Slim Posted January 24, 2007 Author Share Posted January 24, 2007 Cor, was away yesterday, come back today and there's lots of replies, cheers folks! The first thing I would do with a 1930's house is get it properly insulated. I'm assuming it was well built (as most were then), so you've got a very basis for your work. Check out grants - they were available years ago for insulation, installation of central heating and general rewiring. A well insulated house will (obviously) require less heating, you may find that a decent wood burner suffices. My 2p anyway, I a fan of little heating, decent insulation and proper winter wear (Looney's of Ramsey). Oh - congrats on the purchase. Cheers! Yes, I think you're right on the insulation. My wifes a bit of a greenie and she's bangin on about ground heat pipes, wind turbines and solar panels, and yet the house is only partially double glazed, has ill fitting doors and no wall or loft insulation. So that's definatly first port of call. I'm also not a fan of heating, and prefer a hot water bottle to a radiator in the bedroom. The problem is, when modernising a house you have to think of the resale value. A modernised house without heating isn't an attractive buy. As for the grants, most of them are income linked, and have a very low threashold. There's a £250 one for insulation I think which is better than nothing I guess. Why not try a combined solar and oil system.The solar panels pre heat the water before it goes to the boilder, sort of like putting warm water in a kettle. I'd love to, but they just cost too much. B&Q have the panels, but they're 2 grand alone, without the pump and considerable plumbing. Then you need electricity to run the pump, so the savings aren't as obvious. Lovely as green for sure. If I was starting from scratch like you Slim, I'd get a conventional oil boiler with a megaflow cylinder. Megaflow's have come down in price quite a bit nowadays and in my opinion this type of system is far superior to the combi. I'd only get a combi if I was severely lacking in space Can you explain what the advantage is of a megaflow system? It sounds like a sanitary towel! It's a tough call. I've been considering all sorts of solutions for ages and it's hard to work it all out. I'd love a wood pellet burner, but there's no-one to supply wood pellets over here yet. We've installed a wood burner a couple of months ago. It's excellent (Stovax 7KW). Installed by Blacks (and they were 100%). About £1300 quid. A chipping wood burner would be interesting, because I could buy a chipper.. I'm looking at a stovax wood burner, but the guy in blacks kind of turned me off it. He reconed a wood burner was only suitable for burning dry hardwood because of the size of the flu, that the cheap pine you can get from the forestry is no good. Did you get that from blacks? I was keen to get a wood burner with a boiler that could heat the hot water, but he didn't rate that as efficient at all, and told me to go with gas! Tempus: fab post, thanks loads, very informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 the house is only partially double glazed, has ill fitting doors and no wall or loft insulation. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Just another thought. If you're ripping up concrete floors I should recommend underfloor heating pipes instead of radiators. Its much more efficient providing there's a good thickness of kingspan underneath. You don't have to look at, trip up over, paint etc ugly radiators and its much cheaper to install and easier to zone. However, I wouldn't tear up good concrete floors just to install it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted January 24, 2007 Author Share Posted January 24, 2007 Underfloor isn't something I'd considered, but will check ta. It's not concrete anywhere, it's all floorboards including the ground floor. House is slightly raised with a half basement too, so underfloor access is a doddle. Hmm, having looked that up, underfloor seems to be mainly electric in rolls designed to go under tiles. Is there 'wet' systems for floorboards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Fugit Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 another snippet, I was looking at solar things some time ago and came across this site which has loads of links etc, worth a browse if you've got a blowlamp ! http://www.anotherurl.com/therm/Self_Build_Solar/default.htm see also the other links such as J-squared which has links to other self-build enthusiasts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overdose Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Cor, was away yesterday, come back today and there's lots of replies, cheers folks! Can you explain what the advantage is of a megaflow system? It sounds like a sanitary towel! A Megaflo is basically a pressurised hot water storage cylinder. We fitted one in (with an Oil boiler) when we renovated the cottage a few years back. Our heating is on something like 6 hours a day in total and the hot water is constanly on, as it's been said before it's cheaper to heat up warm water than stone cold water. Also I'm pretty sure me and the better half get through about 2 1/2 tanks of oil a year, which works out about £750.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Watch out if you doouble glaze and insulate an older house, they need a bit of ventilation to prevent any damp/condensation problems. Some sort of heat exchanger system would be useful - they give ventilation without the cold draughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave the Cardboard Box Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Wood pellets - I think Jamie Cubbon (JCK) is about to start producing them for bio-mass burners - Solar etc - there is an exhibition on alternative energy at the Villa, on I think 20th 21st 22nd February. The exhibition last year was very informative had some reasonable solar panels + suitable boilers etc for what seemed reasonable sums, plus home wind turbines And Dolge now give grants towards these devices, if your home is adequately insulated first. On the plus side, the only time when heating is essential these days, is usually about now, last week in January, first week in February. Apart from those weeks, frost and extreme cold has virtually disappeared. Has anyone noticed how the clothes we now wear vary little between summer and winter? Anyone had any frogspawn yet? In 2000 my records show it appeared in the middle of March - last year it was the first week in February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
púca Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 I'm looking at a stovax wood burner, but the guy in blacks kind of turned me off it. He reconed a wood burner was only suitable for burning dry hardwood because of the size of the flu, that the cheap pine you can get from the forestry is no good. Did you get that from blacks? I was keen to get a wood burner with a boiler that could heat the hot water, but he didn't rate that as efficient at all, and told me to go with gas! Tempus: fab post, thanks loads, very informative. I asked about the back burner and he put me off the idea too. My sister has one of these at home (Ireland) and she says you can't rely on this as your main source of hot water. It's really just a way of heating the water - similar to our friends solar panel suggestion. A wood chip burner is basically a pellet burner that'll take woodchips - you can get them to take all sorts. There's loads of them out there and a lot of people are installing them in Ireland. The rest of Europe is already miles ahead with whole cul-de-sacs running off one wood pellet burner. Your Mrs would love this as the quantity CO2 emmitted equals the CO2 absorbed by the tree during its growth. They'll be here one day. Anyway, my Mrs is sick of me pondering and has insisted onme getting it sorted. I have a guy coming around but I think I'm going to go for a new combi and a megaflo. I've seen this one.. http://www.heatraesadia.com/HS/HeatraeS.ns...pdf?OpenElement ...which will take a solar panel. If it's not too dear I would like to do that, but if the panal ramps the price up too much it'd be nice to have the option to add the panel later. I'll let you know how I get on cost wise. Great post Tempus Fugit.. I worked it out to be 12 years to payback on oil working on a £5K install cost. Good to see someone else has hit around the same area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
púca Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Wood pellets - I think Jamie Cubbon (JCK) is about to start producing them for bio-mass burners - Jesus! My wife will kill me if I change my mind again!!! ....know where I can get anymore info on this Dave? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Anyway, my Mrs is sick of me pondering and has insisted onme getting it sorted. I have a guy coming around but I think I'm going to go for a new combi and a megaflo You either have a combi boiler OR a megaflow system, megaflow being a trade name for an unvented hot water cylinder, so you dont have both unless you plan to have a 2nd hot tap. As someone said earler only go for a combi if space is an issue, although the worcester heatslave combi (oil) is IMO the best oil combi on the market, they do have ther faults. Go for a worcester dainsmoor conventional oil boiler linked to a megaflow. Megaflow have now started to make sola compatable cylinders ,so fit one of those even if your not going to fit a panel at the moment its there for the future. Underfloor heating can be expencive to install properly although retro floor panels simlar to laminate flooring but with water pipes inbedded are now availible. Remember one thing, Most plumbers only fit boilers they dont repair or service them so may not know boilers that give the most unreliabilty. It only takes a few faults to eat into your money that youve saved on running costs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Where's the space eaten up with a non-combi? With the water tank? If you have a combi do you take the tank out? The house already has a water cylinder driven off an old back boiler, so I dont think space is a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 With a combi boiler you don't need a tank as the water is heated on demand and goes straight to the tap. The upside is this is very efficient as you don't heat more water than you need to, but on the downside it can be a pain if someone else opens a hot tap when you're in the shower as they are only designed to run one outlet at a time. Also if your boiler does break down you don't have the backup of an immersion heater. Combi boiler works well for us as there's only two of us and we shower rather than bath so use very little hot water - much less than a full tank a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_Naylor Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 I'm looking at a stovax wood burner, but the guy in blacks kind of turned me off it. He reconed a wood burner was only suitable for burning dry hardwood because of the size of the flu, that the cheap pine you can get from the forestry is no good. Did you get that from blacks? I was keen to get a wood burner with a boiler that could heat the hot water, but he didn't rate that as efficient at all, and told me to go with gas! Totally mystifying, I don't know how these guy's actually sell anything, is it just a hobby for them? A good Multi fuel Stove will perform well on just about any dry, properly seasoned(12-18months) timber there's also the option of anthracite for more controllability, overnight burning etc if you wish, They are easily capable of heating an average house via space heating from the fire and radiators to the rest of the house, its not everyone's cuppa though, so a linked system combining an oil/gas combi and solid fuel would be best for when you sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Totally mystifying, I don't know how these guy's actually sell anything, is it just a hobby for them? They do sell gas fireplaces too, so I suppose they dont give a shit what you go for. A good Multi fuel Stove will perform well on just about any dry, properly seasoned(12-18months) timber there's also the option of anthracite for more controllability, overnight burning etc if you wish, They are easily capable of heating an average house via space heating from the fire and radiators to the rest of the house, its not everyone's cuppa though, so a linked system combining an oil/gas combi and solid fuel would be best for when you sell. That is kind of what he said. The cheap wood you get from the forestry is lopped tops, so wont be seasoned. He says to buy seasoned logs is 25 quid a bag, and that'll cost you a lot more than gas to heat your water. I guess if you have room you can season your own. That's what my wifes old man does, he has a rotation system and stuff for his logs, he takes it quite seriously. The depressing part is, I really dont need heating that much, the fire and some hot water plus a power shower is fine for me. I won't be able to resell the house, or it'll affect the value. It's almost tempting to fit rads now and just not hook them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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