Gas or solid fuel central heating?

willjm

My 35 year old solid fuel Hoppamat boiler needs replacing and I'm thinking of switching to gas. I have two questions:
1. Would I be able to use the same radiators and piping?
2. Which will be cheaper, solid fuel or gas?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

There are some gas safe fitters who will answer your first question with more authority than myself, but I cannot see any reason why your radiators and pipes cannot be used with Gas CH.

Do you have gas piped to your house? The costs of connecting to a mains in the street can be expensive.

Regarding running costs it depends what you burn and its cost.

The big advantage of gas over solid fuel CH is that you get 'instant' heat from the boiler without the need to keep the solid fuel boiler burning 24/7.

With the CH timer you can set the heating to come on just before you get up in the morning, or return to house after being out for a period.

macman

Mains gas should be cheaper, if you have a supply to the property. LPG most certainly will not be.

gas4you

Yes your radiators and pipes should be ok with a new gas boiler, but, there is always a very slight chance of getting a pin hole leak in a radiator or pipe once it has been flushed and cleaned out.

willjm

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

There are some gas safe fitters who will answer your first question with more authority than myself, but I cannot see any reason why your radiators and pipes cannot be used with Gas CH.

Do you have gas piped to your house? The costs of connecting to a mains in the street can be expensive.

Regarding running costs it depends what you burn and its cost.

The big advantage of gas over solid fuel CH is that you get 'instant' heat from the boiler without the need to keep the solid fuel boiler burning 24/7.

With the CH timer you can set the heating to come on just before you get up in the morning, or return to house after being out for a period.

I'm pleased to hear that my existing radiators and pipes may be OK though I've read that combi-boilers have a sealed system whereas my existing system is vented. For that reason I favour heat-only boilers which means I'd be able to keep my hot water cylinder.

There is no gas in the house so installing that will be an extra cost!