House heating Advice

dobaluchi

Hi There,

I recently bought a 16yr old bungalow(1,800ft, rectangle in shape) typical bungalow with living space one end and bedrooms the other.

With a new baby just arrived I'm paranoid about the predicted artic winter. I am getting the house insulated this week.

I wish to upgrade the heating in the house. This is the current scenario:

The house is OFCH, with a non-condensing firebird boiler heating 19 rads(mix of doubles and small rads).

There are two fireplaces in the house one in the kitchen/living room area that has an LPG Gazco inserted into the wall(not working and expensive to run but willing to get working in the short term).

This kitchen/living room fireplace(where we spend most of our time)where the gas fire is, I want to replace with a stove. Q here is do I go with an Oil stove(Nestor Martin) with a BB(water only 3 kw) or do I go for a big solid fuel stove with BB capable of heating the rads. I like the idea of the convenience of the oil stove but worried about cost of oil and efficiency v Solid fuel. As someone said stoves are like babies they need to be fed and cleaned regularly!

The other sitting room is not furnished yet and I am thinking of putting a solid fuel stove in here with a BB capable of heating the rads. So come home after days work and light the fire and heat the room/house and use this at wends also. Its a nice cosy sized room not too big and not too small and it is adjacent to the kitchen/living room.

Or do I forget about a BB in the sitting room and use the saved cash and replace with a condensing boiler ?

Its the rads in the bedrooms I need to heat at night so not sure would be the best option to do this either the Condensing boiler or the Stove?

I also need to replace the cylinder as its old school, with a crappy lagging jacket. I want to replace with a 300l triple coil capable of taking solar down the road.

So whats the best option to go with i.e most practical to heat the house.

Or do I go for Heat exchange!?! ha ha.

Any suggestions v welcome.

This a short to long term plan.I really wish to sort out the kitchen/living room area first.

shane0007

That seems a hell of a lot of rads for 1,800sqft! Nearly 1 per 100sqft.

You will need to set your budget and prioritise which part is most important to you and when you need it. Sometimes chucking a bit in now and then can ultimately lead to a disastrous system. It needs to be carried through by the same installer with the one mind set rather than many opinions at various stages and changing how the end product is achieved.

dobaluchi

To clarify, there is actually only 14 rads. Some of these are doubles and some are smaller i.e the bathroom ones and utility. I have just counted the doubles up for stoves btu purposes.

I would love to get a good plumber or heating engineer who can advise on such matters and it would be important to me to get the same contractor for the whole job.

Also thermo controls on the rads and upgraded zoned boiler controls would be a help as well as a thermostat.

Thanks.

shane0007

Oh ok, it's just a single rad could have a larger output than a smaller double.

Try get recommendations or at least referrals. What you are looking for is certainly achievable but it can equally be a disaster and end in tears. You could put in the Nestor in one room, but room only heater, stove with back boiler in another room and a zoned HE oil boiler. Don't install TRV's if you are going with solid fuel. This will not affect your SEAI grant as long as it is declared on the DOW form. Cylinder will have to changed for solid fuel/oil configuration.

suitseir

What arctic winter???? Do you know something that we don't???

Listening to Gerald Fleming on Countrywide on Saturday morning, and being scientific about it, he said the next 10 days will be very cold but apparently, there is a prediction of mild weather coming in after that!!!

tylercollins

suitseir wrote: »

What arctic winter???? Do you know something that we don't???

Listening to Gerald Fleming on Countrywide on Saturday morning, and being scientific about it, he said the next 10 days will be very cold but apparently, there is a prediction of mild weather coming in after that!!!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056666234