When it comes to heating your home, you have to be more cost and environmentally conscious than ever before.
Two of the ways to heat you how are by using a gas boiler or a heat pump. Both do the same job i.e. heat your home. The technologies for both, however, are worlds apart.
It is not too hard to see the Irish government following other European governments and beginning to introduce more regulations around the use of gas and oil-sourced heat. In fact, it has begun already so moving to an air-source heat pump or ground-sourced heat pump could become mandatory in any renovation in the medium and long term. Heat pumps have less of an impact on the environment and if the electricity used to run the heat pump is green then it has little or no impact on the environment.
What is the difference between a gas boiler and a heat pump?
A boiler will create a lot of heat in a short space of time and heats radiators to a high temperature quickly and use quite a bit of energy to do so.
In contrast, the heat pump works more slowly and needs a bigger surface emitter (or a bigger radiator) to heat your renovated area and uses far less energy. Underfloor heating is a good example of an emitter running at a lower temperature.
It is important to consider which is more cost-effective and appropriate for your renovation before you start because the design of each system is completely different.
Using a gas boiler means that the temperature difference between the water going into a radiator can lose as much as 10% heat by the time it exits the radiator.
With a heat pump system, it will be half that loss.
Therefore it is important to size your underfloor pipe lengths and radiators accurately if you are considering using a heat pump.
What type of properties are suitable for heat pumps?
Insulation is going to be a key to whether you can use a heat pump in your renovated home.
The slower heat from a heat pump means the build-upp of temperature is more gradual so you cannot afford to have a huge amount of heat loss.
Ground-sourced heat pumps are better suited to bigger houses while air-source heat pumps are more suitable for smaller homes.
If your home is not well insulated then you may have to consider a gas boiler.
Is a heat pump more efficient than a gas boiler?
Again, it depends on the level of insulation and size of the home.
Gas boilers are efficient, up to 90% of the gas used to generate the energy is absorbed into the water.
Heat pumps do use electricity to run, but deliver between 300% and 500% more heat than the electricity used.
So if your heat pump uses 2 kilowatts of power over the course of a day, it can deliver 6 kilowatts of heat; hence the 300% efficiency.
Which is more expensive to install in your renovation?
Here is the reason that most people will install gas boilers. They are cheaper in the short term to install but over the long term, the heat pump will pay its way.
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than a gas boiler?
Given the current cost of both gas and electricity, gas is cheaper but because the heat pump will use a low number of electricity units it can turn out to be less expensive to use than gas.
That is one of the reasons that P & T Complete Renovations uses the most detailed quote in the building sector in Cork.
We are happy to give you all the pros and cons of a renovation project as well as use our experience on such things as heat pumps/gas boiler heating systems for your home renovation.
All of these decisions impact your budget and can be changed on our detailed quote to show what impact they have on your budget.
