SEAI Grant yea or nea?

gomamochi1

HI Guys would appreciate some sound advice!
Reinstating a heating ad plumbing to a family home we bought recently. Due to vandalism all copper upstairs and cylinder were fleeced.

1990's dormer house 4 beds, 2500 sq foot.

The old firebird oil boiler in the utility room could be reinstated but various plumbers are suggesting either keeping it and getting it going or getting a new condensing boiler- they are all pretty much anti seai grant as it entails extra heating controls extra zones etc other than the usual upstairs/ downstairs and hot water.
The Grant is for 560 euro however the extra cost of the extra stuff they look for seems to outweigh the benefits of having a grant!

I am also slabbing all ext walls with 62 mm insulated plasterboard and not going through the grant as they seem to want the 80mm board and the extra cost is not worth it as contractors seem to add any savings from the grant....

any suggestions welcome?
cheers

Wearb

My opinion on this grant is -that in a retrofit such as yours- it is well worthwhile. The controls that are required by the grant will save you money in the short or medium term. Even without the grant those sort of zones and controls are a no brainer when the whole place is already ripped up. Don't skimp on zones and controls for them At the very least have separate zones for sleeping, living and hot water. I would also try and zone rarely used bedrooms (or bedrooms that will become rarely used in the future) and perhaps your posh sitting room as a separate zone also.

As for you cladding, I would also go the grant route. Look for quotes, stipulating that you need it up to grant specs. Lots of competition in that area and will be even more as the improving weather decreases demand for that sort of work.

cletus

Gonna jump in on this thread with a question of my own. SEAI have a grant for controls only. My house has two zones, upstairs and downstairs, with analogue temp controllers. Will the grant be given just to upgrade these to digital controls.

Dtp1979

cletus wrote: »

Gonna jump in on this thread with a question of my own. SEAI have a grant for controls only. My house has two zones, upstairs and downstairs, with analogue temp controllers. Will the grant be given just to upgrade these to digital controls.

You will need it wired to have full boiler interlock. 2 zones is the minimum. Zone your hot water too. You'll also need a 7 day programmable clock and a timer on your immersion if you have one.

cletus

Dtp1979 wrote: »

You will need it wired to have full boiler interlock. 2 zones is the minimum. Zone your hot water too. You'll also need a 7 day programmable clock and a timer on your immersion if you have one.

What sort of cost are you looking at, and how much work

Dtp1979

cletus wrote: »

What sort of cost are you looking at, and how much work

It depends the the house and the wiring involved and what's already there

Dardania

Came here to find Wearb said most of what I would say.

Also to add that using the grant implies construction standards on the contractors that are extremely good: http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_energy_homes/contractor/Codes-of-Practice-and-Technical-Specification-V-6.pdf and the threat of loss of license keeps them up to scratch.