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Bear in mind I have a GCH system that's a bit long in the tooth, and needs some new rads and pump and two valves.
At the moment we have it on for about 8 hours a day, my kids both have their rads turned off, and actually we only have three rads going.
I was considering this;
A wood burner to heat the downstairs (it's pretty well open plan)
And electric panel heaters upstairs for some flexibility
We use a dishwasher and shower, so have hardly any hot water requirements, so I thought an old fashioned immersion might be all that's required or solar water heating.
Downside is the burner install as it's a rather unusual 60's house.
I'd love to be free of gas.
The problem is that there is a good chance you're reducing the value of your property not maintaining the central heating system...
Upgrading to a newer system with a condensing boiler and thermo rad valves would probably be worth the cost in the long run.
The value of your house only matters if you sell it.
We've got two wood burners and oil central heating. We're both at home all day.
We usually use oil during the day (7:00 - 3:00) and start one log burner in the evening when it gets cold enough. Which can be anywhere from 4:00 to 8:00.
We can run without oil if we use both log burners all day, which will heat the whole house (drafty 1830s farmhouse on the side of a mountain).
What your suggesting will work fine. Another option for hot water is electric power shower type things to save the bother of an immersion.
By the time youve paid for a flue and burner and electric panel you might as well have a new gas combi installed. Adding an electric panel or going to immersion when you have a gas system is arguably going in the wrong direction.
As a separate exercise, assuming you have the space and the roof aspect you could add a solar thermal panel and tank.
http://www.solarproject.co.uk/page%203%20Q&A.html
also, depending on where you live, bear in mind the Clean Air Act
http://www.isonomia.co.uk/?p=1558
Not sure why you'd want to be free of gas, its the cheapest way of heating you house.
New rads and a pump (and perhaps improving pipework routing) can make a huge difference for little cost on a CH system. I did it in 2 houses and the difference was very impressive.
We have oil central heating and two stoves, one at either end of our house which is not very open plan.
Ch goes on in the morning for about 1 hour and then at about 4:30 putting temp up to 18 degs. The rest of the heat is produced by one or both stoves (both tonight as daughters got mates over for a sleepover so we'll be in one room and they'll be in the other). We use the stoves every night from Oct to March/April.
This works for us even when we run out of oil but I wouldn't like to rely on the stoves for all our heat as they do involve a certain amount of work. You'd also need a very good wood supply.
Why would you use an immersion heater at 15p per kwhr compared to gas at around 5p per kwhr?
You can connect solar to some combis, but personally I'd not have a combi given the choice.
Not sure how much you would buy logs for but stoner having nothing better to do with his days will tell you how much he pays per kw for his logs as a guide. Don't suspect it to be much cheaper than natural gas unless you can source them yourself.
As he said by the time you've bought stove flue etc you will be a long time recouping your investment. If ever when you factor in increased electricity use (which at the moment is not exactly generated sustainably or efficiently) then you may be worse off.
Spend you money on insulation and better controls and learn how to use them.
Not sure why you'd want to be free of gas, its the cheapest way of heating you house.
You can anticipate gas (and electricity) going up by between 50% and 100% in the next 5 to 10 yrs.
The first thing you need to do, before insulation, is stop the house leaking, only then insulate it to buggery! Money spent on that is better than new CH system IMHO.