UK grants for central heating, loft insulation and cavity

jblakes

Good afternoon, 

Basically as the title says, we have moved into a 300yr old cottage with solid fuel central heating. The house is always cold and the topping up fuel is becoming a ballache.

Wonder if there is any government grants or anything?. We have spoken to a few companies and they say you can't claim anything but we will do you a good deal, (not really).

Kind regards
James

FreeBear

A 300 year old property will have solid walls (cob, stone, brick ?). Using modern materials may well not be the best option. If it is cob, you certainly don't want to be covering the walls with PUR or polystyene boards and then slapping cement render (and that includes K-Rend) over the top.

I would suggest cork or woodfibre boards with a skim of lime on the internal walls, a good thick layer of fibreglass insulation in the loft, and go round plugging all the draughts. If the windows are single glazed, then replace them with double or even triple glazed in hardwood frames. Insulating the floor will be very much dependent on what you have at present. But just don't go digging it out and pouring a ton of concrete in...

Depending on your circumstances, you might find some help for loft insulation under the Energy Company Obligation scheme. Failing that, you're on your own I'm afraid. Before doing any work, you need to check to see if the building is listed - If listed, there will be restrictions on what you can do, along with quite a bit of paperwork.

Much of the work of insulating a house is well within the capabilities of a DIYer, so don't be afraid of tackling the work. There are a number of companies that can assist with advice & materials (Mike Wye being one).

jblakes

Thank you for the reply, the property is stone, I have read up on using lime plaster, pretty sure it is pointed with lime something externally. I think the property will need to breath?.

I was seeing if can get anything towards gas central heating, hsap or whatever else they are looking installing to go greener. 

Kind regards
James

FreeBear

You may qualify for the Renewable Heat Initiative, but you'll need to move fast as the scheme is closing to new applicants at the end of March. ASHP and GSHP both need a well insulated property to work well and are also pretty expensive to install. Running costs can also be high if the system isn't set up properly or poorly specified in the first place.

Robin9

Is the cottage listed ?

jblakes

No surprisingly the cottage isn't listed but we in a conservation area. So some limits to what we can do outside. Inside fair game. 

Are Ashp and Gshp anygood, as I've heard very mixed reviews, some say gas is cheaper and easier to sort?

Regards
James

Gerry1

jblakes said:

Are Ashp and Gshp any good, as I've heard very mixed reviews, some say gas is cheaper and easier to sort?

Just do the sums.

If electricity is 24p/kWh and you are lucky enough to get a COP (Coefficient of Performance) of 3, then you'll effectively be paying 8p/kWh.  How much per kWh would gas cost?  You'll probably find a heat pump costs about twice as much to run.

You could factor in the boiler's efficiency, probably 80 - 90%, but gas will still win.  And that's before you start to consider the significant capital costs of a heat pump and the bigger radiators that it will need.

jblakes

Just had a quick look at them number stack up, gas around 4p ish.

The question is, why would you get one of these pumps if your can get gas heating? Seems such a daft thing to do

FreeBear

Gerry1 said:

jblakes said:

Are Ashp and Gshp any good, as I've heard very mixed reviews, some say gas is cheaper and easier to sort?

Just do the sums.

If electricity is 24p/kWh and you are lucky enough to get a COP (Coefficient of Performance) of 3, then you'll effectively be paying 8p/kWh.  How much per kWh would gas cost?  You'll probably find a heat pump costs about twice as much to run.

You could factor in the boiler's efficiency, probably 80 - 90%, but gas will still win.  And that's before you start to consider the significant capital costs of a heat pump and the bigger radiators that it will need.

Having seen some of the fixed tariffs, gas is at 10-12p per KWh (electricity, 30-40p - ouch).  At those prices, heat pumps are starting to look comparable to gas for heating, especially if you can get the COP to 3 or higher. With the current RHI scheme, some of the installation costs can be reclaimed over a 7 year period.

QrizB

jblakes said:

Just had a quick look at them number stack up, gas around 4p ish.
The question is, why would you get one of these pumps if your can get gas heating? Seems such a daft thing to do

Almost nobody is currently recommending heat pumps for premises that are on the mains gas network.

If you can't get mains gas, you're comparing against oil (at about 5-6p/kWh), LPG (at about 6-7p/kWh) or E7 electricity (at 10-15p/kWh). Compared to those, heat pumps begin to make some sort of sense, roughly breaking even vs. oil or LPG and being cheaper than E7.

Reed_Richards

There is a grant scheme running for people on low income with energy inefficient homes.  This uses central government money but is administered more locally.