connected to the house but only about 2 ft away at its nearest point. I have already run cold water blue pipe into the garage.

RE heating and hot water, we will need a couple of heaters/rads (one for salon, one for WC), and hot water for wash basin (salon) and sink (WC). I've always assumed i'd just get electric convection or storage heaters and an electric water heater for the sink/basin. Looking into prices, a suitable storage heater is about £700+£100 for a water heater (I would need two heaters but a cheaper one for the WC). Obviously electric heating has expensive running costs.

Now, the reason I'm posting is I've noticed you can get a mini combi boiler with flu for sub-£700. I haven't done any research into the quality of this (but it wouldn't exactly be under much stress). The gas is on the wall near the garage, presumably would need to be fed under ground for a couple of feet to reach the garage though. I just want to sanity check if this would be a stupid alternative? It would be a few hundred quid or so to fit but I'm attracted by the cheaper running costs from gas heating.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Time to seek professional advice. You might be going over the capacity of the gas supply. Plus, a hair Salon MIGHT be running the hot water for to long for the heading to be effective.

 

[vman2000]

Time to seek professional advice. You might be going over the capacity of the gas supply. Plus, a hair Salon MIGHT be running the hot water for to long for the heading to be effective.

Good point, the only other appliances on the gas line are a combi (Worcester 28cdi) and gas hob.

I will get professional advice, I just wanted to check I'm not being a stupid **** first! ...and if anybody has any experience of cheap £600 combi's? If they are all rubbish then its stick to plan A. Has anybody here installed any? are they trouble? what makes would people recommend? If there is not too much in the price and they are reliable then I'd prefer a combi.

 

[Dan Robinson]

They're cheap for a reason. But, it's more important that they are fitted properly to a well installed, clean system.

 

[Doggit]

As electricity is 4 times the cost of gas, the break even point could well justify a more expensive boiler, but you'll need someone qualified to work out drain points for the condensate etc as well as gas capacities. But would the house boiler be running at the same time as the salon boiler. Now are you insulating the garage so the boiler isn't working harder than it's got to.

 

[Dan Robinson]

But would the house boiler be running at the same time as the salon boiler.

It doesn't matter. There are set parameters for this.

 

[AGAS]

Seen loads of hairdressers with just DD unvented cylinder as it doesn't cost much in electric

 

[aptsys]

The gas is on the wall near the garage, presumably would need to be fed under ground for a couple of feet to reach the garage though. I just want to sanity check if this would be a stupid alternative? It would be a few hundred quid or so to fit but I'm attracted by the cheaper running costs from gas heating.

How do you know this?

 

[RigidRaider]

Your post makes no mention of insulation. With modern insulation you will lose a couple of inches of space but the salon will be far, far more comfortable and one 2 kw oil-filled rad will be sufficient to warm it and warm it quickly in the mornings. In a badly-insulated room, it doesn't matter how much heat you pump into the place because it will always feel cold and damp and drafty. We dry-lined a very cold bedroom with Kingspan and then plasterboard backed with polystyrene and now just playing a computer game is enough to keep it warm as about 500w blasts out of the cooling fan on the processor. Once that's sorted, get an electric water heater or a cylinder with immersion.

 

[stem]

As electricity is 4 times the cost of gas

Peak rate electricity is expensive, but storage heaters run on 'off peak' tariffs which can be one half, to one third of the peak rate. Electric heating doesn't have any annual servicing costs either. Still not as cheap as gas though.

 

[aptsys]

Peak rate electricity is expensive, but storage heaters run on 'off peak' tariffs which can be one half, to one third of the peak rate. Electric heating doesn't have any annual servicing costs either. Still not as cheap as gas though.

The peak rate is typically increased if you get an E7 or E10 meter installed though, so the savings may not be offset, especially given they are running a daytime business.

 

[Hot&Cold]

Want a cheap boiler ? when your ready to buy have a look at the current offers.

City plumbing are always worth a look. Heatline 24kw combi inc flue £399 + vat.

As mentioned they are cheap for a reason

Have you got planning permission for the garage conversion,it's not always straight forward.Mind you nothing is straight forward with my council

 

[bernardgreen]

As already said insulate the garage to reduce the heat loss.

A long shot but could the existing boiler cope with the extra load of a couple of radiators in the "salon" and a small hot water cylinder ? Running flow and return pipes ( DIY ) may be kess expensive than running a gas supply to the "salon" ( GasSafe installer )

And as Old&Cold mentioned. Getting planning permission sorted out before investing too much money.

 

[vulcancontinental]

Forget the warranty on a combi also as a hair salon would be classified as commercial and combis, all the ones I know of anyway are classified as a domestic product not for use in commercial premises.

 

[vman2000]

As electricity is 4 times the cost of gas, the break even point could well justify a more expensive boiler, but you'll need someone qualified to work out drain points for the condensate etc as well as gas capacities. But would the house boiler be running at the same time as the salon boiler. Now are you insulating the garage so the boiler isn't working harder than it's got to.

Yes, recently our main boiler packed up so we resorted to electric heaters (of various types) for a few weeks - we have a smart meter so could see the cash burning through at worrying rates! It has put me right off electric, I don't wont to be worrying about how much its costing, or turning it down too much overnight to save cash then worrying about pipes bursting. For sure I wouldn't take on boiler calculations etc myself, I'll have a go at a lot of things and work to a high (albeit slow!) standard but some things a blatantly best left professionals, its a fools economy to do that stuff yourself.

Yes the boiler would be on at the same time in both, and the garage is being insulated.