You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My stepson has just bought a house, with an ancient central heating system. It appears that behind the (open) gas fire in the lounge, there is a back boiler in the chimney which heats both hot water tank, upstairs as well as the radiators...
I know that many years ago, there were government grants available to update old inefficient gas central heating to modern boilers, does anything like this still exist.
a quick google suggests that now all the support is towards moving away from fossil fuels and going down the heat pump route. Is this likely to be more cost effective?
You are not too clear on what he has.We had a back boiler, which was, in effect, a boiler combined with the fire in the living room. Changed for a combo, bills dropped by around 40% once fitted.
No idea about Wales, but a like for like (gas boiler for gas boiler) replacement is still ok in England and Scotland. It will have to be in a different place, as back boilers are pretty much extinct now (there used to be one for sale, but havent seen one for years).
If however you are talking about an open fire, with the copper tank embedded in the wall, that heats the water, then they are differnet things, but, should be no problem changing to a gas wall hung boiler. I’d be looking at new pipework everywhere, I’d bet the existing pipes are filthy.
Oh, and dont dismiss oil. It’s been the cheapest form of heating for the last two years, and oil boilers seem to last forever as they are so simple. The cost of the tank will probably kill that idea though.
thanks alanl
its England, its on mains gas, a gas back boiler (not open fire, apols poor language)... in further googling, i found the following which may be useful to anyone finding themselves in a similar situation
https://www.boilergrants.info/
and
https://heatable.co.uk/
they will be looking for a low cost (investment) solution to reduce running costs and improve reliability....
Grants for heat pumps, also some mortgage companies offer cash back for heat pumps