New gas connection over 40m

jonawal

Hi all - i'm about to move into a new house that currently has oil central heating - however, it needs a new oil tank and boiler - before I spend c.£5k I wanted to consider installing gas as an alternative.

Gas is in the road outside the house but the house is 70 meters up a private road -Fulcrum and others have quoted £5k to install gas at the house if i dig the trench,£10k if they do it.

National Grid want £500 just to quote as its over 40m on private land. As an alternative they've quoted £750 to put a boundary meter 40m up the drive - my gse would then have to run the last 30m - however, he is worried about loss of pressure - do you think this is a feasable route and if so what meter should i ask for and what piping should my gse be running ?

The house is 1950s,5 bed, 3,000 sqft and the gas would be running a new boiler and cooker.

Or should I be paying the £500 for a National Grid quotation to run the gas the whole way to the house.

If the cost is c.£5k is this worth it over staying with oil - if I have to put in new boilers for both options and a new oil 2,500 litre oil tank say £2k then effectively the gas pipe would only be costing me an additional £3k.

I've also looked into an air source heat pump at c£15k but am really sceptical about
a) payback period - big capital expenditure v payback
b) retrofits

matelodave

I would have though that going for gas would be the best option - you save the cost of a new tank and not only are gas boilers cheaper to buy they are more reliable and need less servicing.

Is it likely that National Grid would be cheaper than your existing quotes? Would national grid refund the deposit/knock it off the installation cost of the gas line if you accept their quote?

I wouldn't recommend retrofitting a heatpump unless you do some very careful calculations and are happy that the existing radiators and plumbing will heat the house adequately. Heatpumps are most efficient at low temperatures and existing rads might not be able to push out enough heat so you'd end up trying to get them hotter and the running cost would skyrocket
You would need to be convinced that the outlay would be cost effective and I'm not sure that would be the case unless the whole system was properly designed from the bottom up

rogerblack

jonawal wrote: »

I've also looked into an air source heat pump at c£15k but am really sceptical about
a) payback period - big capital expenditure v payback
b) retrofits

For good air-source heatpumps, the price can be considerably cheaper than gas.

http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/toshiba-air-conditioning-ras-b10skvp-25kw--8250btu-inverter-490-p.asp - for example.
This would however basically be a one per room option.

These run at around two thirds the price of gas.
Air-water heatpumps have always seemed - comparatively - ridiculously expensive.

JC_Derby

Bear in mind that your current electricity service may not be enough to run your ASHP. You or the potential installers would have to ask the DNO whether they could install the pump, whether it would affect your supply or your local neighbours.