Oil heated homes - bad idea?

[loveclouds]

Hello
I am close to a nervous break down looking for a new place to rent. We live in Surrey, very expensive and over priced area. Three girls squashed in one room, no garden, tiny terraced house and you can hear your neighbours breathe. So we decided to do a big move out and get more for our money. It has been so depressing, can not find an affordable three bed home anywhere. We have been looking all over Kent and West Sussex. We want affordable three beds, garden and near good schools! Next to impossible! But I found one property, my partner is not so into it but I can imagine making it our home. It ticks all the boxes, bit more rural than planned but next to an outstanding school and they have places for our girls HIP HIP HOORAY. That has been our main problem, we found many homes but no school for miles had places for both girls (youngest only three). But this home is oil heated. We are use to Gas so I know its going to be more expensive but how much more? It is a three bed converted barn with old windows that are not double glazed. I am willingly to have to wrap up and feel a little chilly if it means we will have more space, massive garden and good school for girls. But realistically will we regret it and will we be able to afford it?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
x

How long is a piece of string ? Last two years we've spent £950 and £1100 on oil per annum (our buyers asked) but that's to heat the house the way we like it. PIL have gas, like to have water at 80C and spend £150 a month. The insulation and windows will probably have more effect on your fuel bills than the difference between oil and gas. And the house may be on a gas route now

I reckon the old windows will be the problem, one friend I know says she sticks up plastic sheets over her windows in the winter and it really helps... I guess if they were terribly leaky we could do that.

We spend about £1000 on oil each year heating a four bed double glazed semi if that helps.

Same here, when we first filled the tank 14 years ago , it was £200 now it costs £750!!! But it keeps us warm. Just make sure you check it regularly in the winter, running out is miserable!

Thank you - not as bad as I thought. But no double glazed windows and it is also detached so no heat from neighbours.

Hi, we have had oil in our last house and in our current house. We have a 4 bed detached house, and spend approx £1200 per year on oil, which does all our heating and hot water. However, our house is very well insulated (thick walls, double glazing, loads of insulation in the roof) and we are not at home during the day so only run heating for a bit in the morning and evening. I think oil and gas are fairly similar in price, maybe a £100 per year either way, for identical houses. The big problem for you will be the single glazed windows, as they will leach heat.

heating a barn conversion, especially one as badly insulated as this one, is going to cost a bomb whatever you do.

As pointed out, oil is not much pricier per therm than gas, but it also depends on the age and efficiency of the boiler. Monitor the oil price and fill up when it is cheaper - now is good.

if this is a rental there won't be much you can do about the insulation or the boiler. That said it is Surrey not Scotland!

"When it is cheaper"...? Does the price change throughout the year? Or do you mean with the usual yearly increase of everything?
Thanks

It's a bit odd going from gas to oil, I'm just getting used to it. It costs a lot for us but we have a leaky old cottage with a boiler that's possibly older than me! It does panic me a bit in winter when you start running low and snow is forecast but I'm getting the hang of it.
Is there any other heat source ie wood burner? They help.
Oil c/h wouldn't put me off buying a property, you just become more aware of what you use and that's no bad thing really.

Oh yes, it's usually cheaper in the summer months- less demand.

The oil price goes up and down like petrol prices do with the international oil price, with the added complication of seasonal demand.

In a good year it's cheaper in summer, in a bad year when there is trouble in the Middle East or OPEC are being greedy it isn't.

My mostly double glazed, but badly insulated, large 3 bed old stone house costs ~£1000 a year (but we have a 2000l tank and buy that in one go), oil is much more expensive if you get the tanker to deliver small amounts.

I've no idea how much gas is, I ought to ask DM. She keeps proper accounts. I don't I haven't the faintest idea what our electricity bill is, apart from far, far too much.

I do know the oil, because I ring round as our local suppliers vary slightly and slightly x2000 is worth money.

Ours is about £1200 per year for 4 bed conversion. The windows will make a big difference i'm afraid

When we had our double glazing fitted we noticeably felt the heat retained

We get a discount if we order at the same time as our neighbours. The next village has a co-operative and order for those who need it 3-4 times a year. You could see if there is such a local scheme

great advice thank you! i need to find out what size tank it is.

as an example, the price dropped by 10p a litre in a week in late April. Minimum order is usually 500 litres.

here's a link to show you what the price has done over a period which you can choose.

www.boilerjuice.com/heatingOilPrices.php

two top tips:

1. never run out
2. the tank will have a sight gauge on the side. Pull out the knob on the bottom to see the true level. Failure to do this can cause 1) !!!

we have oil and for our 3 bedroom granite cottage with some double glazing we paid about £1500 last year. We live in the sticks too and it's the only viable option. We also have a log burner which we use if it snows

We have a 4 bed barn comedian and spend around £1500 a year in oil.
I use the wood burner a lot in winter too to keep the usage down and pop oil filled heaters in the kids bedrooms. We are v north Scotland tho.

Conversion not comedian. It's not that funny spending £1500 a year on oil!
I'd go for the house, sounds fab. Our kids love the open space

yes Purple we also had oil filled heaters around the house. We are in Jersey and it was very cold for us last years, plus our radiators need replacing. I am hoping to save a few ££ next year once we have new rads!

lol just seen barn comedian

i was thinking comedian? thought i missed something as i am so tired! :)

thank you all, feel so much more positive about it now.

xxx

You need to think about it slightly differently, in my experience.

You keep the house colder, but you all wear more layers - everyone wears a thermal top and a jumper at all times, you have fluffy slippers, you have blankets on the sofa to snuggle into when watching TV, you sit with a hot water bottle and take it up to bed, etc

It turns out that there are even special knitted wrist warmers you can put on - and very much appreciated they were as housewarming gifts, too!

You are going to be pretty cold and skintight.

Skint, sorry, on phone

So thinking if I am going to be skint then I am going to put in a lower offer. Its down for £1200 pcm, we were looking around £1100 so I might say £1000 and see what they say.