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Original poster

Anyoen got oil fired central heating? Tell me why you love it hate it please

84 replies

Piffle · 05/11/2007 17:19

We have found another house - perfect village, perfect house - there is no gas to the village as yet. MAy never be
it has oil fired central heating and an oil storage tank
I know NOTHING about it
please any info would be gratefully rec'd

OP posts:
NomDePlumeOfBonfireSmoke · 05/11/2007 17:20

It is very expensive to run.

I don't have it, but my Mum does (no mains gas). It is about twice the cost of gas to run

Original poster
Piffle · 05/11/2007 17:24

ahhhhhh

OP posts:
Original poster
Piffle · 05/11/2007 17:25

there are open fireplaces in many rooms, now I cna figure out why!

OP posts:
NomDePlumeOfBonfireSmoke · 05/11/2007 17:25

and the tanks are ugly, although you can get slimline ones which aren't so bad if tucked away somewhere discreet.

My Mum used to have hers filled twice a year

NomDePlumeOfBonfireSmoke · 05/11/2007 17:25

lol

NomDePlumeOfBonfireSmoke · 05/11/2007 17:27

sorry, I say 'used to' because she is a property developer in an area where there is no mains gas and so has oil fired but she is halfway through a project and so is living in a (luxurious) caravan on site

mintydixcharrington · 05/11/2007 17:27

its fine, no different to gas in terms of what it does, just have to order it in

obv with high oil price at the moment it is a bit expensive but historically it can be as cheap or cheaper than gas

just need to get the tanker round every x weeks (depends on size of tank, how much you use etc etc, we do it about every 3 months I think)

the people who own it will be able to tell you whats involved re frequency of delivery etc. otherwise no different to gas. I wouldn't let it put you off your dream home

Original poster
Piffle · 05/11/2007 17:27

maybe we should chuck in a wetback Aga LOL

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 05/11/2007 17:29

it is more expensive than gas, but that is also going up in price and I read an article at the weekend that said it was cheaper over 10 years to install and run electric storage heating than gas (if you HAD to install a new system from new).
We have it, our tank is hidden at the side of the garage, the system runs just like gas (except you have to remember to check the level and get it filled up). We fill up about twice a year, approx 1000 litres each time. Last fill up (last week) cost £368, but it is cheaper in the spring/summer. For comparison (if it helps) we have a 4 bed house and the oil runs both the heating and the hot water.

mintydixcharrington · 05/11/2007 17:34

I don't think £700 a year is THAT bad, is it? would gas really be that much less?

although I agree price of oil is only going one way at the mo.

and top tip is NEVER fill up the tank in dec, it is much more expensive than nov or jan (esp before xmas)

suedonim · 05/11/2007 17:36

We've had oil CH for about 10yrs. In terms of what it actually does, we've found there's no difference between oil and gas CH. Oil was v cheap when we installed it and obviously is now more expensive but even so it's still a heck of a lot cheaper (and more flexible) than our only alternative, electric.

We don't even have to think about oil deliveries. We have a budget account, paying a set amount each month and the tanker just comes at regular intervals to top up. There's no need to be at home for that. There are some more sophisticated gauges now which can send a message to let your oil supplier know when the level is getting low! Our tank is in a corner of the garden, mainly covered with weeds.

Original poster
Piffle · 05/11/2007 17:36

okies am getting the idea now.
So it is a one off payut rather than every month etc...
What about smell/emissions heating times etc

OP posts:
castille · 05/11/2007 17:36

We used to have it in a house we rented.Hated it for the eye-watering expense and the fact that it was either ON or OFF with no thermostat or any other means of adjustment. Tank was underground though, so not an eyesore.

Niecie · 05/11/2007 17:37

We used to have OFCH in our old house. The house had been empty for 10 months when we moved in so it was a bit of a pain to get the system started again and arranging to have the oil delivered but once it was up and running it was exactly like any other central heating.

It really isn't a problem so long as you keep an eye on the level of oil in the tank. We filled ours up roughly ever 10 months and we had an average sized tank and a decent sized 4-bed house. If we could we shared a delivery of oil with the neighbours as we were able to get a discount for having a larger delivery even if it went to 2 tanks. The price of the oil fluctuates with the price of the financial markets, you could get a different rate on a different day but it wouldn't make that much difference. I think on the whole the oil cost about the same as gas. You can shop around when you need a delivery for the best price. Deliveries were usually within 2 days of ordering.

It might be an advantage to you to pay upfront for your fuel as you know what you heating is costing up front - there are no surprise bills at the end of the winter. Boilers need servicing once a year.

Having oil central certainly wouldn't put us off a house in the future.

HTH

castille · 05/11/2007 17:38

it smells a bit when the tank has just been filled. You need to budget for the fill-ups - ours was £600 a pop!

themoon66 · 05/11/2007 17:44

We moved into an oil heated house last year. There is no gas in this village.

We found a brill website called boilerjuice.co.uk or com.

They find the cheapest dealer in the area on any given week and deliver in that week. They also have what they call 'buying weekends' where you sort of bid and they auction off. You put in how many litres you want and they come back with the best price.

DH does it, so I'm not sure of exact details... I can get a link off him when he comes home if you like.

Niecie · 05/11/2007 17:45

Goodness nobody has answered when I started my message - thats what happens when you have a 4 year old sitting on your lap and you have to type with one finger.

I was going to say we moved out of our house 3.5 years ago so although I said the price of gas and oil were about the same, I have no idea about now. Sounds like it is more expensive now.

Original poster
Piffle · 05/11/2007 18:14

might be ok we're very tight on heating here as it goes

OP posts:
mintydixcharrington · 05/11/2007 18:35

you do get thermostats with oil central heating!

Niecie · 05/11/2007 18:38

I am pretty sure we had some sort of thermostat on the boiler and the usual thermostat in the house for controlling the central heating.

Lucky13 · 05/11/2007 18:43

In our last house we had gas and now we have oil and to be honest i haven't noticed any difference in price/heat/convenience etc.

We have our tank filled up rough once every 5 months (at the mo around £375). We have a little gadget that tells us when the tank is nearly empty and then we also use boilerjuice.com to order the cheapest oil around. The tanker comes round and fills up the tank - you don't even have to be in when they come round.

We have a combi boiler with a water tank which always has instant v hot water (much quicker than our previous gas system) and a v toasty house. All our rooms have thermostats so the heating comes on when it drops too low - just like gas.

The oil tank does smell sometimes and is ugly - we hid ours behind a willow fence panel.

I can't fault oil heating - our works just fine.

expatinscotland · 05/11/2007 18:43

we have LPG here, but plenty of folks have oil-fired.

there's a meter attached to your tank, with a sensor in it, and once your oil level goes under a certain percentage the provider comes out and tops it up.

no dearer than gas to run, apparently - well, LPG, that is.

we've not got mains gas out this way, either.

Olihan · 05/11/2007 18:46

We've just moved into a house with OFCH and HW and it's no different to any other central heating. We have thermostatic radiators so can control the temp in each room - I think the Niecie's thermostat issue is more to do with the type of central heating system than the fuel. Our tank is slim and hidden round the side of the house so you don't really notice it. We had 600l delivered when we moved in in May and have about 150l left. We put £50 a month aside to cover the cost of having it filled which isn't that much different to what we were paying for gas in our old house. The only downside is remembering to check the level every so often! HTH

ChasingSquirrels · 05/11/2007 18:50

We have a thermostat on the boiler and on every radiator - the heating system is no different to any other, it circulates hot water round the radiators, it is how the water gets hot that is different.
Thanks for that web-site, I will check it out.
Re oil prices, 4 years ago ours was 18p a (whatever), this time is was 36.9p.

Gingerbear · 05/11/2007 18:53

It is expensive, but no where near as bad as LPG.
We use £700 - £800 per year to heat a 4 bed house (LPG cost £1300!!!)
Ours has a thermostat and the only downside AFAIK is that being a 'dirtier' fuel than gas, the boiler needs maintenance once per year to keep it running smoothly.

We have LPG in 47kg cylinders to run the gas hob - uses bugger all for cooking.