which central heating system?

[BusyStu]

Hi,
I've got a 3 bed terraced house with no central heating, the un-converted loft is ear marked for the 4th bedroom, every room needs decorating...the rest is very sound.
Which Central Heating system would you all reccommend?
Combi? condenser? electric underfloor? wet underfloor? air exchagers...I don't know where to start.

Many thanks, Stu

 

[ChrisR]

1) Good boiler - condensing system type, like Vaillant or, um, er, maybe Bosch but I don't like aluminium heat exchangers
2) good unvented hot water store like Megaflo - assumes you have good mains supply.

Wouldn't have underfloor unless in all day, in which case fine (wet).

 

[oilman]

Read through this forum and see all the problems with central heating. How many times does electric heating feature as a problem, does this tell you something.

We don't have central heating we don't have problems.

 

[ChrisR]

"does this tell you something"

Yes. It's too expensive to run so not many people have it!

 

[oilman]

It doesn't tell you anything of the sort. Our electric Aga is "expensive" to run, about the same as gas or oil, BUT it costs f/ all in servicing costs 'cos the last time something needed replacing was 1996 (if you don't count the fan bearings which I did about January and these had lasted 4 years) and that was the triac, (two bolts and 3 wires). Immersion heater replace every 6 years.

 

[Archimedes]

"does this tell you something"

Yes. It's too expensive to run so not many people have it!

Now that the days of cheap natural gas behind us, the pendulum is rapidly swinging in favour of electricity. And if you factor in the high maintenance and environmental costs of wet systems, it is a fallacy to say electric heating is expensive now.

In the last year I have had to replace a boiler control board, a room 'stat, a circulator pump, a three way divertor valve and seven rusted out radiators in a thirteen year old gas fired central heating system (installed by morons contracted by Bovis Homes). The previous owner also had a rad replaced, boiler work done and a new circulator. With annual service inspections, parts and labour over a twelve year span, I estimate the overall cost of running this gas-fired system has worked out at around £300 a year or £75 a quarter at a conservative estimate. Electric heating seems a good deal to me.

 

[ollski]

"does this tell you something"

Yes. It's too expensive to run so not many people have it!

Now that the days of cheap natural gas behind us, the pendulum is rapidly swinging in favour of electricity. And if you factor in the high maintenance and environmental costs of wet systems, it is a fallacy to say electric heating is expensive now.

.

Possibly but the fact that 40% of electricity is produced from gas would tend to point towards rising electric prices aswell. I should imagine that the number of posts regarding problems with electric heating are probably down to the fact very few people have it and may be more inclined to visit an electrical forum if it played up. That said I think electric heating will be much more prominent in the future.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Who cares, it's all a rip off whatever you have, you will pay through the nose for any of it, lpg, oil, gas, electric, diesel, petrol, why is diesel dearer than petrol when it's better for the environment than petrol ? because the goverment is greedy.

 

[oilman]

Electric it is then. At least then you don't have the greedy service man to pay too.

 

[ChrisR]

What is all this "servicing" which you say happens with gas? I put my Netaheat in about 20 years ago. I had a look inside it once but there was nothing wrong so I put the cover back on. On motorised valve no 2, and I put inhibitor in every few years.

I admit I'm not up to date on prices but last time I looked at it, for a hairdresser who wondered how to heat his water, electricity was several times more expensive than gas. Anyone got figures handy?

 

[oilman]

Maybe your boiler doesn't get serviced, but don't you go round to service customer's boilers? I do oil, they do need servicing, but the repair costs are possibly lower and less frequent than gas boilers, and they certainly don't need replacing so often. However electric systems, not much corrosion except immersion heaters, really reliable. Fuel costs higher, but if you have a well insulated dwelling and electric underfloor, you don't need much heat.

As for hairdressers, he's different. I don't do hairdressers, only talking domestics here.

 

[ChrisR]

Back boilers (which collect fluff) apart, I'd say only 1 in 15 or so services I do is routine - the others are all because something went wrong. It's almost true to say that gas boilers don't get serviced at all!
Servicing a Netaheat is much like many, mostly just cleaning and checking, so if it isn't dirty and checks out ok - nowt to do. Note that British Gas don't do much routine servicing, Apparently they found that "going in" caused problems, to the extent that its cheaper to just mend em when they break, relying on the flue sniffer to say if something's wrong.

We could all make a strong case for regular servicing, but lets not pretend it's always vital, or even makes economic sense.

 

[BusyStu]

1) Good boiler - condensing system type, like Vaillant or, um, er, maybe Bosch but I don't like aluminium heat exchangers
2) good unvented hot water store like Megaflo - assumes you have good mains supply.

Wouldn't have underfloor unless in all day, in which case fine (wet).

Yeah, we're in most day's & we have 47PPI pressure at the furthest tap (ground floor) anyone know what 47 is in old money (bar) please?
What about Potterton Condenser boilers?

Electric sounds like it could be a serious option..I'd virtually ruled it out...
but..as in storage type warm air type heaters or...Dry underfloor?

Are there any cool/modern designs of Electric heater that don't look like 70's office items?

I was told by a builder friend that Underfloor (wet) can weaken the joists (due to the drilling of all the 'feeding holes' anyone agree?) & is also Very ££$$ to install

Oops! so many questions...But finally any ideas which is the greener way to go?
Many many thanks.

 

[ChrisR]

47ppi? well 15 psi is approximately 1 bar. You'll have the same pressure any where on the same floor - until you open a tap. You should get 25-30 litrees/min from a garden tap with 3 bar if there's no supply restriction.

Condensing boilers suit uf heating well because the're most efficient with lower flow temps which you need .

Do check the kWhr costs of the different energy supplies.