Apologies: one, nothing to do with Ducati; and two I might of broached this topic before! My house has electric off-peak heating but gas gas instantaneous hot water. The gas water heater was installed when the house was built (30-odd years ago) and relies upon a pilot flame firing up the boiler when you demand hot water. It has always been dodgy and now it is in one of its sulk stages. So, if I demand hot water, the pilot light goes out and no hot water. I had a gas engineer round before Christmas and he thought it too old to be worth fixing and said I should just replace it. Now, my brother and his wife, who are green stalwarts, think that I should replace it with leccy hot water heating. Technically, it is simpler to replace a knackered gas hot water heater with another, more modern gas one. I then have not worries about the f**king pilot light as modern gas stuff does no bother with this ancient technology. If I go electric then I will need to get a 30 (approx) amp supply round to the kitchen, where the hot water heater is and will be. So, if you were faced with this dilemma, would you replace gas with gas, or go electric and green?
Mains Gas is 4 times cheaper than electricity. e.g. 12p for Electric per kW and 3p per kW for Gas. A decent Gas boiler is around 95% efficient. An electric Boiler is 99.99% efficient at heating the water (some is used for controls, therefore becomes wasted heat in the kitchen - useful in the winter). Mains Gas all the way for heating. Note an air sourced heat pump is the 2nd best way to heat water, but kW for kW it costs 4x as much to install. Running costs can be cheaper than Mains Gas, just depends at what temperature you want to heat the water. 35°C its cheaper than mains gas, 65°C its more expensive than Mains Gas. An AirSourced Heat pump is the Greenest way to heat... subject to where you buy your electric.
Gas would be the simplest to install. The running costs is of no great bearing as it is just for hot water that I use for washing up and a shower. I use so little that my current suppler (Octopus) normally doubts my meter readings -"Your meter readings are wrong. You MUST of used more gas!"
Since when was main stream electricity generation “green” ? Your brother and sister-in-law need a slap. The UK currently cannot generate enough electricity to be self sufficient, we have to buy it from the Continent and with the drive (no pun intended) to use electric cars, that isn’t going to happen any time soon. Get a gas boiler but not a Worcester Bosch, I know 3 people who have recently been advised by different installers to avoid then like the plague. Andy
Sounds like they have been given an 'offer' from a different company Worcester Bosch are always at the top of any ratings and my Gas Safe mate (although he does fart) will not fit anything else: reason: it's his lively hood and cannot afford the time for warranty breakdowns. 12 Year warranty now too I believe and a nationwide network of engineers to support installers issues if ever needed. https://www.boilercentral.com/best-combi-boilers-2020-uk/
Check out the Government’s Green Deal subsidies for installing Air Sourced Heat Pumps. https://www.gov.uk/domestic-renewable-heat-incentive
I'd just replace the existing boiler , Worcester are good but are costly , I feel all the others have caught up and are just as good for the money , I install ideals at the moment , not had on go wrong for a few years now , some with 7/10/12 year warrenrty .
Last time I checked even oil fired boilers were around half the cost of economy 7. Gas has to be around the same
just fitted air to water and 300l tank, and 4kw solar and batteries. had dirty oil burner before & can't get mains gas as in middle of nowhere. Government subsidy covered about 35% ish of the cost. Payback is years away but there is a perverse pleasure in watching the electric meter not moving and the house running as normal. Air to water only seems to get me to 44c but that seems to be fine apart from when you want a roasting bath , at which point hit the boost button to bring it higher from the batteries.
2 cents heat pumps suck unless medium is what you like. Whether it be air or water. Best advice. stay with gas so that all of your eggs are not in one basket. Unsure of your cooking stove... BUT all homes should have 2 different types of energy attached to them in case of emergency. Also what is "off-peak heating" Rex On edit I just saw the post above... Consider Propane. It never goes bad as a fuel.
Just spoke to a neighbour, They replaced their gas heater years ago - I guess that I might be the final house that still has an original! They've got Worcester-Bosch and are very happy with it. I'll go with whatever the plumber that I get recommends. My neighbour is very polite. She didn't say, "Fuc going green!" - but did, effectively!
Recently had a vaillant boiler installed (central heating and hot water) super quiet if that’s a consideration and all up 2.5k installed
Rex could you elaborate on why you consider that "heat pumps suck"? Unless thats a pun on some thermodynamics laws I would like to know more. Propane would be silly expensive compared to all but oil for heating. Good point on it not going off, but heating oil doesn't go off in a short time. In the uk you can have two rates for your electricity. After 11pm until 6am (-or thereabouts) the electricity is circa 7p a kW/hr, however the normal daytime rate is typically a lot higher than a single rate meter. It was used to heat heavy bricks in wall mounted heaters. Air would then blow over these bricks during the day.
That's the joke of it. We are led to believe that electricity is "green" whereas we have no idea as to where it came from or how it was generated.
