Electric heating

[Glen Powell]

Insulation is the best option cos all the other systems will loose loads of heat without it.

45kw Biomass just for a boiler is going to be around £6,000 to £10,000 + VAT before installation, then you need a buffer vessel, flu, outbuilding to put it in, storage for fuel. Possible heating loop upgrade so could really be anywhere between £15,000 to £20,000 for a proper system based on it being over 40kw, now the fact that you could use less than 20kw means you have massivly oversized the biomass boiler.

A larger than average detached house with double glazing no wall insulation but greater than 75mm loft insulation would require about 11-15kw as it burns continuously unlike a standard boiler that flash heats a room.

 

[sambotc]

Air to air heat pump could be installed very easily reduces heating bills 40-60%
reduce co2 emmisinos by 50%,
reduces bacteria in the house can be changed to cool the house in summer if we are really lucky.
BIOMASS could also be an option more expensive however if a business was also registerd at the property then you could get the RHI payment for systems over 45kw in size

feel free to contact me for more in depth info.

An air to air heat pump would be liking urinating into the wind in a house like this is reckon (solid walls,suspended floors, stripped floor boards, large chimneys etc) you'll never keep up with the fabric losses and your COP will be way down low as the compressors running flat out all the time.

VR6 The first thing you need to do is get a heat loss calculation (room by room) to see what your requirements are, secondly see what you can do to reduce the heat loss (insulation etc) and only then can you really make a rational decision on what method of heating will work and how much it will cost to run.

 

[provr6]

I'm aware of the importance of insulation. Being a victorian property I have put 300mm of insulation in the roof space but this is somewhat compromised by also installing loft boards which compresses it down to 100mm in places. In hind sight I could have got insulated backed loft boards to sit ontop of the joists.

I've looked into cavity wall injection and am in two minds. Some say excellent, others state high risk of condensation & mould with a smaller risk of rusting wall ties. My largest external wall is an exposed area of rain and is currently brickwork rendered.

I am in the process of insulating and have got some draughtex for the stripped floorboards, some chimney baloons, insulated loft hatch, draught strips around doors etc. The house is doubled glazed bar 2 windows. I could also take the floorboards up and fit insulation to the first floor.

I know storage heaters are expensive to run but the initial outlay can be small. I currently pay about £1200 per year for all my electricty which is with oil fired heaters albeit it can still be chilly. I think storage heaters would cut this down but suspect I may still feel the chill.

The woodstove boiler option is quite attractive as they are not that expensive and I can source wood for free. I already have copper pipework fitted so would need some new rads. The unknown is how warm and controllable would the heating be?

Neither may not be the best long term solution but I think renewable heating is quite a high outlay and I would not want to commit until I know what the RHI payments would be.

 

[sambotc]

You don;t need to guess on costs etc, you can get a fairly accurate idea or at least comparable across different methods. Firstly you need an idea of your heat loss though. Once you've know what the Kwh of energy needed to keep on top of your heat loss you can relate this to different fuel types along with other running costs and installation costs.

Otherwise it's like asking how much water do you need to fill up a swimming pool, without measuring the swimming pool, if that makes sense!

 

[Glen Powell]

Wood burning stove with a thermal store would be a good option, you would not really heat directly to the radiators, this is quite a cost effective option, however, you do become a slave to the stove so it is good to install other options. If you have roof space you could add solar water heating.

Glad you are addressing the insulation, the gap between the bricks on victorian houses are not that wide and problems can occur, using a vapour barrier with insulated plasterboard in the internal walls may be an option but disruptive.

 

[provr6]

Wood burning stove with a thermal store would be a good option, you would not really heat directly to the radiators, this is quite a cost effective option, however, you do become a slave to the stove so it is good to install other options. If you have roof space you could add solar water heating.

Glad you are addressing the insulation, the gap between the bricks on victorian houses are not that wide and problems can occur, using a vapour barrier with insulated plasterboard in the internal walls may be an option but disruptive.

I do like the idea of the thermal store as I could use a wooderburner and electric element as back up to heat it. The Solar thermal panel would also be good but I have taken up all my main roof space with PV Panels. I do have an outbuilding I could use about 3m from the house.

The cost would probably start racking up. Would a single solar thermal panel be suitable for a small 3 bed semi cottage? I take it EPC's don't apply to solar thermal.

Food for thought.

 

[Glen Powell]

Solar thermal is not subject to EPC as there is no real fits for it yet, adding the thermal store is pretty straight forward and quite cost effective, my opinion is even if the panel is undersized for the store due to room constraints then it will help suppliment the heating element.

You could also design the thermal store to have multiple elements for boost heating, standard heating, trickle heating. we generally design the thermal stores based on requirement and have them made for us.

Basics of it wood burner works on gravity feed so requires 28mm pipe to store, wood burner is direct feed, solar works on the bottom coil, option of additional heating loop, hot water goes through large heat exchange loop working at mains pressure.

I have a standard schematic should it be required.

 

[RF Solutions]

You could always consider recommending a normal woodstove with a back boiler. Woodwarm are the masters of this they do stoves with up to 80,000btu boilers built in... (or used to it's been a couple of years since i looked at it so they might have more now...)