Buying a house with no central heating?

[DillydollyRIP]

Currently we are renting, we have a deposit and are hoping to buy as house prices have risen in this area and we're concerned if we don't buy now we never will!

The only house we can afford has electric storage heaters. We could afford to put heating in if it's really awful and expensive to run.

There is no gas where we live so it would have to be oil. We've budgeted about 8k for this, hopefully that will be enough for a small 3-4 bed?

Has anyone any experience of electric night storage heaters, Will they be as bad as I've read?

Are there any other options we should consider such as a log/multi-burner fired boiler?

In an ideal world we'd move somewhere cheaper but dh's work and 3 school aged children make this impossible.

We had no ch for a long long time, but had a very good multi fuel stove.
Before dc's we relied on calor gas and parrafin heaters.

Oil filled radiators can be used for supplementary heat, but they are electric so expensive.

If you are trying to heat a whole house with a burner, you will need a good cheap supply of wood -and factor in for coal so you can keep the fire in overnight if it's very cold.

You will spend a lot of time chainsawing and log splitting.y

If you can afford heating, do it.

Maybe solar panels if not to help with costs of some background electric powered heating?

I loathe electric storage heaters always hot at the wrong time. I've recently replaced our oil boiler and tank which cost just under 5K. This was a worcestor bosch boiler with a seven year guarantee. Included in this was a powerflush and replacement of bits of the existing pipework about six hundred. I reckon your 8k sounds about right.

I've also put in a new wood stove at a cost of just under 3k. This is effective at heating but really don't want to be constantly thinking about wood all the time so use it to take the chill off in early evenings at bath times.

We haven't used the central heating for years now. We have a multifuel stove and buy smokeless coal and a few logs. You don't need to run them purely on wood.

It puts out tons of heat and it's one of the best things we ever bought.

You will need to replace night storage heaters. They are truly shocking. We had them in a little flat and it was always cold and damp. I imagine a house would be even harder to heat.

ha completely different opinion to hidden home then. I think important things to consider are storage, time, who's going to be chopping wood, fetching it in etc. I have two young children and a fairly old, draughty house. Can absolutely manage to keep it warm using two woodburners in winter but it's a consuming task so it takes up most of your time and the children get bored.

I agree Gracie.
Our house was big and old and draughty.
We actually installed 2 burners downstairs, but we couldn't get enough wood (even with a free supply-because of the time factor in felling and chainsawing and chopping and splitting) to keep them both going all the time.
I found with a toddler and baby, at hone alone, I couldn't even keep up with feeding 2 burners.

Upstairs stayed cold.The burner took the chill off, but the bathroom stayed freezing, and the dc's bedroom needed an oil filled radiator to top up the heat.

Mind you we were very poorly insulated -we couldn't have cavity wall insulation, and we were only partially double glazed.

storage heaters do work with the correct tariff (cheap overnight and a boost midday) and correct use of controls, but they are a bit of a faff.

off the mains gas, you have several choices. Oil is the cheapest per unit of heat, new boilers are efficient. Obviously you'll need the tank and the system as well as the boiler. We paid about 2.3k last year for new boiler and some bits, your 8k should be plenty. Consider tank positioning for deliveries and concealment as the stuff can get stolen.

LPG can't be stolen but you are stuck with one supplier so you can't shop around.

logburners are good fun but you need space to store the fuel and time and energy to chop and move it.

and of course, insulation and house design is king.

Going at from scratch look at environmentally friendly options - if you are going to be reliant on oil. Oil is expensive - and unlikely to get cheaper.
So ground source heat pumps and wood pellet boilers....maybe air source heat pump? These technologies work best in well insulated/draughtproof houses - and with underfloor heating/ larger radiators - you need to plan for it.
Pellet burners are currently a good bet - one installer suggested one for 7 yrs (length of RHI payments) ...with a view to going back to gas after that...as a way of making money (Morally I think that's wrong - but that is another story)
I would say wood pellets are likely to get more expensive too...have a good look at ground source ...you use about a 1/3 as much in kilowatts and that will be electric...(3x the cost of gas - not worth replacing a gas boiler). And a woodburner (or 2) as secondary heat -maybe with a back boiler - if you can get free/cheap wood! And solar thermal for your hot water.
You can have solar pv panels (electric ones) - but if you go for more than 4Kw you get a lower feed in tariff -but may still be worthwhile. And 4Kw panels even at max generation, generate less than 4Kw - not enough to run storage heaters etc - or ground/air source - (a good way of looking at it is most electric immersion heater in water tanks are 3Kw) Also maybe wind or hydro generation...
Ground source is likely to cost £20K+ but you should be able get a loan ...and get RHI payments
Speak to Energy Saving trust - I've had someone to come and talk to me - and they were fantastic...if I wasn't on gas I really wouldn't be having an oil fired boiler fitted.
(I've got Solar pv panels ...looking at a thermal store system with solar thermal for hot water, back boiler attached to a wood burner and an additional coil attached to a gas boiler - which can be replaced in the future with air source pump - or a hybrid gas/air source - maybe even ground source...)

Meant to say wood pellet boilers are automatically filled (the expensive ones anyway) - so don't need you to keep feeding them...at worse you fill a hopper every week ...

We have storage heaters in our 2 bed terrace (no gas).
They're not as convenient as central heating - you need to watch the weather and make sure you turn them on if there's a cold spell coming.
We're on an economy seven tariff and it doesn't seem too expensive. We tend to only need the downstairs ones on even in really cold weather.

It probably depends on how old the house and the heaters are. I've lived in a new build flat with night storage heaters and they did a really good job. We then moved into a house where the heating was run off a back boiler on the solid fuel living room fire. The radiators occasionally felt warm to the touch if you worked really hard to get the fire hot for a long time. I'd have killed to have my lovely storage heaters back that Christmas.

I question the environmental credentials of wood pellets. OK, wood just grows but pelleting it uses fuel. There are 'incentives' for big companies which is also questionable.

if you burn actual wood you can do all the labour yourself. But you need space to store it while it seasons.

apparently the burner also needs electricity to run.

solar is good if you can afford the initial investment. Wind is only if you have a LOT of land (even though every EPC says to put one in the back garden) and is of course very unreliable.

insulate and draught-proof first. It will reduce the amount you need to spend on heating, whatever sort.

If you have the opportunity to insulate under ground-floor floorboards (it is quite tiresome unless you have the floor up for some other reason, or have cellar access) to that as well. It is especially worthwhile if you ever want to live without carpets.

Woodburners take a lot of feeding, there is not much energy in wood. If you get a multifuel, you will have the additional opportunity to use solid fuel if you want, which is useful if you run out of wood or are ill and unable to bring it in. Wood will provide an interesting source of indoor wildlife for your cats to chase.

Thanks. Lots of different options and and information there.
Will I have to get a cat or two if I have a wood burner then to catch all the mice that live in the wood store?!
Eek.

I hadn't actually considered solar panels even though lots of houses nearby have recently had them installed so that's another option.

The vendors have lived in the house for 20 years and they said they find the electric storage heaters fine, although I suppose they would say that! They've put in a nice kitchen, bathroom and decorated really nicely so don't understand why they've left the heating

Sorry before going off topic - OP really really talk to energy saving trust...all kinds of help you can get etc

• and they are impartial - eg they advised me to stick with mains gas - to not install ground source ... I think with these technologies and the grants etc - in general you won't make money but will get what you invest in the longer term (and save money)... They can also advise on insulation and draught proofing etc and maybe put you on to 'free' deals in your area - I could have had cavity wall and underfloor insulation done for free - as a home owner, not on benefits, not a pensioner etc... (Cavity wall already done, crawl space under boards not big enough for them to do underfloor - I'm doing it myself...) )
  Special - I don't like pellet burners either ...only worthwhile really with the RHI and you have to buy the pellets from an 'accredited source'. I can get lots of free/ cheap wood ...have space for storage to season wood, live semi-rurally, good at blagging/not afraid to ask, friendly with a garden maintenance company that give me bits (otherwise they have to pay to dispose) - could even get a permit from the forestry commission...but I wouldn't be able to use any of those in a pellet burner with RHI...
  We have a biggish garden - lots of trees/shrubs - I use a shredder anyway (electric - so mainly using electricity I've generated) to reduce bulk before going in the council collection for compost. Too much for me to home compost. (And the council would shred it/process it etc anyway to compost - iirc they have to heat it and turn it -which would use lots of energy). Someone I know in this business was thinking about buying one of the expensive pellet makers and hiring it out to people like me (if I bought a pellet burner)....so I could make my own pellets with my woody waste say once a year to top up the stuff I would need to buy - but then again I wouldn't get any RHI.... (And I have serious concerns about the price of pellets now and in the future - I think is relative to how the price of Solar pv has come right down after the tariffs were reduced ...agree that panels themselves do cost less - but before the reduction in tariff the (MCS reg) installers knew how much money the householder could 'make' and wanted a good cut of that so priced accordingly - now they just have to accept a smaller cut!)

if the previous occupiers were retired people who pottered around the house all day and went to bed early, they may not have noticed the big drawbacks of storage heaters: they heat up at night, give out heat during the day (whether you are at home or not) and run out by evening.

So they are especially unsuitable for people who are out during the day, and at home in the evening.

Most of the wildlife in firewood has more than four legs. The woodworm has none.

unlucky83 interesting stuff, thanks for all that. We also have a big garden - and it had been neglected so lots of wood now drying. Keeps you fit!

OP - no mice inside so far, and no cat here. :-)

Special - reason my renovation project is taking forever - too much faffing around trying to decide how to be as eco-friendly as possible...deciding to go in one direction and changing my mind
Love the accumulator tank solution the surveyor from energy saving trust came up with - now just need to see if I can make it vaguely cost effective ....

tricky, isn't it?

PJ - I found with the boost and turning the output down, our storage heaters were still hot until well past bedtime. But it wasn't a large flat.

Not sure if this is a dead post BUT if not, I am seriously considering a move from wood/coal multifuel stove to radiators run off a hybrid air to water heat pump. It backs up the electric heat pump with lpg. It is backed by the RHI funding. Google Daikin Altherma Hybrid Heat Pump.
I would love to hear from someone else using one whether they ard happy or not.