ASHP to replace lpg

[Forthelovagod]

I currently have an lpg system for heating and water. Installed 8 yrs ago. When installed it cost 100 a month to heat 4 bed cottage. Its now gone up to 250 a month despite using it conservatively. I cant afford it and the house is always freezing, sitting at 14 degress majority of day.
There is perhaps an opportunity to access a grant based on my low income and how old and cold the house is for an ASHP but im nervous of jumping from the fireplace into the fire.
When we installed lpg it was sold to us as way cheaper than our solid fuel system now its more expensive.

Feeling quite stressed about the whole situation. I just want to be able to afford to stay warm.

Anyone any experience of ashp or of the government scheme eco4? Any advice?

Well the web says that lpg is 12p per kwh. Electricity atm is about 30p per kwh.

So the ratio is 30/12 = 2.5

So you would need a COP of greater than 2.5 at these prices in order for a heat pump to be cheaper than gas. About doable with modern tech I think, especially if you are down south in a relatively mild climate. You can sub your actual figures in instead.

The better thing will be the insulation improvements they do, because that will lower your energy usage and further boost the gain.

I guess the downside is unless you get people who know what they are doing, the insulation "improvements" can be quite damaging to the environmental stability of old buildings, for example causing much greater internal humidity and damp. You may also need bigger radiators.

Not down south im at the other end.... Far north Scotland

Its so depressing to be in a house at 14-16 degrees with lpg costing me 250 a mnth throughout the year.

The loft is really well insulated. This was done years ago when there was a gov scheme available

Solid walls so limited options for further insulations

I think you would be surprised with insulation options. They can do external or internal.

There may be some other stuff they can do, but you need to ask them.

Far north means the COP will be worse. But with modern tech I would expect you to get 2 as a minimum.

Installers of heat pumps have got better over time, as a lot of the initial ones were installed inappropriately (too little power).

It's a bit of a gamble. You can wait until the tech improves. Also the installation assessments will improve over time as well, making it more likely to get a good solution. But if you do wait then there is a possibility that the grants will reduce.

Heat pumps are complicated things to consider. For example they work much better at low flow temperatures. The downside being they heat the house more slowly. So generally with a heat pump you leave it on all the time. That makes it better if you are in the house all day than if you are say going out to work for 8 hours or so when you would normally switch off during the day and heat up when you return.

If you were mains gas I would say its a no brainer and hang onto the boiler. But once you are off mains gas heat pumps start to look a lot more attractive. The other thing is you could have a good 8 years use still out of your existing system, and despite fuel being expensive, it can take a long time to recover installation costs in terms of reduced fuel consumption. But of course in 8 years time the grants may be no longer available.

You also need to consider the hot water solution as well. For example if you have a combi style LPG boiler you will need to make space for a hot water tank.

Maybe get a business in to do an assessment. It's sad that making these sorts of choices is so hard. The world we now live in unfortunately.