Install central heating?

Dotjs

I'm about to move house in about 8 weeks. 3 bed mid terraced. It has a gas fire at the chimney and 2 gas wall mounted heaters. 1 of the heaters is in the hall at the front door and the other is in the front bedroom. The water is heated by the immersion.

Would I be better just fully insulating the house( it has none) and keeping what's there or fully insulating the house and installing central heating?

I'm just wondering if I would be comfortable with what's there or if I need to install CH. I'm also concerned about how long the CH might take to pay for itself with any savings I might make.

macman

CH is about the single best investment that you can make in a property, as it will greatly increase the value and desirability of the property when you come to sell.
You'll otherwise be dependent on hot water from your E7 install.
It would be worth insulating the property however you heat it.

Dotjs

I think it's just a single rate meter so I'd be be getting charged standard rate on heating the water.

Am I right in saying that the vast majority of the money saved on heating bills would be by insulating the property and not by changing the heating system?

P.S I'm not trying to cheap out and avoid installing a central heating system but if I installed central heating and then only saved £40 a month in energy I'd be better off just keeping what I have. It might only be £20 a month when you factor for boiler cover. That means on a £4k CH system it would take around 16 years to pay for itself by which point I'll probably need a new system!

macman

A meter change to E7 will cost about £60. As long as you use sufficient on the cheap rate (a third of the cost of peak rate), it's a no-brainer.
Insulate first, then CH.
As I said, CH will greatly increase the value. Many buyers will not consider a property without it when mains gas is available.
You don't boiler cover on a new system (or indeed any system)-it should have at least a 5 year warranty if you choose a decent brand.

Dotjs

macman wrote: »

A meter change to E7 will cost about £60. As long as you use sufficient on the cheap rate (a third of the cost of peak rate), it's a no-brainer.
Insulate first, then CH.
As I said, CH will greatly increase the value. Many buyers will not consider a property without it when mains gas is available.
You don't boiler cover on a new system (or indeed any system)-it should have at least a 5 year warranty if you choose a decent brand.

Sorry for sounding a little slow but are you saying I should get an E7 meter and then install gas central heating? I always thought you weren't allowed E7 if you had gas connected to the property?

I'm not too bothered about the resale value/desirability as I chose this as a "house for life" (and I know my circumstances may change).

HappyMJ

Dotjs wrote: »

Sorry for sounding a little slow but are you saying I should get an E7 meter and then install gas central heating? I always thought you weren't allowed E7 if you had gas connected to the property?

I'm not too bothered about the resale value/desirability as I chose this as a "house for life" (and I know my circumstances may change).

I have E7 and gas that's no problem at all.

Central heating may cost a lot to install...you also need to consider the pay back time...there is no point installing something in which the pay back time exceeds it's expected life.

Generally when people move in to a new property they've spent all their money on the deposit and as you already have gas heating of some sort the savings to be made won't be much. The suggestion has been made to fully insulate the property as a high priority then consider what heating you would like later on. Personally, I think what you have will be fine for a while....at least until it starts to fail then at that time consider replacing it.

I don't think your savings will be anything at all. If you replaced your gas fires with an A rated boiler it's highly likely your bills will go up and not down...due to the increased space that is being heated. You will be heating the other bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen which are all currently unheated. So I don't think you will ever have a payback time.

Dotjs

Ok so regarding E7- (assuming I don't install CH) is this something I should consider for the hot water? Or just let that run on the standard price?

Dotjs

Wow, just had a look at the price of replacement wall hung gas heaters- not cheap! Let's hope they last a good while longer!

HappyMJ

Dotjs wrote: »

Ok so regarding E7- (assuming I don't install CH) is this something I should consider for the hot water? Or just let that run on the standard price?

Switching to E7 will reduce the cost of heating the water from an average of 10-12p/kWh on standard rate to 5-7p/kWh at night rate at the cost of increasing your day rate to 13-15p/kWh. The increased day rate means you need to use a minimum of 25-35% on the night rate to be worth it...which isn't too hard as 7/24th's is almost 30% anyway and your fridges/freezers will be running overnight. The exact numbers depend on your region so you could play about with some numbers on a comparison site and see what's cheapest.

MX5huggy

Central heating may cost a lot to install...you also need to consider the pay back time...there is no point installing something in which the pay back time exceeds it's expected life

People do all sorts of things that won't payback. Best example being Double glazing.

If you insulate correctly and to the right level you won't need any heating. If you don't insulate and like your house hot then pay back on a new central heating system will be quite quick.

macman

Dotjs wrote: »

Sorry for sounding a little slow but are you saying I should get an E7 meter and then install gas central heating? I always thought you weren't allowed E7 if you had gas connected to the property?

I'm not too bothered about the resale value/desirability as I chose this as a "house for life" (and I know my circumstances may change).

No, if you put in CH you will either have a combi boiler and heat your hot water on-demand, or heat your hot water tank from a conventional boiler. Then there is no point in E7, unless you use about 30%+ on night rate and lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
You can have E7 in any property you like-there's no law against gas users having it! Why would there be?
If you continue to heat your hot water via an immersion heater then E7 may be more economic, as above.
Remember that gas is about one third of the cost of electricity per kWh.