Changing the heating system to gas-based

Jemma01

Hi everyone 💐

I'm in the process of buying a house, it has an air pump and underfloor heating + electric heating upstairs. It has gas supply for the oven. I'm content with all of it.

My solicitor suggested that I check whether the house could be converted to gas-based heating should this become desirable in the future, as that could put people off if I wanted to sell it.

My questions are
* would having a gas supply for the oven facilitate a switch over to a gas-based heating system if that happens to be desirable?
* Is this a conversation I should have with the gas supplier (Octopus)?

Please note that the difference in price between gas or electric is irrelevant to my post, also whether the government would ban switching to gas. All I'm looking for is understanding the options the property has.

Thanks

Reed_Richards

If the property has a gas supply then it should be easy enough to fit a gas boiler in place of an ASHP.  Octopus will not be able to advise.  I think your solicitor is a few decades behind the times. 

Jemma01

Reed_Richards said:

If the property has a gas supply then it should be easy enough to fit a gas boiler in place of an ASHP.  Octopus will not be able to advise.  I think your solicitor is a few decades behind the times. 

lol to be fair, she does have a point. As soon as I tell anyone that my current flat rental is electric only, they roll their eyes and wonder what my bills are like 🤪. As I'm used to it anyway, it doesn't bother me, I just don't want it to turn into a future problem if I sell the house. It is ridiculously expensive for me already 😟

And thanks for answering.

BarelySentientAI

Octopus don't care about anything after your gas meter - and are keen on electric heating anyway.

If you have a gas oven then you have a gas supply, and as far as I know, nobody put in supplies that are so small they could run an oven and nothing more, so that likely means the supply could cope with a boiler.

What would need to be considered is the heating system itself.  I assume the underfloor heating is a wet system from a tank heated by the heat pump, so heating the tank with a boiler is simple, but what about upstairs?  It would be fitting pipework and radiators probably, which is feasible (if disturbing) almost everywhere.

I can't see any practical reason why a house couldn't be converted to gas heating, it's just expensive and requires a lot of disturbance.

Reed_Richards

Jemma01 said:

.... It is ridiculously expensive for me already 😟

And thanks for answering.

A properly installed heating system using an ASHP ought to have a fairly similar running cost to a heating system using a gas boiler.  Yes, electricity is a lot more expensive than gas per kWh but a heat pump should give you an average of 3 kWh of heat for 1 kWh of electricity, possibly more.  Whereas a gas boiler will probably give you about 0.9 kWh of heat per kWh of gas.  

Jemma01

BarelySentientAI said:

Octopus don't care about anything after your gas meter - and are keen on electric heating anyway.

If you have a gas oven then you have a gas supply, and as far as I know, nobody put in supplies that are so small they could run an oven and nothing more, so that likely means the supply could cope with a boiler.

What would need to be considered is the heating system itself.  I assume the underfloor heating is a wet system from a tank heated by the heat pump, so heating the tank with a boiler is simple, but what about upstairs?  It would be fitting pipework and radiators probably, which is feasible (if disturbing) almost everywhere.

I can't see any practical reason why a house couldn't be converted to gas heating, it's just expensive and requires a lot of disturbance.

Very helpful, thank you.
Yes the underfloor heating is a water-based, along with the radiators upstairs. 

TheElectricCow

As you already have a gas supply, getting gas heating should indeed be possible - The boiler side of things may be the easier part in this case if you already have a suitable location for one. What may potentially be more of a concern is the new plumbing that would be required, as you'll likely need a full set of pipes & radiators installed to support a wet gas-based system (at least upstairs). So while possible, the main limiting factor here is likely to be the cost/disturbance of the work rather than practicality.

Jemma01 said:

Reed_Richards said:

If the property has a gas supply then it should be easy enough to fit a gas boiler in place of an ASHP.  Octopus will not be able to advise.  I think your solicitor is a few decades behind the times. 

lol to be fair, she does have a point. As soon as I tell anyone that my current flat rental is electric only, they roll their eyes and wonder what my bills are like 🤪. As I'm used to it anyway, it doesn't bother me, I just don't want it to turn into a future problem if I sell the house. It is ridiculously expensive for me already 😟

And thanks for answering.

I'll avoid straying too far into the gas vs heat pump debate as you've suggested that's not really the information you're after here, but it is worth noting that heat pumps are far more efficient than regular electric heating, so an all electric house with a heat pump is a very different comparison to an all electric house with standard electric heaters. Generally, a well designed heat pump system and a decent suitable electric tariff should have no trouble matching (or beating) the equivalent gas heating costs.

Keep_pedalling

I would wait until you have had seen what your costs are over this winter. Wet UF heating is a lot cheaper to run than storage heaters. What is the house EPC rating?

We have just moved into a bungalow with UF heating throughout with a combi boiler providing the heat. I would like to do the opposite and go all electric (we have electric ovens and induction hob) but don’t have a suitable space for the water tank . 

FreeBear

If the heat pump is set up for best efficiency, then it should be cheaper to run on all but the coldest of days compared to a gas boiler. If gas is solely being used for cooking, I'd give serious consideration to fitting an induction hob & fan oven. then get rid of the gas supply all together and save the £100 or so on standing charges.

As attitudes change towards heat pumps, you'll find prospective buyers in the future won't be put off - It didn't put you (the OP) off.

Jemma01

Reed_Richards said:

Jemma01 said:

.... It is ridiculously expensive for me already 😟

And thanks for answering.

A properly installed heating system using an ASHP ought to have a fairly similar running cost to a heating system using a gas boiler.  Yes, electricity is a lot more expensive than gas per kWh but a heat pump should give you an average of 3 kWh of heat for 1 kWh of electricity, possibly more.  Whereas a gas boiler will probably give you about 0.9 kWh of heat per kWh of gas.  

Thanks Richard, I'm hoping for the same as well. By expensive, I meant that, I'd hate to try to sell it afterwards and face issues that forces me to reduce the price with a loss because buyers are afraid of something they've not seen before. I've not used a air pump before and it made me nervous, but I've done a lot of research and I felt that it is very likely to suit my lifestyle more. I'm not keen on on and off approach with gas boilers. I'd rather consistent temperature. Sometimes I work from home, sometimes from the office, my parents visit and stay over, I want them comfortable. Hopefully it'll meet my expectations 😃!

FreeBear

If you tell us the make & model of the heat pump, I'm sure someone can suggest how to get the best performance out of the system.