Quote to install OFCH

Hi all,

Hope you can advise... I live in a small old cottage and I'm currently renovating. It really is small - fair-sized living room, tiny kitchen, bathroom approx. same size as in a semi-d, two small bedrooms.

I got in a wood burning stove about a month ago and find it fantastic for heating the living room but the heat doesn't filter down to the bedrooms, which are through the kitchen.

I have just had both bedrooms dry lined. We also put a double layer of insulation in the attic this year. At the moment the air down in the bedrooms is cold and damp in the winter and I have a problem with my clothes getting a bit mouldy in the wardrobes. Currently the rooms are heated with plug-in Dimplex heaters.

My plumber has given me a quote of €2k to install an oil fired central heating system. There'd be a rad in each bedroom and a rad in the living room. This quote includes four days' labour, a second-hand boiler (it's about two years old) the rads, a small oil tank and all the other bits and bobs needed.

Two questions:

1) Does this sound like a fair quote
2) Is OFCH the way to go?

Thanks a million.

i can't advise you on some of those things, but does this include retrofitting a back boiler? so that your stove will also heat the rads.

just that with such a small house, (depending on the type of stove you have) it shouldn't be too hard to heat a few radiators.

We have the Stanley erin running 10 rads and while it does heat them, it doesn't heat them as well as the OFCH does. But it saves a lot of money on oil.

maybe it isn't feasible to have the back boiler fitted, one of the regualr experts will be along soon no doubt.

Thanks for the reply.

No, it doesn't include hooking up the stove to radiators. I opted not to go with that option when I had the stove installed. I'd prefer to have a back-up heating system that's independent of the stove.

Amazon said:

Thanks for the reply.

No, it doesn't include hooking up the stove to radiators. I opted not to go with that option when I had the stove installed. I'd prefer to have a back-up heating system that's independent of the stove.

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that's an important consideration..it was only after our house was finished (self build, direct labour) that i realised that if we lose power we can't even light the stove. just as well it doesn't happen often!

Amazon said:

This quote includes four days' labour, a second-hand boiler (it's about two years old) the rads, a small oil tank and all the other bits and bobs needed.

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The big question for me is the efficiency of the second hand boiler and possible compliance issues as it would be classed as a new installation or new system. You dont have the option of replacing like with like as there is no existing system.

Refer to Part L of the Building Regs:

The appliance or appliances provided to
service space heating and hot water systems should
be as efficient in use as reasonably practicable. For
fully pumped hot water based central heating
systems utilizing oil or gas, the boiler seasonal
efficiency should be not less than 86% as specified in
the DEAP manual and the associated Home-heating
Appliance Register of Performance (HARP) database
maintained by SEI (www.sei.ie/harp).

There are also regulations in Part J to do with the ventilation, siting and flue requirements that are worth checking out when considering the second hand model.