Suggestions please for heating a home..

S

Susiesue

Registered User
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Our rads are being heated by an insert boiler stove and we are looking to change to a different form of heating as having a lot of issues with it. A four bedroom bungalow. We are about to get our attic insulated as there is only a small level of insulation in it since house was built almost 40 years ago. Possibly do cavity insulation in due course also. Any recommendations please for what type of heating we could install. Air to air or electric rads have been mentioned. Does anybody have electric rads and if so is it an expensive way. Any help greatly appreciated please.
 
There is a lot to consider with your question and the following is very general in nature but...
If it were my house I would:
1. Get an understanding on where and how I am losing most of my heat and hit the lowest hanging fruit first ... most people are conditioned to think that this is mainly insulation related but in our mild and windy climate there is usually much lower hanging fruit with addressing air leakage coupled with appropriate ventilation.
2. When 1 above is dealt with well, then the question arises of how to efficiently and economically supply the heat needed to keep me warm. There are generally two elements to heating systems; the heat source such as a n oil boiler and the heat distribution system such as rads. You already have rads so why not re-purpose them and add a high efficiency condensing oil or gas boiler, replacing your stove. Per unit of energy, electricity is the most expensive typically around 25c per unit, whereas oil and gas are around 10c per unit.
 
I have no idea why my answers to you both seem to have been deleted. I'm trying to explain this in the best possible way I can . We are without heat and need advice on another form of heating for our home. One that will be economical without hopefully having to do too much diging up of floors etc .
 
Hi Susie, there is a lot of further information that would be beneficial in providing the most comprehensive answer, for example, budget, timeframe, is there the stomach for complete overhaul etc. Are you on a gas main or not.

From what you've said, it looks like you are currently without heat, and want the quickest (and possibly cheapest) way of rectifying that situation, with the minimum amount of disruption.

In my opinion, in agreement with Micks'r, the quickest, cheapest way of resolving it is to replace the insert boiler stove with either a gas or oil boiler. Gas or oil will depend on if you are on a gas main or not. Gas would be preferable to oil in my opinion.

This would utilise the existing rads, assuming they are up to the task. They are 40 years old after all.

This may not be the optimum solution, but it would give you breathing space to look a the other issues, e.g. insulation etc.
 
No we're not on a gas main. The existing piping could be an issue as we have a lot of corrosion and it's there with nearly 40 years . The rads are there 10 years at most . Plumber reckons if rads washed out could cause leaks in pipes. We're getting our attic insulated plus we would also consider doing the wall cavity insulation. We're an older couple and as you mentioned above we would be hoping for the minimum disruption and for something that's not going to cost a small fortune .
 
Electric rads would be the easiest, but will be the most expensive to run (unless you get a big, 15-25 KWh, battery, then you could run on night rate)
Air to Air Heat Pump is probably the best overall solution. Relatively quick, Relatively affordable, and very cheap to run.

From what you describe, All other options are likely going to require re-piping, which means lots of disruption, lots of expense and probably will take a bit of time to find a plumber willing to do it.

Start by getting Air 2 Air quotes. And remember air will move throughout the house so you don't need a cassette in every room. 3 or 4 should do you.

Quote options
https://www.airflowireland.ie/services/air-conditioning/
https://www.crystalair.ie/heat-pumps/
https://www.ecocool.ie/
https://www.rosstechnical.ie/domestic-air-conditioning
https://www.teoair.ie/ac-units-in-ireland
https://shiva.ie/residential-air-conditioning/
 
Thank you Ajam. I will definitely look into the Air to Air. The house would possibly want to be well insulated also but we ll work on that. We're spending quite a bit as it stands on fuel for the back boiler system to keep the rads heated.
 
Get a plumber to look at the pipes. My guess is at 40 years old they're the old gun barrel type and need replacing. That's going to be very disruptive and costly but it does allow you to reposition them if you want to change room layouts, etc.

Presuming this is happening then get radiators put in that are oversized and will support an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP). You can fit an oil boiler now outside someplace but in 5 or 10 years you can just swap out that boiler for an ASHP whenever you get the house up to a good level of airtightness and insulation to make the ASHP economical to run. If you put in an ASHP now it will take a lot of electricity and cost a lot to keep an old poorly insulated house warm.
 
Dudda thank you but hoping not to have to dig the floors up to replace pipes etc. It's something we'd be hoping to avoid if atall possible at this stage.
 
Since it's a bungalow and existing radcs and pipework are so old I'd look into an air to air heat pump should be very easy to run the ducting in attic. I dug out all floors and radon treated, insulated and installed underfloor heating and heat pump myself if I was going again I'd go for air to air ducted with fresh air intake.
 
Susiesue said:
We're an older couple and as you mentioned above we would be hoping for the minimum disruption and for something that's not going to cost a small fortune .
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Have a look at the warmer home scheme for which you may be eligible.

Also suggest contacting MABS or your local TD or councillor for assistance on this. You may have options you're not currently aware of.
 
Thanks all for your replies. We're getting attic insulated and we would really need to do other insulating to bring our house up to the standard that would possibly be needed for other heating solutions. We're trying to see what best suitable option might be. At least we're out of the winter for this year. Definitely ruled out the electric rads now as making up the cost per rad per room and it would be a crazy price. Even if we got solar panels in would still leave us with large bills.
 
Susiesue said:
Even if we got solar panels in would still leave us with large bills
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You should get solar panels anyway.

They improve your BER which adds value to your home and your electricity bill will massively reduce if not disappear entirely. Payback period should be 6 years max at current prices.
 
Hello,

While I agree about getting solar panels, that six years could be a little more, it a little less, depending on how many panels, battery acquisition as part of the deal etc etc.
 
Yes will see what form of heating we are going with and have a rethink on the solar. About 14 panels is what we would need.
 
Even if you can't get 14 panels, they're may well be benefits to installing a lesser number of panels.
 
MrEarl said:
While I agree about getting solar panels, that six years could be a little more, it a little less
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I'd suggest that if the payback is more than 6 years then the OP has paid too much for the panels.

My payback with 7kw East-West setup (no battery and cheapest inverter available) is 6 years and while I reckon I got a pretty good deal at the time prices for solar installs have come down significantly faster than electricity rates & feed in tariff since I got mine installed.
  • It's also nice to know that I won't have to pay an electricity bill again until next Spring at the earliest, although the government payments helped obviously helped with that too.
Google "david hunt solar quote analyser" to find a calculatoror to help compare your quote with the market.
 
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