Having Gas C. H. installed advice

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
5,718
Location
Derbyshire
Hi, wondered if any of you lot could give a rough idea on cost ideas so i have something in mind.

I am living in my 3rd house now. All the other 2 homes I have lived in have had Gas Central Heating installed.

Now this house is a 3 bedroomed Semi, approx 10 yrs old BUT with Electric storage Heaters that eat electric like you wouldn't believe. Hot water is from a immersion tank.

So I am considering have Gas central heating installed.

I know it would mean a right mess at the install stages what with storage heaters coming out. radiators going in, pipework, floors being ripped up. As you know new houses dont have floor boards, they have these huge chip board things.


So, just curious how much it would be roughly.

I think I will need 7 radiators, combi-boiler will i think be best as live alone.

Im thinking arounf the £2k - £2.5 mark ?

thanks

I pay roughly £60 per month for electric when heating is on and gas is around. I KID you not £0.70 per quarter. Yeah, only have a Gas Cooker top.


I have British Gas coming round next Tuesday at 9-10am for a discussion / quote etc. I Choose them as I know for a fact they not what they are doing rather than go through the yellow pages and maybe get some dodgy cowboy. I dont really want to take that chance.
 
I used to have storage heaters in one of my old houses - only 4, and they would cost me about £60 per month (Economy 7 too).

I refurbed a house last Jan, and had a combi boiler and 5 rads with trv fitted -cost £1500.
 
My folks just got our house done a few months back and we got 7 new radiators, combi boiler plus new flue and pipework etc. Think it cost about £3-3.5k including all the VAT. We didn't go with British Gas as they ended up the most expensive of the quotes at £600-700 over the company we ended up using.

My folks house had chipboard flooring as well and all they did was cut access channels in the flooring for the pipework, securing this after with screws, and didn't lift any of the boards due to the cut channels. It is rather dusty so move your computer/any sensistive to dust to a nice safe spot and cover it.

Think my folks still have the quote and info we were left by the company we used, so i can look it out and post more details here if it will be of any use to you for a rough idea of what you will get.

SCM
 
Another vote for not using British Gas as you will pay very much over the odds for the job; decision is yours though.
 
I think you looking at a lot of money probably in excess of 3.5k if you want a good job doing without having visable pipes everywhere, a lot of modern houses have concrete floors downstairs so hiding pipes in the is difficult and expensive. Hiding pipework upstairs is easier but messy as you will have to pull up bits of floor in every room and drill holes in joists etc. This does your decor no good at all as the carpets are up and the filth under you floor will be impressive to say the least.

It'll be nice when it's done but prepare youself for some pain. I've been doing up my house for the last 12 months and after the minor building work and re-wire the central heating was easily the most messy, expensive time consuming job.

Good luck!
 
I'd leave it, if you save as much as £20 a month it'll take over 10 years to pay you back.

If I was you I'd be speaking to an estate agent rather than a british gas - will a gch conversion increase the re-sale value of the house? Thats the only way your going to realise any of the costs of this realistically.
 
You will strugle to get it done for 2 - 2.5.
More like 4k. Do you want copper or plastic ?
British gas will be very expensive.
 
I'm with Telescopi on this as you may as well just stick with the storage heaters. You will only save about £20 a month on electric and it will cost more than £20 a month to heat your house on gas.

Also the storage heaters never need an annual service and they will never break down.
 
I had british gas round last week to service our combi boiler... It's 9 years old now and has served well..

He said to me that next time I get a new boiler to get a Conditioing Combi-Boiler.. It will cut my gas bill quite considerably as it reuses wasted heat.. bit like a turbo I guess .. worth looking into.. They are also half the size.
 
I installed Combi Boiler , 6 Radiators, and roomstat etc for 1900 this week.

If you get a small firm u will probably get it done around the same price. For a good boiler and rads etc your looking at around 1300 (with pipe and fittings too ofc) then its just the labour on top.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
I had british gas round last week to service our combi boiler... It's 9 years old now and has served well..

He said to me that next time I get a new boiler to get a Conditioing Combi-Boiler.. It will cut my gas bill quite considerably as it reuses wasted heat.. bit like a turbo I guess .. worth looking into.. They are also half the size.
Click to expand...

He meant a Condensating boiler. :D
 
Usel said:
I'm with Telescopi on this as you may as well just stick with the storage heaters. You will only save about £20 a month on electric and it will cost more than £20 a month to heat your house on gas.

Also the storage heaters never need an annual service and they will never break down.
Click to expand...


One thing to bare in mind with storage heaters though, is that they tend to either be on or off, you can't really (as I understand it) affect how much heat they store/release.
With a half decent gas CH system you can easily turn it off completely, or turn it on all day if need be.

I know my sisters house which has storage heaters tends to be either absolutely boiling, or pretty chilly depending on the time of day/year, whilst our house (gas CH) tends to be comfortable most of the time.
Mind you that could be down to controlls/settings rather than the method of heating.
 
Had combi boiler and 8 rads for £1600. BG wanted £4300 to do same job. :eek:

Just used yellow pages.
 
I'll say it again to make sure you take notice! Do not use British Gas.
They will charge you extra for your 'peace of mind' when in actual fact you can get just as good workmanship and guarantees from someone in the yellow pages, just £100s cheaper.
 
I had 6 radiators, combi boiler fitted, all pipes had to be dropped from the cieling, £3500, british gas quoted £5000.

Depends how much pipework etc you need them to do.

also I removed all the electric storage heaters, myself, they had to remove the water tanks tho.
 
Werewolf said:
One thing to bare in mind with storage heaters though, is that they tend to either be on or off, you can't really (as I understand it) affect how much heat they store/release.
With a half decent gas CH system you can easily turn it off completely, or turn it on all day if need be.
Click to expand...

My storage heaters heat up overnight (i choose how strong they should charge) then i can set how much heat they pump out (6 different settings). However i think there useless, and as the main one has an electric heater i use that instead. Much better. Most non ancient storage heaters should always afford you the option to choose how much they charge and how much they release. Ie if i choose to charge at 6 (highest) all night if i only set it to release 3 it won't use all the heat. Likewise if i set the charge low yet release high eventually it'll stop heating.
 
AS_Platinum said:
OT, but how much does the average joe plumber charge for a service on a boiler?
Click to expand...

Average joes including me and workmates... 25-40. British gas around 70 - 90 i believe
 
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