Big house, considering moving away from gas to electric only

[omghelp]

Apologies for piggy backing this subject....am in similar situation on new purhcase - but circumstances are slightly different;

4500 sq foot - circa 400 yrs old
3 floors
currently with elec storeage heaters, plus solid fuel rayburn providing, with an emmersion heater, the hot water
Village is NOT on the mains gas.
Under floor heating only possible in one room in short term.

Personally, have had qoutes for eco central heating (ground source, air source, wood chip) and mostly cost and set up time is the issue - have 4 young kids and winter is almost fully upon us - need to move in early Jan

Therefore am in need of a quick to fit central heating/ hot water replacement to storeage heaters and rayburn hot water

Believe I will have to go with oil or lpg , to support circa 18 radiators and 3 bathrooms.

Would anyone be able to a) roughly how long it would take to fit, and b ) whether in fact I am missing alternative - perhaps better - solutions ?

 

[electronicsuk]

Would anyone be able to a) roughly how long it would take to fit, and b ) whether in fact I am missing alternative - perhaps better - solutions ?

To be honest, I'd be surprised if you can find a good installer with enough time in his diary to be able to even start this before January, given that he/she will probably want some time off over christmas. Given the age of the house, the work might take anywhere up to two weeks once started, given that there may be some difficulty in routing the pipework and the number of rooms to be heated.

Have you considered sticking it out with the storage heaters until the warm weather returns, and then fit a heating system of your choice at that time?

 

[omghelp]

Matthew - thanks for the reality check !!
may have to go with storeage in short term - not moving in until Jan 8th however, so keep your fingers crossed

 

[topbloke77]

This is my first post. but its my civic duty to warn people away from electric UFH. I have recently put in a 37m2 carbon film system under laminate. Proper laminate (quick step) which is certified to be good for eUFH.

It is installed in 2 separate zones, each controlled by its own stat. I too read the sellers websites making claims of warm up times of 1 hour to full temperature and that its cheaper than conventional radiators to run.

Well I can confirm that its definitely not. Half of my eUFH is installed a new extension built to Scottish building regs which I think have slight more stringent insulation levels than England. In here the system can take anywhere between 1h15 to around 2h 30 to get to the set floor temperature. The subfloor in the extension is an insulated concrete slab with battons and chipboad flooring on top. I have also installed the system on 12mm of foam insulation mats as recommended by the manufacturer for better warm up times (as opposed to 6mm mats).

The other half is in my existing house which was built in 1907 and has 3/4 beds. This has a uninsulated timer subfloor, again with the 12mm foam insulation on top. In here the floor can take up to 3 hours to reach the set floor temperature.

What this means that when its cold, and both zones are on (4.6KWh total) the system is running on full blast for a good few hours solid before it clicks off.

Then the manufactures says it then runs at 40% once its at the correct temperature. Not in my case. Id say its more like 70 or 80%. Its definitely on more than off.

The rest of the house has gas heating, water and hob

The electric heating is on from 6.30 -8:30 and from 16:00 to 10:30
My current monthly usage is 1200 - 1300 KWh - and its not been properly cold yet!

Its nice to have a warm floor, in fact id hate to have wooden or laminate floors without it, but I probably would not buy it again, purely on running costs. Go for a wet system or just a Condensing boiler and rads.

Feel free to ask anything about eUFH, im not an expert but can comment from my expensive personal experience.