horace

I like your thinking. I'm sure the contents will be easy to move on. The tank is indeed of the green plastic variety. Once empty, we might even be able to man-handle it (probably has the weight written on it somewhere).

Just a thought, but if we do go down the ashp route, we'll need to dispose of a 1200 litre tank (which still has about 300 litres of kerosene in it). It's in the back garden, and I haven't a clue how we'd get it out...

Thanks - that's very helpful. The ashp company I spoke to a few months ago are coming on Thursday to do a full heat loss survey etc, so we'll see what happens from there. They could fit the pump in about 4 weeks time.

Fair point. So, from one of the quotes... Aside from fitting the new boiler: Fitting a standard flue and flue basket. ● Fitting a new fire valve, tigerloop and associated oil pipework ● Fitting condensate pipework to drain position. ● Fitting new heating, hot and cold pipework as needed internally, ● Fitting a Worcester bosch system magnetic filter. ● Fitting 2 x HIVE phone based thermostats ● Fitting 2 x new 2 port valves ● Removal and safe disposal of old boiler Not sure if all of the above is necessary, as I assume it must already be in place, but I'm no expert. There was no examination of existing pipework to establish condition, and we've had no issues other than with the boiler itself (which lasted 17 years, so no complaints).

Shopping for a new hifi is fun. Shopping for new trainers is bearable. Shopping for a boiler is no fun at all.

OK, the Grant Vortexair hybrid looks good. You can even fit the oil boiler part first and the ashp later on. But as a hybrid boiler, it looks as if it may not qualify for the BUS grant. I'll do some more research on that.

Thanks. I thought so too. The boilers they specified both cost around £3k delivered, and fitting was going to be a 2 day job. Even allowing for other parts needed, that's a lot of money for two days work. Am I right in thinking that a quote for 5.5k ex VAt to supply and fit a boiler means 5.5k plus 20% (ie 6.6k)?

Thanks - my googling hadn't got me that far. Will definitely look into it.

Thanks. Perhaps a new oil boiler with a tank, so I can use the solar panels to contribute to the DHW needs? I do wonder what heating oil prices will look like in (say) 10 years time, and how electricity costs will compare. Anyone care to lend me their crystal ball?

Our oil combi boiler has reached the end of its life. No mains gas here, so we have narrowed down the options to another oil boiler or ASHP (open to other suggestions though). 5 bed house (177 square metres, built 2006), 3 shower rooms, 1 bathroom. We have a large multi-fuel stove in the lounge, which (if we open all internal doors) provides most of our heating needs in the winter. 19C is warm enough for us. Our eldest is a joiner, so plenty of free scrap wood for the stove). We use about 1500 litres of kerosene a year. We also have a 4kw solar pv system (south facing) with 6.5 kwh battery. Our last EPC (about 8 years old, done prior to fitting the solar panels) gave a rating of 74 (C). Recommendations were to put in a new condensing boiler and solar panels, which would raise rating to B. The above would appear to be promising on the ASHP front (subject to the usual heat loss survey etc) and the solar panels would hopefully provide energy for DHW during the warmer months. About 3 months ago, a local ashp company gave us a rough estimate of 14k to fit ashp (likely 12 or 14kw), water cylinder and 12 new radiators. On that basis, about 9k (if we can get a BUS grant). Two quotes to replace the existing boiler (with another oil combi) suggest 5.5k plus VAT, which isn't all that much less than the ASHP would cost. That surprised me. We can survive without a boiler for now (cold showers in summer are fine, and my mother-in-law is a 5 minute walk away for when a hot shower is too much to resist) but time is a factor. My heart says ASHP, as I'd love to be free of dependency on fossil fuels. It would be good to get back the garden space occupied by the oil tank. Would also be good to maximise use of the energy generated by the solar panels. On the other hand, our relatively low kerosene consumption is also a factor, and getting an oil boiler fitted is likely to be subject to less delay than the ashp option. Grateful for any general advice. Many thanks Martin

Hello all My first post here, having been a lurker for some time. Have been meaning to register for a while, but the sudden and spectacular death of our combi boiler forced my hand. If your boiler is going to die, June is probably not the worst time for it to happen. Cold showers are OK - bracing, as the old saying goes. Mind you, I strongly suspect my enthusiasm will wane once the cold weather returns, so my next post will be in the ASHP forum. No gas where we live, so it looks like the options are a replacement (oil) boiler or a heat pump. I'm sure I'll find good advice here. Not much of a DIYer myself. I can hang a door - the last one took me 5 hours. If only the energy from the resulting expletives could have been captured and fed into the grid... I will save the tale of the time I fitted a new kitchen tap for another day. The bloke in the YouTube video said it would be a 5 minute job. Cheers Martin