My in-laws live in a large old farmhouse (built 1692 plus various extensions) and they are both in their 70s. My father in law is not well, and will need more care as he gets older and his condition deteriorates.

Currently they heat the house by use of a solid fuel rayburn in the kitchen (supplies hot water but not CH), and various log burners in the 3 living rooms. Lighting whichever one is in use, somedays i’m sure my Mil spends all day bringing wood in and feeding it into fires.

They have an ancient boiler (oil fired) which they never use, because it’s expensive to run. which i’m glad because i’m certain it is lethal. consequently in winter the upstairs is freezing cold and now my FiL feels the cold much more than he used to.

They don’t want to move, so i was going to get someone round to quote for doing something with the heating. After doing some research i’ve ruled out ground source heat pumps due to the old drafty and not well insulated building. I will look at options to improve insulation where we can though.

So i was thinking of going for a new condensing oil boiler which should be more efficient, TRV’s on all the rads, maybe a zoned thermostatic control and considering solar water panels to reduce the water heating load off the boiler and so they don’t have to run the rayburn.

anything else to consider or ask about?

planning to arrange a visit by a local plumber in a few weeks when we are over there and as they are not local want to get prepared in advance.

At the moment oil is pretty cheap which has affected the biomass market, so coupled with their age oil would probably be the best bet.

Not sure I would go the expense of solar either as cost of water heating is minimal compared to the heating load.

Controls will need to be simple as anything complex will be to difficult for them to use probably and end up in them not utilising the heating. Probably split the house into 2 zones.

Is the Rayburn used for cooking, if so then a twin coil cylinder linked to oil boiler as well.

Can you upgrade as much insulation as possible?

If you are SE based I’d be happy to offer some free advice.
Mail me timATj-twren.eclipse.co.uk if you want anything else.

Cheers. lots to think about, agree on the simple controls!

Rayburn used less and less for cooking, they have an electric cooker as well. I think the Rayburn is occasionally used if it’s on, but the oven on it isn’t as effective as it used to be.

The other thing to consider is that they have 10kW of solar panels that my FiL had installed a couple of years ago, not got to the bottom of it yet but I don’t think they feed into the house. I think they are just getting the feed in tariff from them.

Is it worth getting them fed into the house and electric storage heaters fitted, heating through the day and letting heat out at night?

Sorry for the further questions, occurred to me last night that this could be an option.

They constantly cite the cost of oil as a reason not to run the boiler, and i worry that even if we get a new system installed they will still not use it as they think in the same way.

current boikler has no timer or thermostatic control. just a switch on the wall to turn it on! We think it’s at least 30 years old.

Put your efforts in getting them to move, and or build something more fitting.

FWIW We’ve recently installed my Mum into a granny annex created out of one of our outbuildings. Single storey, one bedroom but 80m2.

It came about when their main house (an old converted barn) and gardens just got too much for them. We relocated and took the house over while they moved into a rented cottage (a field away) about 4 years ago.

My Father then got progressively worse, we had an electric stairlift put in, but now in a Nursing Home, so we planned the annex.

She loves it. Fully insulted, all new, underfloor heating and a wetroom bathroom. And been a separate building she sees it as her place. Long term (25 years?) we intend to live there.

Just a thought.

They’re not ready to move, maybe sometime in the future but not yet. My FiL has worked that farm since he was 12, moving out is not going to be an easy option.

It’s not terrible and he’s not ill enough to be needing a home, but we do need to make the place more comfortable for the winters.

Knowing the house, it’s a lot of space to heat, especially for two people.

Would it be worth (on top of insulation) breaking it down into two or three areas of priority? The kitchen and bedroom are is the obvious rooms to warm, with hot water to both, potentially followed by the dining room and lounge (the one on the left)? It could be as simple as adding an on/off switch for each area, so could be altered to the number of people staying in the house and season – not exactly Hive, but it doesn’t get a lot simpler to operate.

However I’m not a plumber, so have conveniently disregarded the more technical side of teh idea. 😉

I was thinking upstairs and downstairs being separate thermostatically controlled zones. so they can continue to use the log burners downstairs without it switching off the heating to the upstairs.

PMJ – not sure how long it’s been since you were last there but there is now a log burner in the dining room with some sofas so we were going to suggest they live in kitchen and that room and don’t use the front two rooms unless they have guests. They could have TRV’s on rads and have them turned to teh frost setting to save on heating those rooms.

I am going to have to go mental with insulation as well.

Based on friends farmhouses you need to go nuts on the insulation and decide how much house is really needed and section off the rest.
Secondary glazing and door seals, kingspan unused doors, some moved a chunk of their log store in to the back kitchen to save going outside for them.

With the solar panels, could you feed them into the range if converted? Know a farm near us with a 12′ electric aga run off panels on the roof and still makes feed in overall.

Wifes grandmother we have missed the boat with, 10 years ago the will and money were there to convert the barn at the end of the garden, but now stuck in poorly insulated house with clapped out oil boiler and rayburn. Won’t be moving out unless it’s in a box, very stubborn now.

PMJ – not sure how long it’s been since you were last there but there is now a log burner in the dining room with some sofas so we were going to suggest they live in kitchen and that room and don’t use the front two rooms unless they have guests.

Makes sense.

Last time I was there? Probably this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pimpmasterjazz/albums/72157626506954469

😀

I was thinking upstairs and downstairs being separate thermostatically controlled zones. so they can continue to use the log burners downstairs without it switching off the heating to the upstairs.

How many rooms in the house and how many do they use?

I’d be looking at minimizing the rooms in use and zoning the heating based on that.

Are stairs still safe and viable or is it time re-purpose some of the rooms and have them living downstairs?

Downstairs there’s 4 rooms plus hallways between

upstaors there’s 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

stairs still fine and viable, and should be for some time yet.

When you say you’ll be putting in insulation, I assume it’s an old stone-built place and you’ll be dry-lining everywhere cramming with Celotex stuff, or just loft insulation?