LPG. Combi or Conventional CH / DHW best?

[Unklian]

Newbie here so I'll try to be brief and to the point.

My wife & I are contemplating a house move to Scotland.
It is an area with no mains gas.
We are moving to a 2/3 bed bungalow.

I have (in our current house) converted from a gravity HW and pumped CH to a fully pumped system with 2 zone valves etc. using a conventional (Glowworm) boiler succesfully. Our gas bill reduced by 30%.

What do the people who know suggest for our new house?

LPG combi, eg Vaillant or conventional fully pumped conventional boiler with TRVs, Room & DHW Thermostats. Storage & header tanks.

We tend to shower rather than bath, so usually we just use water for washing the pots a couple of times per day.

In future, as we age, we may take more baths.

I feel capable of all the planning and installation of all the radiators, header tanks & electrics on a conventional system but I believe it is now the law that all the gas side installation has to be carried out by a CORGI registered fitter. would any fitters on here find it acceptabe to be asked to fit an LPG supply and boiler and leave a householder to "do the rest" or do people only like to fit a complete system?

Any suggestions would be most helpful.

Thanks.

Ian.

 

[htgeng]

Newbie here so I'll try to be brief and to the point.

My wife & I are contemplating a house move to Scotland.
It is an area with no mains gas.
We are moving to a 2/3 bed bungalow.

I have (in our current house) converted from a gravity HW and pumped CH to a fully pumped system with 2 zone valves etc. using a conventional (Glowworm) boiler succesfully. Our gas bill reduced by 30%.

What do the people who know suggest for our new house?

LPG combi, eg Vaillant or conventional fully pumped conventional boiler with TRVs, Room & DHW Thermostats. Storage & header tanks.

We tend to shower rather than bath, so usually we just use water for washing the pots a couple of times per day.

In future, as we age, we may take more baths.

I feel capable of all the planning and installation of all the radiators, header tanks & electrics on a conventional system but I believe it is now the law that all the gas side installation has to be carried out by a CORGI registered fitter. would any fitters on here find it acceptabe to be asked to fit an LPG supply and boiler and leave a householder to "do the rest" or do people only like to fit a complete system?

Ian.

I would say its fine if you explain that before they come out to quote! I would say that at least one rad would need to be fitted for them to test the boiler actually works.

Don't get a combi if you are on lpg. Get a cylinder so you can have additional heat sources such as solar, wood burning.

Get a boiler that has weather compensation.

If you think there is sufficient loft insulation, then double it! Something like 300mm of insulation.

Any more questions?

 

[Unklian]

Hi htgeng.

Thanks for the fast reply.

"Don't get a combi if you're on LPG" Any paticular reason?
Is LPG not very efficient compared to oil? oil boilers are a mystery to me.

The bungalow we're looking at does have a wood burning stove, but it hasn't any facility to heat the water. We could use the wood burner for heat in the living room with the radiators to warm the rest of the house.
I believe it is very complex using two heat sources to make hot water.

Do you think we'd be better with a convenional boiler doing "just" the heating with tank & immersion heater for the occasional bath.

Washing pots etc. with (I believe its called) a multipoint heater? One of those hand washing heater type thingies you see in roadside cafes?

"Get a boiler that has weather compensation"
What is that? Doesn't a boiler work in the same way if the incoming air is warmer / less dense? Please could you give me an idea of what this actually means?

Insulation...... The bungalow is double glazed. It is of non-standard construction with a wooden frame clad in conrete panels. I'm unsure of loft insulation (if any) but I would intend to insulate the roof cavity as one of the first jobs as (I believe) it is a much better way of saving money than any other.

Thanks very much.

Ian.

 

[gremlin16]

Lpg
Its expensive to run.

Go for an oil boiler.

 

[mickyg]

Depending on a number of factors, ie land, space,funds, planning restrictions etc.. it might well be worth some research into renewable technologies such as air or ground source heat pumps, however this ideally combined with underfloor heating, so it depends on your plans for the property in general.