ᐅ Old gas heating system broken – need a new one, but what kind?
Created on: 11 Feb 2020 07:34
N
Nissandriver
Good morning,
we bought a house that was built in 1936 and renovated in 2013.
Last year we viewed it and decided to buy it. Considering that the heating system dates back to 1997, we thought we would need to replace it “soon.”
House: approximately 145m² (1,560 sq ft) of living space, insulated roof, thick exterior walls. Double-glazed windows, chimney in the living room.
The chimney sweep wanted to shut it down two weeks ago because there was a strong smell of gas in the basement. Since we keep the windows open downstairs and have two small children, he decided against it. On his recommendation, we should get a new heating system because repairing the current one would be a waste of money.
We have now had four different heating companies inspect the house. The discussion came up (because I wanted to explore alternatives):
Since we currently have a 27kW (36 hp) instantaneous water heater in the basement for hot water, the question is whether that should be removed and the new heating system used to heat the water as well.
We are planning to install a 10 kWp photovoltaic system on the roof anyway.
I know this is a personal decision, but I would like to become a bit more independent from fossil fuels.
I hope you can help me a little!
Best regards
we bought a house that was built in 1936 and renovated in 2013.
Last year we viewed it and decided to buy it. Considering that the heating system dates back to 1997, we thought we would need to replace it “soon.”
House: approximately 145m² (1,560 sq ft) of living space, insulated roof, thick exterior walls. Double-glazed windows, chimney in the living room.
The chimney sweep wanted to shut it down two weeks ago because there was a strong smell of gas in the basement. Since we keep the windows open downstairs and have two small children, he decided against it. On his recommendation, we should get a new heating system because repairing the current one would be a waste of money.
We have now had four different heating companies inspect the house. The discussion came up (because I wanted to explore alternatives):
- Gas condensing boiler – a gas connection is available, it would be cheaper but is not subsidized (due to CO2 taxes, depending on gas prices).
- Pellet heating – mixed opinions – one expert said it wouldn’t work in the basement due to high humidity (another specialist said that’s nonsense) – higher initial costs – pellet prices are similar to gas prices and it is subsidized up to 35%.
- Log wood stove – high initial cost, needs to be refueled by hand regularly – no clear information on subsidies.
- Air-to-water heat pump – subsidized, the heating specialist took measurements of every single room including ceiling height to calculate the heat demand for the whole house and size the heat pump accordingly. He said he has good experience with it – but electricity prices will rise… it would also need a higher seasonal performance factor to be worthwhile.
Since we currently have a 27kW (36 hp) instantaneous water heater in the basement for hot water, the question is whether that should be removed and the new heating system used to heat the water as well.
We are planning to install a 10 kWp photovoltaic system on the roof anyway.
I know this is a personal decision, but I would like to become a bit more independent from fossil fuels.
I hope you can help me a little!
Best regards
T
T_im_Norden11 Feb 2020 10:51Are you sure you didn't shift a decimal point on the meter?
Nissandriver schrieb:
The chimney sweep wanted to shut it down about two weeks ago because there was a strong gas smell in the basement. Since we keep the windows open downstairs and have two small children, he decided not to. Nissandriver schrieb:
I calculated that we are currently using about 110 m³ (3,885 cubic feet) of gas per day. Mycraft schrieb:
You need to address this immediately, your system is just venting the gas up the chimney. In other words, this is already life-threatening. You have a gas smell in the house and extremely high gas "consumption." You still enter the house voluntarily?
Holy crap. Get the children out of there.
N
Nissandriver11 Feb 2020 11:27T_im_Norden schrieb:
Are you sure you didn’t misplace a decimal point on the meter reading? Right... Sorry, I took the reading after 9 days back then and it was at 100m³ (100 cubic meters)..
01/09 meter reading = 18496.800m³ (652,969 cubic feet)
02/05 meter reading = 18802.183m³ (664,498 cubic feet)
Consumption: 305.383m³ (10,782 cubic feet) in 23 days → 13.28m³ (469 cubic feet) per day
guckuck2 schrieb:
You have a gas smell in the house and an extreme gas "consumption." You still enter the house voluntarily?
Holy crap. Get the kids out of there. In the basement, luckily not in the house. I also installed CO detectors, and there wasn’t any before...
H
hampshire11 Feb 2020 11:31Now you just need a gas detector. The CO detector is useful but does not measure flammable gases.
I’m not really a fan of gas boilers, but completely replacing the whole system quickly seems financially risky. Replace the gas boiler with a simple new unit.
I’m not really a fan of gas boilers, but completely replacing the whole system quickly seems financially risky. Replace the gas boiler with a simple new unit.
T
T_im_Norden11 Feb 2020 11:44Okay, the values correspond more to the expected consumption.
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