Rural Fuel - Oil or Gas?
Discussion
Hello,
Can't find this exact question via the search, so here goes . . .
mrsthewife is looking house hunting, love current property but don't get on with the neighbours and she wants a bigger garden and move more out of town.
Many of the villages she is looking at don't have mains gas. I have heard horror stories of oil fired central heating and the massive cost of oil. I have also seen the large LPG gas tanks attached to some house in the areas she is looking at. How do the prices compare - LPG to Oil ?
Currently in a 1970's house gas c/heating (which I love), but would be looking to use a combination of wood burning and solar (either or both PV and water heating) to supplement central heating.
Can't find this exact question via the search, so here goes . . .
mrsthewife is looking house hunting, love current property but don't get on with the neighbours and she wants a bigger garden and move more out of town.
Many of the villages she is looking at don't have mains gas. I have heard horror stories of oil fired central heating and the massive cost of oil. I have also seen the large LPG gas tanks attached to some house in the areas she is looking at. How do the prices compare - LPG to Oil ?
Currently in a 1970's house gas c/heating (which I love), but would be looking to use a combination of wood burning and solar (either or both PV and water heating) to supplement central heating.
Edited by chopper602 on Tuesday 20th September 22:59
LPG (e.g. Calor Gas) tends to cost slightly more than oil but will run a gas hob. An oil boiler won't run a gas hob so it's electric or a small LPG bottle hooked up.
Oil is a dirty fuel and needs a good yearly service. You'll quite often get through a set of baffles in the life of a oil boiler and if you run out of oil, you have to have it bled through and purged again (£) unless you are happy to try yourself.
Oil you own the tank so any splits or issues are your problem, but you can shop around for the best price when filling up.
LPG tanks tend to be owned by a supplier so you go by their costs.
Oil is a dirty fuel and needs a good yearly service. You'll quite often get through a set of baffles in the life of a oil boiler and if you run out of oil, you have to have it bled through and purged again (£) unless you are happy to try yourself.
Oil you own the tank so any splits or issues are your problem, but you can shop around for the best price when filling up.
LPG tanks tend to be owned by a supplier so you go by their costs.
Electric.
Cheaper installation costs, no yearly service costs, clean, no waiting for the delivery guy wh is stuck in thesnow and cannot get to your village....
Don't get convectors or storage heaters though, this is controversial but there are "electric radiators" on the market which are thermostically controlled, have digital timers. I went through the whole options thing last year and so far happy with the result.
I can point you in a direction if you wish
Cheaper installation costs, no yearly service costs, clean, no waiting for the delivery guy wh is stuck in thesnow and cannot get to your village....
Don't get convectors or storage heaters though, this is controversial but there are "electric radiators" on the market which are thermostically controlled, have digital timers. I went through the whole options thing last year and so far happy with the result.
I can point you in a direction if you wish
Electricity is about three times the cost of oil/gas. Really don't use it for hot water or space heating, or you'll be looking at big bills. On the other hand, it's good for ovens as you don't run them for very long and you get the benefit of accurate, even heat.
Whichever fuel you go for, if you want a gas hob you can always run it off a small bottle - either outside or in a cupboard - they last for ages.
We heated our caravan with electricity for one winter and ran up a £1200 bill in a single quarter. Moving to diesel cut that down massively. The house we built is very energy efficient, but even that costs a lot to heat with electricity.
If you're looking at existing houses, I wouldn't worry about which is best. More important is the age of the system. Oil boilers in particular seem to hang on for ages, but by then they are incredibly inefficient and drink fuel. It's a messy and expensive job to replace an old heating system, so far better to find a place where you don't have to worry about it for the next few years.
On the other hand, if you're buying a place that you plan to rip up and re-build, you can do all sorts of funky things with hybrid and multi-fuel systems. That's another post though.
Whichever fuel you go for, if you want a gas hob you can always run it off a small bottle - either outside or in a cupboard - they last for ages.
We heated our caravan with electricity for one winter and ran up a £1200 bill in a single quarter. Moving to diesel cut that down massively. The house we built is very energy efficient, but even that costs a lot to heat with electricity.
If you're looking at existing houses, I wouldn't worry about which is best. More important is the age of the system. Oil boilers in particular seem to hang on for ages, but by then they are incredibly inefficient and drink fuel. It's a messy and expensive job to replace an old heating system, so far better to find a place where you don't have to worry about it for the next few years.
On the other hand, if you're buying a place that you plan to rip up and re-build, you can do all sorts of funky things with hybrid and multi-fuel systems. That's another post though.
Presently carrying out an exercise on both whether to replace the 30 ish year old stand up oil fired boiler, with an oil fired condenser boiler, or to replace oil system with LPG. Cost wise, since both oil and gas comes out of the same hole, it therefore looks like keeping with oil. Also due to regulations, once the boiler is “touched”, then the engineer/company is responsible for the whole heating system, pipes, tank etc. etc., so again keeping with the old stand up boiler.
Also carried out a cost and efficiency exercise on installing a stand alone stove for the lounge. I was advised against LPG since due to carbon monoxide regulations, most of the heat now escapes up the flue, so fires less efficient. An oil stove needs to be running almost constantly. A multistove was costing nearly 2k to install, and the messy involvement of storing of logs, coal etc.. and not having a set pattern of lifestyle, could get home at 8 pm, and by the time having tea and lighting the stove etc., it would almost be time for bed.
As for electric stove, fire, the advantages being clean, instant heat, mobility and the touch of a switch.
Also carried out a cost and efficiency exercise on installing a stand alone stove for the lounge. I was advised against LPG since due to carbon monoxide regulations, most of the heat now escapes up the flue, so fires less efficient. An oil stove needs to be running almost constantly. A multistove was costing nearly 2k to install, and the messy involvement of storing of logs, coal etc.. and not having a set pattern of lifestyle, could get home at 8 pm, and by the time having tea and lighting the stove etc., it would almost be time for bed.
As for electric stove, fire, the advantages being clean, instant heat, mobility and the touch of a switch.
We have LPG and we rent the tank from the gas provider.
We cook using electric hob and electric oven but will be swaping to gas when we build our Kitchen extension.
Overall lpg is clean and boiler service is simple and straight forward. The gas tanks can be buried underground so can be out of the way.
We cook using electric hob and electric oven but will be swaping to gas when we build our Kitchen extension.
Overall lpg is clean and boiler service is simple and straight forward. The gas tanks can be buried underground so can be out of the way.
We live in a fairly remote spot and had LPG when we moved in. After 2 years of being cold and broke, we extended the system, twice as many radiators, new oil boiler and paid for it in three years from the savings!
Haven't looked at the costs lately, but wouldn't touch LPG again.
I have been looking at wood pellets - these look a very good option but the auto-feeders are a bit unreliable. Maybe in a few years.
Haven't looked at the costs lately, but wouldn't touch LPG again.
I have been looking at wood pellets - these look a very good option but the auto-feeders are a bit unreliable. Maybe in a few years.
We are odd
We have an oil fired cooker that does the heating and hot water also its an Esse which is a aga but slightly cheaper and smarter
If we were starting from a blank sheet we would have a small LPG gas hob, log fire with back boiler, solar, oil fired boiler all feeding into a giant thermal store.
The amount of choice in heating one you have the room to run it is huge.
The nieghbour is going for a air heat pump which is an A/C plant in reverse which means for every unit of energy in you get about 3 out
We have an oil fired cooker that does the heating and hot water also its an Esse which is a aga but slightly cheaper and smarter
If we were starting from a blank sheet we would have a small LPG gas hob, log fire with back boiler, solar, oil fired boiler all feeding into a giant thermal store.
The amount of choice in heating one you have the room to run it is huge.
The nieghbour is going for a air heat pump which is an A/C plant in reverse which means for every unit of energy in you get about 3 out
Facing this decision too at the moment.
Tempted by LPG due to the clean burn and possibility of gas hob etc. and, as one neighbour said (all houses along the lane are off-mains), thieving scrotes don't steal LPG like has happened a fair bit with heating oil.
Interesting figures about electric costs for a caravan over winter - we're living in one now whilst doing up the house so at least I'll have an idea what to expect then!
Steve
Tempted by LPG due to the clean burn and possibility of gas hob etc. and, as one neighbour said (all houses along the lane are off-mains), thieving scrotes don't steal LPG like has happened a fair bit with heating oil.
Interesting figures about electric costs for a caravan over winter - we're living in one now whilst doing up the house so at least I'll have an idea what to expect then!
Steve
Personally, neither. Oil is unregulated and has roughly doubled in cost in the last 24 months though at least you can shoip around, buy at cheap times etc, LPG as stated you tend to be locked into suppliers so the price is easier to budget for, but you're beholden to them.
BiL has recently switched from tanked LPG to oil and is rueing the day he ever considered it. He did have small replacable tanks though rather than a big one.
Electricity for heating is horrific unless you have a remarkably efficient house in terms of insulation which needs minimal topping up. In terms of cooking, welcome to ceramics and induction hobs, cheap, cheerful and easy.
We have switched from Oil to Biomass and are bloody laughing - gone from £4k pa to £1500 if we run on pellets, £0 if we run on logs.
BiL has recently switched from tanked LPG to oil and is rueing the day he ever considered it. He did have small replacable tanks though rather than a big one.
Electricity for heating is horrific unless you have a remarkably efficient house in terms of insulation which needs minimal topping up. In terms of cooking, welcome to ceramics and induction hobs, cheap, cheerful and easy.
We have switched from Oil to Biomass and are bloody laughing - gone from £4k pa to £1500 if we run on pellets, £0 if we run on logs.
Steve_W said:
Interesting figures about electric costs for a caravan over winter - we're living in one now whilst doing up the house so at least I'll have an idea what to expect then!
Steve
Friends who self-built bought a knackered solid fuel boiler for a fiver from the local classifieds, and installed it in the garden next to their caravan. It ran in the open air (sizzling slightly), and they plumbed in radiators from it to keep the place warm. Logs cost them nothing, so they could keep cosy very cheaply.Steve
We were a bit more 'sophisticated' - we bought a couple of diesel cab heaters from ebay (ex. BT vans), bolted them under the floor and ran them nearly 24 hours a day for three winters. Wonderful bits of kit, with some of the nicest quality of heat I've encountered - the complete opposite of an electric heater which produces very uneven, dry heat.
We use oil and it costs lots circa £1700 pa for a 4 bed 4 recp detached house with no cavity wall insulation and female residents who think 22 deg C inside is way too cold. We have friends who pay more for gas and the tank seems to be harder to hide. Other costs have been.
Annual Service Plan £150
New Tank - old one was 30 years old £350
New Boiler - old one was 30 years old £1800
I occurance of running out of oil (you only do it once in February!). Restart of boiler included in sevice plan
When we bought the house 12 years ago, oil was between 9p and 11p per litre. We paid 59p per litre yesterday for 1000 litres.
Personally I would go for oil, when building houses in the countryside we find that the buyers all prefer oil to gas.
TransCo have said they can connect the village to mains gas at a cost of about £10k per house as long as everyone agrees!
Annual Service Plan £150
New Tank - old one was 30 years old £350
New Boiler - old one was 30 years old £1800
I occurance of running out of oil (you only do it once in February!). Restart of boiler included in sevice plan
When we bought the house 12 years ago, oil was between 9p and 11p per litre. We paid 59p per litre yesterday for 1000 litres.
Personally I would go for oil, when building houses in the countryside we find that the buyers all prefer oil to gas.
TransCo have said they can connect the village to mains gas at a cost of about £10k per house as long as everyone agrees!
blueg33 said:
Personally I would go for oil, when building houses in the countryside we find that the buyers all prefer oil to gas.
TransCo have said they can connect the village to mains gas at a cost of about £10k per house as long as everyone agrees!
Agreed - everyone around here seems to hate LPG and prefer oil. One thought - the bigger the tank the better the price. It's all small fry, but most suppliers will give you a penny or two per litre discount for orders of 2000l or more...TransCo have said they can connect the village to mains gas at a cost of about £10k per house as long as everyone agrees!
As for TransCo's offer, it does bear thinking about - in the long term that would pay off. On the other hand, mains gas continues to get more expensive, and all you need is one villager to go green and the rest are stuffed!
RedLeicester said:
Agreed - everyone around here seems to hate LPG and prefer oil. One thought - the bigger the tank the better the price. It's all small fry, but most suppliers will give you a penny or two per litre discount for orders of 2000l or more...
We have a 2500 litre tank, but filled up now as the price rise for the winter makes the overall proce cheaper right now. If we didnt fill we would need oil in Feb at the peak prices.OP if you go for oil, fill the tank in the summer, and ALWAYS negotiate the price.
blueg33 said:
We have a 2500 litre tank, but filled up now as the price rise for the winter makes the overall proce cheaper right now. If we didnt fill we would need oil in Feb at the peak prices.
OP if you go for oil, fill the tank in the summer, and ALWAYS negotiate the price.
Definitely! If you don't like the price, shop around. I was always amazed how much the price could be brought down with only a few phonecalls. One of the local villages has an Oil Syndicate, yet we seemed to be able to at least if not match the prices they could get.OP if you go for oil, fill the tank in the summer, and ALWAYS negotiate the price.
Blue, sounds like you didn't go through too much - we jumped ship to Biomass as we were doing 3 fills a year, likewise a 2500l tank
thinfourth2 said:
Completely forget about gashobs influenceing your choice of heating
You can get a seperate bottle for a gas hob. We had a gas bottle in our last house and was changed every 6 months roughly at about 30 pounds each time.
Ironically, oil affected our choice for biomass - we have / had an oil-burning Aga which was there both for cooking and heating the kitchen.You can get a seperate bottle for a gas hob. We had a gas bottle in our last house and was changed every 6 months roughly at about 30 pounds each time.
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