Rural house - oil central heating and soakaways

[thegraduand]

The great house search continues, we've found one we like which is a bit in the middle of nowhere. It has oil central heating, can anyone give me an idea of running costs? It's a good size Victorian farmhouse.

The owner also said they had a soakaway in the garden rather than a septic tank. From google I can only find soakaways that drain off surface water, is this what is likely to be? I thought septic tanks dealt with poo etc so anyone know how it is likely to work?

hiya.. we've got an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere...
Oil central heating is not cheap... but then, no fuel is anymore... our oil only covers our water and central heating and costs about £1500 a year. It's cheaper to buy oil in summer so you should stock up then and also join an oil club as you then get discounts for bulk buying.
I think the owner is talking about a cess pit, which we also have... Basically a very large container which holds your solid waste and a soak away where all your grey water (sewage, rain run off, washing machine water etc) discharges into the ground. You need to have a permit from the Environmental agency for this, so you should ask to see this in your paperwork) We had to creat a new soak away last year, which was back breaking but not hugely expensive. Hope that helps

If you're not used to not being on mains gas or mains sewers it can seem daunting. But neither are big deals, you can order oil and tank drainage online and both can be done without you having to be in so they don't have much impact. Www.boilerjuice.com will give you quotes for oil plus you can see how the price varies over the year. The only downside with a septic tank/cess pit is you have to be a little more careful about not choosing toxic cleaning products or running gallons on water unnecessarily into the tank. But actually this is better for the environment anyway (and your water rates will be lower).

We are on oil as there is no mains gas in our village. We spent £1200 last year (three bed 1940's semi) but it was our first year in this house with this heating system so are still trying to figure out the best way of running it. I would have preferred to have been on mains gas but it didn't put us off of the house we loved.

Can't help with the other,sorry.

We aren't on mains for gas or sewer, we have a proper septic system, with leech lines (soakaway?) no problems so long as it's toroughly checked out to make sure it's working as it should. We piped out the washing machine to water a crop of trees well away from the house, and that works brilliantly.
Heat with have propane central heat that we rarely use and also for hot water that we use a lot. But have a multifuel stove in the house heats it up beautifully.

We decided we can cope with no mains gas or sewers, but we are questioning the lack of decent broadband

lack of decent broadband IS an issue -internet access saves money, end of. Satellite broadband?

regarding oil - it shouldn't cost more than gas IF you have a decently insulated house and a modern boiler. I'm just going through the boiler replacement thing, the answer is a bit under £3000 all in (just boiler and bits, not pipes, hot water tank or oil tank) but with the efficiency saving it should pay off in about five years. The old one is on the way out anyway.

you need to time your oil purchases correctly by monitoring the price.

We walked away from a lovely house as it had no possibility of broadband and no mobile reception (MOD blackout zone).

Also had a true soakaway (pozo negro) in our old cortijo in Spain. Never had any problems. It was designed to never be emptied but couldn't put loo paper down the pan and had to use non toxic cleaning products to allow the bacteria to work on breaking down the solids - boak too much information

are you moving near me? I haven't got any broadband either... my house has speeds of 118kb per sec!!!!
That is a problem.. thankfully I have fast broadband at home but the lack at home is always causing nightmares

We have oil for heating and hot water only (electricity for cooking). Costs £1200 per year but we use the heating very sparingly and only have a 3 bed semi.

The current owners have told us what broadband speed they get, and apparently you can stream TV so it should be OK. Good point about mobile, will check reception when we go back for second look.

We've also asked the owners how much they spend on oil. There are 3 houses together and apparently they club together to buy oil. The oil boiler is new.

Now we just have to decide if we want semi-rural living. It's about 2 miles from the local village, which is a reasonable size (small co-op, banks, chip shop and indian), so not the middle of nowhere, but not a 5 minute walk for a pint of milk which is what we have now. We are trying to decide if DD would prefer a big garden to roam and play in or will want to be living in walking distance of her friends (once she's a teenager she should be ok cycling)

We have satellite broadband in my rural house. the big dish that goes with it may be a problem in a listed building or conservation area.

Hmm, if you are in England, I'd ask more questions about the soakaway. The rules changed a couple of years ago and some older systems are no longer legal.

Putting in a replacement system won't be cheap but isn't impossible provided you have enough land and are not near a watercourse. Have a look on the environment agency website for a bit more info.

Also, it'd be a good idea to ask about maintenance schedules / frequency and cost of clearing out / any problems during periods of prolonged heavy rain with the soakaway. Victorian systems have clay pipes, which can collapse, and were really not designed for the amount of waste water a modern family produces.

And does it serve just your house? Shared private sewage is a recipe for disaster ( and unpredictable costs!) unless a really clear agreement is in place.

Normal modern septic tanks are fine, and easy to live with; ancient, unmaintained, unconventional sewage systems, less so ime.

The soakaway was installed by the current owners who have been there less than three years, so I would hope it is legal, but good to know about the rules.

This is what we have been told by the current owners about the soakaway

Yes the soak away is for all waste (which means no sewerage charge on the water bill). We had the drains replaced and a new soak away put in when we moved in and there have been no costs or maintenance required since. It is a naturally draining system so doesn't need emptying or regular maintenance.

I still don't understand what happens to the poo. I don't know if it makes any different it is on the edge of Fens so lots of waterways

We used to live in a house with oil central heating and a septic tank - never again! Heating was very expensive and we got caught short several times as the tank ran out and we had to wait for deliveries.

Plus we had tons of issues with our septic tank so looked into have a soakaway installed. From what I understand, soakaways have a limited life and you need check that the soil etc can cope with the soakaway otherwise you could end up with very soggy land indeed.

Please do your homework - I would never live in a rural spot or in an older house again after what we went through.

Septic tanks and soakaways are absolutely fine if you look after them! Be careful what goes down your drains in the way of loo & surface cleaners, don't put too much/anything in the way of sanitary stuff down and it will work fine. Septic tanks are designed NOT to be emptied, although most people do empty them. When we sold last year the surveyor asked for the invoice for the last time we had it emptied, and was surprised that it was 3 years old.

Oil is expensive, but if you can club together it will make a difference - the village we live in has someone who you contact and he makes a monthly order, it brings the price down a good few pence per litre. You can also have alarms fitted to your tank to let you know when you are running low. Does the house have open fires or log burners? If so, get your order for wood in now when it's a)cheaper and b)drier!

Good luck - enjoy. Moving to a more rural area takes a bit of adjusting to, but for me the advantages outweigh the disadvantages easily.

House has open fires, can't remember about log burners. It has loads of wood that I think the owners will leave as they've chopped down a couple of big trees in the garden

Get that wood under cover and in a dry place as soon as you can - freshly cut down trees will not make a good fire. If it looks like it will be too damp then put it somewhere dry for next year and get this year's order in asap.

Wood is under cover its in a big wood store/ garage

open fires are very inefficient, you will probably need to look at log burners. Remember wood needs to be cut and stacked, then shifted.