Gas versus Electric boilers

[HawkEye244]

Hi all,
It looks like forms of non-renewable energy like gas will be outlawed in the coming future.
I'm thinking about upgrading my gas combi to a electric boiler and as only the boiler is using gas I could then have the meter removed.
Has anyone got personal experience of doing this?
Was the switch worth making?
Has it proven more or less costly in the long-run?
Thanks for any information.

 

[transam]

An electric combi ????

 

[conny]

Not sure if electric boilers, apart from over the sink/immersion heaters etc, are actually available.
Can't see them being cheap to use unless you have some form of off peak tariff.

 

[transam]

Leccy boilers have been available for years

Smallest out put gas combi is generally 24 Kw

Leccy combi to get 24 Kw

3 phase supply ???

you would be into storage via a cylinder

phase out gas any one with a combi will have a problem ??

 

[transam]

EHC

electric heating company

Mercury Combi

??

 

[crystal ball]

I installed two storage type boilers years ago, basically a big storage heater with a heat exchanger & pump, 19 kW three phase, new supplies to properties were installed FOC

 

[transam]

Afaik any thing over 12 or 14 kw
For EHC boilers

will require 3 phase supply ?

 

[IT Minion]

Air source heat pump or ground source heat pumps are more common than a straight resistive electric boiler, they're too expensive to run and as has been mentioned, would need a lot of power.

It isn't going to save money in the current world. With RHI you might break even but it's likely to cost more

 

[wobs]

There are some houses where ASHP make sense, but for the majority, I would be surprised if they did.

I suspect we may move over to hydrogen gas boilers in the future, as we can feed hydrogen into the existing gas network. There is hydrogen production being worked on in N.Lincs, although this could be for a new hydrogen line to feed into large industrial users.

Green hydrogen production could be expanded if we increase offshore wind, which would be good news for Hull!

 

[jeds]

Came across an interesting ditty recently researching heating options for a 7 unit development. Two of the units are 4 bed and another 5 bed, but two of them are small 2 beds. The larger units will be heat pumps but the smaller units don't have a lot of space and my heat pump bloke says he can't see how it will be practical. The units are off grid so there is no mains gas. We also have planning restrictions on carbon footprint - 2x oil boilers will blow that out of the water. Speaking with my energy bloke he said to consider electric boilers. Now, from the days when I used to do my own SAPs, electric heating was very poor on carbon and was a poor return on SAP rating. It used to be similar to oil but was a lot worse than mains gas. Well, apparently not any more. He told me that electric is now approximately equivalent to mains gas, due to the renewable premium. Cost to householder is still double mains gas, but it gets you over the carbon problem.

 

[conny]

Came across an interesting ditty recently researching heating options for a 7 unit development. Two of the units are 4 bed and another 5 bed, but two of them are small 2 beds. The larger units will be heat pumps but the smaller units don't have a lot of space and my heat pump bloke says he can't see how it will be practical. The units are off grid so there is no mains gas. We also have planning restrictions on carbon footprint - 2x oil boilers will blow that out of the water. Speaking with my energy bloke he said to consider electric boilers. Now, from the days when I used to do my own SAPs, electric heating was very poor on carbon and was a poor return on SAP rating. It used to be similar to oil but was a lot worse than mains gas. Well, apparently not any more. He told me that electric is now approximately equivalent to mains gas, due to the renewable premium. Cost to householder is still double mains gas, but it gets you over the carbon problem.

Now these are the type of statements, often made by governments, which I can't make sense of.
Earlier you say electric was similar to oil but a lot worse than gas. but then you say electric is approximately equivalent to gas due to premium. So are you saying the cost is the same because of financial input? Because the carbon footprint won't change no matter how much money you throw at it. Financial subsides/premiums etc will not last forever and then things are back to square one.

 

[Ihavenojob]

The ban on gas boilers is some way off, some gas boilers can be converted to hydrogen, so maybe manufacturers will concentrate on fully adaptable gas boilers. The thing is at the moment, people who are struggling with fuel bills will be subsidising those that can afford the new technology. The green tax should be scrapped.

 

[jeds]

So are you saying the cost is the same because of financial input?

The fundamental pass/fail for a new property SAP rating is based on Co2 emission rates. The calculation does report costs but that is not the pass/fail factor. Within the calculation, each energy source is given a factor value for Co2. You don't add this - it is added automatically. A few years back, mains electric energy carried a poor Co2 rate - much worse than mains gas. But that rate has come closer together such that mains electric is now similar to mains gas. So, where, in the past, it would have been very difficult to get a SAP calculation to pass when specifying mains electric heating, these days it is much easier.

 

[noseall]

I could then have the meter removed.

I'd get a sparky in to check the capacity on your supply, before getting hasty with chopping the gas. If you have other high capacity items running off the leccy such as showers, cookers etc, you may already be running ad full capacity on your current supply.

It could just mean a cable upgrade and a new smart meter.

 

[transam]

A new energy and utilities alliance report says

cost to install a heat pump 8 to 14 grand

55% of people surveyed have removed a hot water cylinder

73% want to keep there gas

64% refuse to make changes to there property

54% they could not afford a heat pump

40% expect a grant to cover the full amount

6% would pay to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump

4 in 10 would have a hot water tank reinstalled