Is it a good idea to buy a house with no gas connected?

cacti

I am considering buying a bungalow with no gas connected. It is entirely run on electricity including the central heating. It is in a terrace of four bungalows and gas is not connected to any of them. Is it a lot more expensive than using gas and electricity? I like having the choice of gas and electricity at present. Are there any drawbacks other than cost? I would be interested in anyone's experience and any advice. Thankyou.

matelodave

How old is it, how well insulated is it, what form of heating has it got.

There are plenty of houses out there without gas (ours for instance) so it's not all bad.

HappyMJ

cacti wrote: »

I am considering buying a bungalow with no gas connected. It is entirely run on electricity including the central heating. It is in a terrace of four bungalows and gas is not connected to any of them. Is it a lot more expensive than using gas and electricity? I like having the choice of gas and electricity at present. Are there any drawbacks other than cost? I would be interested in anyone's experience and any advice. Thankyou.

It is more expensive to run a house on electricity but it's not that much more especially when you take into account the standing charges on the gas supply, the annual servicing of the boiler and the regular replacement of the boiler. I'd recommend sticking with electricity in a 1 bedroom flat or smaller either gas or electricity in a 2 bedroom flat or small house and gas in a 3 or more bedroom property.

Bark01

If none of your neighbours have gas it will probably cost a fortune to get connected to a gas main as they may not be one close by.

cacti

It is approx. forty yeards old, electric central heating with radiators, cavity wall insulation. That is all I know really.

HappyMJ

cacti wrote: »

It is approx. forty yeards old, electric central heating with radiators, cavity wall insulation. That is all I know really.

If you're buying it then it should have an EPC which should explain what it needs to improve it's energy rating. What rating is it at the moment and what could it be improved to? How many square metres is the property?

dannymccann

On a personal note, I wouldn't even consider short term renting anywhere with electric storage heaters, they are just naff.

Electric 'wet' central heating (basically the same as a conventional GCH system but run on leccy) would be my minimum requirements, just for the flexibility it offers.

Running costs of electricity vs gas my guess would be electricity is more expensive (but more efficient), and based on my statement above about wanting a wet system the servicing / replacement would be fairly similar to a gas system.

I suppose you've got to weigh up how long you are planning on being there for. Installing a whole GCH heating system with nothing already in place will be costly on it's own, and connections to the mains are also very expensive, however I would say this would eventually be recouped in greater property value?

Andy_WSM

Not having gas in a small property would not put me off buying.

I've had gas central heating until recently and the boiler has failed beyond economical repair meaning I am currently running electric only. It really isn't as bad as everyone would have you believe. My running costs even in this colder weather are about a fiver a day and I'm home all day currently due to being off work.

Seriously considering not having the boiler replaced and becoming electric only next year. No gas standing charge, no boiler servicing costs, system depreciation costs, replacement boilers every 10 years etc.

lstar337

dannymccann wrote: »

On a personal note, I wouldn't even consider short term renting anywhere with electric storage heaters, they are just naff.

Electric 'wet' central heating (basically the same as a conventional GCH system but run on leccy) would be my minimum requirements, just for the flexibility it offers.

Running costs of electricity vs gas my guess would be electricity is more expensive (but more efficient), and based on my statement above about wanting a wet system the servicing / replacement would be fairly similar to a gas system.

I suppose you've got to weigh up how long you are planning on being there for. Installing a whole GCH heating system with nothing already in place will be costly on it's own, and connections to the mains are also very expensive, however I would say this would eventually be recouped in greater property value?

Wet electric central heating is about as expensive as you can get, running wise.

dannymccann

I know, I'd rather have underfloor heating...maybe that would be a good idea in a small bungalow? I remember a few years ago I looked round a new build bungalow that had underfloor heating throughout (dry, the wires under the tiles) and it was brilliant. Cant imagine it's cheap though?

HappyMJ

dannymccann wrote: »

I know, I'd rather have underfloor heating...maybe that would be a good idea in a small bungalow? I remember a few years ago I looked round a new build bungalow that had underfloor heating throughout (dry, the wires under the tiles) and it was brilliant. Cant imagine it's cheap though?

That's very expensive. Thye run on peak rate electric. If you get a property with electric heating then try and choose night storage heaters which are the cheapest to run but not very manageable but you'll soon learn to read the weather forecast and set them appropriately. Then a heat pump is next cheapest to run but quite expensive to install and they are noisy then just a basic convector heater or a single standalone radiator pointing directy at you is the next cheapest. Heating something like water then pumping it the place around isn't very efficient as the heat isn't where you need it for exactly the same running cost a simple convector heater will be fine. An oil filled radiator gives a nice background heat.