Is it worth installing gas central heating

chelseablue

I live in a 2 bed flat that is all electric

I currently have electric heaters attached to the wall in each room of the flat. I have to go round and turn each one on individually, from what looks like a lightswitch

Some of the flats in my block do have gas. I have the connection in the cupboard in my porch so would just need to be connected up.

Hope Im making sense!

Would it be worth installing gas central heating and therefore 'proper' radiators?
Then I could set the heating to come on in the morning and night, instead of waking up and coming in from work to a freezing cold flat!

Plus I find electric wall heaters expensive to run

PasturesNew

How long will you be there for?

Install boiler/rads, say £2-3k..... annual servicing, maybe gas cover, new standing charge on bill. Add that lot up and it might be just as cheap to stay as you are and/or find an electric system that's more controllable/programmable.

chelseablue

PasturesNew wrote: »

How long will you be there for?

Install boiler/rads, say £2-3k..... annual servicing, maybe gas cover, new standing charge on bill. Add that lot up and it might be just as cheap to stay as you are and/or find an electric system that's more controllable/programmable.

At least another 3 - 4 years

My other half works in a plumbers merchants so I can purchase the stuff really cheap

HappyMJ

chelseablue wrote: »

At least another 3 - 4 years

My other half works in a plumbers merchants so I can purchase the stuff really cheap

Might just be worth it then. A 2 bedroom flat converted to gas won't save much when taking into account all the standing charges, the annual maintenance and regular replacement. It will save but your payback time might be about 15 years at which time the boiler will be due for replacement.

How much do you currently pay on your electricity bill? How many kWh do you use? Deduct about 3,000kWh from the consumption and the remaining figure should be about what you use for hot water and heating. Find what the gas charges are and add the standing charges then add about £60 a year for maintenance and you should be able to figure out your savings.

lstar337

HappyMJ wrote: »

Might just be worth it then. A 2 bedroom flat converted to gas won't save much when taking into account all the standing charges, the annual maintenance and regular replacement. It will save but your payback time might be about 15 years at which time the boiler will be due for replacement.

How much do you currently pay on your electricity bill? How many kWh do you use? Deduct about 3,000kWh from the consumption and the remaining figure should be about what you use for hot water and heating. Find what the gas charges are and add the standing charges then add about £60 a year for maintenance and you should be able to figure out your savings.

If you are only going to be there 3-4 years and HappyMJ is estimating a 15 year payback, it may not be worth it.

You could get some spur timers if you wanted to add a bit more controllability to your electric heaters.

chelseablue

HappyMJ wrote: »

Might just be worth it then. A 2 bedroom flat converted to gas won't save much when taking into account all the standing charges, the annual maintenance and regular replacement. It will save but your payback time might be about 15 years at which time the boiler will be due for replacement.

How much do you currently pay on your electricity bill? How many kWh do you use? Deduct about 3,000kWh from the consumption and the remaining figure should be about what you use for hot water and heating. Find what the gas charges are and add the standing charges then add about £60 a year for maintenance and you should be able to figure out your savings.

My electric bill for last winter time December, January, February was £140 for the quarter, it says on there I used 951 units

hamster2013

consider the resale price of the flat
if all flats are electric then I guess it will not have much impact
if you are in a very desirable location, it wount have much impact either

however, if you feel that you would struggle to sell your property, then make the leap and save monies while you stay there, and use the fact that its 'recently installed' gas boiler and heating to sell the property faster than the other flats in the block would sell.

lstar337

chelseablue wrote: »

My electric bill for last winter time December, January, February was £140 for the quarter, it says on there I used 951 units

So during the last winter (which was pretty damn cold) you only paid £140 for the quater, in an all electric flat?

I would stick with electric.

chelseablue

I tried not to use it much, just wore pyjamas and dressing gown all the time

This year I will have it on everynight and see in March what the bill is

lstar337

chelseablue wrote: »

I tried not to use it much, just wore pyjamas and dressing gown all the time

This year I will have it on everynight and see in March what the bill is

Well I'm all electric with storage heaters and I was paying £150/month during that same period. So you were doing pretty good!

I would see what you pay this year before thinking about gas. If you are going to be just as frugal with the heating when it's gas, you will probably be paying more!

SailorSam

I think if i were to look for a new house one of the priorities on the 'must have' list would be Central Heating. Despite the price rises most people still prefer gas.
So even if you were to move in 3/4 yrs i think it's worth it. More prospective buyers will want it.