Contributed Collaborative Post
Over the past few years, the costs associated with heating UK homes have skyrocketed. Combined with growing concerns about issues such as environmental impact, a lot of people are starting to reconsider whether there might be a better alternative heating option to the one they’re currently using.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, which is why we put together this concise guide on choosing a heating solution. From popular solutions like gas boilers to quick-to-install but expensive-to-run solutions like electric heaters, here are some options to consider.
Gas boilers
The most common heating option in the UK for decades now has been some kind of gas boiler. They’re relatively affordable to install and run, and it’s easy to find engineers who can work on them should something go wrong.
That being said, they are susceptible to rises in gas prices. Given how volatile the fossil fuel market is at the moment, and with every reason to believe that this volatility is only set to increase, it’s as good a time as any to consider alternatives to these kinds of heating solutions.
Heat pumps
An increasingly popular solution to home heating is to use some kind of ground or air source heat pump. These solutions draw heat from the surrounding environment and bring it into your home, resulting in a solution that’s around 3-4x more efficient than gas boilers.
The installation costs may be more expensive than some of the alternatives on this list, but there are a range of government incentives that make it a lot more affordable. To see if your home might be well suited to a heat pump, you can use services like Thermly to easily assess your situation.
Biomass heaters
Biomass heaters, which function by burning some kind of organic material, offer another alternative. They can often be a lot cheaper to run than gas boilers, but they do require a substantial up-front investment to get them going.
It’s possible that you’ll be eligible for some kind of government incentive to get one installed, but this will depend on your home, the kind of biomass heater you’re looking at and the area you’re living in.
Electric heaters
Lastly, there are some electric heaters that have emerged in recent years, which tout impressive improvements over older models. They’re getting much more efficient, especially underfloor options, and can be a lot easier to install than alternative solutions.
That being said, electric heaters can still be quite expensive to run, especially given the volatility of electricity prices. Cheaper models can be a good stand-in solution when your other heaters break down, but you will need to assess whether an electric heater is a suitable standalone option.
By putting just a little bit of time into researching your heating options, you can often end up with a much better alternative to your existing solution. It’s worth taking a look at the various funding options out there, to see if it could make a more expensive solution accessible enough for your existing budget.
This is a contributed collaborative post
