Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Gertie]

I'm trying to decide what kind of heating to have. We currently have a parkray multi fuel stove in which we burn coal and we can also burn wood. This heats radiators and water.

 

We are considering our options such as ground or air source heat pump, a more up to date, efficient stove. We have probably ruled out electric heating and gas (due to increase in prices and cost to install from mains which is very expensive).

 

Does anyone have any recommendations or know a good place to get a heating survey or something. In the southwest?

 

I've looked at Energy Saving Trust, and a few of the government grant schemes which offer these types of heating. But I don't know how good, costly or reliable they are in reality!

 

Thanks very much

[chickencam]

We have a small woodburner in our lounge and gas central heating which is only used when it is really cold.

[Saronne]

Same here. Woodburner and GCH. I've recently had cavity wall insulation put in and have also topped up my loft insulation. It really does feel warmer!

[Eggasperated]

We have no gas here so have oil-fired central heating, plus 2 wood burners which I try and use instead of the heating when I can. We also have a south facing conservatory so even in the winter, if it's sunny, that gets warm enough to distribute heat back into the house (although the bathroom which faces north is always fffffreezing).

For our water we have the boiler, an immersion heater and solar panels, so all angles covered there .

[Olly]

Gas central heating, which I have on for an hour morning and evening, and I try not to put it on at other times unless it's really cold. I had a woodburning stove fitted four years ago and I light that most evenings and at weekends if I'm not going out.

 

If I was starting from scratch I would look at a heat pump and also at underfloor heating. I'm in a 1930s semi with no cavity walls, double glazing mostly installed some years ago, and and an old but functioning gas boiler. I would like to replace the boiler with something more efficient and I'd also like to have solar panels but the installation costs are high compared to the payback.

[Gertie]

Hi. Thanks for the replies. 

 

Unfortunately my decision needs to be made a lot sooner than I was expecting. Our heating and water heating system is completely broken. The electricians turned off the pump and the whole system overheated and broke. We had water leaking through the ceilings.

 

So now I'm boiling kettles and washing in a bowl

 

Our most likely heating is just a replacement of the system we have. We can keep the multi fuel burner but will need new radiators and immersion heater. 

 

I wish I had spent more time investigating earlier in the year, but was hoping that we would get though the winter. Lots of people seem to think that using wood is environmentally friendly renewable resource, so at least we will be able to do that! I'd have like to looked more into the air source and ground source heat pump. 

 

Anyhow, now I just hope I can get something soon, otherwise we are going to be freezing this Christmas. Brrrr!!

[Lesley]

This is the situation we found ourselves in last year - I'd been hoping to replace our LPG boiler with an air source heat pump system, ground source isn't an option here, but the boiler died unexpectedly and the cheapest option was to replace it with another LPG boiler

 

It's used for the water and underfloor heating which we now have on very low level a couple of times a day and we light the woodburner in the evenings.

The new boiler is an eco friendly one and is very economical compared to the old one.

[Old Speckled Hen]

We have a solid fuel Rayburn running three radiators,the hot water and underfloor heating to the sitting room.

It's lovely. We use anthracite and wood....a lot of it found and free.

I love it!

I always fancied a ground source pump but our land is sloped and tiered around the house so that's a no no and I seem to recall from somewhere that you need a really well insulated and sealed house for it to be a viable option....our house is an old stone/cob cottage.