Electric or Gas heating and hot water - pro's and cons?

[PookieSnackenberger]

I'm gutting and refurbishing a property that currently has no gas central heating. There is an immersion heater for the bathroom, an electric hot water device over the kitchen sink and various ancient electric heaters. Everything has to go and the property is being rewired and replumber from scratch.

Initially I thought GCH but now I'm wondering about electric boiler and modern oil filled radiators. Does anyone have this set up? Is it actually more expensive?

In the future it may be rented so I was thinking it might be better (No CO risk and cost saving on gas safety cert. as only electrical safety cert. would be needed?)

I don't have gas for a number of reasons. I have an unvented stainless water cylinder for the hot water, an electric shower, oil-free electric radiators in all rooms...and in the main room a multi fuel burner. This place is very well insulated.

I'll use a radiator in the room I'm in if I need to in the daytime, but not often. But most of the time I burn wood in the winter [Nov - mid March, from 4pm - 10.30pm], and if I open the door to the rooms the heat circulates throughout the bungalow. I shower in the summer and have baths in the winter. I'm very comfortable with the set up here.

It's all fine for me and I find I spend less than people I know with full central heating [wood and electric total £650 per year roughly]. Just have to pay for a chimney sweep each spring. I wouldn't know how much using the radiators a lot would be.

However you may narrow your market for tenants as a lot want full gas central heating. But many homes are all electric, especially flats and they seem to rent out ok.

Electricity is three times the cost of gas - go with gas. Insulate whilst you have the chance.

Gas. No brainier.

Gas. Electric costs a fortune to heat a home.

Could you not put in a heat pump rather than an electric boiler? Much more efficient and you can get some of the costs reimbursed through the renewable heat incentive scheme. I think you can also get loans through the green deal.

Thanks for all the responses. There is no room for a heat pump as it's a very compact 1st floor flat. If I go with a gas system it will be a tiny combi boiler - the electric ones also seem small enough to fit in a kitchen cupboard. I read that the fuel difference is offset by the electric boiler being almost 100% efficient whereas gas ones are not.

Gas as long a you can have mains gas

In the future it may be rented so I was thinking it might be better (No CO risk and cost saving on gas safety cert. as only electrical safety cert. would be needed?)

Do you still need a GSC for a cooker though? All other things being equal, I wouldn't rent a place with an electric-only kitchen.

A good, new gas boiler will be very efficient indeed - I think they have to be upwards of 88% efficient to be installed these days, and most are around 90%. I find it very hard to believe that a 10% difference in efficiency between electric and gas will offset the huge extra cost of the former. Don't believe the electric marketing- check the figures.

I really don't think not having a gas cooker would be an issue to most renters.

But yes, any gas appliances needs to be checked for a landlord's gas safety check. I once had to send the engineer back to a house I was renting out as the tenant told them it was an open fire not a gas one. It was definitely a gas fire as I'd lived there for many years. I'm just glad they didn't try to light the fake coals!

Put gas boiler in. If a tiny flat then you need to make it attractive to tenants, even in london the good times won't last forever. The costs of cert and service are a very small part of running a rental.

If you have a gas fire and gas hob you can at least keep yourself warm and cook yourself a meal and a hot drink, as we’ve just found out with the gales today and power cut, obviously electric is back on now.

We've never had a gas cooker and aren't too bothered. Not everyone is

I've lived in small flats with gas and just electric. Tbh in a small flat the electric bills were only small Anyway, not that different from fuel costs of gch flat. However, people generally prefer gch, so that might make it more attractive to renters.

We don't have gch, but we have a stove. Electric heating without an additional heat source can be a bit chilly, well storage heaters can be.

But really it's about location, if you're in a city were everyone expects the convenience of gch then it would be better to put it in. We are rural and not many have gch heating so it's a different set of expectations.