Converting from oil to gas central heating

[Gingerish]

Hi has anyone ever converted from oil to gas central heating and can give me any idea what this might entail?

Im looking at a house to buy which has an oil boiler in a little outdoor hose and an oil tank. I've checked to see if the house can be linked up to the main gas network and it can be, but I can't tell if this is going to be a simple enough job or a major hassle!

Any advise appreciated

[Ariela]

Why on earth would you consider doing this when gas prices are through the roof and gas will be outdated in time, plus oil is now cheaper to heat a house even with recent increases?

The way to go is ground or air source heating IMHO.

My tips on oil are a) ONLY buy in the height of a heatwave in the summer - prices will be cheapest
b) ONLY buy when others are buying - we have a buying arrangement in our road on a WhatsApp group - someone will say they need to buy and others chip in at same time to get a bulk deal OR buy through eg Boiler Juice to get a group deal
c) if at all possible order a min of 1000 litres at a time

[Ariela]

If you do convert, you'll need to pay to get gas installed which is tens of thousands depending on distance from road, plus a new boiler usually.

[Gingerish]

@Ariela Thanks. Those tips are really useful.

I was considering it because I had read some stories online where it seemed very expensive to heat a house with oil and that made me nervous. Im in Ireland and at at the moment my gas rates are not too bad whereas it seems oil is expensive. I won't claim to know anything about it though as I've only just started thinking about it having seen this house on the market.

I ran it past my plumber when he serviced our current gas boiler and he said he thought it would cost about 5k which didn't seem too bad if it worked out cheaper over a long period of time but he may be way out costs wise.

However I hear what you say about considering more eco options. I need to look into what these involve.

[Theteapotsbrokenspout]

I don’t know what’s it’s like in Ireland but in Scotland we were quoted thousands to connect us to the gas supply in our village.

[TobyHouseMan]

At the moment GAS is approx 8.8p per KWh for a new contract with British gas with a standing charge of 19.1p/Day (South East England). Oil is approx 58P/Litre which is roughly 6.2p/KWh.
Both figures adjusted for a 90% efficient boiler.

So for a 21,000 KWh yearly usage, you'd be paying £1300 for oil and £1850 for GAS.


Currently, no savings to be made here by converting to GAS except you'll likely get a more efficient boiler than you have currently, but you would also if you had a new oil boiler.

People often say it is more efficient to heat using GAS than oil. This is mostly nonsense.

[LeaderoftheAteam]

We've just swapped for oil and love it. We tipped up the tank when we moved in around £500 which should last at least 6 months. We are a large family that like a warm house. Before we were paying £200pcm to heat a smaller but older house with Scottish power

[Blinkingbatshit]

Oil USED to be more expensive than gas - in the last 8 years this has changed considerably since oil prices have dropped and gas prices shot up. I’m really happy to have oil these days😁

[magicstar1]

I'm in Ireland too, and moved into a house with oil heating a few years ago. We decided to try it, and it's great. Fill up when the prices are down, make sure your thermostat and boiler are serviced and working properly, and then it's quite reasonable.
We bought an extra oil tank last year when prices dropped, and have had heating and hot water from April 20 - October 21 for about €600.

[Gingerish]

I'm having a hard time imagining what the new cost might be as we currently live in a 2 bed terraced house and pay around €40 per month on level pay for gas.

The new house is a 4 bed semi and has a worse energy efficiency rating than this house

I looked at the connection charge for the address and it was only €280 but you also need a licence to open the road and then lay the pipework. Apparently it includes up to 15 metres which should be long enough. I'm not sure if you have to pay for the licence and then someone to dig up the road though. Our plumber said about €5k for a new boiler and to connect everything up.

However if oil is affordable and then we will just stay with that. I just had a view that it was going to cost a bomb.

Anyone with oil - how low do you let you tank get before refilling?

[TobyHouseMan]

I let it get down to a minimum of 100 liters before I fill back up with 500 liters (minimum you can normally get delivered at a time) - cost about £300 at the moment.

[ApplesAreTheBaneOfMyLife]

A neighbour of mine is having this done at the moment. It is apparently costing her £1000s because the road has had to be closed for a week while the work is done.

[eurochick]

We've just moved into a house with an oil boiler. It's fine. The tank isn't pretty but we have a beast of a boiler that keeps this old house warm. There's no option for gas here so we are holding out for air source heat pumps to improve and will hopefully move to that in future. Gas will be phased out for domestic use anyway.