Switch from coal

richfromwales

Hi Folks
I live in a 3 bedroom mid terraced 1900's miners cottage, with no mains gas supply in S Wales. We have a gravity fed hot water system heated by a solid fuel stove. Its costing us £115 a month for coal and we're using plug in electric radiators to keep the living room warm while the water gets up to temperature (giving us high electricity Bill's too). We want to replace the system with something more efficient. We've been told LPG bottles are too expensive, air source heat pump sounds difficult because in wales the pump has to be 3 meters from the edge of the property (not really doable as we are mid terraced), I think oil prices will sky rocket in the not so distant future and a plumber has told us that an electric system will demand more power than we can supply. If anyone has any recommendations, advice or ideas to help me out, I'd really appreciate it! 

Bonus question; I've been quoted £8000 to have external wall insulation put in, is it worth doing and is this price a rip off?

*its worth noting that we have loft insulation and double glazing but I think that's it as far as home insulation goes.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Rich

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Easy answer first - external wall insulation in a mid-terrace cottage for that price is a rip-off. Internal insulation on the front and back walls(dry lining) will cost less but IMO neither will be cost effective.

On the main question, you have ruled out all the alternative methods of heating.

However why do you think 'oil prices will rocket' ? I suggest you Google 'oil price predictions' to see that most of the 'experts' disagree with your opinion. If you can even contemplate spending £8,000 on external insulation, then, again IMO, Oil fired Central Heating would be the way to go.

Biscuit_Tin

richfromwales said:

Hi Folks
I live in a 3 bedroom mid terraced 1900's miners cottage, with no mains gas supply in S Wales. We have a gravity fed hot water system heated by a solid fuel stove. Its costing us £115 a month for coal and we're using plug in electric radiators to keep the living room warm while the water gets up to temperature (giving us high electricity Bill's too). We want to replace the system with something more efficient. We've been told LPG bottles are too expensive, air source heat pump sounds difficult because in wales the pump has to be 3 meters from the edge of the property (not really doable as we are mid terraced), I think oil prices will sky rocket in the not so distant future and a plumber has told us that an electric system will demand more power than we can supply. If anyone has any recommendations, advice or ideas to help me out, I'd really appreciate it! 

Bonus question; I've been quoted £8000 to have external wall insulation put in, is it worth doing and is this price a rip off?

*its worth noting that we have loft insulation and double glazing but I think that's it as far as home insulation goes.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Rich

Night storage heaters running on E7 will be the lowest capital expenditure way forward, and will save you money,

As for the bonus Q, it will take you a long time to recover £8k expenditure in energy savings. Whether it is a reasonable price, I can't say as you do not give enough details. I suggest you get a couple more independant quotes and that should give you an indication if it's the right order of magnitude.

FreeBear

Cardew said: Easy answer first - external wall insulation in a mid-terrace cottage for that price is a rip-off. Internal insulation on the front and back walls(dry lining) will cost less but IMO neither will be cost effective.

Agreed, £8K is pretty steep. Insulating internally will be cheaper, but as with EWI, attention to the detail is important. Attention to the window & door reveals, the junction between floor/ceiling.. A 1900 terrace is most likely to be solid brick walls, so consideration to a ventilated gap between insulation & brickwork should be given. Using a warm batten method would provide a suitable air gap without losing too much space. It would also preserve the external appearance of the property.

If the OP did much of the work himself, it would give a worthwhile saving in energy usage without costing the earth.