Replace oil heating

PeaSea

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121472571#Comment_121472571

Last time it was checked it was 85%, quite good given that it's 35, I expect being serviced regularly helped a lot.

Wearb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121473235#Comment_121473235

You are most likely talking about combustion efficiency, whis is only part of what it takes to produce a seasonal efficiency figure.

In other words you could have a boiler with 85% combustion efficiency but only 70% seasonal efficiency or a better design might produce 80% seasonal for 85% combustion efficiency.

The seasonal efficiency is used to describe the amount of energy that the boiler consumes, that is transferred to usefully heating the house and hotwater.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121472829#Comment_121472829

I know plenty of people who have and have zero issues. Trying to install a A2W pump instead into older houses just ends up with huge bills and the person trying to rip it out before they are bankrupt

Of course if you are looking long term at oil just put in a new one

salonfire

Does solar save you much on the electric bill during the summer so that people might feel more at ease using more electricity during the winter for heating?

tikka16751

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488478#Comment_121488478

You need to pay yourself back your initial investment of installing pv first before you mention saving money.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488478#Comment_121488478

You need a TCO analysis on Solar PV. A lot of people seem to jump this step and then complain when they don't get the results. The installation companies will provide a more rosy picture that you might end up getting

Plenty of good news stories around but also plenty of horror stories of people installing over priced systems and then not able to get close to the estimated savings.

For the investment you are looking at at least 4-5 years before you have the investment paid for, that is what I am looking at. Based on the panels lasting 20 years then it makes sense. To me anyway.

I still won't be burning extra electricity because I am saving during the summer months

Like anything you need to massively research and get at least 3 quotes. A company has set themselves up now to get multiple qutes from solar providers so you can go to them with your requirements and they should be able to give you a close to X price from lots of vendors. Makes it easier.

Water John

If you can get a good recommendation on a supplier at a reasonable price, I tend to go with that on jobs.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121468423#Comment_121468423

Reduced retail electricity prices due to increasing amounts of renewable energy is a myth and a lie used to sell the public on the idea. Over the last 12 years, prices have incresed 54%, while every one of those years has seen an increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity installed. Ireland has the third most expensive electricity in the EU. If someone is benefiting from reduced prices due to cheaper wind generated energy, it sure isn't the consumer.

PeaSea

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488478#Comment_121488478

I estimate (and it is an estimate cos I've only had solar since June) that it will take around 10 years to recoup the money spent.

That's based on bills being reduced from c. £800 pa to c. £400 and receiving c. £200 pa for selling back to the grid. Thats a bit pessimistic, it might be better than that in reality. Bear in mind this is in the North, so UK rates of selling. We're also using more electric heating from the battery at this time of year and hence less oil heating, so there'll be a saving there, but its hard to quantify until this time next year to see just how much oil I've used.

I had been looking at solar for the best part of 20 years, but never had the money for it, so I made the choice that I was borrowing against my future self, pay the lump sum now, recoup it over 10 years, then after that benefit from it in a big way.

tbh being able to see what we use and when (ie graphically on the app) has been huge for saving too, for example "it costs how much to put on the electric shower in Winter ? Right lets just use the water thats already been heated by the oil then" or "Right no more kettle and shower and washing machine on at the same time", that sort of thing.

TheSunIsShining

So a straight up question so - what is the best alternative to oil or gas? Isn't there a murmur that you won't be allowed replaced gas or oil with a new gas or oil at some point - so what do all of us who live in pre 2012 houses do? What, in reality, are the actual options because I'm seeing/hearing countless bad news stories from people switching to heat pumps who are in older houses.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490393#Comment_121490393

The same alternative Eamon Ryanair used to get to COP28, and unfortunately will use to get back. In other words, there isn't one.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490393#Comment_121490393

For new builds it will be 2025 but very few are putting in oil now anyway

I dont see a date for existing oil boilers but in UK it is 2035, we will be probably similar

Now will they replace oil with HVO?

Or will they allow for hybrid oil boiler with a heat pump. Who knows but at the moment for older houses a heat pump is not an option without significant increases in insulation

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490876#Comment_121490876

Is it the same for gas boilers so? Not allowed in new builds from 25 and will be banned in existing builds in the future? Isn't a boilers that can be powered by hydrogen on the horizon?

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121491051#Comment_121491051

No idea on gas, seeing as gas is part of the 2030 proposal for electricity generation and the links to UK I expected gas would be going forward a source for heat

Isn't calour using renewable gas now for homes?

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121491542#Comment_121491542

Was thinking the same myself. Gas is, as I understand it, part of future electricity planning so difficult to buy into being banned in homes! Never mind the reality that people use it to cook.....

tikka16751

When the country goes bang next year and enters a depression it will be back to the bog and cutting turf.

Water John

An amount of the gas that will be used in the future will be from renewable sources, in the form of anaerobic digestion plants with scrubbed gas being injected into the mains at various points in the country. I would expect another upgrade scheme will need to be devised so that people with older high BER properties, and not the capital, will be able to significantly upgrade the insulation and sealing. Thus the switch to heat pump becomes possible. This is the direction the country is going in, so it's better to go for the ride, whatever your motives, than raging against it.

PeaSea

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121492787#Comment_121492787

The trouble is, those of us of a certain vintage have been told throughout the previous decades that many items must be bought now because they are so good for the environment compared to the thing that we are using now. It would be positively Evil to continue using the offensive thing we have. These include diesel, lead-free petrol, oil boilers, gas boilers and wood burning stoves and probably a few others that I can't remember - all of which have been since placed in the Evil pile. The current must-haves are EVs and heat-pumps. I firmly expect both of those to be discarded at some point in the next decade as somebody finds something new and shiny to sell. Not a climate change denier btw, I just don't like the argument "we must do something, this is something therefore we must do it".