How do you heat your old home?

[Claireintheair]

Those with older houses (built early 1900’s)
How do you heat your home?

we currently have oil heating system and looking at more modern/eco friendly options.

Heard mixed reviews on heat pumps, I don’t believe they are recommended/work well in older homes?

Any advice/experiences very appreciated. Thank you.

Victorian House. Regular central heating radiators.

Central heating downstairs - old-fashioned (but nice design) radiators and log fires upstairs on cold mornings.

I have a Victorian cottage. Gas central heating, set low to warm the house and heat a tank of water in the morning. A 5kw log burner in the sitting room in the evening.

Last time I replaced the gas boiler, I got a detailed quote for a GSHP. Fully installed with all the pipework and radiators upgraded, it was £25k. Even with the govt grant, it would still have cost £18k.

I replaced the gas boiler for £2.5k

In the last 15 years, I've replaced the roof and installed a full liner, replaced all the exterior windows and doors, doubled the loft insulation and boarded the lofts, so I'm not being tight. The GSHP was just too expensive.

Everything due to living through power cuts😳 two up two down mid terrace when bought (circa 1900.)
Gas central heating (which needs updating as ancient when i bought the house 15 years ago but unsure what to do either). I put in electric underfloor in kitchen and bathroom, logburner in one downstairs room plus gas living flame in the other, can't stand being cold! I've read about heat pumps not being practicable for this type of house also🤷‍♂️

Oil heating with radiators and magnetic secondary glazing.
Heat pumps can work if you get an expert rather than a general sales person but you almost certainly won't qualify for the grant and you will almost certainly need to upgrade the internal pipes and radiators throughout your home. That was going to cost more than the heat pump itself for me so it really wasn't worth doing.

I have just upgraded our boiler to a Saphire which has a 25yr guarantee and can run of HVO rather than kerresone in the future when the price comes down. HVO is entirely sustainable fuel.

Combination of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) and underfloor heating and two log-burning stoves, plus a smokeless-coal burning AGA in the kitchen (which is only lit when we decide we need it / want to cook using it).
The GSHP and underfloor heating was installed by a previous owner during a major building project / extension.

For heat pumps to work really well you need very good insulation. But my neighbours who built their house in 2022 had a heat pump and have now just installed oil as the heat pump did not keep the house warm enough even with lots of insulation.

We are looking at changing to a heat pump shortly in our old house. It's not the age of your house that matters so much as how much reno work has been done to it since 1900!

You need decent wall and loft insulation, modern standard bore pipes (15 or 22mm), and generously sized radiators. If this work has already been done it is likely that installation is relatively straightforward.

If you have tiny 10mm pipes, small radiators designed for hot water rather than warm, and poor insulation, a heat pump is going to be expensive and disruptive.

You can get someone out to check suitability, but no idea what this costs.

Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) and underfloor heating (throughout) plus AGA and log-burning stoves.

The GSHP and underfloor heating was installed as part of a major rebuild / extension project by the previous owner. It works quite well, but I am convinced the heat field was not properly sized considering the size of the house as we sometimes end up with permafrost in the back garden.

Despite having single-glazed windows the GSHP and underfloor heating works pretty well, with the log-burners just being used for spot heating when needed.

1930's house here. It is heated through an LPG tank. Personally, I'd prefer underfloor heating, an air source and/or ground source heat pump, but it is tied accommodation, so I would need permission from my employers... and even then, I'd have to pay for it myself.