Electric vs Gas Boiler

freshfruitbandit

Long story short, i currently reside in a large grade 2 listed apartment. I need a new boiler and with this i have to have completely new flues installed too. This is a huge problem as the flue goes up through 3 different apartments to the roof and it's an incredibly difficult job. The building being Grade 2 listed means there is no other alternative. The quotes for new boiler and flues have averaged £5k.

So one installer asked me if i had thought about electric. Although the boiler would be more expensive than gas there would be no need for the new flues, the majority of the bill would be eliminated.

My apartment is large, very high ceilings, over 2 floors (although downstairs is all under floor heating), would the cost of running an electric boiler would be more expensive than a gas one?

I'm due to sell the place in 6 months time, would having an electric boiler put off potential purchasers at all?

Appreciate any help or suggestions as it's a major amount of money and i want to make the right decision.

:beer:

HappyMJ

Electricity running costs far exceed that of gas. Assuming you get onto a very good tariff you're looking at a minimum of double the cost of gas and in most cases if you are on the best tariff already then it could be up to triple the cost of a cheap gas tariff.

You may as well just use electric radiators or convector heaters which will cost the same to run as an electric boiler but with much lower installation and maintenance costs.

I would not consider buying a property with an electric boiler where gas exists.

Cardew

Agree totally with the above.


However why do you need a new boiler? You can source almost all the parts of most gas boilers and even an extensive repair job costing £1,000 or so would be a bargain.


The reason for a new flue is presumably because your old boiler is non-condensing and the new boiler is condensing.


Whilst condensing boilers are mandatory for most dwellings, there is provision for an exception to be made in listed buildings where fitment of a condensing boiler would cause the expense you are encountering.

Are there legal ways around the rules?

Plumbers may point to the "exceptions" criteria in the legislation. If the installation of a condenser boiler is not "practical" or "uneconomic" then the plumber can go ahead with installing a traditional model.
Will only limited exceptions will be allowed?
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which designed the rules, says the exceptions will be just that and will be few in number. But Martin Cooper, who runs Leeds-based heating firm Safegas, says there is no budget to police the new regulations and cowboy plumbers will get away with "any old excuse" for making an exception for their customers.
So, no revolution then?
Mr Cooper believes plumbers' merchants will continue to sell huge numbers of traditional boilers over the counter for cash to plumbers who have either bent the rules or are ignoring them altogether. "The amount of people going to their local plumbers' merchants and buying for cash and installing for cash is huge and I don't believe any of that will change when the new rules come into effect,"

lstar337

freshfruitbandit wrote: »

I'm due to sell the place in 6 months time, would having an electric boiler put off potential purchasers at all?

I am desperate to own my own property, but I wouldn't even consider yours with an electric boiler. They really are the worst of all worlds.

If I really wanted your property, I would ask to have the cost of GSH knocked off your price so I could fit it afterwards.

Electric boiler is a terrible idea IMHO.

macman

The maths is not that complex: gas is about 4p per kWh, electricity is about 12p. Removing gas CH will probably knock thousands off the value of the property, and many buyers wouldn't even consider it.
Since you are selling in 6m, patch up the existing boiler to get you through the winter and leave the problem to the next owner. I am bewildered as to why you would want to fit a new boiler in a property that you are about to sell, you will never recover the investment in that time.

freshfruitbandit

Cardew wrote: »

Agree totally with the above.


However why do you need a new boiler? You can source almost all the parts of most gas boilers and even an extensive repair job costing £1,000 or so would be a bargain.


The reason for a new flue is presumably because your old boiler is non-condensing and the new boiler is condensing.


Whilst condensing boilers are mandatory for most dwellings, there is provision for an exception to be made in listed buildings where fitment of a condensing boiler would cause the expense you are encountering.

Yes, the cost is for the new flue that would have to be fitted through 2 properties above me as the current Baxi boiler is a non-condensing.

I did look for a 2nd hand version of my boiler on ebay for about 12 months but found nothing.

Very helpful information, thank you.

freshfruitbandit

macman wrote: »

The maths is not that complex: gas is about 4p per kWh, electricity is about 12p. Removing gas CH will probably knock thousands off the value of the property, and many buyers wouldn't even consider it.
Since you are selling in 6m, patch up the existing boiler to get you through the winter and leave the problem to the next owner. I am bewildered as to why you would want to fit a new boiler in a property that you are about to sell, you will never recover the investment in that time.

the boiler would pass any safety inspections as it is so i cannot list the property for sale or rent until the boiler has a valid safety certificate. Hence why i have been looking at getting this sorted.

Skools_Out

freshfruitbandit wrote: »

Long story short, i currently reside in a large grade 2 listed apartment. I need a new boiler and with this i have to have completely new flues installed too. This is a huge problem as the flue goes up through 3 different apartments to the roof and it's an incredibly difficult job. The building being Grade 2 listed means there is no other alternative. The quotes for new boiler and flues have averaged £5k.

So one installer asked me if i had thought about electric. Although the boiler would be more expensive than gas there would be no need for the new flues, the majority of the bill would be eliminated.

My apartment is large, very high ceilings, over 2 floors (although downstairs is all under floor heating), would the cost of running an electric boiler would be more expensive than a gas one?

I'm due to sell the place in 6 months time, would having an electric boiler put off potential purchasers at all?

Appreciate any help or suggestions as it's a major amount of money and i want to make the right decision.

:beer:

I don't think it would put any potential purchaser off, not if they really wanted the property.

But expect them to offer a lower price than if you get the work done yourself. e.g less £5k for the cost of the work less possibly another £10k for the inconvenience of having to arrange it all and suffering whilst the work is carried out.

If you want a cheap & cheerful solution, have you considered ripping the whole lot out and getting E7, night storage heaters and a big hot water tank that van be heated overnight using an immersion heater running at low rate.

After taking into account the relative effeciencies, there's not actually much difference in running cost of E7 low rate & gas. It's also quite ususl for flats to have such heating/hot water.

But if all the other apartments in the block have gas, then this will be reflected in the sale price you could achieve for yours.

Skools_Out

freshfruitbandit wrote: »

the boiler would pass any safety inspections as it is so i cannot list the property for sale or rent until the boiler has a valid safety certificate. Hence why i have been looking at getting this sorted.

You don't need any safety certificate to sell.

If you are now considering renting it out, then electric as I described may well be of benefit to you. Less capital outlay, most renters of flats wouldexpect it to be electric only, and you don't have the annual cost of safety/maintenance you will have with gas installed. Storage heaters are essentially maintenance free

freshfruitbandit

Skools_Out wrote: »

You don't need any safety certificate to sell.

If you are now considering renting it out, then electric as I described may well be of benefit to you. Less capital outlay, most renters of flats wouldexpect it to be electric only, and you don't have the annual cost of safety/maintenance you will have with gas installed. Storage heaters are essentially maintenance free

No, i'm certainly selling ! I have spoken to someone who is coming to look at it very soon !

Thank you for all the kind comments and advice !

Pincher

I have a Grade II listed apartment, with 12 ft ceiling.
The central heating is communal, with an industrial gas boiler in the basement.

There are probably 200 apartments in the building, so if they allowed a gas boiler per apartment, the flue runs required would be insane, not to mention the potential for gas leaks if any individual leaseholder uses cowboy engineers.

I thought inaccessible flue runs are banned from about two years ago, as well. It sounds like a legacy setup that may have been OK many years ago, but the owners are going to have major compliance issues soon.

I suspect you need to have a major building wide revamp.
Good luck, I had a friend, who couldn't even get the neighbours to agree to paint the stairwell.