Most cost effective central heating?

[yertis]

Does anyone know, or can anyone point me in the general direction of a suitable website where I can find out whether or not it's worth converting a house from oil fired to gas fired heating?

Cheers etc.

[timmy30]

Not really, but we are on Calour gas and it's *ucking expensive and getting more and more expensive, our neighbours are on Oil and it's cheaper, so why do you want to go from oil to gas?

[B17NNS]

I'd stick with the oil and buy a fast diesel

[yertis]

timmy30 said:

Not really, but we are on Calour gas and it's *ucking expensive and getting more and more expensive, our neighbours are on Oil and it's cheaper, so why do you want to go from oil to gas?

You can't cook so well with electricity or oil

[Ferg]

Don't for goodness sake mix up Natural Gas with LPG. LPG has always been an expensive fuel, whilst NG and Oil are fairly close together and cheaper. The beauty of oil as far as I'm concerned is you pay up front, you can (genuinely) shop around and you can sneak the stat down if it's getting warmer and buy oil in the summer when it's cheaper!!!

[zetec]

I've a couple of sticks to rub together if you want

[whoozit]

yertis said:

You can't cook so well with electricity or oil

Sez who?

www.aga-rayburn.co.uk/14.htm

[JMGS4]

Have a look around for pellet heating units, although the initial costs may be higher you can burn woodchips, corn and even lentil(ists)!!!!

[yertis]

whoozit said:

yertis said: You can't cook so well with electricity or oil Sez who? www.aga-rayburn.co.uk/14.htm

Hmmmm... better not show the wife that. For curry though I need a system capable of fierce flames.

[funinthesun]

we're on oiled fired central heating, aga does hot water and oven cooking, just installed a gas hob with two huge gas bottles outside which cost about £30 to refill and should last well over a year....yes IMHO gas hob is essential..

[yertis]

That sounds like a good solution but...

I presume the Aga hot water system isn't mains pressure? I've got used to mains pressure showers and can't be arsed messing around with pumps etc which go wrong.

[funinthesun]

no i dont think its mains pressure , but you will have a pump on yr heating/hot water system anyway so as long as you have a good head above the showers you can get a pretty good flow rate if you use a good shower head etc. you wouldnt actually use main pressure for the showers as the hot water part would only be at the pressure that your system is at, do you have a header tank for the cold water? if you do that will not be mains pressure either just gravity fed..if you get a good pump should last you 10 - 15 years..depends how strong you like your showers...

you would have the same problem with any fuel though..

[funinthesun]

yertis, see you're in the southwest, so am i , where abouts are you ? we're near tiverton, just about finished our conversion so if you need some ideas for systems welcome to come and take a look .

[funinthesun]

going back to the original 'cost effectiveness' if at all possible get a woodburner or two and you will never have to put the central heating on...80% eficient and a £40 load of logs will last you six weeks with ease...

[simpo two]

Gas is by far the cheapest way - my last bill was £45.71.

I'm sure a bushy-tailed gas salesman can visit you with a laptop, thump some numbers in and tell you how long the payback time will be. I think I'd do it anyway - you won't have to worry about running out of oil any more.

[timmy30]

funinthesun said:

going back to the original 'cost effectiveness' if at all possible get a woodburner or two and you will never have to put the central heating on...80% eficient and a £40 load of logs will last you six weeks with ease...

We have central heating, but harldy use it, all through winter we heat the house with out log fire, the most efficient thing is to invest in a small 'pot bellied' stove, they put out an unbelieveable amount if heat and you can keep them lit permanently unlike an open fire.

Having said that you can't beat sitting in front of an open log fire on a wet cold winters evening watching the flames and sipping nice whisky.

[funinthesun]

We have central heating, but harldy use it, all through winter we heat the house with out log fire, the most efficient thing is to invest in a small 'pot bellied' stove, they put out an unbelieveable amount if heat and you can keep them lit permanently unlike an open fire.

Having said that you can't beat sitting in front of an open log fire on a wet cold winters evening watching the flames and sipping nice whisky. [/quote]

open fires are indeed lovely but only about 30% efficient, get a good woodburner with a glass door, you can still see the flames, which seem to move in slow motion when its turned down( 400 degrees!!) you can thrown a big log on last thing at night and its still burning in the morning, no safety issues as with leaving an open fire and much less dust...

but... you'll be looking at the thick end of £1500 to buy and install one.

[simpo two]

You can of course have gas CH *and* a log fire for when life isn't giving you enough hassle

[timmy30]

Plus you get to buy yourself a chainsaw..... oooohhhh yeah baby

[yertis]

Thanks for your info Funinthesun. The place we're negotiating on has an open fire so axe/chainsaw fun is assured. The hotwater system we currently enjoy has a high pressure hot water vessel and adjacent boiler on the ground floor - nothing in the loft or gravity fed. On full power - ie with the tap wide open, the shower is almost too strong to stand under. And you can never have too much power...

I like the idea of the wood burner though. Since we're doing a fresh install the cost might not be such an issue.

Another reason to swap to gas is that losing the oil tank will liberate about forty feet of space in the garage...