EPC advice

Spinybif

We own a ground floor 2 bed flat which is rented out.  EPC is due for renewal in September - graded D 10 years ago with recommendation to insulate floor and improve heating efficiency/ controls. The floor covering is laminate but the neighbours tell us the floor is solid concrete so cannot be insulated which is partially confirmed on old EPC which states no further insulation possible.
The heating is currently an open living flame gas fire with 2 wall mounted gas heaters. Last recommendation was to install central heating but that will cost many thousands and be disruptive. There is no room outside for a heat pump. 

Looking around we have found a gas fire and gas wall heaters made by a company called CVO who offer remote control and a claimed efficiency of over 90%. They are not cheap but would appear to meet the requirements of high efficiency and smart control necessary to raise the EPC to C.  Unfortunately, the company sales team cannot advise whether this is acceptable. 

Can any EPC assessor advise on this strategy.

Many thanks

Ps I have no financial interest in CVO having stumbled across them whilst seeking a solution to the EPC problem 

anselld

EPC assessments change with the wind.  I would wait until the new assessment is done before investing significantly, particularly in gas appliances which, if you believe the talk, are due to be phased out anyway.
Have a look at similar local properties EPCs.  They are all available online.  Select the EPC assessor who seems most "generous".
If the EPC still comes out "D" then discuss what effect the proposed heaters would have with that specific assessor.
I know that way you may pay to repeat an EPC but it might save you significant investment and disruption.

sourpuss2021

It’s surprising that they suggested needing to insulate the floor. 

The conversion flat where I live squeaked a C despite having just bare floorboards (ie subfloor).

I do suspect some assessors mark more generously than others!

LHW99

sourpuss2021 said:

It’s surprising that they suggested needing to insulate the floor. 

The conversion flat where I live squeaked a C despite having just bare floorboards (ie subfloor).

I do suspect some assessors mark more generously than others!

And some seem to get confused from time to time. Ours marked the wooden "double-glazed" windows as a possible issue - except they are single glazed - and said the house had cavity wall insulation (it definately hasn't)!

FreeBear

Spinybif said:

We own a ground floor 2 bed flat which is rented out.  EPC is due for renewal in September - graded D 10 years ago with recommendation to insulate floor and improve heating efficiency/ controls. The floor covering is laminate but the neighbours tell us the floor is solid concrete so cannot be insulated which is partially confirmed on old EPC which states no further insulation possible.
The heating is currently an open living flame gas fire with 2 wall mounted gas heaters. Last recommendation was to install central heating but that will cost many thousands and be disruptive. There is no room outside for a heat pump.

Adding a thin layer of insulation to the floor is possible - Just 5mm of woodfibre board will improve things a little. This stuff is pretty much standard underlay for laminate anyway.. Putting down ~25mm of Celotex followed by a layer of 12-18mm of plywood will make a bigger impact, but involves a lot more work and may not be possible if the door thresholds are low.

Yes, installing a proper central heating system is expensive and disruptive, but look at it as a capital investment that will improve the quality of life for your tenants (as well as making the property easier to sell in the future). Installing a heat pump will not improve the EPC score - It is looked upon as electric heating, so scores badly. This should change at some point as the government and the BRE do their research and update the EPC guidelines.

Spinybif

The problem with gas central heating is boilers are due to be phased out completely by 2035 so will probably not meet EPC requirements then. 

The new wall heaters I have found are similar in efficiency to a modern condensing boiler (>91%), would cost 1/3 of cost of central heating so potentially lower rent to recover cost and may actually be cheaper for tenant to run as only need to heat room in use.

Just need to find a definitive answer on how they would be regarded by EPC surveyor.

user1977

Spinybif said:

The problem with gas central heating is boilers are due to be phased out completely by 2035 so will probably not meet EPC requirements then. 

"Phased out" for new installations, I presume? I don't think it means EPCs will suddenly require everybody to rip out existing gas systems.

Spinybif

As I understand it gas boilers cannot be used for new install after 2025. You cannot buy a gas boiler even as a replacement after 2035.

sourpuss2021

“Partially double glazed” is another thing that can be generously assessed by an inspector.

My flat achieved that distinction on the basis of one solitary bathroom window where the air seal is gone anyway.  The other seven windows are all single glazed!

propertyrental

Spinybif said:

As I understand it gas boilers cannot be used for new install after 2025. You cannot buy a gas boiler even as a replacement after 2035.

Off topic (apologies) but what is the proposed replacement for new installs? Heat pumps for every building?

FreeBear

propertyrental said:

Spinybif said:

As I understand it gas boilers cannot be used for new install after 2025. You cannot buy a gas boiler even as a replacement after 2035.

Off topic (apologies) but what is the proposed replacement for new installs? Heat pumps for every building?

Heat pumps are the technology being pushed. Biomass (wood stoves) are an alternative if you have the space, but they are suffering from a public opinion backlash in some quarters. Hydrogen gas is being touted as a replacement, but the majority being produced is from natural gas, so hardly green. The distribution network isn't capable of handling hydrogen yet (look up hydrogen embrittlement)..Electric, either storage or radiant/fan is your only other option - Expensive to run..

And once everyone is converted to electricity for heating and motoring needs, the grid & generating network isn't going to cope with the extra load.