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Oil fired boiler v heat pump

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    Oil fired boiler v heat pump

    While checking the price of new oil fired boilers, in case my current elderly looking one konks out for good, I came across this page:

    Ecovision Systems - Buy A Heat Pump Instead of An Oil Boiler

    Does anyone here use one of these heat pumps? Are they as good as the blurb on that page claims?

    I find it hard to believe they can extract on their own enough heat from the air to heat a hot bath, or anything come to that in the dead of winter. Seems to contradict the basic laws of thermodynamics.
    Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

    #2
    What you want is a ground sourced heat pump, though that does mean digging a big hole / trench. That's because the ground temperature is pretty stable all year round once you get a few metres down. The air pumps lose efficiency rapidly once the air temperature drops. They claim up to 400% efficiency (obviously that's bollocks but it means for every KW of electricity you get the equivalent of four 1KW electric bars in heat), so that's pretty good.

    That's what I know from researching it. My Dad was going to do this for his house in France (which doesn't have gas), but decided the air pump wasn't worth it.
    Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

    Comment


      #3
      Oil fired heating has to be expensive - do you have any figures for dwelling cost per year you could share?
      How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think

      Comment


        #4
        Air based heat pumps will work just fine - even at 0 celsius that's still a lot of energy in the air.

        My mum looked at having it done, but they were really not very good. Told her the house would not be visually impacted then turned up on the day to stick pipes all over the place. Turns out the salesman was making promises without consulting the engineers. Then they argued all the parts were already made and she'd have to pay thousands even though she told them not to install it or do any work - a recently widowed pensioner. I think she ended up getting most back, but down a grand or so.

        Seemed all a bit of a kerfuffle just to change the heating over.
        Originally posted by MaryPoppins
        I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
        Originally posted by vetran
        Urine is quite nourishing

        Comment


          #5
          Oil here.

          No gas mains but could have a gas cylinder that gets topped up in the same way as oil. I'm sure some of the time oil is more expensive than gas and other times the opposite is true depending on the geopolitical situation.

          Haven't looked into solid fuel though. My recollections of solid fuel fired boilers are of them going out a lot. At the most inconvenient times. That was with Welsh anthracite too which was top quality fuel. You probably can't get that any more so I dread to think how the imported stuff from Colombia, or wherever, performs.

          I also considered converting our Rayburn (it does everything - cooking, heating and hot water) to electric. There are a few companies round here offering this conversion but I was talking to the chap who came to service our appliance a while back and he didn't think these conversions were up to the job. Not man enough, in his words, when you're heating 12 radiators as well as everything else.

          Comment


            #6
            Ah, the joys of an old-fashioned Rayburn/Aga.
            Originally posted by MaryPoppins
            I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
            Originally posted by vetran
            Urine is quite nourishing

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by d000hg View Post
              Ah, the joys of an old-fashioned Rayburn/Aga.
              I lived in a house with whichever the coal fired one is. My Landlady mostly lived in her kitchen (where it was) as that was the one room that was properly warm in winter.

              I don't quite understand the glamour that seems to be attached to them; must be really inefficient for one.
              Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

              Comment


                #8
                I certainly wouldn't describe them as glamourous. They are inefficient, a PITA to cook on and lack fine-grained control for heating.

                It's more like owning/driving a classic car, it makes little logic but they're intrinsically nice. Like an open fire, it feels cosier.
                Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                Originally posted by vetran
                Urine is quite nourishing

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by d000hg View Post
                  I certainly wouldn't describe them as glamourous. They are inefficient, a PITA to cook on and lack fine-grained control for heating.

                  It's more like owning/driving a classic car, it makes little logic but they're intrinsically nice. Like an open fire, it feels cosier.
                  No, they are not at all efficient. We need 500 litres every 2 months during the winter months to keep a 3 bed cottage (albeit a very drafty one) heated. Though it does all our cooking & hot water too. In the summer months we turn it off and do all our cooking on the bbq, an induction hob, microwave or in the crockpot. There's an immersion for the hot water.

                  They seem to be a must have for all these PITA chattering class downshifters who seem to be moving in everywhere around here. Along with the f*****g yurt in the garden and the herd of alpacas.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    An oil or gas range doesn't really count though in my book. They are actually controllable. Coal (I think ours was anthracite) is far better/worse - you have to keep it lit all the damn time unless you want to wait hours for it to get going, and cooking is very much a matter of trial and error.

                    Fun though.
                    Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                    I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                    Originally posted by vetran
                    Urine is quite nourishing

                    Comment

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