Do most houses in Ireland have no GAS, only electricity?

ireland2023

I have looked at a few houses and they all have no GAS, only electricity, is this common?

Does it matter if the house has GAS?

Thank you for sharing

theteal

New houses? It will be common. Are gas boilers not due to be banned in new builds?

looksee

Some places (cities and towns) have natural gas but it is not nearly as common as, for example, in the UK. What do you mean by 'does it matter?' if a house has gas? If you really want gas heating you can get tank gas installed as an alternative to oil heating, and if you want to cook by gas cylinders are very common, including large ones that would last a good while - I use a gas hob and the large tank 47kg cost around €150 and one would last me at least a year.

tvjunki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283512/do-most-houses-in-ireland-have-no-gas-only-electricity

If they are not in the city then it is usually because it costs too much to install as the link to the mains would be too costly. You will find some small estates have electric only as the builder did not want to pay for the installation. I know of an estate in a town the builder set the houses up as starter homes so did not put too much into the houses. He put storage heating in and night saver meters in. Can be costly if the storage heaters are old and the house is not well insulated.

You can install oil heating or gas central heating but there will be a large tank in the back of the garden.

It is nice to have gas as you then have a choice on how to heat. If your gas boiler goes you can still have plug in heaters and immersion for the water. You can use one more than the other if gas is cheaper than electric.

Personally I prefer gas to cook and heat but you may not have a choice depending on where you buy.

Also some houses you are not allowed gas due to the design of the house.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283512/do-most-houses-in-ireland-have-no-gas-only-electricity

I prefer Gas.

A lot of houses have Gas heating and cooking.

Gas is cheaper than electricity.

You need gas to cook properly

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217616#Comment_120217616

Oh no it's not. Gas is horrendously expensive. I never worry about the electricity bill, I'm terrified for the gas bill that's going to drop any day now.

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217635#Comment_120217635

No you don't. While chefs prefer gas, that is because they can quickly turn it on / off.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217616#Comment_120217616

Prices depend. Having gas and electricity means paying for both installations up front. The possibility of very cheap night time electricity is much higher than the possibility of very cheap gas.

Gas use has been implicated in asthma cases.

Graces7

Ilived many years on the Cornish coast in an all-electric house. When there were winter gales and the power went often for weeks.. So since then diversity for me. Basic electrity for lights, applainces etc but bottled gas for cooking and a solid fuel stove with an immersion heater. I would never go back to all-electric.

RichardAnd

My house was built in the early 90s with neither gas nor oil. All of the heaters are electric, but the house does have a real fire-place. I don't mind the electric heaters, but as mentioned above, if the power goes, everything stops working. Given the lunatics in charge here, I will be happy to have the fireplace in the years to come.

JohnnyChimpo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217635#Comment_120217635

Induction ranges are superior in pretty much every way.

It's been remarked that if gas cooking was invented now it would never pass regulations for domestic installation - too much of a fire risk and creates way too much of an impact to domestic air quality.

And gas boilers will be phased out in the next few years...probably...if the Government can figure out how to properly incentivise retrofitting our decrepit housing stock up to B2 for everyone.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120219234#Comment_120219234

And that is one of the reasons cooking with gas is better. `Cooking with gas, once the metal of the pan is hot you are cooking, electric takes for ever to heat up and go cold, trying to judge say a sauce when you are waiting for heat can be very frustrating, you'd have it finished on gas.

The main reason for a mix of heat sources though is for security. I remember the power cuts of the 70s and later and since then have always had a solid fuel option for heating - and cooking at a push - gas for cooking, if the lights go off I can manage with candles. Only real issue at the moment is if the power goes off the well goes off, I am still trying to come up with a solution for that, we could easily go into another power supply crisis.

Does a domestic gas heating system rely on an electricity supply I wonder, I suppose it would. At least I can still light the gas hob with a match if the power goes off.

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120219738#Comment_120219738

Induction FTW!

Much quicker to heat up than gas (mine is quicker than the kettle tbh). All you miss is the ability to char something. . . oh and the air pollution .

But anyway, yeah no harm in having a diverse array of energy sources. I immediately think of my brothers new fangled super A rated house, it's all electric. . . and power cuts do happen. Meh I suppose being super insulated, they won't get too cold

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217635#Comment_120217635

100%

Those horrible electric hobs are a waste of time and electricity I think.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120219829#Comment_120219829

For serious cooking, one needs a gas hob. Try getting a good sear on a steak over an electric stove! That said, for normies, an electric hob is functional. I'm no foodie, and all that I do is boil water or fry an egg, and the electric stove does fine.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120219829#Comment_120219829

"100%"

"I think"

Methinks you haven't a rashers.

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283512/do-most-houses-in-ireland-have-no-gas-only-electricity

Most houses have no gas, only 33% used it in 2016

witchgirl26

Most new builds will just be electricity, no gas or oil, with heat pumps.

In terms of diversifying your fuel by having both gas & electricity in the house to protect against electricity blackouts - you do know that gas boilers need electricity to operate & heat the house so that won't make a blind bit of difference in a power cut!

Having lived in houses with both gas & electricity & just electricity, I think I prefer the latter.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120220076#Comment_120220076

You're still able to cook during a blackout with a gas hob, though.

OP, it very much depends on what part of the country you're in as it all depends on proximity to the gas pipeline.

I will admit to still being puzzled about what's prompting you to move to a country (and pay cash outright for a house) that you clearly know pretty much nothing about.

looksee

Knowing whether a country mostly has a gas grid, especially when you live in a country that mostly has domestic gas, is hardly knowing 'pretty much nothing about' it. I imagine there are plenty of Irish people who do not live in gas-available areas that wouldn't have much of a clue about which towns have it.

Deebles McBeebles

OP specifically asked about GAS, not gas.

My house has both electricity and Gear Acquisition Syndrome, FYI.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120219234#Comment_120219234

With something slightly beyond a normal consumer gas hob you can get temperatures that are not possible on a domestic electric hob also - an induction hob is often 7kW 30A across all four hobs, my (domestic, but not standard) gas hob has a single burner that can do 5kW on it own. Even with the loss to the air of gas versus induction; you can do much superior stir fry, searing or wok cooking on that burner.

Very much an edge case, and also not something that will be allowed new in a few years.

JohnnyChimpo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120221737#Comment_120221737

I guarantee you my induction range will get hot enough to absolutely immolate any food if you pushed it to the max - it's in no way lacking output

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120223437#Comment_120223437

I once put what I thought was a pan of water on full power to boil on my induction hob, but it was in fact empty. I walked off, but after hearing strange noises coming from the kitchen I went back in to find the base of my expensive pan had physically separated itself from the rest of the pan and the rest was buckled beyond recognition.

JohnnyChimpo

lol, owned

John_Rambo

Those induction plates are amazing and super hot, I've used them a few times.

Still prefer gas for cooking, particularly wok frying. Electricity for the oven though.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120220076#Comment_120220076

Diversify your electricity sources. Don't rely on just the grid. Invest in solar panels and batteries, and you'll be far happier than those sitting around a fireplace for light and heat.

loyatemu

I'd imagine oil is the most common heating system in Ireland. I live on a street that has mains gas, yet most of the houses are using oil boilers (because the gas was installed after the houses were built). Most of this town is the same, any estates built in the 70s or 80s are mostly oil heating.

Really the govt should have made more of an effort at the time to get people to switch to gas; as well as emitting more CO2, oil creates a lot of smog and local pollution (you can smell it in the air). I still think it would be a quicker method of reducing emissions than trying to get people onto heat pumps which require a total retrofit to work in most older houses, whereas switching to a gas boiler is a straight swap.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120221737#Comment_120221737

Not really a like for like, your 5kw of gas is heating the hob, the air, the pan, everything.

The induction stove is heating only the metal in the pot or pan.

My induction hob can smoke the oil in the pan within 15 seconds.

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224728#Comment_120224728

It depends where you are. Oil heating is pretty much unheard of here and everyone has gas. CSO puts both oil and gas at 37% each with electric heating at 12%. New builds are almost always fully electric now though so those numbers will shift over time.

Also, though we have gas heating, we have an induction hob which is far superior for cooking than any gas cooker I've used in the past. Not to mention the fact it's better for air quality in the house, safer and much easier to clean.

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224720#Comment_120224720

You can get powerful professional induction hobs just for woks with a hollow in them to match the curvature of the wok. Not cheap, mind you ...

https://www.nisbets.ie/lincat-silverlink-600-wok-induction-hob/egj640

L1011

I can hear the noise (PWM I suspect) of the circuitry inside an induction hob which is absolute torture if batch cooking for a few hours. Apparently you don't hear it as much / at all the older you are but I'm not particularly young anymore!

Only really affects lower settings, the individual hob circuits aren't as loud when on full, but then the cooling fan is on.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217445#Comment_120217445

I know a lad who works in Gas Networks Ireland and he told me that they already can't do new connections for central heating.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224794#Comment_120224794

Brilliant for outdoor work I'd say. I cook mussels outdoors on a gas hob. I'm terrified I'll poison the family & friends when it's windy.

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224807#Comment_120224807

There's a lot of variability between different makes of hobs. Mine is quite quiet, apart from when the fan kicks in, and when in Power mode for boiling, but I've come across some that really whistle loudly even for me who is also no spring chicken.

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224842#Comment_120224842

Oh yeah, the end is definitely coming I just wasn't sure if there were any stated dates in Ireland. I think here in the UK it's proposed that no new builds will have gas boilers beyond 2025 - not sure if enforced tbh. I think most are ASHP at this stage anyway

blarb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224842#Comment_120224842

We just got a house connected to mains gas for central heating for the first time in January. Have they stopped since then?

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224721#Comment_120224721

For most people in Ireland, a mains electricity outage also means no solar panel generation and probably no battery discharge either. Or you can do those things (without setting up a backup circuit in the house) and fry an ESB linesman somewhere.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120224842#Comment_120224842

Yep working in the industry and most of the gas boilers sold now are repair/replacement as opposed to new connections. It's not fully there yet but builders are trying to appeal to people being conscious of using fossil fuels so are putting solar panels on houses, electric car chargers & heat pumps as opposed to gas/oil.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120229538#Comment_120229538

You can still opt to do that if you are building your own house or even if you want to get a current house connected. It's €250 to connect to the mains as long as you are within 15 metres (I think) of the main gas line. After that it's an extra amount per metre. That just covers the connection & the outside box. You'd then have to retrofit the gas boiler & all the internals for a house so a fair bit of work.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120230085#Comment_120230085

Gee, wish there was some product that could solve this problem

High pitched noises are caused by thin metal pots. If you’ve a decent induction hob the only noise from the unit itself is relays or the fan.

If it’s a thin, larger pot it can resonate like a speaker and make high pitched noises.

You won’t hear anything from a proper density of stainless or cast iron.

As for gas or oil being an alternative to electricity in a power outage, try getting a gas or oil boiler to work and heat radiators without electricity …

Modern (post 1960s) gas ovens usually require a source of electricity too. You might be able to light a simple gas hob or maybe a gas fire if you have one but that’s about it.

If you’ve regular power outages in a rural area somewhere due to storms, solid fuel stove is probably the only simple solution or get a back up generator. Tbh they really aren’t that much of an issue in Ireland unless you’re practically living off grid. The power network is very stable and reliable here compared to what I’ve experienced living in North America. We used to experience lot of brown outs (low voltage faults) over there.

If you’re living in an urban area in Ireland, power outages are as rare as hens’ teeth and are usually due to something very exceptional. I’ve experienced maybe 4 brief power outages in my entire lifetime.

looksee

 I’ve experienced maybe 4 brief power outages in my entire lifetime.

I've experienced at least 4 outages of several hours in the past 6 months! I do suspect that there is a dairy farm or similar in the area somewhere that is drawing a lot of power on a dodgy system that is mostly responsible, but the last outage was down to a fairly minor storm.

Victor

Windy weather is the major cause of power cuts in rural areas. Construction work is the major cause of power cuts in urban areas.

Mad_maxx

Apart from Ireland being a very rural country compared to the UK (where almost every house is heated by gas )

we have the phenomenon of “ one off housing “ plastered across the countryside so gas isn’t really practical in those circumstances