ARe there health risks from oil fired central heating?

[sallyjaygorce]

We are moving to a village with no gas and the house (recently renovated) has oil fired central heating and the only oven is an aga - also oil fuel. Any tips - frequency of servicing etc?

[Millarkie]

What sort of health risks are you worried about?
We have an oil fired boiler - just like a normal boiler really, we have it serviced once a year and they replace the 'nozzle' each time (don't know what that is but that's what they do) and we have a big tank of oil which we get filled up every 9 months or so by a nice man with a tanker No hassles.
We also have an Aga but ours is electric - and we have a LPG (gas cylinder) hob and electric fan oven which we use in the summer (um..like now) when it is toooooo hot to have the Aga on. Aga is lovely though, makes the house feel really homey and comfy, great for drying washing on (no need to iron) and you get used to cooking with it very quickly.

[ReneRusso]

Yes, oil central heating is fine, annual service just like any boiler.

[sallyjaygorce]

Think I'm being paranoid about carcinogenic potential of oil fumes but imagine fumes are unlikely if everything is well serviced. An oil supplier told me today that Topanol which is an additive used to clean standard kerosene is carcinogenic - we wre about to order some. But they are from a rival firm which used Glowmax - apparently not a carcinogen. I've been a victim of scaremongering probably.

[ChristieF]

We lived in Devon for a while in an area with no gas. The house had been gutted and they had put in new solid fuel heating. We changed it straight away at a cost of £5000. Getting up at 5.30 to start a coal fire was beyond a joke. Having a fire on overnight wasn't on as I have a real fear of chimney fires and the chimney ran straight up past the bedrooms of my two sons. We had the boiler changed to oil. I found that the fumes given out were appalling. Very diesely smell. I mentioned it to firm doing it (reputable old local firm) and it was normal. I suppose you get used to it.