Central Heating system when no gas!

[Rosetti]

We have bought a house with a few night storage heaters - are having stove installed in a couple of weeks but need to get a heating system put in. Just got a quote of £25000 + VAT for biomass so need to look at alternatives as that is ridiculous! Anyone have any experience of new oil or LPG systems - will be completely new system as we don't even have radiators!! many thanks

The biomass boiler sounds extortionate!!

There are lots of options!! Fear not.

I wouldn't go for a gas boiler fired off LPG. Imagine the bottle running out on the coldest of nights?

You can look into a big cast iron stove with back boiler. They cost from about £1000+. And then radiators and installation on top. It's similar to what a gas central heating system would set you back. No idea on running costs. They come as multifuel so you could use wood and/or composite (pellet type things)

You could then back this up with a range cooker like an Everhot or Aga for extra warmth?

Standard oil central heating system. An oil fired boiler running standard radiators. You need to factor in space for oil tank and the boiler as they take up more space than gas. Expensive to run and you need to refuel as and when. No idea on installation costs. Friends have one and their house is toasty.

Air source heat pump? Looks like an air con unit and sits outside and runs either radiators or under floor heating. Some people say it costs same as gas. More expensive than a boiler to buy. I think if your house is energy efficient then this is a good option. If your house is old and not well insulated then I don't think it works too well.

Ground source heat pump? Only really works if your house is new and very energy efficient and its under floor heating. No idea on costs.

oil is only slightly more expensive per unit than gas. New oil boilers are very efficient. You need to monitor level and prices, and buy when it is cheaper. Some places have an oil theft problem.

LPG also needs the level monitoring, and you are tied into one supplier. More expensive per unit than oil, but can't be stolen.

if the house is badly insulated then anything will be expensive to run.

can't help with install from scratch, but it happens that I am having a replacement oil boiler put in as I type and the cost for that and all the associated stuff was £2300 with VAT. It involves lots of lifting, sawing, electrical stuff, pipework - definitely a job for the multiskilled! OFTEC is the registration body for this.

Many thanks for both replies - the house is old and badly insulated with not an awful lot we can do about it unfortunately! Will look at costs of installing the systems you mentioned. Very interested about the cost of the oil and the installation!

LPG tanks come with an indicator to tell you how full they are. The indicator also tells the LPG company when it needs filled.

We have an oil tank. We get it filled at our convenience - we are not signed up to an expensive plan with a company.

Our boiler is outside. As is our oil tank.

Our heating and hot water are both oil fired. we're using around 1500 litres a year in rural Scotland. We have a 4 year old 3 bedroom semi. Our house is warm all year round (thermostat at 22) and the hot water tank is filled twice daily. So we're hardly stingy.

Biomass burners are expensive but the government has set up a scheme by which it will pay 12.2p per kwh of energy you use for 7 years, from next spring, but it can be backdated to previous installations since 2009. It is known as the renewable heat incentive (RHI). There is also some scheme whereby they give you a loan to help pay for the cost of the burner - called the renewable heat premium payment.

You say you house is old and poorly insulated. Ours is too and we use about 60000 kwh per year. This works out at £7300 that we would be paid per year for 7 years (index linked). Obviously you need to factor in buying pellets - not sure how much they would cost but surely somewhere around £2000 a year?

I know you need to have a survey and carry out basic insulation etc to qualify. The potential return is estimated based on "deemed use" (estimation of use for 7 years) and the system must be MCS accredited.

We are looking into having one fitted as we have free wood and huge fuel bills of about 100000kwh per year as we have a pool.

We are looking ata round a 5-6 year payback for our biomass system, thanks to the RHI.

So, yes, the upfront cost is much higher than oil, but the fuel is 40% cheaper and it will save us money in the long run. Definitely worth considering if you will be in the house for a while.