Replacing old oil heating system-what are the options?

[trident]

Hi, I want to replace my old oil boiler which heats all the radiators in a 4 bed semi-detached house.

House was built in early 1960's, and a back of envelope estimate I got to insulate the house to the standard needed before a heat pump is installed was about €50K. This is out of the question, so I think I have to replace the oil boiler with a new oil boiler.

There is no gas supply where I live.

My question is - are there any other alternatives?

Does anyone have experience of how much it takes to heat a 4 bed Semi Detached house with modern electric radiators, or modern electric storage heaters?

I have seen infra red heating being promoted on social media, has anyone experience of this? Is it possible to heat a 4 bed Semi Detached house with infra red, and how much would it cost?

Are there any other potential alternatives to oil boilers?

Any advice, comments would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

T

 

[Leo]

This document is a little dated but it's a good guide on how to prioritise energy improvements. Costs will need to be updated, but grants are a lot better now than they were then.

If a heat pump is out of the question, infra red will be too for anything other than supplemental heating.

 

[Bow tie]

Do you have your BER report? It usually comes with an advisory report which can be useful about where to start on an old house.
You can have an energy assessor do a technical report also, which we found invaluable.

Generally, unless you begin to start tackling the above there's no point in moving away from what you have. As a friend said to us, with a heat pump all you'll be doing is pumping heat out of the house.

 

[Micks'r]

Does anyone have experience of how much it takes to heat a 4 bed Semi Detached house with modern electric radiators, or modern electric storage heaters?

Assuming system efficiency of 70% and kerosene; Take the number of litres of oil you currently burn per year, multiply this by 10.35 and then by 0.7. This will give an approximate of the number of kWhr (units of electricity) needed to heat your house to the same level. Multiply this by the unit rate you pay for electricity and you will have a rough idea of what electrical heating will cost.
Example: You use 1,000 litres of kerosene a year. 1000x10.35x0.7 = 7210 kwh. @30cents per kWhr gives €2163.