yieldhog wrote:
1. Some time in the not so distant future, we will all need to stop using gas central heating and petrol/diesel cars.
2. There seem to be some misconceptions/out-of-date ideas about infrared as a source of clean energy.
3. The main alternative to gas central heating currently seems to be some sort of heat exchange/air source system. How do these compare with infrared?
For point 1) not so distant is probably not in the next 20 years. The CURRENT proposal is that sales of
replacement gas boilers will be banned from 2035, rather than the much misreported banning of existing installations. So there will be a mad rush to replace existing gas boilers in 2034, or more likely 2039, or whenver it actually comes in. Modern gas boilers don't last like they used to, but I can see Gas boilers still being in popular use well into the 2050s.
2) I don't really think there's much info out there yet. Rather like Heat Pumps, Electric cars, and Rabbit Phones, it takes a good amount of initial uptake to generate real world data, technology will move fast so early systems quickly become obsolete, and there will be a lot of suspicion and misinformation.
3) ASHPs are evolving at a rapid rate. New pumps are coming out that can provide a much hotter flow, typicall ver 60C and still claim the same efficiency as the older cool flow models. Effectively these will soon be a direct replacement for a gas boiler, keeping the same radiators and control systems. Ans if they can be even more efficient at a lower temp, then in Spring and Autumn they will be cheaper than gas to run, especially if the expected closing of the gap between gas and electric rpices materialises as renewables reduces the link.
The first point is obvious but I wonder how many people have really thought about what that will mean for them. Maybe I am guilty of misconceptions but from what I read these systems require substantial home alterations including replacing radiators, finding space for equipment as well as being expensive. Also, from my personal experience with friends who have installed ground source home energy, the system does not provide a sufficient level of heat and must be supplemented with something else such as a woodburner/electric fire etc.
See above. Ground source is very expensive and inefficient, it seemed like a good idea for a while, but air source has overtaken it. An LG 16kW HT air to water system is now about £3k with all the gubbins
https://www.theheatpumpwarehouse.co.uk/ ... door-unit/We replaced our gas boiler last year, but next time it is up for replacement I suspect this is the route we will take, bearing in mind we have a rambling 5 bed place dating back to the 1790s. But I'm not going to jump at it yet, I'll wait until they become more established.
I will continue to research the issues involved before I commit to a home without gas but so far, apart from cost, I do not see any downside to infrared, combined with solar panels and a log-burner.
So what you are saying is that you think IR will still require a log burner, which let's face it, negates the idea of going green in the first place. It might be carbon neutral, but with their increasing popularity in some areas it is already starting to smell like the winters of my childhood.
We have Air to Air (also often known as 'split' units) in some rooms, provides good quick cheap room heating (like about 10p/hour cheap in a 4x5m room) which have the benefit of summer cooling. Basically a heat pump version of the stuff seen all over the continent hanging off the balconies of flats etc.
But as V8 says - IR heaters are pretty cheap. Try one and report back
Paul