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Anybody got any tips or advice on the following?

We live in a 4 bedroomed 1911 built terraced house with no central heating, and basically keep it warm in winter with gas fires, and small portable electric heaters in the kids and our bedrooms when needed. We've always had ambitions to retofit the place to something more sustainable, and the gasfires are basically not very aesthetic either.

However its not something we've thought too seriously about in the past as we've never been in a position to afford to make any major changes. But now there is a possibility that some cash might come our way and it would be great to spend it on actually puting in some central heating for the place, but before makng such an investment would like to check out and explore the most carbon-neutral/low resource using/eco-friendly yet practical possibilities whilst also being more pleasing to look at than our present gas fires...

What I'd ideally like i think is some sort of system based on an efficient wood burner, with a condensing gas boiler as a back up for when the wood supplies run out. I was also wondering if it would be possible to integrate some kind of solar energy system into the set up, so that basically there are 3 sources of energy for the sytem that work as multiple back-ups for each other, with gas only needing to kick in when theres no wood or the sun goes in?

This isn't really my forte and the stuff I'v e so far found seems to be a bit vague and general, so any useful websites, books, tips, etc would be gratefully recieved!

solar hot water heating panels on roof, large thermal store in airing cupboard, containing 3 coils - one for solar, one for log burner with back boiler, and one for backup gas boiler - a few radiators.........job done!
Solar will give you all your domestic hot water in the warmer weather - in winter, you fire up a woodburner..........

Thanks Martin, more simple advice in a couple of lines than all the books Ive so far been trying to plough through, at least it gives me a basic conceptual grasp! Any further advice on sourcing, recomended models, etc? I note the solarwind link in your sig line, is this your company?

yes, that's us!
I'd go for vacuum tube systems - if you'd like a contact in your neck of the woods who won't rob you blind, pm me!
The best thing to do is to arrange for one company to do all or most of the job, or do it in stages - decide how many heat sources you may end up with, and make sure that when they put in the thermal store that there's a coil for each appliance. There is no problem with an "unused" coil - we put in a system last year with three coils, one for solar, one for the boiler, and a third for the backboiler in a woodstove to be fitted later in the year!
The big advantage of trying to get it done all in one is that you'll end up with a "balanced" system, with all the parts chosen to work together and you won't do things like upgrading the tank three times!
I'm biased, but I reckon grants for this sort of thing are a farce - often the crummiest sytems are installed by firms ~"on the list", at greatly inflated prices - shop around, it's cheaper than wasting time and effort on national grants! ~( local authority grants are a different kettle of fish)

Yes I've just been reading your page on grants! (I had of course by then worked out that it was indeed you), will most certainly PM you soon although its all only at the ideas and research stage at the moment...

ps, obviously, it's potty to pour energy into a leaky bucket, so insulate to the gills too (but please think of the guys installing the system - leave the loft space until AFTER they've finished! - scratchy fibreglass is a b****r to work close to!)

Not that I am offering advice but this is pretty much what we are planning for our new house (a 2 bed cottage, with no central heating) Do you really need the gas boiler? We are planning on a wood burner - which acording to loads of people here are very efficient if you have open plan living space, and we will have solar water heating for the summer.

I was wondering if there are companies that would do the whole lot for you, as we thought we would need to get various trades in to do the seperate bits.

Ann Pan

I think for us the 'on grid' gas boiler would be necessary at least as a backup, we live in a very urban situation and although there are usually a few skips around plus usually pallets and other scarp wood lying around, supplies are sporadic and we don't have huge amounts of space for wood storage. Also transport would be an issue, we don't have an infernal combustion powered vehicle so are reliant on what can be carried on a bike, although the bike trailer I'm trying to get it together to build will hopefully increase our carrying capacity...

BTW, sorry for ducking out of the conversation yesteday, my internet connection died on me straight after I made my last post!

Annpan wrote:
I was wondering if there are companies that would do the whole lot for you, as we thought we would need to get various trades in to do the seperate bits.

Ann Pan

We'd really like to do it all in one hit as well, although lack of cash has always been the main reason why we've never thought seriously about doing a job like this, the other big reason is hating the thought of all the disruption of building work, plumbing and so on...

So any hints on fining reliable, recommended, non-rip off contractors in the South east region would be great!

quercusrobur wrote: So any hints on fining reliable, recommended, non-rip off contractors in the South east region would be great!

Er, that would be FINDING of course... ':lol:'

Not sure how extreme your climate is, but here, where it is reasonably mild, with one or two snow flurries in winter, we plan on having a Rayburn-type woodburning range, hooked up to radiators and a wet-back. Probably add a gas hob for the occaisional hot day, and solar hot water later. Probably in a warmer climate this wouldn't work, as you wouldn't want the woodburner going so much.

some people raised an eyebrow about companies who can "do the lot".......
for small companies like ours, we bring together several skilled tradesmen to do the jobs, and to comply with regulations - so we've got a fully qualified sparks for the electrics, and a Corgi plumber - the plumber will probably be competent in central heating, and plumbing-in back boilers etc., about the only "extra" skill needed would be a builder to install the woodburner and necessary flue improvements - they're all linked by the plumbing, so that's pretty much the whole job covered!
In my experience, the larger solar companies are nowhere near as flexible, and employ "fitters" with few skills outside solar - stick to the small companies!
For anyone who'd like to find a small independent company in their area which fits systems like the ones we supply, just pm me!

Magpie wrote:, we plan on having a Rayburn-type woodburning range, hooked up to radiators and a wet-back. .

Whats a wet-back??

A wet-back is a water boiler for your domestic hot water, heated by the oven... not sure what you call it there?

Magpie wrote:A wet-back is a water boiler for your domestic hot water, heated by the oven... not sure what you call it there?

I think we probably call it a water boiler for your domestic hot water, heated by the oven...