Got An Oil Boiler?

[Bigbad]

I’ve got a man at my house at the moment doing a survey for an EPC. Thought it would only take short time, but he’s been here an hour already!
I don’t think he likes me because I told him I thought it was a load of old tree hugger nonsense!
Anyhow, he tells me that within a couple of years, installing a new oil boiler will not be allowed, and something called a heat pump will have to be used instead, and these run off electricity.

What do you think of this?

[bednobs]

its a good idea

[The Builder]

Yep, that's right. I'm currently building a new house, and I'm not able to install an oil boiler since the CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels are far too high to pass the SAP calculations (Standard Assessment Procedure.)

A SAP pass is an essential part of the Building Regs. It takes into account... insulation; CO2 emissions; glazing etc etc..

I'm using massive amounts of insulation; triple glazed Norwegian windows; LED lighting; and an "Air Source Heat Pump."

The pump is rather like an air conditioning unit in reverse. It' placed outside, and takes heat from the air. It'll work down to minus 26 degrees centigrade. It does consume electricity for the compressor and the rest of the gubbins, but for every 1kw of power consumed, it will provide 4kw of heat.

The alternative is a "Ground Source Heat Pump." Same thing, but it involves laying loads of pipework underground to extract heat from the ground. Unless you drill vertically, it takes a lot of garden to lay it all out.

[Bigbad]

The reason I like oil, The Builder, is because you pay when you order it. No waiting for a bill that you can’t be sure how much it will be. I know the price of oil has gone down over the last couple of years, but I assumed heating a house using only electricity would be very expensive.
Are these heat pumps any greener, though? There are still a lot of coal fired power stations in the UK.

[Old_Geezer]

You can keep record of your continuing meter readings to know the size of the imminent bill. With oil the cost imprecision is replaced by imprecision of the reorder date . Six of one, half dozen of the other.

Wondered for quite a while why ground heat isn't more common.

[Bigbad]

I know it’s easy enough to keep track, Old_Geezer, I just like the ‘up front’ payment with oil.
Probably because I hate owing money.
I won’t pay for my electricity by Direct Debit, because they decide how much to pay.
I pay an amount that I choose each month using online banking, then when the bill comes in, I pay any balance, and if I’m in credit, I make a lower payment the next month, and the savings are mine to do what I want with.
It may be a weird way of doing things, but it’s my way of budgeting, and I like it like that.

[EDDIE51]

The real Green heating option is to run a heat pump off solar power possibly with a wind generator back up and combine it with heat storage radiators. Not perfect I know but the most efficient method using current technology .