Deep retrofit or AtoW grants or no grant?

looksee

I have just purchased a 20 year old house that has a BER of D1. The issues that cause it to be a D1 include an open chimney, some poor double glazing and lack of a draught porch. These will be dealt with, but the walls and roof are mostly fully insulated and appear to be ok according to the report.

My question is, since I will have to replace the oil boiler anyway (not a condensing boiler, appears to be about 13 years old, could be more) is there any point in putting in an AtoW system (put in pump and probably replace rads) without doing the whole 'deep retro fit' job.

My issues with the DRF are:

- the cost of some work that I doubt can be brought up to absolute standard (small part of the building is old); not willing to disturb ground floor floors, am willing to put a stove in the open chimney, but not entirely woodburning (prefer dual fuel) due to work involved that I am/will not be able for;

- the limited number of people who can do this job, and without casting any particular aspersions on them, the awareness that as soon as a grant is offered with the kind of restrictive caveats that are on the DRF then the job increases in cost and complexity to make the grant almost worthless. Maybe I am being a bit irrational about this.

I will employ a professional to advise me on this but am still sorting out the issues in my head and appreciate any thoughts.

sydthebeat

you wont get a A2W grant if your building envelope is poorly insulated.

the break point is the "total heat loss per m2" value in the "heat loss results "tab.

If its less than 2.0 w/m2K you would qualify for the grant... if not you will have to carry out remedial works

looksee

I am not necessarily talking about looking for a grant, I am trying to figure out if just putting in an AtoW system would be feasible as an alternative to putting in an oil boiler.

It may be that the heat return from AtoW would be so much less than oil that it would be a waste of money. I think the house is pretty well insulated and I will be doing more work, should I just put in another oil boiler or would it be worth going with AtoW. If for example I got close to the 2.0 w/m2K quoted, but not quite and to make up the difference would be too expensive/invasive. I would overall prefer not to use oil.

GreeBo

I'd get an airtightness test/survey done.

BER report isnt that useful as its based on the spec of the house and not the installation/implementation.

A2W means lower temp rads and means you need to have good airtightness/insulation otherwise the house will never get up to a comfortable temp.