Gas coming... should I?

[lostinthelight]

Which way is your house facing?
/QUOTE]
South West

 

[gas112]

Moling services has been dropped in a lot of areas of Uk for various reasons but they may still do it so ask them how they will get the service to the box and usually the more people who sign up for it the cheaper it is for everyone

 

[muggles]

The infrastructure for the OP should be good for another decade at least. Longer perhaps than the service life of a Gas boiler.

You don't know that. Their oil tank could be in imminent danger of splitting - you've not seen it to judge its condition. A well installed gas boiler should last at least 20 years, which is one of the many problems with the push towards hydrogen as a replacement for methane - we're still fitting gas boilers which aren't 100% hydrogen ready. That means it's going to be a good 20-25 years before all homes have a gas boiler which is 100% hydrogen ready, so we're pushing ever closer to 2045-2050 for any potential switch to 100% hydrogen. In the meantime, until we can get our electricity generation and distribution sorted to cope with the higher demands that will be placed with an eventual move to electrically-based heating, natural gas will continue to be the fuel of choice, and indeed necessity, for the majority of existing homes

 

[BlueLoo]

Oil tanks last an eternity if maintained (painted and cleaned up) which isn't difficult to do. The lad has a newish boiler so the set up isn't in danger of calling it a day.

Re: Hydrogen.
I will have to be having a very long look at the technology before i consider hydrogen powered anything near me or my family.
Yes, I'm sure it works if you do this or that but its kept in draughty sheds at the back of the furthest field in industry for good reason.

Adding hydrogen to gas?

Why go through a extra step of inefficiency by using electricity to generate hydrogen to burn it in a device which is less efficient than using electricity to start with?

Ok, you may need to boost the gas network in the future but why bother with this bleeding edge inefficient approach?

Get people to install a thermal store and boost the heat load directly with electricity.

Sounds like another subsidised cash give away.

You are going to have thermal storage as per the norm once solar takes off. (Where applicable, new builds, etc, etc).

It's a band aid at best

 

[Roger465]

Thanks for all the information and opinions folks – very useful. Some more from me:

Phoenix Gas, the supplier, have now said they don’t charge for connecting you to their new network, so there’s one cost I wouldn't have to face.

My oil tank does seem old, but I wouldn't know how to assess its condition. But if it does have to be replaced to be safe, there’s a Grand or more.

My new Firebird boiler failed fairly expensively after about 3 years (new internal pump needed) – oh, and some kind of filter or something underneath where it drains into the ground, I think. Please let’s not start another argument about whether Firebirds are crap or not! It’s what I’ve got…

I thought about solar panels – especially as I’m thinking about a Nissan Leaf and home charger when the old Rover packs in in the next few years – but not only am I in the UK, I’m in Co Antrim, which is no Gloucestershire when it comes to sunshine…

I agree that fossil fuels will have to go (though overpopulation is the planet’s real problem), but I think it will be a loooong time before there’s a viable/economic alternative, no matter what our wonderful politicians say.

I guess, if the actual cost of heating is about the same with gas, the remaining factors are (a) the potential cost of replacement of the oil tank vs the cost of a gas boiler; (b) the hassle of oil deliveries, worry about leaks etc.

I guess I’ll wait till the network is in, then look at it again

 

[gasbanni]

I'd leave your oil boiler in situ.

Sort the tank out as you need to
It's nothing of a job to put in a gas boiler teed in to the oil ch system.

So you could fit full bore iso valves to the oil boiler and gas boiler ...mothball the oil boiler, every three months open it up fire it up ensure its ok then isolate it again. It's what I'd do not logical but easy
And having an alternative ain't a bad thing when your gas boiler breaks in the middle of winter ...... when people ask me about boilers.....All boiler have got two things in common They make cold water hot and break down. Hence why I'd have your oil boiler as aback up. Notice I said when and not if !

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I guess, if the actual cost of heating is about the same with gas, the remaining factors are (a) the potential cost of replacement of the oil tank vs the cost of a gas boiler; (b) the hassle of oil deliveries, worry about leaks etc.

I guess I’ll wait till the network is in, then look at it again

If not enough decide to go ahead with gas, they might well cancel the install project.

 

[JohnD]

Also, you may find that if your house is piped up when the road is first done, it is easier, quicker and cheaper than if you subsequently order it as a one-off.

When buying a house, I would be reluctant to buy one without all main services.

 

[JohnD]

Last time I moved house, I looked at a rural home down a quiet lane. It had no gas. A pipeline had been laid down the road a few years earlier. The vendor boasted that, unlike her neighbours, she had refused to accept a connection, and refused to have a pipe on her land.

The result was that if I wanted to have it, it would cost me thousands.

I didn't buy the house.

 

[Roger465]

Last time I moved house, I looked at a rural home down a quiet lane. It had no gas. A pipeline had been laid down the road a few years earlier. The vendor boasted that, unlike her neighbours, she had refused to accept a connection, and refused to have a pipe on her land.

The result was that if I wanted to have it, it would cost me thousands.

I didn't buy the house.

Oh, if they offer to put it in whether I sign a contract or not, I'll definitely have it

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Using it most certainly is.
Gas boilers are not going to be allowed in new builds.

It's a depreciating industry.

So why have Bosch Worcester and others moved over to building boilers which are hydrogen ready? Don't believe everything that muppet Johnson says - the electricity grid simply isn't up to carrying the load it needs to heat everything on electric and charge all those electric cars without major investment in both in transmission and generation infrastructure (assuming that government don't get off their arrisses and put money into insulating older houses). Also remember that town gas (coal gas), pre-late 1970s, was about 50% hydrogen and 35% methane, so the network could utilise local hydrogen production to distribiute through the existing distribution network

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Last time I moved house, I looked at a rural home down a quiet lane. It had no gas. A pipeline had been laid down the road a few years earlier. The vendor boasted that, unlike her neighbours, she had refused to accept a connection, and refused to have a pipe on her land.

A no gasser?

 

[BlueLoo]

So why have Bosch Worcester and others moved over to building boilers which are hydrogen ready? Don't believe everything that muppet Johnson says - the electricity grid simply isn't up to carrying the load it needs to heat everything on electric and charge all those electric cars without major investment in both in transmission and generation infrastructure (assuming that government don't get off their arrisses and put money into insulating older houses). Also remember that town gas (coal gas), pre-late 1970s, was about 50% hydrogen and 35% methane, so the network could utilise local hydrogen production to distribiute through the existing distribution network

Ireland no longer puts gas boilers in new builds (least not in my county). It's all high spec building, solar and heat pumps. I've a mate in one now in his second winter and he has had no issues with it.

Didn't know about town gas. That's a good point, I'll look into it. In fact perhaps i need to take a deep look at hydrogen. It seems industry norms dont necessarily apply in domestic.

 

[JP_]

My parents still have oil, cooked in the same oil boiler that was in the house when bought new in 1986. The cost of oil used to seem really high, but now seems about the same as gas. My dad said he paid £600 for a full tank (about double the previous price) but that should keep him going for 6 months, so £100 a month, in a 4 bed house that does not have much insulation other than cavity wall and loft rolls.

I know gas is now in their village, as some houses up his road are now served, and I was going to suggest changing over. Not so sure it will be that economical now.

 

[BlueLoo]

My parents still have oil, cooked in the same oil boiler that was in the house when bought new in 1986. The cost of oil used to seem really high, but now seems about the same as gas. My dad said he paid £600 for a full tank (about double the previous price) but that should keep him going for 6 months, so £100 a month, in a 4 bed house that does not have much insulation other than cavity wall and loft rolls.

I know gas is now in their village, as some houses up his road are now served, and I was going to suggest changing over. Not so sure it will be that economical now.

Service and repair costs should be a factor as well.

The industry and government have removed homeowners rights to repair Gas powered equipment.
To look at a pressurised system, you need to be G3. To do most things on a boiler (because they hide it all behind the combustion cover) you need to be Gas safe.
If you are handy enough and can read oem literature, you can do much more on an oil boiler yourself.

Nobody does work themselves these days granted nut still, something to consider.