Options for replacing broken boiler in rental property

[Ferdinand]

I have a boiler that needs repair or replacement in a rented house, and I'd welcome thoughts.

The situation is:

- I bought property to rent to this tenant in 2016. It is unusual in having 3 double bedrooms, which was why they wanted it.
- Good tenant, and I expect the family to stay for another decade (kids are 5-7 old years in local schools, family are all here incl. parents and siblings). They love the house.
- It is a 2016 renovated 1910 done by someone else I bought it from - solid walls etc. Not to my standards, but adequate. I keep having to have bits done, which is fine but a small pain.
- T is in receipt of housing elements of UC, and child benefit (whatever it is called now) -> may be eligible for Eco4 scheme, which is boiler replacement, or a Heat Pump grant for an ASHP.
- Boiler (8 years old) is repairable, but not the best brand. Engineer recommends replacement (they would, but I'm inclined to agree) with a Baxi. I am mainly Ideal or Worcester Bosch. Repair cost £500-1000 suggested. Replacement cost £2-3k depending on model.

- EPC is 60D on the sheet, but imo is better than that (I've done a few things, and there are some 'average' assumptions in there.) Had I renovated it that would be at around 75C.
- Implication of that is that fitting at Heat Pump could get me over the EPC Grade C requirement which will be coming back at some stage, after Rishi Sunk's "how can I save my arse" 2 year panic attack burning all their achievements - including the landlord EPC ratchet - down.
- T says house is comfortable running at a lowish boiler temp (need to check that).
- My long term intention is that I prefer no gas (safety and hassle reasons).

Options

AI see it I have 3 options.

1 - Replace boiler, ideally under boiler upgrade scheme.

2 - Go ASHP with a grant, perhaps via Octopus. Octopus use I think Daikon units.
3 - Go with A2AHPs with a couple of multisplits, and units in relevant rooms.

2 and 3 would require a hot water tank to have space found. Should be doable.

I'd welcome all comments, especially around if the Octopus ASHP packages are good, whether ASHPs are easy to manage for tenants, and what lifetime I can expect from ASHP or A2AHPs.

Thanks

Ferdinand


 

[bassanclan]

Replace the boiler with a new gas boiler. Least disruption for tennant, less cost for you. Known quantity for tennant with known bills. ASHP can turn out to be expensive to run if not setup or used properly and tennants on housing benefit can't afford unexpected bills.

 

There's no need to worry about EPC for long term existing tenants. You can get an exemption from the epc rental"ban" if you have done all the reasonable things anyway, which you have by the sound of it 

[Pendicle]

How good is the insulation, windows, would you need to do additional work to facilitate an ASHP. Is it the boiler you’re more concerned with or the EPC, would adding ASHP improve EPC? I upgraded all windows last year on my rental to meet new C EPC requirement then after spending a years worth of rent they withdrew the requirement, I’m sure the requirement will come back what ever flavour moves into No10. When I was researching ways to meet the requirement upgrading my 2 year old gas boiler to ASHP was not going to improve the EPC, go figure. A new gas boiler may give you the EPC rating and not as expensive to run for tenants and more cost effective for you without additional work on installation, not every house is easy to insulate.

[JohnMo]

26 minutes ago, Pendicle said:

researching ways to meet the requirement upgrading my 2 year old gas boiler to ASHP

Pretty easy - big radiators so you have radiator temperature to room target temperature deltaT of around 15 degs. This would give you max flow temp of 35 to 36. Then you would beat the gas boiler, even if running at 100% efficiency (6p gas and 25p electric kWh) with a SCoP of about 4.5, with a decent system design (correctly sized heat pump, open system and no buffer). Then you just need a big coil cylinder.

 

Small radiators and high flow temps, then keep your gas boiler. Or hybrid ASHP and your 2 year old gas boiler, and keep the small radiators.

[SteamyTea]

The deciding factor may be DHW.

Is there room for a decent sized cylinder?

[G and J]

11 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

The deciding factor may be DHW.

Is there room for a decent sized cylinder?

You could have an instantaneous elector water heater, however I suspect there might be a bigger issue.  
 

I visit peeps in their homes, usually social housing. Some councils and housing associations have done what you are suggesting for option2.  The result is cold houses, ASHPs going 24/7 in cold months, and heating bills unpaid due to their sheer gargantuan scale. 
 

I suspect that these organisations have simply fallen for the hype. These properties tend to be as retrospectively insulated as can be hoped, and they run happily and cheaply on a high flow temperature gas boiler.  But they simply don’t suit low flow temps and they need lots of heat, which gas still is. 
 

Having replaced a gas combi less than 9 years old I think the world of gas is farcical.  The carbon to produce a new boiler must outweigh the gas saved.  But I strongly suspect irritating and high maintenance gas is still your best bet. 
 

Sorry.  But top marks for wanting to do the right thing. 
 

(PS I am actually a fan of ASHPs, will be fitting one in our new build, but I’ve also been a landlord).

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, G and J said:

You could have an instantaneous elector water heater, however I suspect there might be a bigger issue

Very high running costs though.

4 minutes ago, G and J said:

ASHPs going 24/7 in cold months

They are meant to work like that.  There is a difference between power (kW) and energy (kWh), why they have different names.

5 minutes ago, G and J said:

The carbon to produce a new boiler must outweigh the gas saved

I doubt it.  Can be worked out with a bit of time from the materials embodied energy numbers.

6 minutes ago, G and J said:

heating bills unpaid

Some households will always struggle to pay their bills, mainly because prioritise their spending differently.

[G and J]

11 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Some households will always struggle to pay their bills, mainly because prioritise their spending differently.

And in my experience many struggle for a myriad other reasons, often factors outside of their control, though I’d be interested to understand your data source on that one. 
 

I still think gas is likely to be the most sensible answer here.  

 

[Ferdinand]

51 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

The deciding factor may be DHW.

Is there room for a decent sized cylinder?

 

Yes there is if necessary - I need to think a bit about running pipework. It may require a little creativity.

Fortunately it is the heating side of the boiler which is under question, so I do have a short time to think about it.

A boiiler swap under ECO 4 is currently looking most straightforward at present.

[Ferdinand]

Reading up a bit, Eco 4 Boiler Replacement grants seem to only be available to rental properties with an EOC of E F or G, whilst for Owner Occupied it D E F or G.

Bizarre.