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Original poster

Cost of oil or LPG heating

43 replies

LyndaCaerau · 01/01/2013 22:11

Hi this is my first post and wondered if anyone could help me. We are hoping to move house further into the countryside but I have noticed that most of the houses are either heated using LPG or Oil, I have been told that this is very expensive. I just wondered what people's experience of this is, what the costs are in comparison to mains gas, many thanks

OP posts:
goodmum123 · 01/01/2013 22:45

hi,
we live quite remotely in a detached 3 bed house with lots of insulation, modern underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. we are in derbyshire and use oil.
on average we spend £700 a time to fill a 1000 litre tank (which is probably what you'd have) and do that 3 times a year. £2100 in total for heat and we're never cold.
we try to put by 200 month into an account to be comfortable. hope that helps

Original poster
LyndaCaerau · 01/01/2013 22:54

Wow that seems like a lot, I was hoping it would be less.I wonder if solar panels or ground heating would help.
Thanks for replying

OP posts:
Dromedary · 01/01/2013 23:03

We live in a 4 bed detached. I think we spend about £600 a year on oil (heating and hot water) - that would be 2 deliveries a year of 500 litres each. Obviously it depends a lot on how much you're in and using heat and hot water. We tend to wait until it gets fairly cold before starting to use the radiators, and don't use hot water every day.

Fluffycloudland77 · 02/01/2013 08:14

We lived in the country on all electric, the house was always cold. The storage rads were useless.

Our ndn had LPG, her monthly bill for a 5 bed detach was £300 in the winter.

Look at wood burners and free solar panels, sometimes I read articles about ground source pumps costing more to run, something to do with electric being needed to start them up?

The energy saving trust website is very good for things like this.

Original poster
LyndaCaerau · 02/01/2013 08:36

Thanks all for your replies, I will look into other sources of heating or may need to rethink location,you see this will be our forever house, so when we are pensioners I don't really want to be worried about how to pay for heating

OP posts:
Virgil · 02/01/2013 09:11

We have oil heating (for water and radiators) and it is incredibly expensive. We have a couple of tanks a year and whilst the price of oil fluctuates it always seems to be at about 75p whenever we fill up.

We only manage to keep it to a couple of tanks because we also have a log burner and a free log supply.

babooshkadoll · 02/01/2013 09:14

Large well insulated house in country.
Put away 200 a month for oil.
Usually fill tank in summer when fuel cheaper
Large older style tank means can take advantage of when prices drop.
Never cold DH will not have a cold house!

Dromedary · 02/01/2013 10:48

Really surprised at how much some of you are spending? Does this mean that you are in during the day (eg SAHMs)? Personally I have found oil cheaper than gas. Surprised at how cheap it has been this year. And you seem to be spending almost 50% more per litre than we are. We have a village purchasing group, which keeps costs down a bit.

Fluffycloudland77 · 02/01/2013 10:56

I think the insulation levels, flooring choice and position make a difference, our house was in a spot so windy they want to put a wind farm down the road.

The floors were all laminate barring stairs.

They was only a thin layer of loft insulation.

The radiators were old.

Now if it had been a properly insulated house with proper dg and nice thick carpets and new storage rads I think it would have been a totally different experiene. I still wonder if the people who bought it off the LL have ever known cold like it.

Virgil · 02/01/2013 10:57

Boiler juice price is 60p per litre in our area today.

We are not at home during the day but the house is large. Cavity wall insulation has made a difference this year and we have made a conscious effort to have the fire lit constantly since the autumn.

Dromedary · 02/01/2013 11:07

Our house is cob, which means it is very warm. I never put the radiators on in the morning, even in midwinter, as it's never so cold that you need them on just to get dressed. This probably explains part of the difference in cost.

Original poster
LyndaCaerau · 02/01/2013 23:15

Well thanks everyone for your replies, there is quite a difference in some replies, I suppose it's due to a number of factors,size,insulation,terraced,detached etc. I have as suggested taken a look at renewable energy, ground source, biofuels wondered if anyone has any of these installed and what your comments are?
Thanks again Lynda

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 03/01/2013 00:52

nobody should have poor loft insulation

it is very cheap to DIY, and there are usually subsidised offers from BG, the electricity companies, council, even Tesco and B&Q. It makes a huge difference to comfort and economy.

That said, a large, old or draughty house will always be less comfortable in winter, and more expensive to heat.

Dromedary · 03/01/2013 13:04

Bear in mind that loft insulation usually consists of glass fibres. In the US this is classfied as a carcinogen - it is very similar to asbestos fibres. I would therefore avoid DIYing it.

specialsubject · 03/01/2013 13:27

oil is roughly a penny per kwh more expensive than mains gas - LPG is more expensive than that. HOWEVER older oil boilers are less efficient (mine is only about 75%)
so you lose on that, and that's why people think it is much more expensive. You can also see the level dropping rather than having an apparently infinite supply of gas.

if the property isn't on mains gas now, it is never going to be unless a big estate is built near by.

I paid 60p a litre for oil in early December, you need to shop around (Boilerjuice etc not always cheaper) and never buy in the depths of winter. Also don't sign up to standing order arrangements, shop around for each tank.

LPG can't be stolen (this is an issue with oil in some areas) but you are locked in to one supplier, and it is more expensive in the first place.

when looking at a property off the gas, look at insulation, windows etc etc , and also ask about the age and efficiency of the boiler. Job for new year is to replace ours; they go on for ever with an annual service but we do need to cost up a newer one.

PigletJohn · 03/01/2013 13:30

"In the US this is classfied as a carcinogen"
Is there some evidence sto support this allegation?

"it is very similar to asbestos fibres"
No it isn't

PigletJohn · 03/01/2013 13:45

"The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) changed its classification in November 2001:

Fibreglass is now not classifiable as carcinogenic to humans and is no longer considered ?possibly carcinogenic to humans?.
The reasons for the change are:

Studies of occupational exposure during manufacture of fiberglass show no evidence of increased risk of cancer; and
There is an increased use of ?biosoluble? fiberglass, which has been tested and found to be non-carcinogenic. "

see also www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21345360

Dromedary · 03/01/2013 15:07

Apologies Piglet, I think that in the US it is in fact classified as likely to be or possibly carcinogenic, and I understand (but haven't been there to check) that glass fibre loft insulation is marked with that type of warning there.

The IARC classification is the one quoted by many of the people marketing glass fibre, but it is not the only body to classify, and other bodies disagree.

NB only some fibreglass products are biosulable.

There has been some research, with increases in cancer shown in animal research, and also in surveys of workers in firbreglass factories (in particular in women). As I understand it there has not been research on the risk to those installing glass fibre insulation. From what I have read installers can be exposed to 100 times as many fibres as factory workers.

That is all I have to say on the matter - anyone who is interested can research the issue themselves. There is a lot of information on the internet, including detailed explanations of the research carried out. But I think that it would be unwise to place reliance on the publicitity put out by glass fibre companies themselves, however tempting it is to rely on such reassurances.

LillethTheCat · 03/01/2013 15:28

I am on oil heating. 3 bed semi with a dining room extension downstairs. We moved here in March and have just ordered 500 litres which arrived xmas eve. This was our 4th order of 500 litres (just over £300 a time). We dont have £200 to put away a month just yet so have to get it when we need it/can afford it.

Though our house is colder than it should be as we are saving up for a carpet ATM.

The main thing I find annoying is that you can't order less than 500 litres. We did underestimate how quick it would go down over winter and probably had the heating on more than we should. We have since learned and are limiting the heating to 3 hours a day. Once it warms up it warms up quick and stays warm for a while.

Im hoping next year we wont need quite as much as we carpet our front room and we can learn to limit it more than we do.

Startail · 03/01/2013 15:42

3 bed, but with study and dinning room and heating on all day as I'm home.

£1200 last year, probably 14000 the two years before that were peak oil price and really cold.

We get through aprox 2000 litres of oil in 11-13 months.

I have a 2000 l tank so get it a touch cheaper if I play brinkmanship and buy that much at once.

Startail · 03/01/2013 15:44

House isn't especially well insulated, mostly double glazed.

But it is south facing and even in winter the front rooms pick up heat.

PigletJohn · 03/01/2013 17:20

Dromedary

I believe in 1990, it was defined as "possibly carciogenic" in the absence of evidence, as a guess precaution.

After actual research studies, it was reclassified in 2001 as "not carciogenic"

(see also erj.ersjournals.com/content/24/3/512.1.full

There is of course an "I hate fibreglass" pressure group in the same way as there are "I hate vaccination" groups and "I hate seatbelts" groups. These groupls like to quote the 1990 definition and ignore the 2001 definition and research papers.

The studies were not very difficult, as there are plenty of workers in factories making and packaging the stuff, as well as many many millions of homes where it has been installed by contractors who do it every day.

I do of course agree that the fibres and dust are an irritant, especially the old itchy yellow products. I now only use the Ecose treated stuff made by Knauf but sold under various brand names, which has a silky feel and does not seem to shed fibres or dust due to its coating.

RoadsTwo · 03/01/2013 17:36

4 bed detached, dining room, small study, and we spend about £950 in total each year I think. No oil buying group - just tend to use local depot or something like heatingoil.co.uk. We're mostly out during the day so it's just evenings and weekends.

I'm militant about our boiler servicing and use every insulation/energy saving thing you can think of though! Had the loft redone a few years ago but didn't dare DIY it because we're both just too busy!

poshme · 03/01/2013 17:45

OP my parents have installed a ground source heat pump. Very expensive to install, and then you have to pay electricity running costs (unless you install solar panels at the same time like they did).
They used to use oil (rural very big very old house) and costs were just going sky high. Their house was always cold.
Their house is now much warmer and they no longer use any oil- it's all from ground source.
(They also have a wood burner)
Installation costs and hassle were high, but they will not be moving ever from the house, and when they die it willbe inherited (not sold) so advantage of cheap energy is kept in the family. IYSWIM

poshme · 03/01/2013 17:47

And there is somewhere a website that directly compares the different costs per kWh of different fuels- can't find it now cos on my phone but I originally found it through googling. (we heat our house entirely from wood)