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Submit plansHi,
We will soon be starting our self build and as we have no gas was going to go down the route of ground source heat pump but have recently been looking at LPG. We have tried to research it but are getting conflicting information. We know that ground source is expensive to install but are reading that LPG is expensive to buy and don't know if it is going to be faded out in 2025. Please could you give your opinion on both then we know we are getting the right information.
Thanks
Louise
Hi Louise, thanks for your question. You could solve the conundrum by going down the route of a hybrid boiler/heat pump. In this case, the heat pump is usually air source rather than ground source, so it will be much cheaper to install. The gas would take over when the source temp (the air) drops below say 7 degrees C. That way, the pump runs much more efficiently and the gas consumption will only be in deepest winter.
If gas were to be phased out (highly unlikely in my view ,as we need gas to take care of peak demand), then you’ll still have a working system. Put another way, as we still use gas to generate electricity, there’s no point converting to heat then power, then transporting it, with all the losses in those three processes, then turning it back into heat at the dwelling. The Government will twig this eventually, when they learn the cost of upgrading the power network to carry the increased demand!
And yes, a hybrid will cost more than a straight LPG boiler, but it will be much cheaper to run and there’s always the option of buying bioLPG if they want to reduce carbon emissions still further.
I have the option of mains gas I am building a sip house which should be thermally efficient is a heat pump a better idea than simple gas boiler central heating ?