Anyone with oil-fired central heating?

[SingingBabooshkaBadly]

DH and I have had an offer accepted on a house we love. One thing I’m a little wary of is that it has oil-fired central heating. The vendors have shown us their oil bills and they are quite low but I’m assuming they probably use their heating less than we do. DH is disabled so doesn’t get warm moving around much and we’re at home all day so when the heating’s needed it tends to be on from the moment we get up until we go to bed.

Anyone out there with experience of this? The boiler is an old-style floor-standing one which we might replace with a wall mounted one though I’ve also heard oil boilers can be sited outside. The other option is to convert to gas of course.

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have been in rented property for 11 years with oil fired central heating and an old floor standing boiler. I also have an Aga. My house is very big and I only heat a small portion for about 4 - 5 hours a day in cold weather. The heating bills are enormous.

I don't know if it is my very inefficient boiler or just oil heating in general.

Sorry for my story

Ps. My house is also very old and weatherboarded and bad insulation.

Over 20 years ago we rented a bungalow with oil central heating

We had no problems

Just had to keep an eye on the gauge on the tank that didn't run out

Our boiler was in kitchen but tank was outside (we were in countryside so felt secure from oil thieves, but not sure I would in a town, unless kept locked up securely)

We moved to a 1980s property with oil central heating (combi boiler) 4 years ago and I don't think it's much, if any, more expensive than our gas heating at our previous property. For context, the boiler here is about 10 years old so reasonably efficient and the house is well insulated (thick double glazing and cavity walls / loft insulated). The boiler and insulation at our previous home were of a similar standard.
Oil prices go up and down like a yo-yo so some years it's cheaper than others. If the tank is big enough, fill up in the summer months when oil is usually cheaper.

Thanks for the replies -much appreciated. Sounds like it really will depend on how well or not the house is insulated. Don’t think we could cope with only having the heating on for a few hours a day Lavandes!

I suppose the answer might be to go through one winter with it as is and then assess whether we need to convert or not. At the very least I’d like to change the boiler which takes up a lot of space in a not particularly big kitchen.

Far cheaper than gas and we had ours topped up 3 monthly rather than ever running out and paid on a monthly standing order.

I moved from a house with gas to a house with oil approx 2 years ago. I much prefer gas mainly due to being able to have instant hot water without either the need for the heating or immersion to be on.

We have to fill our oil tank up approx every 3 months in winter but we are out of the house during the day on weekdays.

We've been in a house with oil fired heating & hot water for 4 years and it's been ok. We do spend a fair amount on oil (average £230pm) but it's a large old property so expect comparable gas bills would also be big.
You are very much at the mercy of oil prices. In the last few years we've paid as low as 27p per litre and at the moment it's about 47p but has been 49p.

Very large draughty, badly insulated house here. We are at home all day and the heating is hardly ever off in winter. My oil bills average about £1800 a year. I also have a multi fuel stove and because we have no gas, the cooker is electric.
You must shop around as prices vary between suppliers and depend on international oil prices. The most expensive way to buy oil is on a monthly contract.

We have big house (modern well insulated) & seem to spend less than a lot of MNers on gas fired CH (+hot water). Our bill has been about £550/yr for last 12 yrs. Our boilers is maybe 89% efficient. Must be serviced annually -- that costs maybe £60-£90 each time.

You need to find out about the insulation status; walls & ceiling/loft. Is the house in an exposed situation (windy) or well sheltered by surrounding homes.

The other option is to convert to gas of course.

Are you sure? Are any of the neighbours on gas? Usually homes are on oil because mains gas is nowhere close & LPG can be even more expensive. It would cost ££££ to get a gas line extended 80m down the road to reach my home.

I agree we didn't offer on an amazing house we saw as there was no mains gas to the village and the increases year on year with oil are shocking also the good chance of an increase due to environmental tax in the future. I would do so investigation on the increases in "fuel oil" prices and the actual availability of Gas in the area

Wouldn't bother me. We have oil heating, as there is no mains gas in our village. Oil prices fluctuate a lot, if you join one of the oil heat by syndicates can get reasonable deals. We buy oil 3 or 4 times a year you just need to budget for that. Doesn't go wrong any more often than gas.

I have had oil for 20 years now- oil price varies, was about 23p/litre about 2 years ago currently about 49p around here. I joined the Oil Club and they allow you to purchase down to 500L for the same price as 1500L. I also look at boilerjuice and home fuels direct and ring around, especially if I want 1000L or so. The local authority also facilitate an oil buying group.
My husband retired about 7 years ago and I retired last year. We have the heating on more now, but don't seem to have used a great deal more oil- about 2000L per year for a large 4 bed- double glazed, walls insulated, roof probably could do with more insulation- we are at the top of a hill backing onto fields. My boiler is in the garage. ( The amount of oil is more important that the amount your sellers have spent - costs vary greatly)
You need to know how much it would cost to convert to gas to decide if it worth it. Our village is not on gas , even though the gas main runs through it and one of the farms feeds biogas into it. Grrr!!
I have been reading up on ground heat boilers and air heat boilers on the Energy Saving Trust website and these might be worth considering as an alternative.

We lived in a house with oil fired central heating for three years. We used boilerjuice who find deals on it and paid into a tank account monthly which covered our costs mostly. Then when you wanted the quicker you wanted it the more you’d pay per litre. Prices did go up in the time we were there - we were paying £65 a month for a big house although generally not on during the daytime and cooker was electric.

Moved to a coal fired one which was much worse although have recently converted to mains gas as a neighbour did the initial ground work so only had to pay the connection fee of £695 and then have boiler etc sorted.

The oil price is more volatile than gas, however iirc it's actually been a cheaper form of energy for the past few years.

4 bedroom well insulated semi. No problems at all with oil (as long as you keep an eye on the levels ) and doesn't seem any more expensive than when we had gas.

We have oil fired heating and water and my bills for an old, 3 bed, draughty, poorly insulated semi detached house are less than my daughter's newer, gas fired 3 bed detached home. Our system doesn't need to fire up the whole system just for hot water and we keep the house at 18° during the winter months. We try to buy oil in bulk in the summer when prices tend to be lower then top up 1-2 times in the colder months.

buying in June-August is generally a good time... buying in bulk is good.
You ideally want a large tank so you can take advantage of good price; having a small tank puts you at mercy of whatever price.

DP and I live in a 30's semi with oil fired central heating. Our oil bill works out at about £800 per year, though we do burn wood as well on a wood burner in the kitchen/dining room which is where we try to live in the winter. Prices have gone up quite a lot recently as have prices at the pumps.

We live in a Scottish coastal village where thanks to the cliffs, no one has gas. The house is a big stone one built around 140 years ago and we have oil fired central heating. We usually get the tank filled twice a year and bills vary from 700 to 1200 pounds as we have a tendency to wait until we almost run out before ordering more/not planning properly getting it in the summer. It is a big house though and can get very cold in winter, especially on the ground floor.

There is nothing inherently 'wrong' with oil but you need to get a proper appraisal of all the variables. Modern boilers are a lot more efficient than older types which will be significant. Checking and increasing insulation around the home is also crucial. If there is no gas nearby it can be exceedingly expensive to get it piped in (possibly several thousands).
There are as mentioned 'best' times of year to fill with oil and having a suitably large tank (1500 Litres or 2000 Litres) ought to see you heated for around a year or maybe a bit more with some flexibility on when you have to fill up.
If you can cope with a spreadsheet to evaluate all the various aspects you would get a much better view on things.
The mention of ground source hear pumps (and indeed air source hear pumps) CAN be an interesting idea BUT you will likely need to replace all or most of the radiators for larger sizes, and or consider underfloor heating as ground/air pumps get rather inefficient trying to get the (radiator) water up to the temperature that an oil or gas boiler can produce. Oil or gas boilers usually put the water to the radiators at around 75 Centigrade or a bit more, ground/air pumps rather lower at around 60 degrees or so, which can be compensated for by having 'oversize' radiators.
It is all down to the details and needs to be looked at as a complete 'package'. Heating, insulation and so on. I would suggest either serious reading, and/or get at least 3 'professionals' to make a proper evaluation of your situation.

Hmm...lots to think about, thanks for the replies.

lijkk pretty sure we could convert to gas. It’s about 15 minute walk to the centre of town and I know others in the road have gas. It’s a 1930s house and apparently has only had three owners from new so I think it’s just that nobody has ever bothered to convert, rather than that they couldn’t.

Haberpop -I think our heating bills will always be high regardless of the energy form. Couldn’t cope with18c! We are such lightweights...

Dasiymay haven’t heard of ground heat or air heat boilers -off to google them!

Although applicable to any form of heating, having the house 'zoned' with 3 or maybe more 'areas which can be heated independently can help massively. If you 'live' in a couple of rooms downstairs for most of the day these could be one zone, with bedrooms etc on another zone each with their own thermostat/timer and (for convenience) electrically controlled valves.

Ground source you usually need LAND which you can dig up to bury the necessary heat collecting pipework (or a heat collector that is something like a radiator). This usually means big holes at least 2 metres deep. Air source is often quite noisy, and you may not be popular in a close neighbourhood (or even with yourself!).
Although both are interesting technologies the cost of implementation may be high as I said earlier it may involve new radiators throughout especially if you aspire to well over 18 Centigrade.

How close "on the road". I'm a 15 minute walk to town centre & houses about 100 yds away have gas... but we don't.

Almost 3 yrs ago, people paying £350-£700 to get a connection.

2005 MSE thread says you need to be within 23metres to get a cheap connection (£400 was then cheap). That's before you get boiler & compatible radiators installed.