What form of heating should I install

[Bodd]

Hello all

Just looking to put an offer on a new house. Its a total renovation. Its what we want.

The thing is the heating is oil, it may still work, great if it does. But I'd be looking to out a new system in this summer.

Is Oil old hat and exspensive?

Not sure I have the money or the garden for ground source. It backs onto farmers feild, maybe he would let me but one meter down at a small cost.

Air source: I'm yet to be convinced, Had Air source hot water when I lived in Aus and was fantastic.

Then there is Electric boilers, are they more exspensive to run than oil. it would be a cheap option to install.
Maybe use it as a back up to maybe air source.

Whats the answer?

Anyone?

 

[electronicsuk]

Forget any notion of installing an electric boiler, it will be one of the most expensive forms of heating you can run. As you rightly say, heat pump will be expensive, but if it's what you want then it's worth noting that the ground loop can be buried in a vertical bore on your own land. Putting a horizontal 'slinky' style loop a metre deep on farmland sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

If you have no mains gas then oil or LPG are your only other options really, and oil will obviously be the cheaper of the two.

 

[Bodd]

Thanks Matthew


How exspensive would you say.

I would like to do it as this must be the future. The garden is about 50 x 25 feet.

House is a semmi with 3 beds/kitchen dinner.

Bodd

 

[mysteryman]

If you want a ground source heat pump, it will need to be a borehole.

See the recent thread on electric boilers about electricity as a fuel, which it is not.

Another alternative is a wood pellet boiler - they're as controllable as an oil boiler.

 

[Tibbot]

In your situation I'd use solid fuel. Trianco boiler is available again now they've been bought. A bit of manual work to operate but think of the following advantages,

No oil tank - no fines for spills, theft of oil etc.
No LPG tank - no rental, explosion risk.
Traditional heating system so low install cost.
Permanent HW and hot towel rails in winter.
No profiteering from fuel suppliers, prices stay stable in severe weather.
Cheaper to run than electric, oil, LPG and sometimes even NG.
No need for condensing sh*t, no damage from or freezing of condensate.
Boilers can last for decades.
You can use solar panels to give summer HW through 2 coil cylinder.

A modern log gassifying boiler will do same but dearer to buy and install and usually need to be coupled to a thermal store. If you want fully automatic, then not for you but this is where energy companies have you by the balls.

 

[Bodd]

If you want a ground source heat pump, it will need to be a borehole.

See the recent thread on electric boilers about electricity as a fuel, which it is not.

Another alternative is a wood pellet boiler - they're as controllable as an oil boiler.

Thank you Mystery

How costly is the fuel compared to Oil. ? Instalation I should immagine would be relativly cheap.

Bodd

 

[electronicsuk]

How exspensive would you say.

Sorry, but I'm not sure on the cost of having boreholes drilled. If you choose to go that route then you'd be best to contact a company that specialises in GSHP installations.

 

[silverback18]

Do not dismiss Electric, if you have the right system and are on the right tariff it can have resonable running costs, try looking at Thermaflow http://www.thermaflowheating.co.uk/ they use an electrically heated thermal store for heating and hot water, it can also be linked to solar, but it is very important to check that suitable tariffs are availiable for these , also wood pellet boilers are another alternative, try Windhager http://www.windhager.co.uk/, these are just to give you some alternatives

 

[electronicsuk]

Do not dismiss Electric, if you have the right system and are on the right tariff it can have resonable running costs, try looking at Thermaflow http://www.thermaflowheating.co.uk/ they use an electrically heated thermal store for heating and hot water, it can also be linked to solar, but it is very important to check that suitable tariffs are availiable for these , also wood pellet boilers are another alternative, try Windhager http://www.windhager.co.uk/, these are just to give you some alternatives

I'd love to see the data that backs this up. Here are some facts:

- 1kWh on a single-rate electricity tariff costs about 12.5p
- 1kWh off-peak on a dual-rate electricity tariff costs about 6p
- 1Kwh of gas costs about 3.5p at any time of day
- Realistically, a GSHP can achieve a COP of around 3, so 1kW of electrical energy will provide 3kW of heat

Bearing those things in mind, I fail to see how any form of direct electric heating can come even close to a GSHP or, for that matter, mains gas (not that the OP has access to this luxury).

Given the COPs that can be achieved by a heat pump, 12.5p will buy you 3kWh of heat on a single-rate electricity tariff. Using direct electrical heating on a dual-rate tariff and assuming an unrealistic best-case scenario of use during the off-peak period only, that 3kWh of energy would be costing you 3kWh x 6p = 18p. Let's also bear in mind that very little of your space heating demand will actually be during the off-peak period.

It's a little more difficult for me to make a direct comparison between electric heating and oil, as I'm unsure as to current oil prices. If we work on the rough assumption of 70p/litre and 11kWh/litre (the energy content of the oil rounded down should cover inefficiency in the boiler), that's about 6.5p/kWh. That's still cheaper than on-peak or single rate electricity by a large margin.

 

[silverback18]

It is not down to contributors to these posts to work out the running costs of different fuels, this will be down to the person having the system installed, I merely pointed out other systems that can be considered, when comparing fuels for consideration.

 

[electronicsuk]

It is not down to contributors to these posts to work out the running costs of different fuels, this will be down to the person having the system installed, I merely pointed out other systems that can be considered, when comparing fuels for consideration.

That's fair enough. The trouble is, the manufacturers of these and other systems tend to be quite savvy with their marketing, and would happily tell you that a small nuclear reactor is cheaper and safer to buy and run if that's what they were trying to sell you. For this reason, it can be very hard for a typical householder to make the comparisons for themselves and decide which system is going to be the most cost effective for them to install and run. If we don't help to at least try and explain the running costs in an impartial manner, I'm not sure who will.

 

[silverback18]

It is not down to contributors to these posts to work out the running costs of different fuels, this will be down to the person having the system installed, I merely pointed out other systems that can be considered, when comparing fuels for consideration.

That's fair enough. The trouble is, the manufacturers of these and other systems tend to be quite savvy with their marketing, and would happily tell you that a small nuclear reactor is cheaper and safer to buy and run if that's what they were trying to sell you. For this reason, it can be very hard for a typical householder to make the comparisons for themselves and decide which system is going to be the most cost effective for them to install and run. If we don't help to at least try and explain the running costs in an impartial manner, I'm not sure who will.

I am not sure that we are qualified to tell anyone what is the cheapest system to run, no one is sure of the running costs of all systems, especially with ASHP's, GSHP's and Wood Pellet boilers in the mix, I have been to systems where customers have had ASHP's installed for hot water and heating and say it is costing them more to run, but I have been to others who say they are cheaper, who knows?

 

[Bodd]

Thanks All for replys
taken all on baord.

Bod

 

[gasbanni]

A wood burner with a back boiler might be an option for part of your requirements not all, but it wood give you flexability in addition to whatever else you decide on.

 

[GaytonTonner]

Heat Pumps of any type are expensive to install. Spend the heat pump money on insulation and glazing and fit a cheap oil boiler. If you get decent U values on the house, then electric may be OK.

Insulation is the key in exposed country areas.