Quote Originally Posted by MadAmster View Post
We've been toying with the idea of solar panels for a while. Two parties decided not to take the job on as we have a 6m wide dormer window on the south west side of the roof. They were working together with the council to carry out a large project, lots of houses, close together works out cheaper... My roof and those with similar dormers in the area just got told "Nah, not taking that on, too much trouble" Recently discovered that an EDM DJ from the village runs a solar power and energy saving company (insulation and such like). We know each other slightly but he knows my youngest lad well. They pride themselves on not being cheap but they do have an excellent reputation. Now waiting for an estimate which I reckon will be between 6K and 7K. The boiler has another 3 years left in it. Looking at switching to a heat pump then and get off the gas supply. Roof is insulated. Looking at doing the same with the crawling space under the house. Wall insulation is also on the "road map". Total cost probably around 25K over the next 6 years.
Are you going for a ground source heat pump or an air source one? The ones I've looked at are ground source using boreholes to get maximum heat exchange. Don't get much, if any, change from 50 grand for those though - and given my life expectancy I'm not sure its financially viable - although I guess it would put value on the house for my heirs!