Gas Central Heating

[adagiok5]

Hi all I am about to upgrade my central heating . At the moment I have warm air operated by gas with wall vents . I like this system but mine is very old and finding parts for the boiler is a nightmare . So I decided to go with radiators and a combo gas boiler . A friend of mine has told me that I shouldn’t be installing gas central heating and should be looking at electric. What do others think would be the best option ? I know there is a lot of negativity about gas at the moment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA

The Government is banning gas heating in new build homes from 2025 but that doesn't affect existing houses. Electric heating is excruciatingly

expensive at present and can make a family home difficult to sell. If you have a small,modern,very well insulated home or live alone or don't mind being cold then you might consider it. The alternatives are air or ground heat exchange systems but these don't work well in older houses as they just won't produce that much heat. They are also very expensive although the government is to bring in grants next year. I would go for a good gas system now. By the time it needs replacing,the technology for the alternatives should have improved and hopefully be economically realistic.

Go for gas then in 10years time when boiler possibly needs replacing .Technology will be established to change boiler out for heat pump or electric .

@ ItsDinah @rwalker

Thank you so much both of you that is really reassuring

@rwalker

Go for gas then in 10years time when boiler possibly needs replacing .Technology will be established to change boiler out for heat pump or electric .

Yep this.

Electricity is far more expensive. We just got a new gas boiler. I'm not paying the extra for an electric one

Thank you @

@Bagelsandbrie thank you

@dementedpixie thank you

Combi boilers available now have the capacity to run on 20% hydrogen in the future when tech allows.
With a combi boiler you will not be heating an entire tank of hot water when you only use half a tank. Your hot water will be heated on demand.

@GalaPie fantastic thanks

I think the main manufacturer's have boilers that can be easily converted to hydrogen in the future.

We have just had a heat pump fitted in our older house and my gosh the whole house is warm ! Chills gone it keeps it at a steady temp and I'm really impressed. Faff to put in though but long term this is a good option and trust me it's warm.

I'd go with gas as I agree electric boilers will come down in price in a few years.
But I'd be tempted to have it zoned, so you have separate controls for upstairs and down. I was chatting to someone with this set up. It enables you to warm different parts of the house at different times.

On Worcester Bosch combis the price difference is negligible.

I zoned my house when the dc were small - figured I wanted heating on all day downstairs but off upstairs (curse of November babies). It worked out pretty well bill-wise.
A bit off-topic but interesting - just had a phone chat with a friend, who tells me they installed solar electric a few months ago. I thought it could only do hot water but she says it powers the whole house through daylight, then at night they rejoin the grid. Their electricity bill last month was £17!
(It cost £6k to fit which they funded from savings, but they're saving over £150 a month on the bill, much better return than current interest rates.)