Changing from oil boiler to something else, where to start

Exfarmer said:

Remember the ASHP only works by extracting a small volume of heat, from a very large volume of air. If it was working in a greenhouse , it would need a very large one, and then only operate in the sun. It would not do the plants in the greenhouse much good either as it would freeze them

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Y Fan Wen said:

It was the mention of the outhouse that started me wondering.

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Fubar said:

If was building a new house I don't think I would install an inefficient rayburn such as our wick burner type. Having said that, you couldn't get a more simple system and there's little to go wrong. Gravity fed oil, header tank in the attic . No pumps to fail, no pcbs to melt. Once a year service involves a vacuum cleaner and 3 feet of wick. And there's something about a rayburn/ Aga in a farmhouse. It's the hub of the kitchen. Ours heats the domestic water and the whole house feels warmer when it's going. We had a new kitchen fitted a while back and the designer insisted we should get rid of it. No way.. It's been here 60 odd years and it'll be here another 60 yet.
It's just the regulating of it I don't like. It's all or nothing. We have to turn it out in summer but then some mornings it's cold and you want it on. You need to light it at least 4 hours before you want any warmth.

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Rufus said:

Well sort of. Here's a rough description of what I have,

360m2 total floor area.
Ground floor original house 136m2
First floor original house 136m2
Ground floor extension 90m2

All ground floor 226m2 has underfloor insulation and wet underfloor heating throughout which is fantastic.
First floor is radiators

Extension 90m2 is highly insulated with double glazing and cavity wall insulation.

Original house has had all internal walls insulated with 100mm kingspan which I did 10 years back and has made a huge difference.

Only bad point is that we have a few large 2 meter square sash windows in original house which are draughty when windy in winter.

We currently use 5000 litres of oil a year on average.

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br jones said:

5000 litres,holy cow that's a lot

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Rufus said:

I've got good floor, wall and loft insulation and underfloor heating. Some of my windows may be the only thing thing with poor thermal properties

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Rufus said:

Well sort of. Here's a rough description of what I have,

360m2 total floor area.
Ground floor original house 136m2
First floor original house 136m2
Ground floor extension 90m2

All ground floor 226m2 has underfloor insulation and wet underfloor heating throughout which is fantastic.
First floor is radiators

Extension 90m2 is highly insulated with double glazing and cavity wall insulation.

Original house has had all internal walls insulated with 100mm kingspan which I did 10 years back and has made a huge difference.

Only bad point is that we have a few large 2 meter square sash windows in original house which are draughty when windy in winter.

We currently use 5000 litres of oil a year on average.

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rollestonpark said:

My parents used about 7000/8000 litres per year, 4 oven oil aga and a 50/80kw boiler on the tank.
That was with the house fairly cold most of the time and sections of the farmhouse closed off (mold on the walls, windows dripping with condensation etc.)

When I moved in (2009 ish) I decided I wasn't going to live like that, Installed a chip boiler (down the yard) and never looked back.
AGA GONE GONE, effing things they are, don't get me started. Installed a Marshall cooker with a pressure jet oil system. 1000 litres oil lasts about 4/5 years in that. Just switch it on with a wall mounted light switch when we want to cook, then click it off again when done. WAY better.

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Exfarmer said:

Chucked the AGA out! Go and wash your mouth out, this is a farming forum and they are the holy grail. Where are the MODS?

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rollestonpark said:

Oil fired aga is ridiculous in modern day life. Burning away all summer, heating the kitchen to boiling point, so open all the kitchen doors/windows to get rid of the heat.
All for about 1 hour of cooking morning and night. (Often, for us, 1 hour of cooking in evening only)
They don't even maintain their heat properly if your cooking, opening the ovens etc for a lengthy period. Like cooking for a party etc.
The fuel consumption is terrible.

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Exfarmer said:

You surely have been watching the life of Brian
must confess I hated the thing on in the summer
but the wife loved not having to clean ovens every time she does a roast dinner, and for her roast dinner, I put up with a lot

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borderterribles said:

We've just replaced our oil fired central heating ( Rayburn which is also used for cooking has been converted to electric), with an Air Source system by Vaillant. Despite my grave misgivings about it , but She Who Must Be Obeyed was dead set on having it, i have to say that I am well impressed, so far.
We are pretty high up here and it seems predominantly rainy or windy, but usually both, not to mention cold with it! For a modest bungalow, total cost was £8.5k including all new rads. Government payments @ £500 per quarter should total £8k , but I accept that may or may not carry through to full term, a new Rayburn is just shy of £10k anyway, with no payback whatsoever.

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penntor said:

Got an old Rayburn, wick burner on oil. Use it to heat the water and also part of the house, oil fired boiler for the rest of the house. Would never get rid of the Rayburn, all these other systems require electricity to run/control them. What happens when you have a power cut in the middle of winter, my old Rayburn will still be chugging along whilst your ASHP/GSHP and computer controlled wood chip boilers will be dead.

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