Why would you recommend the most expensive form of space heat?So my recommendation would be to whack a load of insulation up in the attic, and then switch to electric heating.
It makes no sense to whip out a wet system to install electric panel heaters unless the building is very well insulated with very low heat demand.Electric panel wall heaters are not expensive, they look good and are far healthier both for you and your neighbors.
To be fair the OP did not ask for the cheapest possible system, they asked for upgrade advice. Upgrade might mean cheaper (but they've suggested a more expensive pellet burner?) but could mean less likely to shorten the life of your neighbours with air pollution. AJAM recommended getting the building well insulated/low-heat demand first and explained the rationale for recommending the cleanest (but most expensive for now) form of space heating.Why would you recommend the most expensive form of space heat?
It makes no sense to whip out a wet system to install electric panel heaters unless the building is very well insulated with very low heat demand.
Regardless, installing panel heating into a home plumbed for a wet system is very poor advice even if it is well insulated.To be fair the OP did not ask for the cheapest possible system, they asked for upgrade advice.
I'm all for it, but if we're going green, let's do it properly and not install a wasteful system.Some people are willing to pay the 'green premium' to try and do better by the environment and lets be honest all of us that can afford it should have been doing so years ago and will be forced to do so soon enough in any case.
Fair enough, though I think we are not in a position to comment on what an appropriate system is at this stage. A solid fuel back boiler only CH is a pretty old school, it's quite possible as they look further into this it will transpire the pipes are gun barrel under an uninsulated floor or set into uninsulated concrete and would need to be replaced along with modern radiators. At which point they'd be ripping out the whole wet water system anyway and other options might make more sense.Regardless, installing panel heating into a home plumbed for a wet system is very poor advice even if it is well insulated.
I'm all for it, but if we're going green, let's do it properly and not install a wasteful system.
Yep, definitely everything is moving that direction, but using panel heaters costs 5 times as much per kWh of heat as a pellet boiler. Heat pumps that yield a COP of 3 to 4 are where full electric heating makes more sense.I think it's useful to the OP to be aware that electric heating is becoming more common/practical in the right scenario. If they were looking for a cleaner low CAPEX option it could be on the table.
Good point, gun barrel is a strong possibility alright. Replacing the piping in an old terraced house is a pain, but common enough, and will be a lot cheaper in the long run. They could use a heat pump to drive the system and avail of a grant.Fair enough, though I think we are not in a position to comment on what an appropriate system is at this stage. A solid fuel back boiler only CH is a pretty old school, it's quite possible as they look further into this it will transpire the pipes are gun barrel under an uninsulated floor or set into uninsulated concrete and would need to be replaced along with modern radiators. At which point they'd be ripping out the whole wet water system anyway and other options might make more sense.
Electric heating costs ~5 times as much as a pellet boiler for the same amount of heat delivered. Unless you achieve more than an 80% reduction in overall heat demand, electric heating will cost you more. And who uses less than 20% of their homes?Also Electric heating is not as expensive as you might imagine, especially if your lifestyle suits it. If you work all day, are home in the evenings and mornings, and you only tend to use 2 or 3 rooms, you can get panel heaters with timers to heat only the rooms that you use, when you use them. This will be relatively inexpensive and may well cost less than a solid fuel system that has to keep the entire house warm all day.
Only ~16% of households have solid fuel as their primary heating source. Many of these will already use electric heating for periods of low heat demand, but switching these to electric heating will cost them significantly more.But hey, some people like the misery.
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