Calor Gas / Piped Gas / Electric

Mistermeaner · 21 January 2019 at 10:59AM

Hi All

Bit of advice / sharing of experiences please.

We have a large old house, big rooms high ceilings etc.

We're centrally heated via a gas boiler and radiators but the house is pretty cold through winter - when we knock up the thermastat we can get the house pretty warm but it costs a fortune heating the whole thing, where often we are only in one room for much of the evening

We have 3 rooms that would benefit both from a heating and aesthetics point of view to have some form of fireplace installed

We like the look of the free standing stove type heaters and also the glow and effect of flames

The 3 choices we are considering is:

- Free standing, self contained 'calor' gas type heaters, like this one: https://thegascentre.co.uk/provence-portable-real-flame-gas-heater (cheap to buy and install, simple and quick)

- Running new gas pipes round outside of house (will need about 30mtrs to get from where the gas comes in to where we need the fires) then having mains gas fed fires installed. (expensive, hassle, but probably cheaper to run and much more choice in fire)

- Electric fires (not 'real' flame, very expensive to run?)

Would appreciate any thoughts / comments / experiences / recommendations anyone can share

Thanks!

Heedtheadvice · 21 January 2019 at 9:03PM

Firstly considerfor how many years you will occupy/use the property. That will shape your feeling on running costs vs capital outlay.

Running cost currently for electricity and bottled gas are similar. Mains natural gas per kWhour is about three to four times cheaper but slightly higher standing charge. Depending on your tarrif generally stll much cheaper to run. (My 2600 kWhs of electricity costs as much as 14000kWhs of gas in total). If you can estimate how much energy you will use in conjunction with your tariff costs that will give you a rough estimate.

Gas and electricity are no hassle and easy to control. Bottled gas need handling/changing and additionally to it tank gas too needs monitoring for refills.

I love 'real' flames and radiated heat!

If you already has gsh do you have thermostatic valves on radiators or several zones? They could allow you to keep lived in zones higher and others background temperatures for very low cost for istallation and little if zny running cost increase?

CathA · 21 January 2019 at 10:26PM

We actually have that model Calor gas stove, had it nearly 5 years. When we first had it, we had open stairs in the lounge so the heat from it went upstairs and warmed the upstairs as well. When we had it in the kitchen/family room, it kept a large area very warm.
We have done a lot of building work and now have a 'proper' enclosed lounge, without the stairs leading off of it. OMG, on half heat it gets really warm in the room!
We tend to have the heating on just in the evening for an hour or so (hot husband, me menopausal!) but if it's not cold enough or in the daytime on the weekend, we put it on for an hour or so, rather than the entire heating system. The benefit is that you've paid for the heat before you uses it, so no unexpected bills. If you get one, I would suggest getting 2 gas canisters, one as a spare as it ALWAYS runs out late night on a Sunday! Also, as has happened to us, when it's cold and it runs out, so does everyone else's it seems and you don't want to be driving miles to get a refill.
One of my favourite things we've bought in this house, couldn't have a wood-burner, this is the next best thing.

CathA · 21 January 2019 at 10:30PM

And electric fires are really expensive to run, we had one before we had the Calor gas one, only used it once.

Calor Gas / Piped Gas / Electric

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