Faulty Gas Boiler - Should I replace with a heat pump? 10 February 2021 at 4:38PM edited 10 February 2021 at 4:39PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 6 replies 377 views

Superscrooge

My 35 year old gas boiler has finally given up. I have the choice of replacing it with a modern combi-boiler or make use of the government incentives and install an air source heat pump.  (My house is a small 2 bed semi, if that makes any difference?) 

For environmental reasons I would love to move away from fossil fuel. But when you already have a mains gas supply. It doesn't appear to make financial sense even with the incentives, to switch to an air source heat pump? 

Has anyone else reached the same conclusion, or do you disagree?        

Ectophile

Realistically, a new gas boiler will be cheaper to install, and cheaper to run.  If you want to go eco-friendly, you'll have to pay, unfortunately.

michaels

I explored all the options recently and couldn't make a heat pump come anywhere near working compared to gas

Superscrooge

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will be sticking with gas. 

Pile_o_stone

I'm in the same boat as the OP, sticking with gas because of costs, but wanting to move away from fossil fuels. I'm instead looking at ways to invest the money I would have spent to install a heat pump, replacing my radiators to larger ones and the increased cost of using electricity instead of gas to reduce my gas usage.

Installing insulation and making our home more airtight is an obvious one, but other ideas included having a modern, well insulated hot water cylinder with two immersion heaters (top and bottom of the tank) to heat water using solar in summer. Our gas boiler is often not used for days at a time in summer. The cylinder is also connected to the space heating pipes so that it helps the gas boiler stay in condensing mode for longer (the return feed to the boiler is set to the optimum temperature). I also buy my gas (and electricity) from a renewables power company. The gas is fossil but they offset the CO2 with tree planting. 

I know all of this is not as green as having just electricity (from only renewable sources) but it's the best I can do as an individual. If the government want us all to move to heat pumps, they need to make the installation cheaper and the electricity price comparable with gas (by lowering electricity, not increasing gas prices).

Reed_Richards

I now have a heat pump (I did not have access to mains gas).  My new radiators are sized to run at a flow temperature of 50 C and a return temperature of 45 C.  Heat pump installers use software that will calculate the radiator requirements based on inputs about the structure of the building, windows, loft insulation etc.  I mention this because I had already replaced a couple of radiators with ones having a larger output but it turned out that they still weren't big enough!   

clive0510

I would stick with gas. as with everything these days, the new gas boilers are more efficient than the older versions. and more environmentally friendly.  british gas do some good deals.