move from Coal back boiler to Electric Central heating? good idea ? or not

ScottishOstrich

Hi everyone,
i hope you are all well. i am looking for a little advice
I live in a ex council house. one of the four flats in a block. I am on the ground floor. two bed. kitchen, living room, hall and bathroom. My current central heating is a coal fire back boiler. This is fine in the summer as you can imagine, but in winter, when i have been working all day , the thought of lighting the fire and waiting for it to heat up to then put the boiler on, well. lets say after 5 years and two hideous winters, I am looking to change it. i am also hoping to sell my house next year so this would be the last big improvement
My neighbour upstairs is looking to move from coal to electric. I am now looking into doing this as we are a very small village so the likely hood of gas coming in is very low and if it does, will be very expensive.
The other thougth is, do we just rip out the back boiler completely ?
My thougth would be to go electric, but then put in a wood burner in the living room, try to be a little bit mse
any advice would be very appreciated
Cheers

Ostrich

Bexm

Hello!

I notice you have not had any replies so thought I'd pass on my thoughts.
Can't say I've ever had a coal back boiler... can imagine they would be awful though in winter!

How about oil? I don't know if it's plausible, but if your neighbours want it too can you maybe set it up together?

Just a thought..

Bex

baldelectrician

You could get an electric boiler and switch to Economy 10- Scottish Hydro do this, but they also do a better tariff if you live in their host area

This way you could use the coal fire when you want and use the electric boiler as well

You need someone who installs conventional systems as some electric boilers may not work with the coal as the water may heat up too much and trip the over limit stat- although a pipe stat should be fitted

gterr

Hi there,

Just thought I'd tell you my experiences when I switched from a coal-fired central heating system (open fire with back boiler) to an electric boiler.

We were able to keep the existing radiators and hot water cylinder. The plumber fitted an Amptek electric boiler which is tiny and does not need an outside wall. He also fitted good controls: room thermostat in hallway, TRVs on every radiator, cylinder thermostat, motorised valves on both the heating and hot water circuit, and a timer with separate controls for heating and hot water. We also upped the loft insulation at the same time. We switched to Economy 10 (Scottish Hydro).

The house in question is actually a holiday cottage in the Highlands: a 2-bed detached bungalow with large loft, all electric. It's been almost fully occupied since February 2011 and we have placed no restrictions on electricity usage by guests, but we have used the timer controls to help with economy on the central heating. Our bills for the period February 2011 to November 2011 have averaged 75 pounds per month. I'm delighted with this, and the cottage has been ten times warmer than it used to be with coal.

Hope this helps.

twiggster

gterr wrote: »

Hi there,

Just thought I'd tell you my experiences when I switched from a coal-fired central heating system (open fire with back boiler) to an electric boiler.

We were able to keep the existing radiators and hot water cylinder. The plumber fitted an Amptek electric boiler which is tiny and does not need an outside wall. He also fitted good controls: room thermostat in hallway, TRVs on every radiator, cylinder thermostat, motorised valves on both the heating and hot water circuit, and a timer with separate controls for heating and hot water. We also upped the loft insulation at the same time. We switched to Economy 10 (Scottish Hydro).

The house in question is actually a holiday cottage in the Highlands: a 2-bed detached bungalow with large loft, all electric. It's been almost fully occupied since February 2011 and we have placed no restrictions on electricity usage by guests, but we have used the timer controls to help with economy on the central heating. Our bills for the period February 2011 to November 2011 have averaged 75 pounds per month. I'm delighted with this, and the cottage has been ten times warmer than it used to be with coal.

Hope this helps.

Hi there

Is all still well with the Electric boiler and bills etc?

Thanks