New Heating System

Laghan

Hi, I have just had an offer accepted on a little house. It's really old and is currently powered by electric heaters which I understand are very inefficient. The house is tiny, it's less than 60sq.m.
I was thinking of having a new heating system installed, preferably a combi boiler as there is limited space and would also like to have hot water on demand.
Does anyone know how much this system would likely cost including the boiler, pipework and radiators? I would also invest in some controls, perhaps zoned heating with thermostat? Also, what would be the drawbacks here? I'm hopefully going to do a bit of work to the house anyway which will involve removing flooring and taking down some walls so the mess isn't so much of an issue, but is there anything else I should be aware of?
In relation to the SEAI grant, would you need to own the house for X amount of time before applying?
Also, the house isn't connected to the gas mains yet, presume that will be a large cost? Any help appreciated here... thanks in advance.

antoinolachtnai

It is hard to say and others will have views but 3 or 4 thousand for the system and maybe a thousand to connect to mains. Others will have a better steer for youon this.

A combi is a great idea in principle for your situation but I would consider whether you have the water pressure and whether the system will be compliant with local bye laws

If money is really tight i would make sure the whole thing is well insulated as a first step. It is only 60 sq m. In principle, it just shouldn't need that much heat. Practice is different of course.

Also you have to make sure you have the basics in place (no lead piping, no major plumbing problems, reasonable electrics, Windows, watertight roof) before you start dealing with the heating.

lomb

Go for two or three of these
http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk35zm-s-39kw--12000-btu-inverter-heat-pump-240v50hz-12-p.asp
http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk25zm-s-25-kw--9000-btu-inverter-heat-pump-240v50hz-803-p.asp
One for bedroom, one for living room/kitchen/hall that works with the doors open, and use the current electric set up for bathroom or run a electric heated towel rail.

I know its sounds wacky but they will last 10-15 years , use individual units so if one fails it doesn't take the others out.
They will give better than 4 to 1 return on electricity ie for 4 kw of heat your using 1kw of electricity so cheaper than oil /gas even and you get airconditioning as a bonus as well as a fast heat up.

Combi boilers -lots can go wrong with these and there is no redundancy on your hot water.

Get a very well insulated immersion cylinder and lag it again and just use electric for the water. If you like the idea of hot water on demand you can get a small like 20 liter http://lbcylinders.ie/products/ flat cylinder made up custom with 2 separate immersion heaters for under 150 although I only use
one as even that is fast) and lag it again and you will have hot water within a few minutes and it wont be heating a lot so no waste. You could probably use it for bath water if you have the second immersion running but youll need a second 16 amp line from the fuse board. That and an electric shower is all you need. Obviously baths might be a problem although you could use the electric shower to fill it too another option is the external immersion connected to the main cylinder if you will be taking baths like they use in Northern Ireland. I think its 5 liters for 5 minutes 10 for 10 and so on but I would rather the little cylinder with dual immersions if needed.

Wearb

lomb wrote: »

Go for two or three of these
http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk35zm-s-39kw--12000-btu-inverter-heat-pump-240v50hz-12-p.asp
http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk25zm-s-25-kw--9000-btu-inverter-heat-pump-240v50hz-803-p.asp

I know its sounds wacky but they will last 10-15 years , use individual units so if one fails it doesn't take the others out.
They will give better than 4 to 1 return on electricity ie for 4 kw of heat your using 1kw of electricity so cheaper than oil /gas even and you get airconditioning as a bonus as well as a fast heat up.

Combi boilers -lots can go wrong with these and there is no redundancy on your hot water.

Get a very well insulated immersion cylinder and lag it again and just use electric for the water. If you like the idea of hot water on demand you can get a small like 20 liter http://lbcylinders.ie/products/ flat cylinder made up custom with 2 separate immersion heaters for under 150 although I only use
one as even that is fast) and lag it again and you will have hot water within a few minutes and it wont be heating a lot so no waste. You could probably use it for bath water if you have the second immersion running but youll need a second 16 amp line from the fuse board. That and an electric shower is all you need. Obviously baths might be a problem although you could use the electric shower to fill it too another option is the external immersion connected to the main cylinder if you will be taking baths like they use in Northern Ireland. I think its 5 liters for 5 minutes 10 for 10 and so on but I would rather the little cylinder with dual immersions if needed.

From website High CoP, up to record 3.68 not better than 4 to 1 and that is in ideal conditions. Then there is the installation costs and how to heat a 3 or 4 bedroom house. Very expensive to heat each room.
However I think they would be very useful in a small bedsit or whatever they call such accommodation nowadays.

antoinolachtnai

I agree that it is worth seeing if it is feasible to do it without gas. If you can insulate the house really well, it probably is.

lomb

Wearb wrote: »

From website High CoP, up to record 3.68 not better than 4 to 1 and that is in ideal conditions. Then there is the installation costs and how to heat a 3 or 4 bedroom house. Very expensive to heat each room.
However I think they would be very useful in a small bedsit or whatever they call such accommodation nowadays.

http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk35zmx-s-35-kw--13000-btu-hyper-inverter-heat-pump-240v50hz-19-p.asp

Sorry that's over 4, some are over 5, youd have to search for model numbers. He hasn't a 4 bed house but 600 sq foot. Arguably a couple of those supplemented with existing heating is spot on. It works out at half the cost of gas/oil coupled with instant controllable heat and cold if wished. Cracking units. Id stick with Mitsubishi Heavy as the are very reliable even if the cop is lower slightly.

Laghan

antoinolachtnai wrote:

It is hard to say and others will have views but 3 or 4 thousand for the system and maybe a thousand to connect to mains. Others will have a better steer for youon this.

Thanks, this is helpful. I priced the gas connection already it's €249 as it runs right outside the door, so that's pretty reasonable.

antoinolachtnai wrote:

Also you have to make sure you have the basics in place (no lead piping, no major plumbing problems, reasonable electrics, Windows, watertight roof) before you start dealing with the heating.

Of course, this isnt the only job I'm doing to the house but I have all the other areas covered, was just wondering on this particular job and how much it would cost.

lomb wrote:

Go for two or three of these

Thanks, not my cup of tea though to be honest. I don't like the type of heat that comes from blown air. I'm sure they're probably great but not to my taste.

We have always had a combi boiler in our house and have never had any problems. The house is tiny so any space we can save is a bonus so would like to avoid fitting a cylinder. Thanks for the advice though.

Dtp1979

Combis depend more on the amount of hot water draw off points rather than house size. How many bathrooms/ensuite a do you have?

Laghan

There is just one bathroom so 1 shower and tap plus the kitchen tap.

Dtp1979

Then in that situation a combi is perfect. Get a boiler that has a weather compensation feature in it too