Looking for a low-maintenance, cost-effective source of heat for your home? There’s a reason that gas boilers have become the standard choice for home heating throughout the UK and Europe.
At less than half the cost of a diesel boiler to install, and three-to-four times cheaper to run, gas boilers are an obvious choice if you have piped gas available in your property.
If you don’t have piped gas available, then you’ll need to have gas bottles delivered. This can be an issue if you live in a rural area, as you can run out of gas and have to wait a couple of days for a bottle delivery.
Then there’s the additional cost of bottled gas. Piped gas is generally ‘Natural Gas’, and will cost you around 6 cents per unit of energy. Bottled gas (LPG) on the other hand will set you back around 16 cents per unit. (Compare with an electric heater at around 22 cents per unit).
In terms of installation, gas boiler are easy. Most models can be mounted on an indoor wall, typically in your garage or laundry where can be easily vented to outside. They’re quiet and very energy-efficient.
Because the gas burns very clean, there’s not a lot of maintenance. You’d still want to get your heating system serviced annually though.
Many models also have domestic hot water capabilities built in, so they can remove the need for a hot water storage cylinder. In larger houses though, the hot water load is too high for small boilers and you might still want a normal hot water cylinder. Check with your designer or plumber about your requirements.
In summary, gas boilers are great if you have natural gas available. If you don’t, there are often drawbacks that make
Pros:
Cost-effective to install and operate
Easy to install, doesn’t take up a lot of space
Reliable, quiet, clean and low-maintenance
Cons:
If no piped gas is available then you’ll have to use bottled gas
Bottled gas is more expensive and you can run out