Going from Coal to Air Heat Source Pump and PV's using ECO4 grant scheme

Pec123

We have a choice stay as we are G rated house coal powered house or use the Government grant scheme ECO4 and go to a B rated house air heat source pump and solar powered house.

Which is going to be cheaper to run the coal or the use less but more expensive electric? I am nervous changing.

shinytop

It's impossible to say if an ASHP will be cheaper without a few more details about the house; type, size, insulation, etc.  Also, what type of coal heating - open fires, CH or what? 

  

Pec123

1952 semi detached three bedroom house 116sqm, they will be putting insulation in, coal heating/water with a Rayburn.

FreeBear

How much coal (and price you pay) are you using each year ?

Switching to ASHP will be a lot cleaner (no coal to store or ash to take out) and much easier to control. Had a Rayburn here many years ago, and the hassle of ordering enough coal to last a year was a pain, as was having to light the darned thing and keeping it stoked. Having got rid of it (and the replacement gas back boiler), I can finally plug the ruddy great hole in the wall where the air vent is fitted - That alone should make that room much easier to heat.

Sometimes, quality of life can be a deciding factor over just running costs.

Rodders53

I cannot believe G to B without enormous amounts of additional insulation and double / triple glazing as well as the solar and ashp.

You would need to share all the calculations done by the three potential installer-providers, wrt heat loss calculations now and post improvement.

Pec123

 ?FreeBear said:

How much coal (and price you pay) are you using each year ?

Switching to ASHP will be a lot cleaner (no coal to store or ash to take out) and much easier to control. Had a Rayburn here many years ago, and the hassle of ordering enough coal to last a year was a pain, as was having to light the darned thing and keeping it stoked. Having got rid of it (and the replacement gas back boiler), I can finally plug the ruddy great hole in the wall where the air vent is fitted - That alone should make that room much easier to heat.

Sometimes, quality of life can be a deciding factor over just running costs.

£600 per winter.

Do you not need the Rayburn as a backup? ( I like that we are off grid if something happens like a power cut/higher prices ect)

Going into retirement in 10 years time will not be as able to sort out a real fire you are correct.

Pec123

Rodders53 said:

I cannot believe G to B without enormous amounts of additional insulation and double / triple glazing as well as the solar and ashp.

You would need to share all the calculations done by the three potential installer-providers, wrt heat loss calculations now and post improvement.

I agree it seems we have a grant for all under the ECO4 scheme.

I will make sure we have three potential installer-providers calculations and post them here when we have them.

FreeBear

Pec123 said: Do you not need the Rayburn as a backup? ( I like that we are off grid if something happens like a power cut/higher prices ect)

The Rayburn went back in the 80s as the Baxi back boiler was fitted in the same hole. The Baxi was replaced earlier in the year with a more efficient combi.

Backup heating is provided by a multifuel stove (installed about five years ago) - It is quite good at heating the whole house, and much of the time, acts as the primary source of heat.

Reed_Richards

Something nobody has mentioned yet is that solar power and ASHPs don't mesh together well.  And I speak as someone who has both.  In summer when you don't need to heat your house you will probably have much more solar power than you can use.  In winter when you are using your ASHP the most you will be getting very little power from your solar panels.

matt_drummer

Reed_Richards said:

Something nobody has mentioned yet is that solar power and ASHPs don't mesh together well.  And I speak as someone who has both.  In summer when you don't need to heat your house you will probably have much more solar power than you can use.  In winter when you are using your ASHP the most you will be getting very little power from your solar panels.

That might be because it isn't true.

My solar panels are an integral part of making a heat pump work for me financially.

I also have a lot of battery storage but even without the batteries it still works.

You are making the mistake of thinking in days, weeks and months.

You need to think of the whole year.

Although my solar panels won't power my heat pump when the sun isn't shining the money they generated when the sun was shining will pay for all the electricity my heat pump will need and then some.

I have accumulated far more money since the middle of April than my heat pump will cost to run.

And with my batteries all of my imported electricity is at E7 night rate.



Even at a modest level as long as you get paid a decent rate for your exports in the summer it is like having the solar available in the winter when you need it.

At the moment I get about 23p per kWh for export and imports on an SVR are 27p per kWh

If I exported 2,000 kWh during the year that would buy me 1,703 kWh of electricity when I needed it in the winter.


Along with all of the other benefits of solar panels it is wrong to say that they don't mesh together well with any sort of electric heating.



 

Pec123

FreeBear said:

Pec123 said: Do you not need the Rayburn as a backup? ( I like that we are off grid if something happens like a power cut/higher prices ect)

The Rayburn went back in the 80s as the Baxi back boiler was fitted in the same hole. The Baxi was replaced earlier in the year with a more efficient combi.

Backup heating is provided by a multifuel stove (installed about five years ago) - It is quite good at heating the whole house, and much of the time, acts as the primary source of heat.

the primary source of heat - Is that because you would need a storage battery to power your heat pump with solar energy at night as without one you’d be relying on electricity from the grid to heat your home after dark ?