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Original poster

Installing central heating

27 replies

wordfactory · 17/09/2013 16:12

Does anyone know how much it would cost to install a new gas central heating system, and how many days it takes?

The house is very old and is currently not even connected to the gas!

OP posts:
earlgray · 18/09/2013 08:22

Might not be exactly what you need to know but we are getting heating system overhauled soon. New boiler and 7 rads costing nearly 4k. Not sure how long it will take but previous guy who have a quote suggested up to 10 days. Its not a completely new system so lots of pipes will be in place already. Its also an oil boiler as we are also not on gas. Oil boilers are about 500 quid more.

Doilooklikeatourist · 18/09/2013 08:52

We had an oil fired central heating system put in last year ( big old house )
It took a week and cost about 7 k

Original poster
wordfactory · 18/09/2013 11:23

Thank you for your replies.

Are oil systems not incredibly expensive to run?

OP posts:
SpecialJK · 18/09/2013 12:24

I'm getting a new Worcester bosch boiler, megaflo tank and new rads next week, costing £8k including VAT. Going to take about a week to fit it all

MmeLindor · 18/09/2013 13:05

It depends on the size of the house, and where you live. We had GCH put in this year, which cost just under £4k.

Plus another £400 to connect to the gas main - that depends how far away the gas pipe is.

We had oil heating in Switzerland and it was incredibly expensive to run.

earlgray · 18/09/2013 14:54

We buyoil about once a year and it costs about 350for 500 litres. We are very frugal with it and don't heat the house in the daytime.
It is more expensive than gas but we are too far from the gas main, I would choose gas if I could. I believe gas stored in a tank is one of the most expensive fuels?

Original poster
wordfactory · 18/09/2013 15:29

I must admit that I don't actually know how far this house is from the gas mains.

OP posts:
Doilooklikeatourist · 18/09/2013 15:31

We had oil as we're not on mains gas , it is expensive , but so is Flogas or calor gas .

specialsubject · 18/09/2013 17:25

oil is only very slightly more expensive per unit than mains gas. Old oil boilers are very inefficient, and oil is often associated with old badly insulated houses.

you also have to watch the price and buy when it is cheaper, not on a standing order. And it can be stolen.

just had a new oil boiler and associated pipes (not rads) fitted for under £2.5k inc vat. I don't live in the south-east. :-)

LPG (gas in a tank) IS more expensive but it can't be stolen.

as you would be having a new boiler anyway, efficiency is not an issue. Unless the gas main runs past your house you would be talking thousands to get connected up. A bit of detective work with the gas suppliers (Not the people that you pay) will get you through to the people who run the pipe network for the area. They can then tell you how far it is from the property.

Original poster
wordfactory · 18/09/2013 17:37

Right, I will find out where the gas is.

The property is not on a street and set well off from the nearest road. I suspect it may be some way away.

Perhaps it might be better to make the OCH more efficient.

OP posts:
MmeLindor · 18/09/2013 22:47

You can get a quote from your gas supplier for the work to bring gas pipes to the house.

We had a new oil boiler in Switzerland and paid about £3.5k a year for oil - that was quite a large detached house though. 4 bedroom, full cellar.

Have you looked at alternative fuels? If you have a lot of land, you might want to look at ground source or air source heating.

There are grants in some areas of the country for this kind of replacement boiler.

Original poster
wordfactory · 18/09/2013 22:49

We're not in the house yet. ust in the process of buying it and I'm trying to put together a budget before we agree on a final price.

I'll be honest, I wish this were not an issue.

OP posts:
MmeLindor · 19/09/2013 07:10

Then I'd advise you to get it done before you move in, even if it's costs more to have gas installed. Perhaps you can negotiate in price to reflect the costs.

It's a job that's quite messy, and involves lifting of floorboards throughout the house but once it's done, it's done and you won't have to look at it again.

Original poster
wordfactory · 20/09/2013 09:49

Yes, we're trying to negotiate price now.

The house needs rewiring and a new central heating system (be that gas or oil) and I think the price being asked for doesn't adequately reflect that.

But the owners are very very old and finding it hard to see why anyone would need to do the work. Sigh.

OP posts:
earlgray · 20/09/2013 12:52

That's awkward, I think I'd feel bad in your shoes but if they want to sell they need to be realistic.
To give you an update our plumber says it will take 3 days. I can't wait! Our old boiler when it worked sounded like a jet engine when it fired up!

Original poster
wordfactory · 20/09/2013 13:25

3 days - result!

I've got various people here at the mo to get our house on the market and the enrgy efficiency guy asked if our house was OCH. When I said, no, it was mains gas he said 'Oh that's much better'.

A bit of delving and it seems OCH is pretty darn expensive. And that people often nick the oil!

It has made me determined to get the price dropped!

OP posts:
MmeLindor · 23/09/2013 20:18

Three days is very optimistic, imo.

didireallysaythat · 23/09/2013 21:01

OCH isn't really that expensive. Oil boilers appear to last longer than gas boilers, and older often means less efficient.. comparing a 23 year old oil boiler (like we have) with a 5 year old gas boiler isn't really fair.

The energy efficiency people are a little strange in my opinion. The house we sold received a poor rating because the garage wasn't adequately insulated. Because I live in the garage ??

Clargo55 · 23/09/2013 21:42

Our installation took 3 days, this was by one person. 7 rads and Worcester Bosch boiler, copper pipes through out. Installation cost 3.5K and gas supply was £600 this was from directly outside the front of our property. We had to go on a waiting list of 3 weeks for the gas supply.

MmeLindor · 24/09/2013 00:33

Clargo
I have probably forgotten how long it took then. We had weeks of plumbers, builders, painters, joiners and plasterers in the house. The plumber/gas fitters were here a lot longer than 3 days but they were doing bathrooms too, when I think about it.

Good tip with the getting gas connected early enough - we waited 5 weeks for ours.

PigletJohn · 24/09/2013 12:02

three days sounds extremely quick and would need several people working. It is certainly easier and quicker in an empty house where they don't have to keep putting floorboards back to stop you falling through the holes.

I hope it isn't microbore?

Clargo55 · 24/09/2013 19:06

He worked from 8am to 8pm and the house didn't have much furniture in it a the time. He started on a Friday and finished on the Tuesday he did pop in for half an hour on the saturday to fix a board to the wall for the boiler to go on.

What's microbore Piglet?

Clargo55 · 24/09/2013 19:08

I guess it depends on how the joists run, but we did not have many floorboards up ( mainly in front of the rads and inside airing cupboard) or much mess.

Clargo55 · 24/09/2013 19:14

Have just looked microbore up and hurriedly measured the pipes they are 15mm and the one from the meter to the boiler is 28mm.

Clargo55 · 24/09/2013 19:23

Oops we have 5 rads not 7 as I said upthread 1 kitchen, 1 lounge 1 in main bedroom, 1 in the nursery and one in the hallway doh!

Rads and pipes were done on the first day then second day was installing and connecting boiler finishing pipes into loft from boiler (in airing cupboard) connecting to existing bathroom pipes. Day three was condense pipe into waste pipe through the loft and putting flu through the roof. Think that's roughly how it went.