Gas Central Heating Instalation

Jib111

I'm looking at getting gas central heating installed and my grandmas as the current heating system just isn't working in more ways than one, so I have a fair few questions.

At the moment she has an open fire with a back boiler with 5 rads, 3 upstairs and 2 down, when the back boiler has enough water you put on an electric pump and it's MEANT to warm the rads up.

The 3 upstairs rads don't require the pump as gravity pulls the water up, however the rads only get warm, not hot. And when we put the pump on the downstairs rads only get the chill taken off, they are all bled and flushed. Back boiler cleaned weekly too.

The property is landlocked and has no gas mains however gas is available in the area but they would have to go via private land to connect the pipe. Once the pipe is connected can it be capped off as I'm looking at getting the pipe in as soon as possible but we don't want the central heating until around May time.

My Grandma is keen to keep the old back boiler so can the back boiler and the gas boiler be connected to the same rads or would she need 2 rads in each room? (1 for the back boiler and 1 for the GCH)

The house has solid walls so it is badly insulated and only half of the windows are doubled glazed, any comments please?

The house has a immersion heater, is it possible to keep this the same way as we currently have it after gas central heating?

I understand the Warm Front grant has just ended, is their any other help available to fund the boiler?

So do you think it would be a good idea to have gas central heating installed and would National Grid be willing to install the mains if they are not used for a couple of months?

Many thanks for your time.

HappyMJ

What does her current fuel cost?

Jib111

HappyMJ wrote: »

What does her current fuel cost?

Unsure of that as the coal and smokeless was bought along time ago and it has been stocked up.

HappyMJ

Jib111 wrote: »

Unsure of that as the coal and smokeless was bought along time ago and it has been stocked up.

Running costs are quite similar so if loading the fuel is too much then I'd consider it. You won't save much on running costs gas central heating is just more convenient.

Jib111

HappyMJ wrote: »

Running costs are quite similar so if loading the fuel is too much then I'd consider it. You won't save much on running costs gas central heating is just more convenient.

OK thanks.

If the running costs are around the same then it is a no brainier as the current systen just isn't heating the house. There is no problems loading the fuel at the moment however we don't know what the future might hold.

Ken68

The Green Deal...http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/green_deal/green_deal.aspx

Also get in touch with your local council for local grants or they may put you in touch with Age UK.

southcoastrgi

just disconnect the open fire boiler when you have a gas boiler fitted complete waste of time & you already know it doesn't work so it's pointless having it

rogerblack

Jib111 wrote: »

The house has solid walls so it is badly insulated and only half of the windows are doubled glazed, any comments please?

Double glazing is the very last improvement to make - it's one of the most expensive ways to improve the insulation of your property.
Every square meter of single glazed window loses about 5W/m^2/C of heat. For double glazed - around half of this.
At 15C for 3 months, that's 75W loss, or about 30W difference.
30W is about 20 units a month, or 60kWh for the 3 month period.
If you had switched to gas, this is of the order of £2/year for a square meter of window changed from single to doubleglazed.

Curtains can help almost as much.