Oil fired boiler?
Discussion
I'm just starting to think about getting a larger house. A quick trawl on rightmove turns up a possibility but its got an oil fired boiler. My initial thought is that the cost of heating the place is going to fund at least one of those supercars that spends its life circling Harrods.
However knowing sod all about oil fired boilers, are they really much more expensive to run than gas?
The location isn't that remote so assuming that there is a gas main somewhere in the locality how expensive would it be to convert to gas?
However knowing sod all about oil fired boilers, are they really much more expensive to run than gas?
The location isn't that remote so assuming that there is a gas main somewhere in the locality how expensive would it be to convert to gas?
Why change it? Is it broken? Non-condensing oil-fired boilers, while inefficient, are pig simple and a good one can last almost as long as you; as long as your service bloke can get spares, or adapt generic burners to fit I'd just hang on to it as long as the waterjacket lasts. The only exception to that would be if you've got the space to fit a wood pellet burner, then you can get the tax payer to cough up for large parts of it.
hidetheelephants said:
Why change it? Is it broken? Non-condensing oil-fired boilers, while inefficient, are pig simple and a good one can last almost as long as you; as long as your service bloke can get spares, or adapt generic burners to fit I'd just hang on to it as long as the waterjacket lasts. The only exception to that would be if you've got the space to fit a wood pellet burner, then you can get the tax payer to cough up for large parts of it.
My 20year old none condensing runs at 87%, about the same as a decent gas one.......... an oil condensing might hit 96%.If you do find that the oil is working out too expensive, there are a lot of remote houses in our area are now using gas bottles instead of mains gas.
We have no experience of these in this country, but lived in New Zealand about five years ago and had these bottles. It certainly was no issue for us over there.
There are typically two bottles, with an automated regulator switching over from one to the other when the first bottle was close to empty. If positioned conveniently, you can check the position of the regulator to see if the regulator has switched on a daily basis and when it does, you call the supplier and they change the bottle within a day or two.
I would have no problem using a similar system in the UK.
We have no experience of these in this country, but lived in New Zealand about five years ago and had these bottles. It certainly was no issue for us over there.
There are typically two bottles, with an automated regulator switching over from one to the other when the first bottle was close to empty. If positioned conveniently, you can check the position of the regulator to see if the regulator has switched on a daily basis and when it does, you call the supplier and they change the bottle within a day or two.
I would have no problem using a similar system in the UK.
There are 10kW of energy in every litre of oil, which I think means it is around 7p a kilowatt hour. The efficiency when burning things isn't critical, 80% or 95% isn't a great deal of difference.
Bottled gas of any sort is even more expensive, don't do it. Mains gas is a lot cheaper.
Wood pellets would be cheaper, possible (but unlikely in the UK) an air sourced heat pump would be good.
One system, which appears to be unique to me, is fitting an air sourced heat pump in parallel with the existing oil boiler. Friend of mine went from a tank of oil every six weeks to a tank a year, and more than halved his bills.
Bottled gas of any sort is even more expensive, don't do it. Mains gas is a lot cheaper.
Wood pellets would be cheaper, possible (but unlikely in the UK) an air sourced heat pump would be good.
One system, which appears to be unique to me, is fitting an air sourced heat pump in parallel with the existing oil boiler. Friend of mine went from a tank of oil every six weeks to a tank a year, and more than halved his bills.
caziques said:
Bottled gas of any sort is even more expensive, don't do it. Mains gas is a lot cheaper.
Admittedly, we weren't paying for the gas we had, so I couldn't comment and you're more than likely right when delivery etc is included. Apologies, just thought it might be worth considering.
caziques said:
Bottled gas of any sort is even more expensive, don't do it. Mains gas is a lot cheaper.
Admittedly, we weren't paying for the gas we had, so I couldn't comment and you're more than likely right when delivery etc is included. Apologies, just thought it might be worth considering.
Conversion to gas isn't cheap. Usually costs a few grand to have pipework and a meter bought to the house. Then there is the cost of changing the boiler and installing gas pipework.
Gas boilers are cheaper, but not as robust as most oil boilers.
This chart suggest natural gas is cheaper than oil too...
Servicing costs are higher on oil boilers, they are also more sensitive to lack of servicing and incorrect burner settings.
Oil boilers are safer though, as they tend to soot up and lockout if there is a CO issue.
If it's an OLD set-up. Upgrading the heating controls can make a difference. Fully-pumped conversion, TRVs, programmable room stat etc.
Gas boilers are cheaper, but not as robust as most oil boilers.
This chart suggest natural gas is cheaper than oil too...
Servicing costs are higher on oil boilers, they are also more sensitive to lack of servicing and incorrect burner settings.
Oil boilers are safer though, as they tend to soot up and lockout if there is a CO issue.
If it's an OLD set-up. Upgrading the heating controls can make a difference. Fully-pumped conversion, TRVs, programmable room stat etc.
Rickyy said:
Conversion to gas isn't cheap. Usually costs a few grand to have pipework and a meter bought to the house. Then there is the cost of changing the boiler and installing gas pipework.
Gas boilers are cheaper, but not as robust as most oil boilers.
This chart suggest natural gas is cheaper than oil too...
Servicing costs are higher on oil boilers, they are also more sensitive to lack of servicing and incorrect burner settings.
Oil boilers are safer though, as they tend to soot up and lockout if there is a CO issue.
If it's an OLD set-up. Upgrading the heating controls can make a difference. Fully-pumped conversion, TRVs, programmable room stat etc.
The oil price varies massively throughout the year so not sure if the above factors this in .Gas boilers are cheaper, but not as robust as most oil boilers.
This chart suggest natural gas is cheaper than oil too...
Servicing costs are higher on oil boilers, they are also more sensitive to lack of servicing and incorrect burner settings.
Oil boilers are safer though, as they tend to soot up and lockout if there is a CO issue.
If it's an OLD set-up. Upgrading the heating controls can make a difference. Fully-pumped conversion, TRVs, programmable room stat etc.
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