Oil based central heating?

[rabbitrabbit]

Does anyone know anything about it? EG how expensive in comparison to usual gas heating? Does it work as well etc?

Thanks

[suedonim]

We installed oil ch at home in Scotland and have been very pleased with it. I don't know how it compares pricewise with gas but you can probably find out somewhere on the net.

We pay for oil on a budget scheme and it's delivered regularly, 10 weekly, I think it is. We can also ask for extra deliveries if we think we are running low eg have lots of visitors. I believe there is now a gadget that remotely tells the supplier how much oil is left in your tank, too.

Other people prefer to buy their oil as & when they need it, phoning round for the cheapest quote. Hth.

[ellieandhattie]

put a message out for EDDAS she has just had this installed in her home and her dh works in a plumbing shop

[notasheep]

Oil was far more expensive for us

[rabbitrabbit]

Thanks everyone-will try and get hold of EDDAS (and look into the info I've got here too.)

[bobsmum]

We're not on mains gas. The alternative for us was oil and we really didn't want a massive oil tank in our back garden, nor the expense of having to install it and construct a concrete plinth for it to sit on.

So we're going to install a geothermal heat pump instead. A long lengthy process, but v green, so we will get a 1/3 off grant from the Scottish Executive for installing it.

We're getting our from Invisible Heating Solutions.

[throckenholt]

depends on how efficient your boilers - I think the new condensing ones are very efficient. Never had gas - so can't compare.

[suedonim]

I forgot to say, we don't have mains gas and electric heating we had when we moved in was incredibly expensive - £700 bill for six weeks - and we were still cold. I wouldn't have oil if gas was an option, just for the convenience.

Concrete plinths aren't necessary these days (at least, not in our area) and tanks come in all shapes and sizes; ours is tall and narrow so it fits into a small slot.

Bobsmum, do you have links for your CH? Sounds interesting.

[MuffinMclay]

We spend £400 twice a year to fill our oil tank (largish 3 bed house). The fuel level goes down very quickly in winter when the heating is on, but we use next to nothing in the summer months when we're just heating water.

[Charleesunnysunsun]

We pay £70 monthly for our oil and it gets topped up every 3-4 months

[newlifenewname]

We used oil - LPG and it was waaaaaaaaaay expensive. Never again, God no!

The extremely flammable oil tank bothers me too, irrationally mind.

Also, you have to keep topped up above a third or else it just evaporates away costing you even more.

[satine]

We have oil fired central heating and water and fill our 1000 litre tank twice a year at a cost of about £360 a time.

We have a combination boiler that heats the water on demand (no need for a tank keeping water hot all the time) and it's very efficient.

Surely no more flammable or dangerous than highly flammable gas being piped into your home?!

[ChasingSquirrels]

no gas in our village, we have oil fired central heating.
our last few bills have been between £3/400 (can't remember what without looking) and we fill it about twice a year (reasonable sized 4 bedroom house). We have a combi-boiler. House is about 8 years old, so presumably reasonably well insulated etc.
Never heard the thing about keeping it more than 1/3 full.

[eandh]

have emailed eddas and linkedto this thread for you

[TootyFrooty]

We have oil here (no mains gas in these parts). We have a huge tank and a brand new condenser boiler. We fill up once every six months and it seems really efficient and works well for us (6 bed house). Not sure how it compares with gas as we don't have the option. I know it's miles cheaper than calor gas which we had at our old house.

[bobsmum]

suedonim

The company who will make the heatpump are

Invisible Heating

Unfortunately they don't project manage, so we've had to find our own electrician and plumber. That's been what's taken so long - the pump itself will only take about 6 wks to manufacture etc. Hate plumbers. OUr 4 th attempt at a plumber is still on holiday in the Caribbean apparently.

IHS did recommend a rockdrilling company in our area as we are having 2 100m boreholes in the front garden rather than taking up metres of 1m trenches and using the coils. A bit more expensive, but more practical if you don't have acres and acres of land!

We have a coal fired back boiler and it's sooooooo expensive, not to mention a pile of pants!

[bobsmum]

Ground Source Heat Pumps

We have a lot of people locally watching and waiting for our installation as there seems to be a growing interest in this sort of alternative.

Works like a fridge in reverse taking the heat from the ground and doing soemthing sciency to it. We'll need to replace a few of our radiators to larger sized ones, but other than that , nothing incredibly fancy. THe pump itself is about the same size as a conventional boiler unit.

Eventually we may install a solar panel to power the teeny amount of electricity needed t o power the system and we'll be entirely self sufficient!

[Eddas]

Hiya, not sure i'll be alot of help as dh is the expert.

We got oil as there's no gas supply here. But since dh works in a plumbing and heating merchants he wangled cheap stuff(or free) and a very nice friend of his starting 'helping' to put it in but ended up doing most of it!

Ok, here's dh!! he says that oil is more expensive to install but is on a par running wise ie buying the oil/gas.


If you have any specific questions i can relay them to dh for you. That wasn't really much help was it

[rabbitrabbit]

Thanks Eddas, and everyone else, for all the replies. Tbh it's a comfort to know that there's quite a few people who use it. It looks, on the whole, like it might even be cheaper than what we're paying for gas on a 4bed house. Thanks again

[suedonim]

Thanks for the links, Bobsmum - they look interesting.