Which Heating System Is Best in 2024?

Which Heating System Is Best in 2024? Exploring Options for UK Homeowners.

As energy efficiency and sustainability become increasingly important, homeowners have various home heating choices. In the second instalment of our home heating series, Roger looks at heating systems and explains their features and benefits.

• Condensing Boilers
They are highly efficient boilers that condense water vapour in the exhaust gases to recover heat, leading to higher efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.

• Heat Pumps
These systems extract heat from the air or ground outside your home and use it to heat your home and water, offering an energy-efficient alternative to traditional heating methods.

• Electric Radiators
Electric radiators convert electricity directly into heat, offering a simple, often cost-effective, and easy-to-install home heating solution.

• Solar Thermal Systems
These systems use solar panels to capture energy from the sun, which is then used to heat water stored in a cylinder for home use.

• Biomass Boilers
Biomass boilers burn natural materials like wood pellets, chips, or logs to provide heating and hot water, offering a renewable and carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels.

• Hybrid Systems
Hybrid heating systems combine a gas boiler with a renewable energy source like a heat pump, balancing eco-friendliness and reliable performance.

• Infrared Panels
Infrared panels emit heat in the form of infrared radiation, heating objects and people directly, making them a more efficient option for some homes.

• District Heating
This system provides heat to multiple buildings from a central source through a network of insulated pipes, offering efficient and eco-friendly heating for urban areas.

==========================================
#homeheating #homeimprovement #heating

🛒 As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases

◾ Out of respect to our sponsors and followers, we'll remove comments that do not follow expected standards of politeness and decency.

[arthurwoodward]

Hi Roger at Skill builder, I follow many of your informative videos (Utube) and find a lot of tips very good. We have air source heating in a bungalow and must say that it was several years learning curve to get accustomed to it. The local Authority installed it but never demonstrated how to get the best from it. I have watched many videos of info and understand fairly well how to get the best use. On your subject of mould and damp: we have had extractors fitted in bathroom and kitchen which sense moisture, we also use a Dehumidifier when cooking or airing washing, I recently purchased a passive dehumidifier which works amazingly well collecting about a litre of water in a month. The portable electric Dehumidifier is cheap to run and tends to return warm air into the room and the chemical Dehumidifier needs a new cartridge about every eight weeks. Hope this info helps your followers. Thanks Arty

[Sbowe]

If you have excessive moisture in your home in the winter just run a dehumidifier. Solves the problem. I have issues with condensation and mold on my windows, as soon as I started running a dehumidifier it has solved my issue, no more condensation, no more mold

[andysims]

As a electrician I used to work in this house quite frequently. It’s out in a village. I couldn’t help thinking that the central heating ( oil) boiler was very old. One day I mentioned to the lady . Oh you have had the boiler changed. Yes she said . I wonder if you can help me set the boiler programers. So I said can I have the instructions. She actually gave me the instructions for the old boiler. I couldn’t believe the old boiler was 69 years old. Point being it was probably totally inefficient . But how many boilers these days are going to last a fraction of that time . I often wonder if infact they saved money by having an old boiler versus new boilers that are more efficient but don’t last .

[JohnnyMotel]

There's a guy on YT, Glyn Hudson, who last year installed a haet pump in his house, with some surprising results. His 2 bed house is mainly solid wall construction and end of terrace. It has double glazing throughout, good insulation and good airtightness.
He wanted to aim for a 4+ COP with a low flow temperature of between 30-35C. He was replacing an LPG gas boiler. He had to upgrade all the rads to account for the lower flow temp.
One year later and his results were excellent. He achieved a COP of 4.2, flow temp of 35C and his house was warm throughout. His electricity costs for 9 month period was £600.
I think what surprised me was he achieved this in a solid wall house with only loft insulation and UPVC windows, no solid wall insualtion.

[mr_DIY]

I lived in Ukraine during long blackouts and ONE thing I learned very quickly without heat (and there is no heat if you dont have power for a weeks, trust me, you need power for modern systems as all of them use pumps) your house gets cold fast, so please, insulate your houses, it will give you confidence in this times and also bring your heating bill down

[cuebj]

Just a few years younger than you. I remember frost on inside of window panes right up to late 1970s in digs in central London. We slept in sleeping bags with socks and woolly hats. It was a cold winter, snow blew under the eaves and onto the lath and plaster above the bedrooms, pipes were lead and ran up outside of the building (basement flat, 1st floor office, we were on top two floors in Manchester Street, W1) so they burst and we were fetching water in buckets from the basement for three months. Just wear thermal underwear with a scarf or a buff from a bike shop.

[Captain.Scarlet]

I was having issues with some damp when moving into my flat, biggest problem is the bathroom is in the centre of the flat. Tried different de humidifiers (Gel and small de humidifiers are pointless in my experience), different tricks to reduce (A channel recommended a window vac for after the shower, didn't really work for me). In the end simplified a vent pipe for the bathroom (Had a flexible hose which I replaced for cut bits of pipe) and opening the windows for a few hours a day worked for me, so I tend open 2 windows to get flow through for about 2 hours a day during winter. Also its worth getting a temperature stat with humidity so you can experiment yourself.

[SirZerg]

I had condensation issues last winter. I started opening the windows once or twice a day for 2 or 3 minutes that seems to have stopped the condensation so far this winter. I don't think I loose too much heat as the fresh air soon gets warm.

[ooslum]

Good video Roger, only one thing, a breezy cold morning can change the air inside a house in minutes and introduce near bone dry air when there is a frost or at least dew.
This seems wasteful opening windows even for 3 or 4 minutes but the thermal mass of that air is minimal and will warm again in minutes bur the moisture it removes would take Kwh's of energy with a dehumidifier to remove, cheers.

[PeterMaleitzke]

I picked this video to learn about new heating systems in 2024 and I haven't heard anything yet about heating systems and I'm already two thirds of the way through the video so I would say don't waste your time

[kirkby]

I'm using far infrared panels, & bars wall/ ceiling, all fully controlled via an app or Alexa! Can turn on & set the thermostat temp, can turn on a single room or multiple rooms...
Loving it, best thing I ever installed... Connect to WiFi (also has handheld remotes, or panel controls)
Drill the wall etc... lift on & plug in!

Brilliant, no need for the GSH!

[pucash]

My old double glazing used to stream with water every morning, and I was getting mold in the corners of rooms. After installing a piv 0 water on the windows and 0 mold. Yes it can be cooler in the hall but it’s 100% fixed my issues

[robwoods]

Well done Roger. People don't realise how important air changes are. No matter how you try, can't change the laws of nature. Comfort for us, not the mould.

[davidrodwell]

I installed a Mitsubishi Lossnay heat recovery ventilation system a couple of years ago. I live at the top the South Island in NZ. It works brilliantly, but I do agree with you, Roger, claimed efficiency may be overstated.

[Punisher]

In my small room I installed a small wood burner, at the time I didn't think it would be anywhere near enough but it's so damn good. Really quick to bring the room from 8C to 25C, couple of hours and I can keep it at that temp no problem. I did try a little electric heater before that and it simply didn't work well enough and was really expensive. It couldn't get the room past 15C to be honest so I've pretty much turned off electric heaters now. I have pretty good insulation in my room as well though, few areas to improve though. It's very well ventilated, walls are entirely open other then rockwool so air can pass in and out with less restriction. Keeps the heat in well enough though. I think if I was going to build again there are some things to improve though but I think that will always be the case.

[ThePerson]

2 minutes of shock venting in the morning is all I need. All windows just before everyone wakes up is enough to drop 10% relative humidity in a 3 bed semi. I quite like seeing the windows steam up on the outside when the windows open.

[RinnRua]

This was a very useful review of the problems and solutions but I can’t understand why you didn’t mention the great usefulness of portable dehumidifiers - we have 2 in our house one of which is on all night on the nighttime electricity tariff which creates a laundry drying out of the spare bedroom whenever we need it - which is very often at this time of year⁉️

[colinmiles]

As usual, spot on, common sense advice. Thanks Roger. It all takes a bit of effort, which, sadly many people are not prepared to expend.

[CX]

On the ventilation/condensation issue; PIV works well for me. Before fitting a Nuaire unit about 10 years ago, I had very bad condensation on all windows, even with a comfortable level of heating. The only way to get the condensation under control was to have fanlight windows open all evening and morning before work, and "locked open" for the rest of the time. This was without drying laundry inside, and always using extractor fans. Within a week of fitting the PIV unit - all condensation issues completely disappeared. Even during a long shower, the most that ever appears is a light misting (rather than large beads of water) on a part of the glass in the bathroom (nowhere else), and only on the coldest days. Drafts aren't an issue for me - but I situated my unit above where the main trunk of heating pipes run through the attic, so hopefully gain just a little a bit more pre-heating than just ambient loft air. The flow rates seem to be low enough that not much heat is actually moved anyway - it certainly doesn't feel cold in the hallway where the ceiling diffuser is located. Better yet - heating bills actually reduced, presumably because it is easier to heat drier air, and also because the heating didn't need running more in futile attempts to dry things out. You have to exchange the air anyway, not just for humidity, but also for CO2 levels, so you might as well do it in a controlled way.

I have never been able to justify the cost of MVHR in a retrofit, over just fitting PIV. The payback period, even if the MVHR reaches the questionable efficiency figures, means you'll be replacing the unit due to fan failure before it has saved you anything in heating costs.

[Jules_Pew]

A couple of cats with no cat flap ensures that you have to open doors often. They also take their time in deciding to actually go in or out leaving you holding the door open for longer.