I know some of my threads can be from one end of a scale, to the other and very random, but this is the best place I find for realistic answers.
During my home ownership over the last 35 years, I have always lived in either a village like we are now, or small Towns.
We've been looking to move further away from Leicester for a couple of years now but never found a house that ticked the main boxes.
The last week or so, we've found a property that might be just perfect, and had a viewing with another one tonight.
This house is located in a very small village with only a population of 197 people, so it suits pretty much all our requirements, bar a couple of compromises.
However.... The village does not have gas connected due to it's very rural location. Some homes have oil, but the one we want is run with modern Storage heaters.
From what I have ascertained, the house was built in 1989, recently double glazed and insulated really well. It's a detached 4 bed, 2 bathroom 3 reception room property to give an idea of size. The rear is South facing, backing onto open countryside, literally. So very little shelter off the fields.
My question is to anyone that owns a house that isn't gas centrally heated and that uses the type of heating that's installed into the house. My wife is worried about the obvious costs, compared to Gas central heating, and the actual heat the storage heaters kick out. I will add that the property does have a multi-fuel burner in the living room, which I presume will kick out some heat.
I have done a lot of research on this type of heating because it's all new to us, but no amount of research can compare with real life. Obviously i'm aware it's down to the amount the heating is used in the winter, but if someone has been in a similar situation, and regretted buying a house without a gas main, then i'd prefer to know about it.
Hi there are quite a few solutions on the market and a lot depends on how well your house is thermally insulated (Not sure if you are aware but all new build houses built after 2025 will be 100% electric/renewable - no gas!) sounds drastic but if well designed it actually isn't because electric heating is 100% efficient the key is not to lose the heat, there are a several models of High Heat Retention Storage Heaters on the market by Gabarron, Dimplex aka Heatstore and we have installed these in several residences recently resulting in EPC (Energy Performance Certificates) improving from an E to a C rating. There are lots of creative hybrid solutions incorporating wood burning stoves heat recovery systems through to Ground Source and air source heat pumps - I would advise a discussion with a reliable mechanical engineer or designer who should be able to advise, model and even simulate how a solution would work - there are a lot of solutions and several amazing solutions such as graphene in the pipe line (there is a house in salford uni which runs on graphene which is a heat emitter made from a 1 molecule thick carbon element and is proper star trek technology) A key consideration is how you use it - super insulated houses still require air changes for healthy living so some form of heat recovery via extraction and return tempered fresh air is essential. I love my woodburner but you must make sure you have a fresh air vent which can be draughty to comply with Hetas requirements
Look on the Carbon Trust website and other neutral websites offering free advice - I can advise on a few consultants we have worked with if it helps but you may be able to figure a simple common sense approach after a bit of research
Thanks in advance if anyone can help with this.
