Gas not available - What other options for heating / cookers

[First-time-buyer]

Hello,

Was looking to buy a house. House currently has a solid fuel fire as a heating system followed with a electric hob. Was looking as a fire time buyer to budget to bring this up to date. Noticed that next door have a oil container in the back garden.

How much would it cost to convert a solid fuel system to a oil system. Obviously i would leave the cooker as electric, no point fitting an agar? as it probably would not fit in the place.

currently the immersion heater is located in the downstairs front room next to the fire. I always thought these were ment to be in the attic. Assume boiler is within the chimney stack.?

Have an idea where the new boiler could go, is it easy to run the pipe from the tank to the boiler, i assume it needs to be as close as possible.

Can i use the single radiators that are already fitted to the house, i think i counted 7 single radiators, with the chance to fit a double in the larger rooms. Can they re-use the existing pipework, or would it be work removing them and going with new.

If so, what would a typical new install cost. 3 bedroom semi, 6 small radiators, 2 double, ground floor boiler mounted at ceiling height, new piping from water main to kitchen area (washer, dish washer, outside tap) and then up to the bathroom.

Can an oil system work like a combi, or would you still need the immersion side of things.?

Also, how much does oil cost, what are the running costs etc.?

many thanks in advance.

Wayne

 

[gas4you]

You have the choice of oil or LPG really. Oil obviously needs a large tank in the garden, the larger it is the bigger delivery you can have therefore the price per litre will be less.

LPG will need a large cylinder for storage or 4 x 47Kg bottles to work from.

LPG will be cheaper to install and about the same running costs all in over the year. You could also have a LPG cooker and fire as well.

Oil boilers are generally bigger and more noisy but the new ones are very efficient. Not much to choose between oil and LPG, some on here swear by oil and hate LPG, I prefer LPG.

Oil or LPG boilers can work with your existing pipe work and radiators as long as they are up to scratch and correctly sized. New ones would be sized slightly larger to allow the water temp to be cooler therefore letting the new condensing boilers run cooler and making them condense more = more efficient.

You can get oil combis as well and some oil boilers are 'outside' boilers that do not take up any room in your house.

The choice is yours.

 

[oilman]

A combi will allow you to have NO hot water AND no heating at the same time. Both are also not available if the electric supply fails. Have a standard vented HW tank, and you should be able to have hot water almost always.

You will need a VERY large tank to gain anything on bulk oil price, there is the interest you could be getting by not storing oil.

 

[gasandoilman]

oil is a lot cheaper to run than lpg and oil boilers are very quiet and efficient these days.
You should ask someone local to come round and explain the options,many do this free

Advice ask a naughbour to recomend someone

 

[First-time-buyer]

Whats a 'naughbour'..?

I googled it and it came up with some strange results..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=naughbour&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

 

[gasandoilman]

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[Doctor Drivel]

A combi will allow you to have NO hot water AND no heating at the same time. Both are also not available if the electric supply fails. Have a standard vented HW tank, and you should be able to have hot water almost always.

There is the odd oil boiler with electric backup in them.

AVC do hybrid thermal store/unvented cylinder with electric backup and an oil burner too. Find out what the market offers.

A vented cylinder!!! It is not a tank!!!! How long have you been in this game? A vented cylinder? And power shower pump? And a cold water tank? Do you think Churchill is still prime minister too?

You will need a VERY large tank to gain anything on bulk oil price, there is the interest you could be getting by not storing oil.

 

[Doctor Drivel]

oil is a lot cheaper to run than lpg

I believe not so much these days. Also if having your cooking on LPG rather than electric, the bottom line energy bill is quite different.

 

[Agile]

Those OFTEC figures still show that solid fuel is cheaper than even gas! If you can trust figures from anyone with a vested interest!

They do look convincing to me though!

A friend of mine who lived in a village at the end of a long rural electricity distribution system fitted a C/O switch to his heating system so that he could power it from a small 300w generator in the garage should the power fail which was a common occurance.

During gales/floods at one time he was without electricity for 9 days!

Tony

 

[Nixt]

Oil boilers are generally bigger and more noisy

Sorry G4U, fair enough its your opinion on LPG but have to pick up on the noise issue. Operation of all latest BF oil boilers c/w Sterling, Ecoflam Max and Riello RDB burners is quieter than the gas-fired Vaillant/Giannoni combo at full tilt.