House in the sticks, new install, Gas or oil?

[sidekickdmr]

We are considering upgrading our cottage, at the moment it has horrid electric 80's night storage heaters.

So it will be a completely new system, from scratch.

Unfortunately biomass is out due to a lack of space for storage/hoppers etc.

So as far as I’m aware this leaves me with gas or oil.

Gas has the added benefit of having the scope of a gas hob of course.

Which is likely to be the lowest maintenance, install and running costs?

What would you expect it to cost for a completely new install, tank, boiler, under floor hearing to 2 rooms and rads to 3 rooms with new pipe work throughout? Thinking about 5-7k?

Thanks

[Anglia]

If you can get the place very well insulated you could consider an air source heat pump.They operate at lower temperatures than a conventional boiler and can work well with underfloor heating or high capacity radiators. Even better if you could have some solar PV panels to generate your own electricity.

[sidekickdmr]

Anglia said:

If you can get the place very well insulated you could consider an air source heat pump.They operate at lower temperatures than a conventional boiler and can work well with underfloor heating or high capacity radiators. Even better if you could have some solar PV panels to generate your own electricity.

Its a 1700's cotage in a woods, so well insulated and solar dont really happen im afraid.

[Turn7]

Gas would depend on how far away from the mains you are,could get very expensive.....

Oil boilers are dearer to buy, and you obv have the ugly storage tank to deal with....

[barryrs]

I have no personal experience so cant comment with any authority but have you considered an electric combi.

https://www.elnur.co.uk/products/electric-combi-bo...

[Slushbox]

If it's well insulated you could upgrade the storage heaters to modern ones, fit an electric boiler for the wet(?) underfloor heating, and wall mounted electric panel heaters for a day time top up.

Economy 10 tarrifs give an afternoon boost to storage heaters. Downsides are more expensive on-peak tarrifs, upsides are very low installation costs.

We fitted an electric boiler for the wet rads on a refurb, it worked very well but warm up times were longer. No annual service costs.

Edited by Slushbox on Wednesday 28th September 10:15

[Bill]

sidekickdmr said:

Gas has the added benefit of having the scope of a gas hob of course.

No benefit at all imo, induction is better.

[sidekickdmr]

Turn7 said:

Gas would depend on how far away from the mains you are,could get very expensive.....

Oil boilers are dearer to buy, and you obv have the ugly storage tank to deal with....

Wouldnt be mains gas, would be a buried tank with deliveries, very much like oil.

[whoami]

Oil.

If you chose gas, the installation is owned by the provider and you cannot shop around for better prices as you can do for oil.

Also, they carry out a mandatory safety check every year which you are contracted to pay for.

[sidekickdmr]

whoami said:

Oil.

If you chose gas, the installation is owned by the provider and you cannot shop around for better prices as you can do for oil.

Also, they carry out a mandatory safety check every year which you are contracted to pay for.

Yes these were some of my concerns with Gas install's

Ok so a standard oil install seems to be the way to go.

Can you get external combi boilers for oil, that dont require a tank?

If they are external, do they have to be in an insulated building/box?

[sidekickdmr]

I have access to plenty of free firewood, and unlike the wood pellet biomass boilers, the logs can be stored in a traditional log store to season, and not have to be delivered by the pallet load and stored inside.

Therefore this could be an option?

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/...

http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/angus_super_boiler.html

Anyone got any experiance of these?

[mjb1]

Have you looked into ground source heat pumps? I don't know much about them, other than I think they tend to keep working when it gets really cold (when air source heat pumps stop working).

[Woody3]

Yes, oil would be what I'd suggest too.

http://www.grantuk.com/product/vortex-pro-external...

Loads of info on there for external combi's.

ETA: just seen your reply regarding log gasification boilers - you'd need a decent size accumulator/heat store for one of those and going by your request for an external combi, I'm guessing you are struggling for space?

Edited by Woody3 on Wednesday 28th September 11:54

[tr7v8]

whoami said:

Oil.

If you chose gas, the installation is owned by the provider and you cannot shop around for better prices as you can do for oil.

Also, they carry out a mandatory safety check every year which you are contracted to pay for.

This, the rip off charges my mother used to pay for her LPG install were incredible. The gas price was high as you cannot shop around, you're limited to the tank supplier. Oil has saved her a fortune.

[Rangeroverover]

Before you decide have a look at the price of an oil combi compared to a gas combi. The underground tanks are very easy in use, you get a text when its a third full asking if you want a top up and quoting price etc

If you are in the woods how good is truck access for oil/gas deliveries

Ps where in Devon?

[S6PNJ]

If you install a log-burning boiler (which I am in the process of) you'll need a thermal store to go with the boiler
something like this:

So it's not a small item!

[RizzoTheRat]

If you want a gas hob then one option is get one that operates on LPG from a Calor Gas cylinder independently from an oil fired heating system. I think the cylinders need to be stored somewhere they don't get too cold though.

Re wood burners, I was brought up in a house with a Rayburn providing the hot water, and now use a wood burning stove for heating (not hot water). I'd say wood alone isn't the best idea for hot water as it needs more wood fairly regularly, we used to use wood in the day when we were about and coal overnight to keep it lit and ensure we had hot water in the morning. With my current (admittedly only 5kW) wood burning stove keeping it lit all night isn't really an option.

[sidekickdmr]

Ok so log burning is out with the tank thats needed I dont have anywhere for it!


So im back on oil again.

Access for oil shouldnt be an issue, my septic tank guy can make it up no issue and thats the same size.

Seems the way to go is buried oil tank and external oil combi boiler.


What am I looking at for the above install, plus 3 rads and UFH?

[R6dug]

With gas you are tied in with the provider for the duration of a contract.
Once the contract has expired you are free to shop around. Then the rental charge for the tank (Your tank is not replaced anymore the ownership is transfered to the new gas supplier) will be set with your new supplier so shopping around is fairly simple.This changed about 10 years ago
I have never had to pay for a safety check as this is part of the rental agreement.
We have had LPG for the last 13 years with no issue and our house is fairly well insulated.

Edited by R6dug on Wednesday 28th September 12:30

[2lefthands]

S6PNJ said:

If you install a log-burning boiler (which I am in the process of) you'll need a thermal store to go with the boiler
something like this:

So it's not a small item!

Lovely install, almost gave me a twitch!

As covered elsewhere, oil all the way if no mains gas. I used to keep LPG current on my ref and its a bloody rip off for the end user.