LPG / oil dilemma

[coopersim]

Our oil boiler is a write off, the tank is old and rusted, I'm really struggling to know if we should ditch oil all together and go LPG, calorific values, oil vs LPG costs, underground tanks, discounted initial fuel costs, subsidised tank installation, etc etc

Please can anyone advise which might be best?

The pre requisites are:

Underground oil or gas tank
Stored mains pressure hot water
Immersion back up to primary fuel source

4 bed detached rural property, no mains services available.

Thanks.

 

[Tibbot]

Why not just replace the tank. Why ditch the boiler?

 

[coopersim]

It's being written off, which gives us the chance to change fuel.

 

[Tibbot]

Boiler written off? What is it and what's wrong with it?

 

[coopersim]

It's knackered, grant combi oil

 

[Tibbot]

Combi. They can become beyond economical repair. Old fashioned oil boilers only written off when water jacket leaks, and sometimes not even then.

LPG cheaper to set up. Oil cheaper to run. However I would never recommend an oil combi or system model. Regular only.

 

[coopersim]

It's been water damaged, sitting in lots of water of *cough* unknown origins....!


I'd want mega flo or similar, are you saying that isn't recommended if I go oil again?

 

[Tibbot]

You can have any regular or system boiler (LPG or oil) to feed a Megaflo.

 

[oilhead]

Would agree with megaflow and standard boiler. Oil is relatively bombproof and significantly cheaper to run. Gas boilers can be fussy, especially on LPG and are nowhere near as long lived. With oil you can shop around for fuel, whereas gas ties you in. Only reservation would be an underground oil tank as the pits have to be leakproof and always seem to collect water.

 

[dcawkwell]

If your house is fairly small a lpg combi boiler/system boiler with 2 47kg propane bottles will happily do it. Usually about from £1300 depending on boiler excluding bottles.

Bigger house will use bottles faster and you can then consider lpg bulk tank.

Also consider air con units. A couple of those will heat in the winter and cool in the summer and work really well. I have 3.

 

[Tibbot]

As stated, the initial cost of the tank and boiler is dearer with oil. Thereafter the average oil price is about 5 to 6 pence per kW. Bulk gas is normally about a third more and bottled gas off the scale.

Remember as well, gas spares are now stupidly expensive (when the warranty runs out, you will need them). If anything, I find oil parts as competitive as 10 years ago.

 

[coopersim]

It's looking like oil then, seems to be more efficient and I quite like the idea of getting the boiler outside(forgot to mention that that would be a stipulation if sticking with oil due to the smell)

I'm also dubious about underground oil tanks, cost is prohibitively high and other considerations such as oil loss / environmental issues

 

[Tibbot]

They don't smell if correctly installed, commissioned & maintained. But it's your choice.

 

[dcawkwell]

They don't smell if correctly installed, commissioned & maintained. But it's your choice.

Wouldn't have an oil boiler inside my house. Best outside.

 

[Richardthe3rd]

Would agree with megaflow and standard boiler. Oil is relatively bombproof and significantly cheaper to run. Gas boilers can be fussy, especially on LPG and are nowhere near as long lived. With oil you can shop around for fuel, whereas gas ties you in. Only reservation would be an underground oil tank as the pits have to be leakproof and always seem to collect water.

Not strictly true OH, you can shop around for your bulk LPG, granted, not as easy to do as oil. Kero will always be cheaper than LPG, which is a product of the oil refinement process.

Depending on the property insulation levels & family lifestyle, an air source heat pump maybe an option, though, I'd strongly advise a multi-fuel stove be utilised also as a supplementary heat source for the coldest weather.
Hope that's some help.