Centrall Heating Installation

Habbakuk

I've recently purchased an old property, 19th century build and it's currently heated by storage heaters in every room. I would like to install some central-heating. I'm not sure where even to begin. Would I begin with deciding on what fuel will power it? The property is served by mains gas. Also, what price bracket am I looking at for a 3 bedroom house with bathroom and kitchen and two other rooms? I don't have an idea at the moment. Thank you.

squirrelchops

I've recently done a similar size old property that had no heating in........ quotes varied wildly. Paid £3200 - that is for 3 bedroom rads, 2 bathroom suites, hall rad and then 3 rooms. Everything in from scratch, oh and outside tap! Gas mains too.


Edited - forgot - gas hob too.

Habbakuk

I was quoted £5000 by the builder who wasn't going to install it but just to give and idea. I thought it seemed a little steep.

squirrelchops

We saved a few quid by doing the donkey work ripping out the old heaters and pipes ourselves.

macman

If you have mains gas, then the decision as to which fuel is already made for you. Next stage is a site survey by your preferred GSR RGI-impossible to price on any other basis. we don't even know the number of rads needed or the rating of boiler (or type of boiler required).

diywhynot

Habbakuk wrote: »

I've recently purchased an old property, 19th century build and it's currently heated by storage heaters in every room. I would like to install some central-heating. I'm not sure where even to begin. Would I begin with deciding on what fuel will power it? The property is served by mains gas. Also, what price bracket am I looking at for a 3 bedroom house with bathroom and kitchen and two other rooms? I don't have an idea at the moment. Thank you.

If the property is occupied and you live in the southeast/London that will add to the cost. Get 3 quotes in from RGIs recommended to you and compare. Avoid plastic pipework and ask for copper.

Further advice here.

jimmy_81

Oh my, Habbakuk, you've got a lot of research to do!

If you have the opportunity to start from scratch, then yes, the first question is fuel source. This in turn is rather dictated by the nature of the property AND how much you can afford to spend on it.

If you've got the funds, and plan to be at the property for a long time, then I'd certainly look into "green" solutions - which may include solar, ground/air source heat pumps, woodburners etc.

All of these can be used in combination with a more convential fuel source such as gas.

However, not every property works for these - for example, solar required a reasonable area of south-facing roof, etc. etc...

In terms of conventional heating gas will be the right answer 99 times out of 100. In some very weird cases oil or electric might be better, but not often.

One caution with the gas supply - have you checked with the gas transport company (NOT the same as the gas supplier!) that the connection is live?

We recently moved into an older property which the previous owners thought had gas - because there was an old pipe sticking through the wall - but it turned out that connection had been turned off in 1965 (!!!) and we had to have a whole new connection with a trench dug up our driveway to the road.

If you do need this doing - find out quick & get it booked with the gas transport company, as some of them have LONG wait times...

So, assuming you do go for a standard gas central heating system, the next question - combi boiler or stored hot water? Each have their pros and cons:

Combi is cheaper to install and a simpler system - you don't need to waste a cupboard for a hot water cylinder - but can suffer from poor hot water flow rate if you have more than 1 bathroom or low mains water pressure. Also - ensure the boiler is sized for your desired hot water output, NOT central heating capacity.

There are various different stored hot water approaches but all require a hot water cylinder to be installed somewhere - making this more complicated & expensive to install approach. However, it can allow "power" showers and the boiler for this type of system can be smaller, simpler and cheaper.

A lot of people moan and complain about combis but this is nearly always where they've not been properly specced for the property and hot water demands. If you have two "proper" bathrooms - so 2 people may be showering at once - chances are you do need stored hot water; for a smaller property, a combi will do the job.

Cost wise... It does vary a great deal. For our recent install - new Worcester Bosch boiler, 7 room radiators, towel rail, completely new pipework throughout, high quality (Pegler) TRVs, water softener fitted, outside tap & to plumb in our fridge freezer - we paid upwards of £6k.

BUT it was a company that had been highly recommended by two friends independently, who completed the whole job in three days to a very high standard - so money well spent, in my view.

As with any work - get a few quotes, get recommendations, and get the right balance of cost v quality. Easier said than done! :rotfl:

Habbakuk

Thank you all for your replies. A combination of a wood burner and gas system sounds appealing to me as there's a plentiful supply of wood around here. Is a system like this much more expensive than your usual gas only system? Anybody here got such a system?

macman

In what circumstances (even 1 in 100) is oil going to be a better choice than mains gas (when available)?

jimmy_81

macman wrote: »

In what circumstances (even 1 in 100) is oil going to be a better choice than mains gas (when available)?

There's always somebody quibbling... :rotfl: I'd probably have had a similar comment, only the other way, had I said "Gas is always the best solution"!

Honestly, I don't know enough about gas v oil - maybe gas is always the right answer, but I wouldn't want to assume.

macman

Oil being around 30% more expensive per kWh is the clue.
There are many other factors that the OP has to consider, but choice of fuel in this instance is the one that can be made in about 30 seconds.