No mains gas

Gers

Morning - just would appreciate some advice.

My planned move to a remote but not isolated beautiful spot on the west coast of Scotland, is looming and work needs to start on renovating the place.

Where I am going has no mains gas - what is the best form of central heating to install there please?

There will be a wood burner in the living room but I don't want to have to put it on every day to produce hot water, neither do I want to have to clean it out every day (retiring early so not inclined to return to routine chores which involve bending my sore knees!).

I am not doing any of the renovation myself (female, sore knees, will be supervising!) but want a really lovely cosy place.

Thanks

lemontart

oil is the norm in those areas, or you could look at solar panels or even small wind turbine

fluffymuffy

Air- or ground- source heat pump, wet system serving hot water and big radiators or underfloor.

Gers

Is oil not more expensive to buy than electricity?

No chance of ground stuff I think, though I will investigate.

Thanks

:T

Gers

Have investigated the ground and air pumps but they are not viable - the back garden is walled and three walls are shared with farm buildings so no access apart from via the front door, through the house and out the back door.

So it may have to be electric heating of some sort topped up with wood burner during artic spells or when visitors stay. The romantic idea of cosy fires wears off eventually!!

Errata

Gers wrote: »

Is oil not more expensive to buy than electricity?

No chance of ground stuff I think, though I will investigate.

Thanks

:T

It could be, oil suppliers are more likely to hold you to ransom pricewise and delivery wise than a lekky company.
Modern storage heaters are good and reasonable to run.

HappyMJ

Gers wrote: »

Have investigated the ground and air pumps but they are not viable - the back garden is walled and three walls are shared with farm buildings so no access apart from via the front door, through the house and out the back door.

So it may have to be electric heating of some sort topped up with wood burner during artic spells or when visitors stay. The romantic idea of cosy fires wears off eventually!!

I'd install storage heating (for background heat) and convector heaters (for a quick boost) on a cheap E7 tariff.

Gers

Errata wrote: »

It could be, oil suppliers are more likely to hold you to ransom pricewise and delivery wise than a lekky company.
Modern storage heaters are good and reasonable to run.

Thanks, that's good to know as my only experience of storage heaters is from yonks ago when they were very expensive.

HappyMJ wrote: »

I'd install storage heating (for background heat) and convector heaters (for a quick boost) on a cheap E7 tariff.

Even better. I'll be out in rural west coast Scotland and will need a goodly amount of heat.

Many thanks everyone, you've really helped. :T

HappyMJ

Gers wrote: »

Thanks, that's good to know as my only experience of storage heaters is from yonks ago when they were very expensive.

Even better. I'll be out in rural west coast Scotland and will need a goodly amount of heat.

Many thanks everyone, you've really helped. :T

They're not cheap to run though....Loading up a medium sized Dimplex XL18N (2.55kw) with heat will cost about £1 per heater per night @ 6p/kWh. If you use up all the heat then you'll need to use a convector heater later in the evening which will cost 50p per hour per heater to run. 3kW times 16.7p/kWh.

So...if you had 3 storage heaters for your background heat and used 3 convector heaters for just an hour a day each then it'll cost you £4.50 per day...over 210 days that's almost £1,000.

Ectophile

If you want a comparison of different energy prices, have a look here: http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/

The Pence per kWh figure is the all-important one.

Gers

Ectophile wrote: »

If you want a comparison of different energy prices, have a look here: http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/

The Pence per kWh figure is the all-important one.

Thanks for that. Price differences are staggering! I'm swaying more towards the dreaded woodburner now. can I use something like a Vax to suck up debris? Really can't kneel down these days.

Plenty of blankets and extremely warm clothes will be bought. The benefits of the move, the location, the house and the peace overcomes lack of mains gas. . I hope!