Central Heating Advice - PLEASE

jimrobertson24

Hi

I have storage heaters in the house but I am planning to have these removed and a new system installed. The only problem is I have no idea what to get.

Our house is 28 metres away from a gas main and I have been quoted £2900 to get linked to the mains - is this reasonable?
On top of this I would obviously need the new heating system installed in the house. Can anyone give me an idea how much this would cost? I would need 8 radiators and a boiler.

I would appreciate any advice on the cheapest system available. What is there in the way of new environmentally friendly systems, gas tanks, oil tanks, new storage heaters etc.

Any tips at all would be appreciated

Many thanks

Jim

scotsbob

For a combi boiler in a semi detached house with 8 radiators you are looking at £3000-3500 approx assuming floors need to be taken up, piping installed plus thermostats, timers and electrics.

You may have more success posting on one of the other Forums such as "In My Home" and "Utilities" for more detailed responses about the other options.

delerium

I have looked into this myself for my house. Unfortunately my house is obviously a little further away from the gas main so I was quoted £4900 to get it piped to the house. Because this is an unreasonable amount for me to shell out (and I will admit that there was a little reticence about getting it piped down and my neighbours further up the street gaining the pipe line and not having to pay a thing toward it) I asked my local councillor for some help under the guise of more ecological economical heating (we also have storage heaters). He asked one of his 'guys' and he came up with this scheme run by scotia (used to be transco) Depending on where you live you can get a grant for up to 80% of the cost to get the gas piped into the house.

We were quoted £20,000 for the whole street to be fitted and we have attracted a grant of £17,000+, I am currently trying to persuade my neighbours in the whole street (not just the 6 above me) to part with £200 each to get the gas in (not as easy a feat as you would suspect). The council man is looking for other grants to remove the need for my very reluctant to part with their cash neighbours to have to part with their cash. ( I know £200 is a lot of money for some people but as there are houses in the area with it commanding around £20,000 more when sold what is that a 1000% return!)

I have also been quoted £2500 for a combi boiler and 8 radiators by a local tradesman who came highly recommended.

I looked into getting a woodburning stove as well. I have only had one quote for this but it was amounting to around £8000 - £9000 because of the planning permission and the requirement for a chimney. Currently I haven't entirely written it off because I don't know if the council will get the gas in since that is more cost effective at least for the moment.

Someone in the street trying to disuade me from the gas option told me that they had got dry heat with radiators and the like run through the electric for about £3500 but I don't know if that would actually come to fruition if I was to approach them about it.

Your other options I don't know about. If you check out Scotia's website and the energy saving trust website they can advise you on the best option available to you.