Gas vs Oil

[Eminen]

Hi
We've just put our house on the market! This is our first house, so first sale. Obviously I'm jumping the gun slightly but we've seen a house we are very keen on. However, it is oil heated rather than gas, which we are used too. What are the pros/cons of this? DH says this is a downside and will cost us more, is that true?
Thanks

Mains gas is cheaper than LPG which would be stored in a tank on your property or oil, also tank stored.

Yes, it will likely cost more but only a couple of hundred pounds a year more. To most, there aren't really any pros of LPG or oil. To me, the benefit is that not being on mains gas means you're more than likely rural. No close neighbours. No over population.

The cons. Needing to pay for a tank of LPG up front. When you're on mains gas you can pay for your usage monthly. If you have LPG or Oil then you need to pay for the tank to be filled at the time of fill mean ing you're potentially paying for 6+ months of energy up front.

Ultimately, I'd love to go completely off grid for energy. Ground source heat pump, solar & wind with a pellet boiler as a back up. The initial investment is far too much though to make it worthwhile.

PIL live rurally and have oil central heating. The main problem that they have found in recent years is a spike in oil thefts. It is very common in some areas.

We have oil too. I find it cheap and easy. It's true that there are sometimes thefts (mainly from houses where the tank is visible and easily accessible). The other obvious difference is that you can't have a gas hob. You have to be fairly organised in checking the oil level and filling up in time. I love the feeling of knowing that the oil tank and log store are full going into winter - knowing your heating bills are paid.

It is very normal to have oil or lpg central heating in the country and easy to get used to. It is a little more expensive but we use the fire a lot for heating so that is mitigated. Our house has a gas job run on lpg and we buy canisters for this. It's a bit of a fiddle but not a deal breaker of any sort although if o were putting a job in I would probably reduce the nuisance factor by having an induction hob.

we have oil heating. Our house is well insulated and it costs us about £7-800 in oil per annum. The tank is a modern bunded one with a locked lid, and our boiler is a fairly new condensing one.
We also have a multi fuel stove, which reduces the amount of oil we use. A winter's worth of logs and coal is about £160. It's a large house, so I think that's a reasonable sum to keep warm.

Just to also say, we have no mains gas in our area, so your only choices are oil, lpg or (horror of horrors) night storage. It is very common (almost universal) for rural areas not to have mains gas.

You have to be more organised than when on mains gas as you have to think about it rather than it just being there. My parents often ran out (they were shit at monitoring and ordering in time) when we were kids inevitably in the depths of winter and it wasn't always easy to get an immediate delivery
You also get less choice on who can work on your appliances as there are generally just more gas safe engineers than oil ones just due to supply and demand.
It is more expensive but if you work on making a house more energy efficient then this matters less as your consumption drops
We've also had a spate of thefts round here.
None of which would be deal breakers for the right house

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes this house is just on the outskirts of the town we currently live in so it's slightly more rural. The neighbours also have an oil tank so probably no gas mains line?
The tank is in the back garden, which is enclosed but it may be possible to attach a lock to it? The lack of gas hob doesn't bother me too much, I'd rather have an induction one.
Are there certain times of year that are cheaper to fill it up? Or does it just depend on the market?

We're currently buying a house that has oil (and I grew up in a non-gas, oil only village, so it's quite normal for me!).

It's worth checking whether there is gas to the area, it may just need a hook up to the line, which could be straightforward. If not, your area may have an oil club (I've just joined ours on this website: www.oil-club.co.uk/landingg?gclid=Cj0KCQjwkK_qBRD8ARIsAOteukCimzWlvuL4z0kkzchBr9O64lMmptdQSuibFHTgIcFLz4XdjKym9rkaAklBEALw_wcB), which theoretically should allow for cheaper prices as buying in bulk.

Definitely worth shopping around for oil, but be aware that if you run out, if you're not a regular of the supplier, and they're on a run of deliveries, you may be at the bottom of their list. Make sure you've got a decent gauge (the house we're buying from have actually got their dipstick higher than the minimum, so when it shows as being out of oil, there's still a reserve, just in case).

You can get electronic gauges. There is a sender in the tank and a receiver plugged in in the kitchen. It's shows you the tank level without having to go outside.

I love our oil. In the first year we were nervous of running out but you soon get used to it. We buy from the same supplier regularly so if we do run low they will do a rush visit (but not on a Monday as that is farm day!). It's easy to do, we have a direct debit set up, they fill the tank to full or half full as we ask then charge us for the fuel that actually went it (having given us a price per litre on the phone first), after the first go or two you get the hang of it. We don't have a gauge just a bamboo pole we stick in that we have an "order now" mark drawn on! As well as locks you can get tank alarms too. Our vicar has just organised a job lot at £25 a head.

There is no gas where I live and after being on storage heaters for a number of years, switched to oil about fifteen years ago. It is expensive and the price fluctuates according to the market so I normally phone around for a price and haggle. I have a 2,500 litre tank with a locked cover in the back garden and it costs me £1k+ twice a year. I have an electronic device that gives a reading from inside the house. Between the cost of electricity and oil, I have an annual energy bill of just under £4k for a 5 bdrm house with modern windows, double glazing and wall insulation, but sited in an exposed position on a hill. I have a fireplace but don't like to burn wood often as the soot ends up on the walls and ceiling over time. Oil would probably be a deal breaker if I had to buy another house.

@MigsandTiggs - can I ask where (roughly) in the country you are? I am wondering if it makes a big difference. Our oil to heat a 4 bed is £600 p.a. Our electricity is 2K but only because we have an electric aga, then around £200 for wood for our oil burner..so a total of £2.8K. We are Yorkshire and I had heard that home counties for example were much more expensive for oil so wondering if that is the case?

@MigsandTigs, that's a lot of oil! We have 1000 litre tank and we fill it when it gets down to 200 litres., about every 8 months As I said earlier that's around £7-800 a year. Our house is 4 bed 3 recep, and well insulated. Mind you, we are a bit miserly with the heating. In the winter it's on 6.30 to 9 in the morning and 4 to 10 in the evening. Shortfall in heat is covered by the stove. Do you have the heating on all the time in winter?
@catsbeensickagain - our oil is very reasonably priced. We're in Gloucestershire. I am wondering about regional variations too.

@catsbeensickagain, I live in Aberdeen and it is not uncommon for me to check prices then when I phone up to place my order, be told "oh, that price is for Glasgow, the Aberdeen price is ---", so there are regional variations Domestic oil price fluctuates in line with global crude prices - yesterday Brent crude went up 2%. It's anybody's guess what price we will be paying come winter. I really resent having to pay VAT on oil when I have no option available to switch to gas, which is cheaper.
I try to wait as long as possible before turning on the heating, usually around October when it gets cold. It comes on from 06:00 to 10:00, then again for one hour at noon, then from16:00 to 21:00. My radiators are only set to 2 and luckily I like a cold bedroom, so don't turn on the radiator in it. I also have a very efficient Grant combi boiler.

Oil prices fluctuate a lot.

We have an oil fired AGA, an oil fired boiler that supplies central heating and hot water.

It costs us about £1500 per annum.

You also need to consider that replacing an oil fired boiler is more expensive than a normal boiler and at some point you may need to replace your actual oil tank.
If it is a newish bunded tank it should be fine for good few years

We have a medium sized 4 bedroom house. Had a new oil boiler fitted 2 years ago. Our last delivery of 1200 litres lasted us 18 months (over 2 winters). We're out at work most of the day and have a wood burner that we use in the winter, but I think that's still pretty good. Thermostat is set to 21 when the heating is on, so we certainly don't freeze!