New heating system needed - what are our options?

twentysomething

Hi all, our hot water has packed in and the plumber says we need a new heating system as we've gun barell pipes, one pipe radiators and the system is prob about 40 years old, it's oil currently. We had been talking about moving to gas, as it was flagged in our survey when we bought the house, but had to replace the boiler quickly 3 years ago as it packed in over Christmas, we needed a quick fix and there was a long wait to be connected to gas and we didn't have the funds.

Hubby is reluctant to waste the cost of the boiler so recently by switching to a different method of heating, but I'm thinking a bit more long term, as I'd love to switch to a different method and get rid of the boiler shed and oil tank from the back yard.

Can anyone talk me through some options? Staying with oil/gas/combi, etc?

One of the neighbours recently switched to a combi system and said it was good, but may not suit our family as they're an older couple.

We're a family of 4 with small kids in a 4 bed detached house, with approx 11 radiators.

Are the seai grants any good to us with having to replace the whole system?

I know nothing about this sort of thing.

manatoo

Is your house within a piped gas area? If not then your only option for seai grant toward a heating system is heat pump which is electric and to install that you're looking at bringing your house up to an A3 or better BER rating which will cost serious money.

If it is in a piped gas area you can get easily enough convert from the existing oil boiler to a high efficiency gas boiler and get rid of the tank and the outhouse that way. You'd need to get heating zones added in that job and there's a grant of 700 against that but nothing for new gas boilers. Looking at around 4 grand net of the grant assuming minimal new pipework and no new rads needed.

A combi boiler like your neighbour seems to be referring to is just a gas boiler that heats water as you use it rather than by heating a hot water cylinder.

twentysomething

Thanks a mill! House is within the gas area, so that's not an issue. We've def ruled out the heat pump option as we know that would take more money than we have! We'll def need new rads, but we already have a climote (but it's not zoned) so I dunno if that helps or not.

That's useful about the combi. I like the sound of it as it can be out up out of sight in the attic, which is a positive for me.

walterking

Modern boilers simply sit attached to the back of the house with an oil feed.

If the current boiler is 20m or so away, you are wasting a huge amount of heat.

We switched from a "boiler house" type unit which was circa 25m from the house to a condenser unit at the house and the efficiency is amazing. At least 40% saving on oil usage.

Cost about €3k, but saved that very quickly

Sleeper12

Gun barrel pipes scare the living daylights out of younger plumbers because they have never installed it. More times than not the piping is fine to leave alone unless it's leaking.

More Music

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119443201#Comment_119443201

Is the new condenser boiler attached directly to the house wall? The water pipes aren't external at all?

What boiler did you go for?

twentysomething

Thanks for the replies folks. We've had a couple of guys in now to quote for us. The first guy reckons combi is the way to go and made some good suggestions about moving positions of rads, etc. To maximize heat/space. Has done a similar job in 2 other houses in our estate. 2nd guy fitted the oil boiler for us 3 years ago and reckons we would be mad to change with such a new boiler. He was talking about leaving things in their current positions. The current boiler is in a small shed outside the house. Am awaiting the proper quote from the first guy, but it's looking like it would be about 5k cheaper to keep the oil. OH is leaning towards the cheaper option, but I'm thinking long-term, the combi is a better option as we could get rid of the oil tank and boiler house in the garden, which would give us back a load of garden space, plus we'd also be rid of the hotpress and we would have to fit a pulldown attic stairs, which we've been meaning to do anyway. Either way, it's not a small job and we're gonna have to redecorate on top of it all, as well... Would we be mad to take the more expensive option now?