Heating Question

[Boysground]

Not really sure if this is the right place but I thought it as good as any.

I live in a AHA tenancy listed 6 bed farmhouse. Over 600 years old some walls 2 feet thick with some only lath and plaster. Most of the roof is thatch an area of slate. I do have insulation. I have an aga, open fires and night storage heaters.

My landlord who I have a good relationship with is suggesting that he may look at replacing the heating. Mrs Bg has arthritis and any improvement would be welcome.

As I know nothing about different systems (wood chip, ground source etc) I thought I’d ask the TFF knowledge base what they would suggest I look into.

Any ideas?
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[Courier]

First things first - See if the landlord will double the insulation.
Are rhe rooms of sufficient size as to be able to lose 100mm internally on all the outside walls ?

 

[Adeptandy]

Ground source and air source work best with underfloor heating.
Wood chip works well with radiators and would be like having a gas or oil boiler, just a bigger package and really needs its own building.

 

[Boysground]

Some floors are flags and others not a lot so I think under floor is a no go. I could loose some 100mm to the rooms. Have recently damp proofed the kitchen by doing that.

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[Boysground]

Are oil and gas likely to be banned for heating systems?

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[Boysground]

I have buildings nearby that could house a boiler

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[Adeptandy]

I can’t see they will be banned, just when upgrades are required after a certain date they won’t be available to buy

 

[le bon paysan]

Straw boiler

 

[Boysground]

Don’t have enough straw for the moos.

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[Alchad]

It’s a lot of work, but when we moved into this place 15 years ago (it has 18” plus solid stone walls) I fixed 2” battens to all the outside walls about 15” apart and fitted foam insulation between the battens then plasterboard to the battens. It needed replastering anyway, so sort of killed 2 birds…We have an oil fired boiler and oil fired Aga. If we were doing it now I think I’d go ground source heating.

Alchad

 

[Poncherello1976]

In November 2020 we put in a woodchip boiler to replace an oil boiler in our 5 bedroom farmhouse, this also heats some other properties. We had a nice warm winter just gone and things seem to be working well. It feeds itself automatically I just have to fill up the hopper every so often with the telehandler. Expensive to do, but with the RHI it just about stacks up. We use wood from the farm, and buy in a bit over the winter. We have also put up some insulated plaster board in some rooms to help with the heating, and may do more as it seems to work well and as you say we can lose 100mm in our rooms. If you would like a trip out to have a look at the setup we put in you are more than welcome. We are in South Oxon and so maybe not too far from you.
GSHP and ASHP work well in well insulated buildings, not old farmhouses.

 

[How much]

If its a listed building your options may be limited depending on the listing classification as stuff you would need for say air or ground source heating which is reasonably air tight rooms with limited air loss to make up for cooler temp they supply water at on that basis good double glazing would be pretty much a prerequisite and that may not be possible due to the building be listed ?
wood chip or biomass will take allot more looking after than an oil or gas boiler that would probable be the safest option.
personally I would go with oil or gas/lpg installed with big diameter piping to the radiators with convectors on the rads on the basis that either the gas boiler could possibly be converted to hydrogen some time in the future or oil one changed if that tech ever materializes or in 10 to 15 years time when the boiler is getting on ground/air source could be retrofitted when the tech is more efficient and reliable than it is now

 

[Horn&corn]

There’s a few used pellet and chip boilers available with old rhi. If you are a practical person this could work but would want to be priced well. Avoid log boiler unless you want to be crazy busy on a cold day.

 

[Hampton]

Not really sure if this is the right place but I thought it as good as any.

I live in a AHA tenancy listed 6 bed farmhouse. Over 600 years old some walls 2 feet thick with some only lath and plaster. Most of the roof is thatch an area of slate. I do have insulation. I have an aga, open fires and night storage heaters.

My landlord who I have a good relationship with is suggesting that he may look at replacing the heating. Mrs Bg has arthritis and any improvement would be welcome.

As I know nothing about different systems (wood chip, ground source etc) I thought I’d ask the TFF knowledge base what they would suggest I look into.

Any ideas?
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Have you thought about double glazing?
we have insulated some rooms but haven’t bothered with others as since we changed the windows it hasn’t been necessary

 

[Hampton]

If its a listed building your options may be limited depending on the listing classification as stuff you would need for say air or ground source heating which is reasonably air tight rooms with limited air loss to make up for cooler temp they supply water at on that basis good double glazing would be pretty much a prerequisite and that may not be possible due to the building be listed ?
wood chip or biomass will take allot more looking after than an oil or gas boiler that would probable be the safest option.
personally I would go with oil or gas/lpg installed with big diameter piping to the radiators with convectors on the rads on the basis that either the gas boiler could possibly be converted to hydrogen some time in the future or oil one changed if that tech ever materializes or in 10 to 15 years time when the boiler is getting on ground/air source could be retrofitted when the tech is more efficient and reliable than it is now

That’s the way I have gone. New oil boiler. Miles more efficient than old one

 

[Boysground]

Have you thought about double glazing?
we have insulated some rooms but haven’t bothered with others as since we changed the windows it hasn’t been necessary

A few issues with the listing, thinking about the semi permanent inner windows. Just put them in for the winter.

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[Adeptandy]

A few issues with the listing, thinking about the semi permanent inner windows. Just put them in for the winter.

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You can get new wooden windows made and fit sealed double glazed units in them, customer managed to get his through the relevant clipboard warriors in a listed building

 

[HatsOff]

With 2ft thick walls there's isn't a huge need to insulate them, if they are dry. Internal wall insulation is tricky as you can cause issues with interstitial condensation. The best solution to that is to use vapour permeable insulation (eg cork or wood fibre), but on a 2ft wall it isn't going to add much. You could think about some targeted intervention with insulated plasterboard - upstairs away from bathrooms/kitchen - in a bedroom for example. .

More importantly, for any heating system you need to improve airtightness and windows more than insulation. Draughty doors and windows need to be refurbished, loft hatches fixed possibly adding doors between lesser used areas, room sealed log burners - definitely no open fires.

For a very large and old house I don't think you can beat a wood chip boiler. Especially if you can source your own wood. Heat pumps are fantastic but rely more on insulation and the radiators need to be bigger.

 

[farmerm]

abandon the house and build a new one, it will probably be cheaper in the long run...

 

[Hampton]

abandon the house and build a new one, it will probably be cheaper in the long run...

Then rebuild it in 50 years time when it starts to fall down