Off mains gas, storage heaters dead - is now the time for air source?

moverthrow

Our 4-bed 1920s, off mains-gas, semi-detached house is currently heated solely by ancient night storage heaters which have now very much reached the end of their life. These are now only pumping out minimal and sporadic heat (as well as obviously costing a small fortune regardless) so we are going to have to bite the bullet and get a new system of some sort before the cold weather returns.

So... should we opt for air-source, new storage heaters, a new oil system (seems crazy but is it a better option?), something else... or should we just burn £20 notes and crowd around them for heat?!

For context, as there is no current "wet" system in the house we would be looking at a complete installation of pipework and radiators as well as the actual boiler/system. In theory, we would be able to supplement the air source in winter with a log burner on particularly cold days.

We've been quoted £18k inc VAT for a complete air-source installation and radiators etc, with the £5k new government scheme we'd therefore be looking at an outlay of £13k with no RHI coming our way. Not sure if this is about right or expensive? The prices quoted for running it look attractive until I noticed their quote was based on a 20p per unit electric assumption (those were the days!).  If it helps, the heat demand of the property has been estimated at 17,260 kwh in the quote. 

Realistically we will have to put around two-thirds of the cost on a loan/mortgage if we go with this, so there is obviously interest on that to consider to but this will make it manageable for us in the short to mid term. 

Your advice would be very gratefully received as we are really confused as to what is the best option but keen to get a solution in place before next autumn. Thanks in advance for your help!

Jonboy_1984

Have you considered replacing the elements in the storage heaters, they are around £8 each and it’s normally a screwdriver only job to change them.

(Do some googling of the model first as some very old ones may have asbestos in the bricks)

Gerry1

The storage heaters should be cheap and easy to fix, probably no more than a failed element or two and / or a dodgy thermostat.  You can easily check for failed element(s) by doing the Storage Heater Sanity Test.  Also make sure you are using them correctly.

If you think NSHs are expensive to run, remember that an ASHP will run on daytime electricity which will be significantly more expensive than Economy 7 albeit you should use less energy annually.

If you get your storage heaters working efficiently you may find that it buys you sufficient time for ASHPs to improve, drop in price and for more installers to be trained to higher standards.

If you really want to install a wet system, I'd be inclined to go for oil but with over-sized radiators to facilitate any future switch to an ASHP.

Of course, whatever you do will be something of a gamble because nobody really knows what will happen to energy prices over the next few years.

QrizB

One thing you haven't said - is this your forever home, or do you expect to move in a few years?

If you fit a system that will save you money after (say) ten years, will you still be there to enjoy it?

moverthrow

Thanks @Jonboy_1984 and @Gerry1. Definitely worth me trying the element option in the short-term then, will give it a go. If that doesn't resolve it would new (or second-hand) storage heaters be your preferred option over ASHP then? These are Dimplex XT's (early 90s) so no asbestos, as far as I'm aware. 

Thanks @QrizB, good point. Yes, this house has been in the family for 80+ years. We're 4th generation living in it and not planning on going anywhere!

Gerry1

Not much point in replacing simple Box of Bricks NSHs with second hand ones unless they're the modern High Heat Retention type with a fan and built-in convector as well.  They're more efficient because they don't waste so much heat overnight and when you're out, assuming you've programmed them correctly.  As a last resort, if you've been caught out by a sudden cold snap you can always top them up using the convector, although with daytime electricity this will be expensive.

Unfortunately, there probably won't be many HHRs on the second hand market so anything you find may be prettier but no more efficient.  New HHRs aren't cheap so the payback period could be lengthy.

Get the existing NSHs firing on all cylinders and you may find you'll be quite content with that for the time being.  Presumably they were sufficient at some point in the past, so they're no reason why they can't be the same again.  However, if after any repairs you're still cold, you could first try adding just one new HHR as an additional unit rather than replacing any of the old NSHs.

BUFF

Gerry1 said:

If you really want to install a wet system, I'd be inclined to go for oil but with over-sized radiators to facilitate any future switch to an ASHP.

also correctly sized piping for ASHP, e.g. no microbore.