Is time up on gas fuelled homes?

3 years ago

We have a 1927 semi-detached bungalow that we’re extending and modernising. We want to future proof our “forever home”, so whilst doing a complete refurb, should we ditch the gas central heating and hob and go all electric?

Heat source pumps seem very expensive and probably not something we’d consider. Maybe solar panels… though I’ve heard so many stories where it’s all gone wrong… Maybe go all electric and find the best energy tariff?

Are there any energy experts out there who could give me sound and practical advice please?

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Comments (7)

Jonathan
3 years ago
I’m not an expert but I did do some research for a house I later decided not to buy.

I concluded that solar power gave only a modest return and was unattractive.

A ground source heat pump seems brilliant but only practical if you have a big enough plot and are digging massive holes in it anyway.

An Air source heat pump captured my imagination most. The acquisition cost is high but there are some grants available. These are paid over several years so it takes time to recoup some of the initial cost. If your current boiler is expensive to run then there are cost savings on your fuel bills too. The highest fuel savings and grant payments are made to those with oil boilers. If you have gas now it could be a couple of decades before you recoup your costs.

If you read the blogs of the people who have installed these ASHP systems they have done so because their motivation is to burn no fossil fuels. They also have spent significantly on insulation. They do make savings on their heating bills but it appears that your domestic hot water doesn’t get as hot and in cold weather the outside pump can be noisy. It also seems like they have had to get bigger radiators in some cases.

I didn’t buy the house but concluded if I was in the same situation again I would choose an efficient gas boiler now and great insulation. In my opinion there are two ways to go from there- either choose hot air heating as they do in lots of other countries, the benefit being faster heat up, more efficient heat distribution in rooms, no radiators hogging wall space and the ability to swap later to a system that includes cooling- I liked this option as I feel confident that £15k ASHPs will be much cheaper in a decade as they seem already to be getting more readily available and more powerful.

Alternatively you could choose GCH to radiators now (to get an ASHP Grant now you have to use radiators or wet underfloor heating) this leaves the option of later grants- it is quite possible there might also later be a government backed loan that helps with the acquisition cost of expensive but fuel efficient boilers. It would make sense to swap old radiators for new efficient ones and increase insulation.

Whether or now you decide to have electric heating now some people do worry about power cuts and want an additional heat source for emergencies- such as a gas fire.

Separately induction hobs are easy to control and easier to keep clean than gas hobs. As far as I can see the only people who are really in the market for gas hobs want a more powerful burner than you get on an induction (induction likely to be 3.4kw where you can get some gas burners of 5kw which is useful for Asian cooking).
Sonia
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
i get my electric energy from a green renewable company, Bulb. Great customer service. I wonder if that is an option? It only costs a few pounds more each month. We still have gas for our central heating and hot water though. I found the company via Martin Lewis’s website www.MoneySavingExpert.com
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Christine May Interior Design
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks Jonathan and Sonia.

I hadn’t heard of Air Source Heat Pumps, but I shall definitely look into them. My reason for worrying about retaining a gas boiler is because I read somewhere that the Government will be phasing out the use of domestic gas over the next 10 years. (The same piece said that petrol and hybrid cars will be phased out over the same period - that’s another discussion!) I’m not convinced that it will be possible to get rid of all gas boilers and cookers in that time but I don’t want to have to change everything some time down the line.

As things stand, we’d be updating all the radiators in the original house and installing wet underfloor heating in the new extension. I would certainly worry about power cuts if we were all electric.

In any case we do need to take a look at our energy supplier, I know that we don’t currently have the best deal so that does need urgent attention and www.moneysavingmarket.com would always be my first port of call.
Jonathan
3 years ago
Don’t forget that gas central heating doesn’t protect you from power cuts as your gas boiler has an electric pump.

And I agree that the aspiration to stop using fossil fuels will be much easier when the cost of the alternative is no longer five times the price of a gas boiler- when new homes builders start buying them in bulk I’m sure this will drive down the cost.
Sonia
3 years ago
I can’t see the government banning gas boilers that quickly, at least not without an affordable renewable replacement. However there is talk of banning log burners due to the pollution they emit, but we’ll see. We wanted to try an electric car, but a decent one cost three times the cost of our new little petrol Skoda Fabia! I know running costs are a bit lower, but totally unaffordable for us. Not everyone has a £75k income.
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Christine May Interior Design
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks again for your comments, you’ve given me plenty of food for thought.

Sonia, I have a petrol car for now but I was considering putting an electric car charger on our drive in readiness for the day when they are finally banned. Then I discovered that electric car batteries use lithium which is mined from the landscape - and now the sea bed too and, is as bad for the environment as petrol! Apparently hydrogen will be the next “environmentally friendly” fuel but heaven knows when there will be an affordable car available to all. It seems that we’ll all be in limbo for the foreseeable.
Jonathan
3 years ago
There are Hydrogen Toyotas available now- the issue is that there are few filling stations. But if you live near one why not?

Is time up on gas fuelled homes?

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Is time up on gas fuelled homes?

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