Heating systems

newbie221

Just wanted to get options,

I know most houses are going with heat pump and air to water etc.

Personally I would prefer a oil boiler for central heating and a solid fuel for cosy nights .

I've looked into wood pellets but been told it won't heat the house properly.

Are there any other options?

Thanks

BryanF

Hi use the search function to find lots of info going back 10+ years on all kinds of heating systems. Also read around the renewables forum.

Assuming your building, you will need guidance, it’s not as simple as just installing fossil fuel boiler/stove, there are % renewables to be achieved in order to comply with building regs.

yes heat pumps are becoming the norm. Personally I’d be looking to match with solar & battery, so at least if the power goes you can still run the heating system.

wood pellets are fine as long as you can source them ie good local guaranteed supply -fyi who ever told you that pellets won’t heat your house, was talking rubbish. Also check out log boilers ie put the whole log into a boiler.

Borzoi

Can I ask why you'd prefer an oil boiler ? What makes it something that you'd prefer, I'm genuinely curious

newbie221

It's just a personal choice, it's what I'm used to and what I know.

The house we are building isn't very big and the equipment that comes with the heat pump would take up alot of needed space. Also not gone on having to have it on constantly and have heard different opinions about cooling the house down in the summer.(can be difficult)

BryanF

the house design, materials, build fabric and install quality will impact summer cooling - nothing to do with heating system.

kildarejohn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119033914#Comment_119033914

You might be out of step with what "everybody is doing these days", but there are lots of good reasons why an oil fired boiler is preferable to an air-to-water heat pump;

• running cost of condensing boiler very similar to that of ATWHP - depending of course on energy price fluctuation
• capital cost of boiler much lower than HP
• its easy to get boiler maintained, there are lots of plumbers who understand them well; in the case of HP's, they are more complex systems and many plumbers (regardless of what they might tell you) do not understand them properly
• boilers are flexible as regards what type of heat output units you use - radiators, ducted hot air, or underfloor. With HP's you are more or less stuck with underfloor heat (if you want good efficiency) and this does have disadvantages - cost, risk of leaks, cannot use thick rugs/carpets, slow to heat up/cool down.
• if oil prices go high, you can always swap out your condensing OFB for a woodburning/biomass/pellet unit. With HP you don't have that flexibility.
• I would be sceptical about BryanF's remarks about solar+battery. You would need a huge battery bank to run heating for a day, and chances are the sun wouldnt be shining on the day you need it.

CreadanLady

And if the sun was shining, well you probably wouldn't need to put the heating on!!

And another thing is this craze for battery storage systems on Boards. This is very much an enthusiast thing, pursued by people whol like fiddling around with technology. 95% of people just want to press a button and have heat at a reasonable cost, they are not interested in the machinery that produces the heat, or fiddling with it or optimising it. This is the reason why so many houses that were fitted originally with sophisticated heating control systems ended up having them replaced with basic flash timers because the controllers were too complex to use for the average John & Mary who had niether the understanding, interest or patience to learn how to use them in the way envisaged by the designers.

The engineers who devised these overly complex domestic heating control systems didn't take into account the human reality that the average John and Mary aren't engineers and aren't going to be interested in reading up on the mechanics of programming a 4 zone 7-day heating programmer with holiday mode on a via shítty interface with crappy little plastic buttons and a tiny little LCD screen. They will just hit the boost button.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045325#Comment_119045325

and the single biggest issue with an oil based system for a new build....

you have to add on so much extra to your specification of you build to make up for the reduction in efficiencies going from HP to oil base system that you wouldnt save anything at all.

it is absolutely not a 'like for like' swap of one with the other

shesty

Presume gas isn't an option for you, is it?

CreadanLady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046510#Comment_119046510

Yeah and that is why we have half informed people going around saying things like "oh oil boilers and fireplaces are banned" and so on. They're not banned. They are just a really uneconomical option if you are to satisfy the building regs. You'd have to insulate and renewable energy the rest of the house to death to make up for the oil heating.

kildarejohn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046510#Comment_119046510

Syd right of course about Bldg Regs favouring heat pumps over OFB. But I am not familiar enough with current Regs to know - Do Regs allow for OFB's using biofuel? I see Grants are now advertising their boilers as Bio compatible - do Regs count this as renewable?

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047665#Comment_119047665

regs specifically ban Oil Burners from burning biofuel:

Biofuels ARE considered renewable fuel sources once the appliance used to burn them can only burn biofuels and not other fuel sources

even considering biofuels as a valid alternative, you will still have to increase your specification to meet the Energy Performance Coefficient require under Part L 2021. Most economically by means of installing PV cells

Sleeper12

I honestly think anyone would be mad not to get a heat pump in a new build. Assuming the installation & airtightness is up to standard then there isn't really another option for low cost heating.

Under floor heating frees up all that wall space used for rads. A properly sized heat pump will cut you oil heating bill in half. In the longer term there will most likely be extra taxes on oil and gas as part of the carrot and stick approach. As for cooling during the summer, many heat pumps can act as an AC unit during hot weather.

You have a blank canvas now before you build. Think long & hard before you make the decision

kildarejohn

Where does Sleeper get his info that Heat pump will cut oil bill in half? Facts are here Fuel Cost Comparisons.xlsx (seai.ie). Per SEAI, as of 01/04/22, kerosene (90% eff) cost 11.95 c/kWh and ATWHP (band DD, SPF 3) cost 8.45 c/kWh. That was before the 23% price increase on electricity from 01/05/22. If you add 23% to the elec price that makes it 10.39 c/kWh, which is only 13% less than the cost of oil.