What heating should I use?

Monkeyface.

I have just bought my first flat and I need a bit of advice. When I moved in heating comprised of knackered storage heaters which I have removed and now have no heating (apart from an oil filled radiator) Brrrrrr!! Now I dont know what to do as I've had advice from different people and I'm now confused! I currently only have electric but one person advised me to get connected to gas and get a combi boiler but being on the first floor I bet that won't be cheap. At the same time I think my hot water tank is currently too small so its not gunna be cheap anyway! Someone else said underfloor heating but I don't know what would be cost effective. Please help before I freeze!! Thanks.

bristol_pilot

Look into the cost of gas & a combi boiler. This could be cost effective or very expensive according to all sorts of things that will be specific to the flat so can't really be advised about on here. Do any of the other flats in the block have gas? That may give you a clue.

Failing that, replacing the storage heaters with modern ones is likely to be the best option.

Pincher

The standard thing is to put in is a gas combi, which gives you hot water and central heating.

If you want to get flash. Try waiting for the RHI subsidy in June 2011.

http://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/gledhill-torrent-re-solar-vented-mains-pressure-foam-lagged-copper-thermal-store-cylinder/gledhill-torrent-re-solar-sales-brochure.pdf

Have a look at the diagram on page 3, which shows it includes under floor heating connections. The solar thermal panels help with heating when there is sun.

I would put in an inline water heater like:

http://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Stiebel-Eltron-Instantaneous-Water-Heater-pr-33373.html

It heats the lukewarm water from the thermal store, before feeding the bathroom and kitchen. On sunny days, it doesn't need to add heat, because the solar thermal panel should be enough.

If electricity price wasn't a consideration, there are direct cylinders where the immersion element provides all the heat, so you don't need a boiler or heat pump at all. This raises the question of why not use a direct thermal store and Economy 7 electricity: you probably need a thousand litres, and the floor will collapse. It's a shame, because a thermal store is very well lagged, so you can release the heat via the UFH when you choose, unlike the storage heaters.

grahamc2003

By far the easiest option (and not a poor option at all) is simply to buy modern storage heaters. If you removed the old ones, then you are probably certainly able to install the new ones onto existing circuits (that's what usually costs a lot!), thus saving installation costs. (Having said that, when I bought mine, the fitting to existing circuits was free). If money's tight, you could probably buy cheaply second hand on ebay - fine imo if they are recent models.

There are more options, like air to air heatpumps, which you'd probably eventually get an annual payment for from the rhi.

If you are thinking of installing gas or underfloor heating then, to my mind, you are talking mega hassle and mega installation costs (and in the case of gas, ongoing maintenance costs) which would rule them out for me in a flat.

If you decide to go with storage heaters, make sure you're on an e7 tariff, and likewise, if you decide not to, make sure you're not on e7.