What is the best way to heat my caravan/holiday home? – Trianco Blog
As the UK strives towards net zero, it’s not just homes that are looking for the most efficient heating solution. With over 555,000 caravans in use in the UK, many caravan and holiday homeowners are looking to transition away from LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) and towards renewable heating solutions. With issues involving cost and power supply, this blog aims to answer your question ‘what is the best way to heat my caravan/holiday home?’.
Gas
It’s widely known that electricity currently costs more than gas. The current Energy Price Guarantee prices LPG gas at 12p/ kWh, while electricity is at 27.1p/kWh (as of June 2022). This means many caravans and holiday homeowners may continue to go with gas heating solutions.
A combi boiler and radiators would be ideal when choosing gas as your means of heating. As space is at premium in caravans and holiday homes, a combi boiler removes the need for an external water cylinder. This would still manage to provide enough hot water and heating for your daily needs.
The downsides to gas heating are regular maintenance to ensure efficiency and the need for a flue system impacting where your boiler can be installed. As well as the higher levels of CO2 emissions.
Electric Boilers
Your holiday home power supply plays a huge role in whether electric boilers are a suitable solution for you. Smaller well insulated cabins with an 80A supply could have a 6kw-9kW electric boiler. In our range that includes the Aztec Classic, Classic Plus or Aztec System. These would be connected to the HPPV Sunamp indoor or external or a cylinder. The smaller 8kW Maxi would also be suitable.
Electric boilers are cheap to purchase and easy to install but costly to run. This is where heat pumps are an alternative option.
Heat Pumps
For high efficiency and environmentally friendly options to heat your caravan, there’s air source heat pumps.
Air source heat pumps reduce the total energy consumption of the home by up to 70%, thanks to the use of free air energy. This saving in consumption is maintained even when temperatures are below 0°C. Air source is a clean technology that respects the environment. It does not emit combustion gases since it does not burn anything to bring heat to the heating installation or domestic hot water.
For all types of holiday homes and static caravans with heat losses up to 3kW, our Wall Hung Indoor heat pump would be suitable. This system gives the best of both worlds with inside air cooling whilst producing DHW with no large outside unit necessary.
Alternatively, for all types of holiday home to provide heating and hot water, the Activair R290 High Temperature Heat pump is suitable. This would be used in conjunction with a Sunamp HPPV heat battery or Domestic Hot Water Cylinder.
The Sunamp HPPV is a space saving alternative, up to 4x smaller than a Domestic Hot Water cylinder. It can be stored internally in the holiday home or externally when used with Trianco External housing unit.
The downside to a heat pump is the immediate upfront cost, which is significantly more than a boiler. However thanks to high efficiency ratings (300% efficiency, depending on temperature settings), you’ll be saving plenty on your bill. Many people also believe that heat pumps are extremely loud. This is a myth. The Activair R290 Heat Pump ensures low sound pollution with 42-47 dB where a whisper is 30dB.
Infrared Panels
Infrared heating is one of the most power saving and efficient solutions for heating. It is a clean and economical way to heat a room or even a whole house. Not only is it easy to install, but it is also around 30% more efficient that standard electric heating.
They are cheap to buy, easy to install and can be used for individual rooms or for a whole house. Much like a flat screen TV, infrared heating panels can be attached to the wall or ceiling. There is no problem with needing to install the pipework that comes with something like gas central heating.
They are also lightweight and can have wheels attached for free standing and easy movement, making them more flexible than conventional heating systems.
You can find out more about our Aztec Infrared Heating Panels in this blog post .
We’ll be heading to The Holiday Home Show trade days on the 12th – 14th of September 2023 where you’ll be able to ask any further questions about anything you’ve read in this blog.