Electric Storage heating or gas

KK4life

Hi, I am looking into buying a small house in an apartment complex. this is a 2 storey, 2 bed house in a block of 4 houses. At the moment it has electric storage heating as the gas supply runs along the road outside the complex. the house is about 25 metres from the road so could be significant costs involved in bringiing gas supply from the road.

Does anyone know approx how much it would cost to put gas central heating into the house? Or would you advise to stick to the storage heaters as house is small. Also may have difficulty making space for the boiler. Any advice for me? Thanks

sky6

Do a Costing as to it's viability. Check the heating requirements of the property. The running cost of the Storage heating and compare to he cost of the Gas heating. Remember you will at least have to buy a Gas Boiler and may have to pay for a connection to he mains. Although the gas co. were doing installations for free a while ago. It may well be that you would be better spending the money on improving the insulation in the house in the short term. As this is the best way to save money and is grant assisted.

KK4life

thanks sky, so justr to clarify, you are saying to maybe just improve insulation and stick with current heating system in short term is it? i will look into the free installation also. Oh as it is in a complex, bord gais may not run a line in unless 20% of houses / apartments want gas

sky6

Yes If it were me I would check the insulation and whatever you have improve.
for instance even if it a new property the insulation is most likely 100 mm fiberglass between the rafter. Check first that it is well filled and then lay another layer of 200 mm rolled out in the opposite direction across the rafters.
Heating any house is expensive and going to get more expensive. Doesn't it make sense to keep the heat in the house instead of keep paying for more.
Incidently you may be entitled to a grant for upgrading your insulation.

As to the Gas obviously you will need a gas supply so that limits your options.
But with the cost of a new supply plus a new boiler and installation your looking at 2.5 to 3 th.
You must have a special meter for the Storage heating. Watch the readings and see how much it is costing to run per hour. then decide if it's worth changing anything in the Short term

KK4life

thanks again sky, thats very helful. It certainly worth putting in the extra insulation. I had contacted bord gais to give me price to run line to house from road. i met one their men yesterday and he gave me the price per metre to get gas in from road. to be honest it was a waste of time. they could have told me over the phone because i ended up calculating the total price myself. Depending on which side of road the current gas supply is on, it will cost between €1600 and €2100 to run supply as far as external wall of house on the corner.

It is a bit steep when ya add cost of boiler etc. I'd be better off trying to minimise heat loss from house with added insulation. This is a house that i only intend living in for a few years, then move out of Dublin and perhaps sell or rent, depending on which is more viable at the time. So it would be expensive to put in gas for what might only be a relatively short term living arrangemenrt.

sky6

Yes I agree with you 2000 for an gas connection is to dear. I'm sure they will come down on that price if you argued or discussed it with one of your local TDs. With all these new Ber energy certs required before you sell a property now the insulation is the way to go. It is technically possible to build a passive house now with no heating bills.
Equally a Heat recovery unit will heat a whole 2 th sq ft house for about 400 E a year. Things are improving fast.
Insulation 200 mm rolls B & Q are doing 3 for 2 rolls at the moment.
There is probably 7 to 10 years life left in the Storage heaters. I would think it's time enough then to look at upgrading. By then who knows what other changes in Boilers etc will be available.
I have no idea what it costs to run Storage heating but I believe it is not to bad compared to Gas or oil. Oil prices is getting out of hand now and it's likely to get worse. At least with Gas they have discovered new Technology for extracting Gas from Stone or Shale. We also have plenty of Gas off the west coast.
If I can be of any further help just pm me if you need to.

KK4life

Sky, thanks a million. you've been a great help. I'm from down the country and my intention is to move back there so i won't be moving my vote up here. But i might be able to sweet talk a TD.

But anyway, it looks like more insulation is the way to go. As you say with BER certs now it can only improve that rating. Thanks a million for all your help. I really appreciate it. I'd say I could be back onto ya looking for more advice at some stage. It is very much appreciated.