We may be getting a house soon, fingers crossed.
Currently there there are night storage heaters for heating and an electric immersion heater for hot water.
We currently have NS heaters in our rental property, which I hate and refuse to have in any house I own. I will be removing the NS heaters as one of my first jobs, should we get the house!

There is a gas supply to the front of the property, which was fitted after the property was built but it is not connected to anything in the house.

So what are my options as far as a heating and hot water system? It is a 3 bed semi, with 1 bathroom, we don't currently have any kids and only occasionally have guests. I like to shower in the evening after getting back from work and SWMBO likes to shower in the mornings. Other than the shower/bath and basin in the bathroom it is just the kitchen sink that needs hot water.
I could fit a regular combi and rads but some of you gas fitters are not really fans of combis. Ideally we don't want to spend a fortune on heating water that is only used a couple of times a day.

There is an electric fire in the living room which we would like to change for a wood burner at some some stage too.

The garden is not big enough for ground source heat pumps etc. The idea is to do up and live in the house for a couple of years, then sell it, so we are not really looking for things that take 25 years to pay for themselves.

Answers on the back of a postcard...

Thanx Headrush. I think when I have the house of my dreams I will fit a megaflow type arrangement for the HW but you are probably right, the combi is probably the most practical/economical solution for this situation.

Although a combi will give a great shower, it is a good idea to consider an electric shower, having the combi for the bath, basin and kitchen.

If your boiler fails, which it will at some point, you still have means of a wash!

Personal prefference though.  Many love the type of shower a combi provides.

Plenty for the heating, you get 11.5  Ltr/min instead of 14 Ltr/min, still plenty for everyday use.

An Ark may be a better investment  

I was thinking of putting under floor heating in the bathroom (about 3 square meters) and in the kitchen (about 10 meters square). I have a little Devi mat (electric) left over from another job, so I could use that in the bathroom.
I am going to take up the screed in the living and dinning room (about 30 square meters) to fit insulation and wood flooring, so I could fit under floor heating here rather than rads? How does under floor heating compare to rads for boiler usage?
I don't really like rads because they tend to be boiling hot if you are within 2 feet of them but cold elsewhere, under-floor heating is a bit more even.

We installed UFH in our self build. It works very well but I reckon it's best suited to households where there is someone at home most days. If both husband and wife are at work I reckon rads would be a better choice.

I reckon mixing rads and UFH is probably ok for two cases..

* If you just want a warm floor in one room like a bathroom or
* if you want UFH downstairs and rads upstairs

I'm not entirely convinced having a few rooms with UFH and a few with rads scattered around the house is a good idea but others may dissagree. I think I'd want different timers and stats on those rooms to allow the different response times to be dialed in eg so you can arrange for the UFH to come on an hour before the rads and go off an hour or more before the rads. ..or perhaps to allow the UFH to be on 24/7 with set back but the rads remain off?

Quote:


Watering can in garden, Summer/autumn.....

extra sweaters in winter/spring!!!

UFH - wooden floor - wood's a good insulator.

If you must go down the pesky combi route then you're welcome to borrow my pressure tester.