Oil vs electric vs ?

[Snowgum]

Hi all,
Thanks for advice in advance. I'm new to this forum and have done a bit of searching around this question before posting.
We've just inherited a small 1960's bungalow on the north Cornish coast (lucky us I know!). Anyway, it is in a 1960's time warp and we are going to renovate it and convert the attic. In the end it will have four (albeit small) bedrooms, one bathroom and one shower room. We'll also have a small wood burning stove in the living room. The Walls are cavity injected and we'll be fitting double glazing to improve insulation.
Currently the heating and hot water are provided by an ancient oil fired boiler with rads in each room, and a large ugly oil tank out the back. We need to replace the system, but the property is not on gas.
Now to the question. With rising oil prices, are we at a time when an electric combi boiler might make sense for the property, something like a thermaflow boiler? What I like is no oil tank, the promise of mains pressure hot water, and the overall simplicity, plus I think we could link it to a couple of solar panels on the roof. or would we be better fitting a new oil fired system, with the idea that for the foreseeable future this will be cheaper than electric? No room for ground source heat pump and I'm not keen on the air source ones.
In all likelihood, because it's going to be a second home we won't have to heat it fully all winter, and hope that the wood burner should take a lot of the edge off while we're there.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Matthew

 

[dontknowitall]

I'll have a stab.

Oil has been cheaper than electricity for many, many years. I also read recently that compared to other fuels and despite the record recent prices that oil is still cheaper than other fuels when compared to the weekly salary and is less expensive now than most of the time during the 60's and 70's. (I think we had a good time in the late 80's/90's for oil prices which is why we're feeling it and petrol/diesel is expensive now.)

Insulation is the most boring of all the factors in keeping low fuel bills. The trouble is there's no bling with this stuff and it's messy and inconvenient installing it.

Moving forwards now, there are biofuels coming out and while they're not entirely environmentally friendly as they still use raw crude oil, they are a step in the right direction. A conversion (oil tank and oil pump on boiler) will cost around £2,000 at present.

Solar heating is great if you can afford it. Bear in mind that you'll still need to heat the house in the winter when you're not there to stop frozen pipes and that solar heating might not do this 100% of the time.

A wood burner will save you much money in fuel bills but it's advantageous to use well seasoned wood as this burns hotter and more cleanly.

If you opt for solar heating you'll need a dual coil hot water cylinder and if it's unvented this won't be a cheap option. Plumbing is more complicated but not impossible. The heat won't be brilliant in the winter so you'll want to augment this. If the house is unoccupied with no one to light the fire then you'll need to stick with oil.

Tanks are not pretty but there are more aesthetic designs coming out these days and modern oil boilers use much less fuel than old non condensing ones.

If you call a solar heating company out they will push like mad for a sale and tell you oil is out dated and expensive. If you have a couple of independent plumbers in your area who do both oil (OFTEC) and solar heating they'll give you a much more balanced view point. There is much red tape in renewable heating and part of the massive expense is to cover this and the advertising. The oil market is much more established and competition keeps prices down to a more reasonable level.

An interesting question you pose and I hope this isn't the only response you receive. Welcome, by the way!!

 

[unguided1]

I would say that oil prices are increasing, direct electric heating is too expensive, knowing cornish granite a ground source heat pump is possibly out of the question so I would definately recommend looking at air source heatpumps, but just be very carefull when selcting one make sure that it is an MCS accredited unit

 

[Gray0689]

I would say that oil prices are increasing, direct electric heating is too expensive, knowing cornish granite a ground source heat pump is possibly out of the question so I would definately recommend looking at air source heatpumps, but just be very carefull when selcting one make sure that it is an MCS accredited unit

When you say a mcs accredited heat pump
Just for info are all the heat pumps on this list good??
If not maybe you can recommend the ones that are good as I don't think many of us knows much about them

 

[unguided1]

When you say a mcs accredited heat pump
Just for info are all the heat pumps on this list good??
If not maybe you can recommend the ones that are good as I don't think many of us knows much about them

No not all the heatpumps on the list are brilliant and some are extremley overpriced but they have met the requirements of the MCS even if they have fiddled theyre figures to do it.

Units that I have installed for customers that I really rate are Daikins, Nibes and ESP units
Units that I have installed for customers that I dont rate Mitsubishi, heatkings grants and trianco's

At the end of the day I will install what the customer wants but I always make it clear what my recommendations are. I never recommend that a heat pump is used for domestic hot water, unless using an exhaust air heatpump

 

[Snowgum]

Thank you all for your thoughts Ok, I'm now going to reveal the depth of my ignorance. If I installed an air source heat pump how much of my heating and hot water would that take care of, especially if I don't have underfloor heating? Would I still need a conventional boiler, and if so would oil still be better than the electric? Then I'd have two quite unsightly things outside (namely ashp and tank) We are quite keen on the idea of the mains pressure hot water for the shower.
Matthew

 

[SimonG]

You need a thermal store then rather than unvented cylinder. Thermal store will allow a number of heatsources to be tied in without adding the uncontrolled heatsource (wood burner) to the unvented cylinder.

 

[unguided1]

A lot obviously depends on your budget firstly and I am assuming that you will be using this as a holiday home, if you definatley do not want anything unsightly out side your house and cheap to buy then the electric boiler is your first choice, but this will definatley be the most expansive to run in the long term.
Wood burner, pellet boiler or a wood gasification boiler coupled with a thermal store is a viable option but you will need a good supply of quality wood for this and again the fuel if you do not have a ready source can be expensive
If you are not really planning to use the house in winter then solar thermal is viable for domestic hot water in the summer, this can be used in conjuction with DHW and your heating if using a thermal store.
Yes an air source heat pump if installed properly can easily heat a house with out any other back up
Before looking at unvented cylinders or combi type boilers get your water supply checked for litres per minute and pressure