New house, no gas mains, heating dilemma

C_Mababejive

I wonder where your house is?

marcus_h

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I wonder where your house is?

SW Oxfordshire

marcus_h

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Have you thought of log burners?

I hadn't really due to price. Even though they get good subsidies, they seemed really expensive - £11k +. We might need to rent the house for a year or two in the future - I am not sure that is especially attractive for tenants (they have to be manually stoked, don't they?)

[Deleted User]

marcus_h wrote: »

I hadn't really due to price. Even though they get good subsidies, they seemed really expensive - £11k +. We might need to rent the house for a year or two in the future - I am not sure that is especially attractive for tenants (they have to be manually stoked, don't they?)

No, I meant a multi-fuel stove not a pellet boiler etc.

Cheers

malc_b

Your options without mains gas are:

Heat pump, E7 storage, Oil, LPG, coal, wood.

Coal and wood involves a lot of work and mess so for that reason I'd rule it (I had coal for 20yrs!).

LPG is expensive so lets exclude that as Oil is cheaper.

Heat pump is one option to look at but it has issues. It's most efficient if the temperature difference is as small as possible, that means either hot air or underfloor heating. Radiators need to high a temperature. Air source heat pumps can be noisy. As a retro fit underfloor heating is a lot of work. Hot air tends to blow dust around which is not popular with whoever cleans the house.

E7 gives you cheap electricity overnight but slightly higher cost electric during the day. If you run dishwasher, washing machine, etc. in the night hours then you can make up the difference you pay during day. Cost wise E7 energy is cheaper than oil. However, it is not as controllable since the heat you get out depends on what you put in the night before. This is not as bad as it sounds since houses have a very long time response time too. I'd suggest adding an external control which senses the overnight outside temperature and adjusts the charge to suit.

My suggestion would be either heat pump and underfloor or a mix of E7 storage and something else. The E7 would provide the base load with the something else topping it up to comfort level. The something else could just be an electric fire in the living room or a wood burner, choice is yours.

Cost wise heat pump and underfloor should be cheaper as long as the heat pump gets 3:1, maybe 2:1 might work. But don't trust makers figures!

E7 is often slated for being on all the time and only suitable for people at home all the time. However the difference between 24hr heating or less hours is smaller than many people realise since the house is a huge storage brick. The energy saving is 5-15%. So I would not rule out E7 because it is on all the time.

marcus_h

jeepjunkie wrote: »

No, I meant a multi-fuel stove not a pellet boiler etc.

Cheers

Ah, OK. That is essentially an iron stove on the living room. In fact there is one in the house (we haven't moved in yet - but I am sure it works).

marcus_h

malc_b wrote: »

Your options without mains gas are:

Heat pump, E7 storage, Oil, LPG, coal, wood.

Coal and wood involves a lot of work and mess so for that reason I'd rule it (I had coal for 20yrs!).

LPG is expensive so lets exclude that as Oil is cheaper.

Heat pump is one option to look at but it has issues. It's most efficient if the temperature difference is as small as possible, that means either hot air or underfloor heating. Radiators need to high a temperature. Air source heat pumps can be noisy. As a retro fit underfloor heating is a lot of work. Hot air tends to blow dust around which is not popular with whoever cleans the house.

E7 gives you cheap electricity overnight but slightly higher cost electric during the day. If you run dishwasher, washing machine, etc. in the night hours then you can make up the difference you pay during day. Cost wise E7 energy is cheaper than oil. However, it is not as controllable since the heat you get out depends on what you put in the night before. This is not as bad as it sounds since houses have a very long time response time too. I'd suggest adding an external control which senses the overnight outside temperature and adjusts the charge to suit.

My suggestion would be either heat pump and underfloor or a mix of E7 storage and something else. The E7 would provide the base load with the something else topping it up to comfort level. The something else could just be an electric fire in the living room or a wood burner, choice is yours.

Cost wise heat pump and underfloor should be cheaper as long as the heat pump gets 3:1, maybe 2:1 might work. But don't trust makers figures!

E7 is often slated for being on all the time and only suitable for people at home all the time. However the difference between 24hr heating or less hours is smaller than many people realise since the house is a huge storage brick. The energy saving is 5-15%. So I would not rule out E7 because it is on all the time.

Thanks so much for the considerable input. It is a relief to hear that E7 isn't as bad as it is often made out to be! I think upon hearing the above views that I will have little choice, really - at least initially.

jackyann

marcus_h wrote: »

Thanks JackyAnn. I will give those folks a ring. Very useful.

So does that whole set up (both solar systems) provide you with most of what you need?

Thinking in terms of bills: we are about even on electricity. We pay about £70 per month on gas (all for heating)
We have a "4 bedroom" house. It is occupied most of the time by 2 people who are at home all day, using living room, kitchen, study, bedroom & 2 "hobby" rooms. We do have quite a lot of people around, entertain a fair bit (we use 2 fridge / freezers & I cook a lot) and most weekends one extra room is in use.
We are very comfortable, thermostat set at about 18 deg.C, frost free in unused rooms. I would say I never feel cold in this house except when I go into a spare room to turn the thermostat up because someone is coming to stay!
As we have underfloor heating, we leave it on most of the time, using the thermostat settings to regulate heat ( if away one night we would leave it on)

It is difficult to compare with previous homes, as this is well insulated - which I do think is the key both to comfort and to lower bills. I hope that helps. though I know everyone's situation is different.

malc_b

marcus_h wrote: »

Thanks so much for the considerable input.

You're welcome

thekev

Are you ruling out mains gas completely? is it too far away?.
We are in exactly the same situation and thought routing gas from the houses up the lane would not be a viable option. Although the quote by gas company isn't finalised, I hope we are looking at £1500. Compared to a private quote (not subsidised) it was 5 times as much. We are renovating so able to fit UFH and rads.