Reconnect gas with new meter, or ASHP?

Reconnect gas with new meter, or ASHP?

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Discussion

Big_Dan

Original Poster:

495 posts

259 months

Tuesday 8th October
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As title really

House we are buying is a repossession and the gas meter has been removed

Cadent can't just reinstall a meter, they run a new supply pipe to the gas main, which is the other side of the road (naturally)

Estimated cost for this is c£3k, leadtime c2 months

Thinking it might be worth putting the 3k towards installing an ASHP

House has a non smart meter, not even old skool Economy 7

Are grants available if the house is disconnected from the gas main?

We intend installing solar / battery in the short term as well

What would you do?

Dingu

4,345 posts

37 months

Tuesday 8th October
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I would be sorely tempted to just not install gas. Especially if planning solar to offset higher costs.

OutInTheShed

9,323 posts

33 months

Tuesday 8th October
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Maybe it depends on the house and the location?

Other possibilities include:
Bottle gas
LPG bulk tank
Oil heating
Log burners
Biomass
GSHP
storage heaters.
Reversible Aircon?

Some of those you might dismiss straight away.

If the place has a combi boiler and radiators in place, then bottle gas is perhaps the least capital cost?
I looked at a place to buy which had this, plus wood stoves for bulk heat in winter.
No standing charge, instant unlimted HW, it has plus points.

Big question might be, how much heat will you need?
And what's your plan? Forever home or move on or let out or what?

How much refurb will you be doing?
What standard of insulation can you achieve?
Can you easily do UFH?
Will you quite likely want aircon in summer?
Do you have a good place to site an ASHP? That's not trivial, they can be noisy and are not pretty.

I don't think one size fits all.

ASHP might get cheaper soon, but you could be at the tail end of getting generous grants.

4Q

3,476 posts

151 months

Tuesday 8th October
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Dingu said:
I would be sorely tempted to just not install gas. Especially if planning solar to offset higher costs.
Solar will offset very little of the heat pump running costs at it will only generate anything meaningful April/May- Sept which is the exact opposite of the months you’ll be running the heat pump for heating.

You’ll also need to completely redesign the heating with bigger rads or preferably UFH to warm the house effectively with an ASHP as they run most efficiently at much lower temperatures than a gas boiler would.


Edited by 4Q on Tuesday 8th October 18:25