Electric Boilers

Nellybee

I have an old gravity fed gas central heating system using a back boiler. So in time, I will be looking to replace this I have been looking at electric boilers what I am wondering can the electric boiler use the same plumbing to the radiators lessening the disruption, or will it need new pipe work. Do any posters have knowledge of electric boilers and what are their thoughts I have a 2.5kw solar panel array this might reduce the cost of running it.O ther gas alternatives seem more expensive. And on the other hand, my gas central heating maybe run forever not like the modern rubbish you get now.

molerat

The majority of pipework to the radiators would likely remain dependent on the type of installation you already have. Electric boilers are very expensive to run and really should not be considered unless there is no alternative, your 2.5Kw will not make a dent in the boiler consumption and IMO would only be useful if you have a very large thermal store, probably best to use it for heating hot water to save some gas.

Robin9

Gas is by far your better option - much cheaper to run.

There may be a lot of work involved but stick with gas

Martyn1981

Have you considered an ASHP, as that's kinda an electric boiler but about 3x more efficient, plus with the RHI grant, it might work out cheaper overall?

But, back to your pipework question, ideally you need large radiators and pipework of 15-22mm. If it's microbore (8-10mm) then that will need replacing.

Owain_Moneysaver

An old back boiler may be piped on the single pipe system, which might need replacing to work with a new boiler (of any type).



from https://www.diydata.com/planning/central_heating/pipework.php#single

1961Nick

Nellybee wrote: »

I have an old gravity fed gas central heating system using a back boiler. So in time, I will be looking to replace this I have been looking at electric boilers what I am wondering can the electric boiler use the same plumbing to the radiators lessening the disruption, or will it need new pipe work. Do any posters have knowledge of electric boilers and what are their thoughts I have a 2.5kw solar panel array this might reduce the cost of running it.O ther gas alternatives seem more expensive. And on the other hand, my gas central heating maybe run forever not like the modern rubbish you get now.

Forget the electric boiler idea as it'll cost a small fortune to run. Get a heating engineer round to see where a energy efficient combi boiler can be installed to make best use of your existing pipework. The running cost compared to an old gas fired back boiler should be substantially lower (25% minimum).

Piddles

For what it's worth, some time ago, I rented a new build house on an estate without mains gas. For the whole estate the builder had installed regular radiators but instead of a regular boiler was a box the same size as a kitchen unit that was essentially a night storage heater running on Economy 7. From the user perceptive it worked well and I don't remember it being expensive to run at all. It was invisible, which is probably best endorsement of all.

However, the heating elements would sometimes fail and the manufacturer had gone bust so there were no parts available, and a third of the estate had swapped for oil boilers by the time I'd left....

SimonClark100

I refitted my detached 4 bedroom home with an electric boiler last November and I can honestly say it was the best thing I ever did. When looking at an expensive system upgrade the running cost is only part of the total cost of ownership. I was quoted £3K to have a new gas boiler installed with 22mm pipework. You can buy a lot of electricity for that money and an off the shelf immersion is going to be cheaper to replace in the long run especially if using good quality commercial ones. The unit I designed and fitted myself cost under £1.5K but was a drop in replacement for the boiler. It heats up every night 1000l of water to 90 degrees. On the coldest of days it runs out and needs to come on again. That's for 2 weeks in the year. In july 2019, the tank is still 80 degrees and thats been slowing charging up off of excess solar power. It supplies hot water for showers and washing this time of year and if it clouds over lasts for 3-4 days before it needs heating up again. Solar is brilliant as long as you can find ways of storing its potential energy for later use.


I should add that my highest bill in January was £180 but in June it was 80p. My system has 5.4KWh of solar and 20KW of battery storage (DIY). I run an electric car and have not paid 1p to charge it since 1st March.

tim_p

Surely the cost of 5.4 kWh of solar and 20 kW of battery is gonna buy a decent gas boiler and many years of fuel. DIY is beyond almost everyone in this scenario. So yes, for mere mortals gas is much cheaper.

michaels

tim_p wrote: »

Surely the cost of 5.4 kWh of solar and 20 kW of battery is gonna buy a decent gas boiler and many years of fuel. DIY is beyond almost everyone in this scenario. So yes, for mere mortals gas is much cheaper.

I don't know - if you can store enough heat to last you 24 hours on one of the very cheap night rate time of day tariffs (4p/unit on Octopus 2:30 - 4:30?) then it might work?

And have a sensible way of circulating the heat - how do you avoid having rads at 90 degrees?

GreatApe

How do you buy electricity for 4p a unit? I see no such thing on the octopus website