New flat with no central heating - what shall I do?

smigsmag

Hi,

I am going to complete on my first home on Thursday and before I move in from my rented accommodation I'd like to get the heating sorted. Currently it has no central heating and only electric water heaters for the shower and kitchen. There is no gas to the property.

I'd like to know what the cheapest way to heat the place would be. I have about £4000.

I've looked into lots of different things but it's just made me more confused about what to do.

Biomass boilers are too expensive to install. Electric storage heaters seem like an inconvenient and backward way to heat. Gas could be connected at the property but for about £500, plus whatever the meter would cost, and then the boiler and installation on top. Plus it would wreck the nice wood floors. I'm not sure about electric boilers - at the moment this is the thing that is most appealing to me but are they incredibly expensive to run? And is there anything else that I'm missing that would be a good option? Or should I abandon all ideas and just buy a couple of oil filled radiators, as I believe they had before? It is a very small flat and double glazed, so I'm not even sure if central heating is worth it, but freestanding radiators seem a bit like 'roughing it'. Would appreciate ideas! Thanks.

Ebe_Scrooge

If you're planning on staying there a good few years, then mains gas is a no brainer. It's the cheapest ( or should that be least expensive ! ) of the options. Electricity is horrendous - the type of radiator makes no difference, all electrical heaters are 100% efficient ( i.e. a 1KW oil-filled rad costs the same to run as a 1KW convector ).

If you want central heating as opposed to plug-in electric rads, then get the gas connected. You're going to need a boiler for any of the options, whether that be gas, electric or biomass. I think for the sake of the extra £500 to get gas connected, it'll pay for itself long term. Plus it'll add value to the place when you come to sell - compared to a similar property that doesn't have CH or mains gas connected.

Knalchemist

From experience I would go for installing gas. It may be expensive now, but it'd be cheaper in the long run… and you'd be warmer!

macman

I don't think you've done the maths here. An electric boiler will cost you about 350% more to run than mains gas CH and DHW, since it has to run on a single rate tariff. Go for that if you've got money to burn (literally). And a electric boiler uses wet rads, so it will still 'wreck your floors'.
Mains gas connection at £500 is a steal-you'll probably get that back within a year, and it will add much value to the property.
The second cheapest option is NSH's and an E7 meter, but a far less satisfactory system.

smigsmag

Fantastic, thanks so much. I think it's going to be the gas then. It's really good to get a few different opinions - especially when everyone comes to the same conclusion! I'll go ahead and call National Grid.