|
|
||||
we r planning to buy a new end-of-terrace place which needs complete moderisation. There is gas in the house. Estate agents recommend putting central gas heater. I currently live in a brand new apartment and have electric heater in each room and we like it that way. What r the different options of heating at home (also may need a new boiler)
Related posts:
- Gas boiler, hot water heater, turn on and off, which is most efficient?
I live in a studio apartment by myself and only need hot water in the mornings to shower. Do i save a significant amount of gas by just turning it on in the morning, taking a shower, and turning it off? Its a bit of a hassle, but if it saves money and gas i think its worth it. Let me know, thanks for the help. i don’t mean a timer, i mean i got physically and turn on and off the heater, i live in mexico where this is common and didn’t know if it was just a old wives tale or actually true...
Posted in Discussion
electric heater can be more expensive. keep in mind that if you change the radiators to electric you will be forking out a lot of money and when you come to sell the house most buyers would prefer gas so you could lose money.
A combination boiler is most cost effective, but aren’t cheap to begin with.
combi boiler (gas) – covers hot water and heating to rads by direct heat (thru boiler)
Tank system (gas). boiler heats rads direct, but heats water in tank via pipework. need expansion tank etc in roof void.
hope this helps
gas controlable and easy to install. coal hot and homely but messy and quite expensive nowadays. electic under floor heating the dog will love it or electric storage heaters not controlable but clean.
Geo thermal heat pump is the most efficient 400% as apposed to 98% for the best of all other units
If gas is available then a combi (combination ) boiler is the best option. This will alow you to have radiators where you want and hot water on demand – even when the CH is not running. The combi units are quite small and can be wall hung like a kitchen unit. There is no hot water storage tank as the water is heated ready for use when it goes through the boiler. The most economical to run is a condensing boiler but the initial outlay will be higher
There are many differant choices now days for heating. Forced air, radiant heat, electric and geothermo heat.
Forced air uses a fan, heating air and pushing it into the house, uses gas, natuaral or propane. There are basically two differant versions, 80% eff. or 90% eff.. 80% is the cheaper to install up front and is the basic model being used in many avaerage homes in the U.S. today. 90% units are more effieant and also more costly to install. Each of these units can be equipped with a wide varity of extras from two stage heat through variable speed blowers. A licensed contractor can give you all of the options.
Effientcy on these units, in a very basic explaination is 80% means that 80% of the heat generated by the unit goes into the house or dwelling, and the other 20% goes out the flue. Of course 90% is the same, 90% into house 10% out the flue.
Radient heat comes in two forms, water and steam. Water heat usally goes through base board radiators or in tubes installed under your floor. This requires a boiler to heat and circulate the water. This is a very quiet type of heat and is generally more eff. then forced air. Of course it does cost more to install, but will give you many years of carefree quiet heat. Steam heat has been around for a lot of years, basically like water heat but with steam, generally thourgh radiators.
Electric heat you are familar with, so I will not say much, but can be the most expensive to run on a year to year basis.
Geo-Thermo is a very eff. way to heat. The basis behind this is a series of pipes will be baried under the ground going all over the place and then back to the unit located in the house. The idea behind this is using a fluid(glycol) they absorb the heat under ground and bring it into the house and transfer it it to heat the air through a blower. If you live in a cold enviroment this is not a good option, because the colder it gets, the less eff. it becomes. Here in Colo it the outside air gets below 28 degrees the eff. gets down to less the 10%. You would then need some sort of back up heating to stay comfortable. This type of set up is exxcellent in the southern states that do not get so cold.
One other option would be Heat pumps.
If you ever put your hand over the outside A/C unit when it is running during the summer, you notice that the air coming off of it is hot? Well heat pumps run backwards during the winter and put that heat into the house, and then revese the system during the summer for cooling. But just like Geo-Thermo, it becomes lee effective during the coldest times and needs a back-up, usally Electric heat strips.
Hope I did not overwhelm you, The best advise is to contact a repreable contractor for the best options.
The main choice of fuels currently commonly available in the UK is from:
gas (mains, natural gas)
gas (LPG – you need a tank in the garden)
electricity
oil (you need a storage tank in the garden
solid fuel (coal, though some appliances will also burn wood or other solid fuels like briquettes)
In your situation I would advise main gas – especially since the house already has a gas supply installed.
You could install electric heating – and I used it for over 20 years in my last house – but it is likely to be more expensive than gas and not so convenient if you want to “top up” warmth on cold days or because you use a lot of hot water some days if you do a lot of washing or have people staying and lots of showers run.
I think you can safely discount LPG and oil in your situation. A multi-fuel burner in a living room is nice – but they are’t cheap to install and solid fuels are inevitably messy because of the dust, emptying the ash cans etc.
So – mains gas then.
The next think you need to decide is what sort of boiler to use. There are different types of gas boiler – free-standing, wall-mounted, balanced flue or using an existing chimney (which will need to be lined). I would go for a wall-mounted balanced flue boiler if possible.
I woudl also probably go for a cendensing boiler – said to be the most efficient type – but they also cost more. I can’t reccommend any specific one but I would suggest you contact 2 or 3 heating contractors and get advice and prices from them.
If possible, ask to go and see some work they have recently done in a house similar to yours and talk to the occupiers and see what they think of the system and also the people who installed it.
You say that you “may need a new boiler” – unless the one already there is pretty new I would strongly suggest you fit a new one – while you are going to all the expense of modernisation it would be a false economy to use an old (and probably inefficient) boiler which you may need to replace (extra cost and mess) in a few years time.
Oh – and only use a CORGI installer – don’t take chances with a gas installation. You’ve seen the stories in the news.
Use small but high-outtput radiators – they are very efficient but take up a lot less room that older designs. And put a heated towel rail in any bath/shower rooms.
You could also consider installing solar panels on your roof which can be linked to work with the heating system – and reduce the mains fuel you need as the sun will provide some of the heat. Again – this isn’t cheap, but if you can allow a reasonably long payback period it may be worthwhile. You need to do your own sums on that.
My personal view is that it is still pretty expensive – but I don’t know what your finances are like and your views on environmental issues and saving energy.
Another thing to think about is the design of your plumbing systen generally. I have a fully pressurised system (both hot and cold water systems are pressurised) which means all my showers (3 of them) work really well, but don’t use as much water as the power-showers you can get.
In your position it’s worth thinking about your whole plumbing and heating system – since they are linked – and talking to at least a couple of contractors about your plans. Find someone you feel comfortable working with – ask around for recommendations, but remember that the best firms are likely to be busy and not the cheapest. Cheap doesn’t necessarily equate to value for money.
Meet them, talk about what you want to do – get their advice and a price – at least get a budget figure which would be subject to a detailed specification and pricing later on.
And bear in mind that someday you will want to sell the house and you want it to be attractive to other buyers – another reason for having a gas system as more buyers seem happy with that than electric heating.
You may be able to get useful advice from your local Council’s Building Control section as well, and from the Energy Efficiency staff at the same Council – often to be found in the Environmental Health Department – the Council switchboard will know who to put you through to.
So to summarise –
I would go for a gas wet (radiator) system, wall mounted balanced flu boiler if possible, and consider (not essential) both a pressurised system and a condesnsing boiler.
Ask friends and family to help you find a recommended firm – start with at least 2 firms – and talk to them for advice and pricing info.
Try to visit someone (or two or three people) they’ve worked for recently – see if what they say is what they do. A reputable firm will be happy to provide references. If they don’t seem to want to – ask yourself why ?
Think about the whole plumbing system – not just the heating.
Remember you are installing something that should last 20 years or more and cheap doesn’t necessarily equate to value for money.
Hope this helps.