Advice on replacing oil with electric heating

agrinnall

I live in rural Scotland with no mains gas so like a lot of people here I heat my house with oil. Given the recent price rises (I'm expecting a delivery next week but have no idea what it will cost) and the likelihood of prices staying high, not to mention difficulty of actually getting any oil delivered in bad weather, I am considering doing what a couple of my neighbours have done and installing an electric boiler instead once my oil runs low again.

My heat source is a Stanley cooker that I only use for heating. There is a hot water cylinder and 9 radiators, most of them with thermostatic valves. Is installation a matter of simply getting the electric boiler connected to the mains and switching the plumbing from the cooker to the boiler? Or would there need to be changes made to other parts of the central heating system? Does anyone have any recommendations for make of boiler? How often would it need to be serviced (I'm currently paying around £120 a year on servicing)?

Owain_Moneysaver

It might not be possible to run the Stanley without it being connected to radiators, or it might need to be drained and the water compartments vented to prevent any residual dampness forming steam and causing an explosion.

Electricity is unlikely to be cheaper than oil. Ever.

Electric boiler should not need annual servicing.

agrinnall

Thanks Owain, the Stanley wouldn't be running at all, I'd be having it removed to make some space in the kitchen. I'm not sure I agree with you that electricity will never be cheaper than oil although I expect you're right in the short term.

jojonic

I agree with Owain, electricity will always be more expensive to run! If you are considering an electric flow boiler BEWARE, they cost a small fortune to run. If you are at home in the day you will need to see if your supplier will let you go onto an economy 10 tariff where you get three periods of off peak electricity during the day and evening. Not many suppliers will let you do this, but if you find one that will it is the best way to run an electric boiler.

Bear in mind most flow boilers are either rated 9kW or 11kW. If your electricity was costing you (for example) 12p per unit and using the 9kW rated boiler then the boiler would cost you £1.08 for every hour you are running it. Add to this the cost of installing the boiler itself and I doubt you will make a saving on oil even over the 10 year lifespan of an electric boiler.

A much better investment would be to look at upgrading your oil boiler to a new, efficient model. Or if you are really keen to change fuel, consider biomass (wood) heating, this is going to see a boom in the next few years as wood pellets and chips become more freely available and as its a low carbon technology it attracts discounts and funding from fuel suppliers as part of their Carbon Emissions reduction target. With the renewable heat incentive due to be introduced later this year you could even end up being paid to heat your home!

Hope this helps.

jojonic

Sorry, in answer to your other Q's on electric boilers, it should just be able to be connected into your existing system, providing the rads and pipework are fairly modern. If not the installer may want to upgrade the infrastructure to ensure the boiler works efficiently. If he or she is worth their onions they should also check the radiator sizing to make sure you have enough surface area for efficient heating of your rooms.

You can use the electric boiler to heat your water, but to be honest it will be cheaper to stick an immersion on for a couple of hours, so consider installing an element in your hot water tank.

http://www.miketheboilerman.com/Electricflowboilers.htm
http://www.swea.co.uk/downloads/Tenants_FlowBoilers.pdf

agrinnall

Thanks for the information Jojonic. At least one of my neighbours switched to an off peak tarrif when they had their electric boiler installed, I'll see if they have any figures on how the costs compare. I have an immersion heater already so hot water wouldn't be a problem, and my shower is electric so is only connected to the cold water anyway.

Katie-Kat-Kins

If you are going to rip out your old boiler and start afresh I would consider the a couple of different options:

1. Storage heaters. They will be cheaper than an electric boiler and wet central heating as they use off peak electric. You can run them on Eco7 or Eco10, so if you can't get E10 then they aren't ruled out. They are also relatively cheap to buy and require no regular maintenance. We have a problem with one of ours (it is 12 years old and we suspect the problem is down to a previous owner covering the heater) and we can replace it for less than £300 and it is the largest size.

2. A heat pump, I think these may well be the way forward for many as they are more efficient than any other electric heating. There are a couple of long threads on the LPG and Heating board.

Also have you looked into any of these free solar power schemes? If you are looking to install electric heating you will vastly increase your usage so something like this might be worth some research.

muckybutt

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

If you are going to rip out your old boiler and start afresh I would consider the a couple of different options:

1. Storage heaters. They will be cheaper than an electric boiler and wet central heating as they use off peak electric. You can run them on Eco7 or Eco10, so if you can't get E10 then they aren't ruled out. They are also relatively cheap to buy and require no regular maintenance. We have a problem with one of ours (it is 12 years old and we suspect the problem is down to a previous owner covering the heater) and we can replace it for less than £300 and it is the largest size.

2. A heat pump, I think these may well be the way forward for many as they are more efficient than any other electric heating. There are a couple of long threads on the LPG and Heating board.

Also have you looked into any of these free solar power schemes? If you are looking to install electric heating you will vastly increase your usage so something like this might be worth some research.

Hmmm heat pumps arent all they are cracked upto be ! we have one and 70 days last year it cost us £800 ! that coupled with the fact they are less efficent in cold weather....when you need the heat the most.

We are looking at having our ashp ripped out and are seriously considering having a wood pellet boiler installed instead.

Katie-Kat-Kins

muckybutt wrote: »

Hmmm heat pumps arent all they are cracked upto be ! we have one and 70 days last year it cost us £800 ! that coupled with the fact they are less efficent in cold weather....when you need the heat the most.

We are looking at having our ashp ripped out and are seriously considering having a wood pellet boiler installed instead.

Interesting, I've heard mainly good reports on them.

I think it depends a bit on the type you have as to how efficient it is and how they perform at lower temperatures. I think Ground Source are less vulnerable to low temperatures aren't they......

But I'm no expert, I've no experience of them, just thought it would be worth considering as an alternative to storage heaters for us as we don't have mains gas either. Most of the feedback on wet central heating systems with electric boilers is terrible!

Wood pellet is worth considering too, but the OP was asking about electric heating. I'd love a multi fuel stove but as we don't have a chimney it isn't so practical!

churchill73

Agrinnall,
You should definately consider a wood pellet boiler or heat pump, rather than electricity. There is a government scheme coming out in June 2011 called the Renewable Heat Incentive which will pay you money to switch over to renewable technologies.