A question on gas central heating

Likestowrite

I'm thinking about changing from storage heaters to gas central heating but have a couple of questions. (recently lost my husband so looking to save money)

1)Supposing I got gas central heating installed...
at night time when I needed a warm bedroom, would it save money to switch off the radiators in the downstairs rooms or would leaving them on and heating the whole house (to about 17c or 18c) not make a lot of difference to the bill?

2)At the moment the living room is heated by an electric fire (2kw radiant heat with economiser control and 700w convected heat.) Also I put an electric immersion heater on whenever I need hot water.

If instead, I had gas central heating installed (and didn't use the fire or immersion heater) and had a radiator on in the living room the same number of hours as I used the fire for, would I save a significant amount of money?

Thanks.

penrhyn

Running costs with gas should be lower than with your electric set up, however you have to factor in the installation cost of the gas system say £4- £5K.

Wywth

Likestowrite wrote: »

I'm thinking about changing from storage heaters to gas central heating but have a couple of questions. (recently lost my husband so looking to save money)

1)Supposing I got gas central heating installed...
at night time when I needed a warm bedroom, would it save money to switch off the radiators in the downstairs rooms or would leaving them on and heating the whole house (to about 17c or 18c) not make a lot of difference to the bill?

2)At the moment the living room is heated by an electric fire (2kw radiant heat with economiser control and 700w convected heat.) Also I put an electric immersion heater on whenever I need hot water.

If instead, I had gas central heating installed (and didn't use the fire or immersion heater) and had a radiator on in the living room the same number of hours as I used the fire for, would I save a significant amount of money?

Thanks.

In answer to your questions:

1. Do you keep your electric kettle constantly on the boil for the occassion you want hot water, or do you boil it as required.

2. If you only have the radiator on, presumably you are hoping to save even more money by not having hot water on tap (kind of refers to above answer too)
Gas is about 25% the cost of electricity (kWh for kWh), but unlike electrical heating which is almost 100% efficient, gas heating is not. But even if it were only 50% efficient (and hopefully yours will be much more), then you'll be saving 50% on a like for like basis

Herongull

I would definitely have the central heating off at night. The difference between inside and out is greatest then, and therefore the heat loss to the outside world is greatest.

You don't need central heating at night. Get a good quality 13.5 tog duvet and a hot water bottle, and you're sorted.

You should get rads with individual controls, so in the evening when you are in the lounge have it warmer and the rest of the house cooler. Have the time so the central heating switches off about half an hour before you go to bed (and switches on about an hour before you get up).

In relation to hot water, if you get an combination boiler that should be much more efficient than electricity.

I suspect you will save money overall and be more comfortable, but you have to budget for annual servicing and the capital cost of installation.

How good is your insulation? You can get grants to improve it.

Likestowrite

Thank you

presumably you are hoping to save even more money by not having hot water on tap

Not sure about this. Do all modern gas central heating systems give hot water whenever the sink/bath hot tap is turned on ( ie heat the water as it's required even if boiler isn't on.) Or is this something extra that would have to be set up?

Wywth

Likestowrite wrote: »

Thank you

presumably you are hoping to save even more money by not having hot water on tap

Not sure about this. Do all modern gas central heating systems give hot water whenever the sink/bath hot tap is turned on ( ie heat the water as it's required even if boiler isn't on.) Or is this something extra that would have to be set up?

You'd need to ensure you have a combi boiler if you want that

alleycat`

Likestowrite wrote: »

Thank you

presumably you are hoping to save even more money by not having hot water on tap

Not sure about this. Do all modern gas central heating systems give hot water whenever the sink/bath hot tap is turned on ( ie heat the water as it's required even if boiler isn't on.) Or is this something extra that would have to be set up?

A combi boiler gives, relatively, instant hot water directly to the tap. They can sometimes be plagued with "oversizing" issues to get flow rates that are acceptable for running a bath.

I.E. you have to buy bigger than your property may require to get a good hot water flow rate.

If you are on your own this may or may not be an issue but should be something any engineer looks at before suggesting a solution suitable for your circumstances.

The other common type of gas boilers heat a hot water tank (similar to what you are used to) based on a timer (these are either system or "regular / heat only boilers").

I'd really suggest getting a few different quotes FOC and see what they come back with.

The other thing to consider from an MSE point is that
the initial outlay will, potentially, be quite high so your return on investment might be a way down the line.

Likestowrite

These replies are so helpful. Thank you.

"...the initial outlay will, potentially, be quite high so your return on investment might be a way down the line."

"You don't need central heating at night. Get a good quality 13.5 tog duvet and a hot water bottle, and you're sorted."

These 2 comments have got me thinking. I usually manage with a 13.5 tog duvet and a couple of hot water bottles and generally only use the storage heater (I have just the one on the landing) for a short while each year eg when it's really cold and frosty outside or it snows. The company supplying the electricity wasn't convinced we weren't fiddling the meter when the reading on the storage heater meter was very low again last Winter, so they sent a meter reader to check.

Maybe I should stick with what I have, and boil kettles to wash up and just put the immersion on long enough to heat bath water or wash my hair when needed.

Also I like to have the low energy landing light bulb on all night while I'm in bed (8-9 hours.)
Will this be costing me much?

Herongull

If your low energy light bulb is say 10watts and you have it on for 10 hours, this is 100 watt-hours or 0.1 Kwatt-hours. Electricity is around 10p per Kwatt-hour (you can find out from your bill the exact cost), so having this light on is costing you 1p per night.

Are you getting the cheapest gas/electric deal for your usage? You should change supplier every year to get the best deals.