Installing a whole new central heating system - options?

[Phil_D]

I live out in the sticks with no mains gas.

When the previous owner of the house had their oil fired boiler break down rather than replacing it they replaced all the radiators with electric hot water comes from an immersion heater

The old oil tank remains in the garden and seems to be one of the more modern plastic types, most of the downstairs heating pipe work seems to have been removed (I can see various cut ends of copper pipes that disappear upstairs), I think most of the upstairs pipe remains. The house is a 3 bedroom cottage which is going to be redecorated throughout at some point.

I want to update the heating system to something more modern, and my two options seem to be:

1. Reinstate the oil fired central heating with a modern combi boiler which will involve the cost of a new combi, radiators and replumbing most of the house.

2. Go for a biomass boiler which will involve the cost of a biomass boiler itself, a small timber framed outbuilding to house it (and the pellets) + the cost of rads, pipework etc.

Whilst the biomass boiler would likely be substantially more expensive I can recoup some of the cost through the renewable heating incentive.

If it was your house what would you be looking at doing? Any heating engineers on here able to give a rough ball park figure of cost?

 

[tlovatt]

I have looked at a similar problem for my house, it has central heating but with microbore pipework which I would rather replace but want to avoid taking up all the floor boards. I have been considering the heated skirting boards that replace the pipework and radiators, but it is not cheap. I normally come back to the conclusion to just surface mount the pipework in places it will not get hit. My parents house is old with solid walls so all of the pipework is exposed but you get used to it!

 

[rtbcomp]

I'd be inclined to insulate it up to the eyeballs and install electric storage heaters. Rural power cuts notwithstanding, there's no hassle of running out of oil (or having it stolen), no boiler breakdowns/maintenance/replacements, no water leaks/frozen pipes. I'd install a woodburner to cover for power cuts.

I believe modern storage heaters are quite efficient in terms of not leaking heat &c. I have mine running off individual time switches on the ring main, so no extra installation costs.

 

[Olderisbetter]

A mate who has no mains gas is using an oil fired worcester combi boiler, It is in a shed outside but he also has a log burner with a convector and i think it also has a back boiler, He has over the last few years made insulation changes to stop heat loss, He does have all my wood off cuts and has a wood store that would see him through a few years though.

 

[ratherbewindsurfing]

I looked into this recently, however, I was not interested in the RHI scheme as I want fit the boiler and control system myself therefore disqualifying myself from the scheme. I found biomass boilers to be ridiculously expensive, the supplier even wanted £450 plus VAT to commission it after I had fitted it .....

I came to the conclusion that Biomass systems will remain expensive as long as the RHI scheme remains in place at the current levels of subsidy.

The cost of biomass fuel (wood pellets) seems to be on a par with oil and gas.

The most sensible priced boilers seem to come from eastern Europe, but are hand fed. If you wanted an automatic system you would have to build something yourself. I suspect the building regs people would have something to say about a homemade pellet feeder!

It's a shame but I think the easiest and cheapest would be to reinstate the oil system.

 

[brightspark]

as above my mates just took his pellet burner out as it knacked up after 5 years and the boiler firm have discontinued making them and the pellets aren't cheap so what does that tell u hese changed back to oil

 

[gaz1]

depends on what your after

as quoted storage tanks are now an ooption with 25 years guarantee on them so a boiler used as a top up could be used

unknown on your sunlight but solar can be used as well

further options oil boiler or woodstove or pellet stove system

 

[Burdekin]

Heating oil is reasonably priced at the moment but factor in it could double in price again. We put in a new Grant oil fired boiler at our cottage. Our neighbours had a new gas boiler put in and it was cheaper and I think they get the storage tank/vessel for free as part of their contract so that is another option. Other options I looked into had a higher cost to install.

 

[julianf]

You can get a modern, high efficiency, condensing oil boiler for around £100 on a good day (non combi but theyre probably not too much more)
Installing rads isnt rocket science. Rads themselves are cheap. PEX pipe is cheap too.
You said that you had an oil tank?

I hate night storage heaters.

If you can be bothered, also get a multifuel burner. If youre buying fuel, coal is the cheapest option, all be it hassle.

 

[Burdekin]

https://www.calor.co.uk/home-energy/new-to-lpg/gas-storage-options

 

[brightspark]

You can get a modern, high efficiency, condensing oil boiler for around £100 on a good day (non combi but theyre probably not too much more)

is there ever a good day post link of boilers for that price

 

[Phil_D]

Yeah I’ve got a multifuel burner which kicks out a ton of heat. Doesn’t do much for upstairs though.

Thanks for all the replies guys, will look into the suggestions although reinstating oil central heating is probably the front runner st the moment

 

[julianf]

is there ever a good day post link of boilers for that price

As with everything on ebay, its a case of keeping an eye out.

The link is expired from when we purchased ours, but ill copy and past from the ebay email -

Grant Vortex System Oil Boiler 15 / 26kw
Your bid won: £109.99

If you wanted to spend, say, £80 more (so still under £200) then it would not take long at all to find one. Again, ours isnt a combi, and a combi will be more, but not crazy amounts more.

 

[julianf]

This, at £200, was close to the OP -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/oil-combi-boiler-Grant-Vortex-26-with-flue-Works-well-Collect-from-Honiton-/272909753530?hash=item3f8ab05cba:g:GL0AAOSwU1FZ-ONi&nma=true&si=k5CV%2Bh3Vj2epvPdxlJnaydwX0HU%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Small units are cheap, under £100 -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grant-Vo...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

etc.

 

[knighty]

what about a heat pump ?

even better if you have the space - a ground source heat pump (the ones with a coil of pipe buried in the garden)

ground source is 3 or 4 times more efficient than electric heating all year round, air source is 3 or 4 times better in the summer/mild months, and at worst (when it's really cold) just a bit better

heat pumps are best at lower temperatures... perfect for a new system because you can fit over sized radiators right away


oil price might wobble a bit, but long term it's always going to go up ?


with all the new solar/wind etc. power we're getting elec prices shouldn't go up much faster than inflation (if at all)

bonus, you could fit your own solar system later on for free power/heat

and you can fit all the above yourself (ebay bargins to be found too!)

 

[Kayos]

I’d go LPG, more mainstream, most are identical to natural gas boilers these days and you can get the bulk tank installed for free if it’s above ground
Prices not as volatile as oil either

You can also have a proper hob/cooker

 

[slim_boy_fat]

https://www.calor.co.uk/home-energy/new-to-lpg/gas-storage-options

Beat me to it.

 

[armalites]

We are rural and on oil, there is gas available but we've not had any issues with oil. I replaced a range cooker/boiler with a Worcester and our usage dropped by quite a bit. We are in an old house with biggish rooms and we don't have the place really warm like many do. We do have a wood burner in a main living area.

For us over the last few years the key has been having a big tank, ours is 2500L and filling it when the price is low even if you don't need it. I think we paid 31p this time which I think is pretty good given we were paying 18p when we moved here 14 years a go. We had enough to get us right through winter but brimmed it anyway. We are probably using £3-400 a year but as I said we spend a lot of time outside so we don't like the place roasting. We have friends in modern houses who are spending more on gas than we are on oil but quite a margin.

We also have some solar thermal which isn't commisioned yet so that will help.

If you go down the oil route my tip is find a local oil supplier who provide a good service and stick with them, it's easy to get carried away with the whole phoning around thing but rarely varies more than a few quid even on a 1000L, always try and buy more than a 1000L. If you stick with one supplier you know they will look after you if you get caught short. I've looked into the online websites and you'll hear people claim they are saving 7-8p/L, there margins are not there for those kind of savings to be possible unless th prices are inflated to start with. The only thing you may gain is the ability to buy less than 500L. Also beware of monthly top up schemes because often you will be paying the highest rate. The prices are measured down 0.1p so you'll get suppliers charging 34.5 and another at 34.6 so it's really not worth stressing about.

From a reliability/repair cost point of view I would guess a conventional boiler will be cheaper but you then have the overheads of a tank etc.

We run our hob on LPG, we had to find one that supported LPG. 47kg propane are £55 delivered and I think we are only on our second pair in 6 years, they are getting low and already have two more waiting.

 

[thinfourth]

Okay some thoughts

Combi boiler = if it breaks you have no heating AND no hot water so not only are you cold but you are cold and smelly. So for that reason they are a bit fat NOPE for me

instead i would go for a pressurised hot water tank


however if you said to me to start from scratch i would have

A thermal store which is just a massive tank of water which you heat up to store energy and you pump the water around to remove the heat

To heat up the heat store i would have a heat pump and something that burns stuff be it oil gas or wood

then to heat the house i would have either underfloor heating or the dimplex smart rads which look excellent


not a cheap system but hugely flexable as you can even plumb in thermal solar to it

 

[wookie]

I wouldn't touch LPG with a barge pole, your tied to whoever installed the tank so if (or should that be when?) they put up their prices you either pay or go cold. With oil you have the option to shop around or if you have a really big tank to buy when it's cheap rather than when you need it.

As far as needing gas for cooking just have a couple of 47kg propane bottles, they last ages, well over a year per bottle and we do a heck of a lot of cooking.

The other thing is if your reinstating your heating don't be tempted to go microbore, it's junk in my opinion, 22mm for the main runs with tee's of 15mm to each radiator.

At a previous house I had a combi, never again, when it breaks down (and it will) you loose both your heating & hot water.