Request for advice - first-time buyers looking at house without mains gas

Faodail

Our new home we are moving into has ‘Duel fuel - Mineral & Wood’ boiler and radiators 😬 love a good indoor fire, this house has 2! 

AdrianC

Duel? You might want to stop the heating systems fighting each other.

"Mineral"? Coal...?

TripleH

I'm looking at infrared as a heating option (have a friend whose had it in their house so awaiting their thoughts). I think a better focus on insulation will be as important as efficient heating.

Water heating is a different question however.

canaldumidi

Infrared is electric. In terms of the KW (heat) output it costs exactly the same as any other form of electric heating. If you sit in front of an infrared heater it will feel like it is warmer as you are in the direct line of fire (as it were!), but in terms of heating the air in the whole room it will cost exactly the same as electric rads to reach the same temperature.

You get the same effect with an open fire - sit close to it and you'll feel toasty. But the room (and house) as a whole may still be freezing....

For more info, go over to the energy/other fuels board here.

JGB1955

My parents lived in a (large) barn conversion with multi fuel stove in the lounge but only Night Storage heaters and a couple of electric towel rails elsewhere.  Cost them upwards of £400 per month.  Probably more now.

[Deleted User]

Gas boilers are on the way out. If you can budget for installing a heat pump system it might be a bargain.

Faodail

AdrianC said:

Duel? You might want to stop the heating systems fighting each other.

"Mineral"? Coal...?

Duel/Dual... 🙄😬😅

Mineral - Coal, apparently... Yes! 

flashg67

I'm in my first year of an electric only house. I removed the 1970's storage heaters which only worked partially anyway, changed to a standard electricity tariff and installed some wi-fi controlled panel heaters. I knew/know it will be more expensive than my old gas CH house, but I can now set unused rooms to a lower setting at various times during the day. EG, I'm off work this week, so my home office heater is set to only 10 degrees as I'm not using it, as is the spare bedroom. 

Edit to add - if you love the house, don't let it be a deal breaker, just budget for the bills!

ProDave

It is not the lack of gas that would put me off this house, but the EPC rating of E.

EPC's were introduced to give you an idea of the heating costs and environmental impact of the house.  So far they are largely ignored, (except by landlords who have to meed certain limits) but i bet you would be the first on here complaining when your new house turns out to be cold and damp and costs a fortune to heat.  You WERE warned via the EPC.

It really is time houses with a poor EPC were valued lower to reflect the high running costs and the cost of the work that WILL be needed to bring them up to a better standard sooner or later.

This is the elephant in the room.  These poor houses WILL need updating sooner or later.  If you buy it at full market value you are taking a gamble that someone (the government?) will come along and bail you out and give some form of grant to upgrade it.

I say all this as someone just completing self building a new house that has achieved an EPC A94.  It was NOT particularly difficult or expensive to achieve that, but very much easier to achieve on a new build than to retroactively achieve upgrading an old house.

onylon

ProDave said:

It is not the lack of gas that would put me off this house, but the EPC rating of E.

EPC's were introduced to give you an idea of the heating costs and environmental impact of the house.  So far they are largely ignored, (except by landlords who have to meed certain limits) but i bet you would be the first on here complaining when your new house turns out to be cold and damp and costs a fortune to heat.  You WERE warned via the EPC.

EPCs are just a box ticking exercise so the results are complete guff. My last home got an F and we only ran the heating for a few months a year because the place stayed toasty warm. My current home got a C and I've already turned the heating on for winter.