Central heating: oil vs bottled LPG
GeekyGirl
Posts: 8 Forumite
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Hi all, at my wit's end here.
I bought a property back in October 2011. It had been empty for about a year as the previous owner had been in care. The central heating is oil - however, the tank leaked so was taken away. I'm left with an oil boiler that I'm not sure works and two options;
1 - Get a new tank and run the risk of needing a new oil boiler if the current one doesn't work, or
2 - Switch to LPG.
Now, I've checked out several forums and the majority of them compare oil heating to LPG tanks - I won't be getting a tank though, instead planning to run off gas bottles.
I've received quotes from a LPG certified tech (January) and an oil tech (yesterday). The situation is this;
- I pay just under £800 for a new single skin tank and base
- Told by oil tech that current boiler will probably run at about 75% efficiency compared to 92% of a new one
- This ties me to sticking to oil and the possibility of needing a new boiler (been quoted £2000) so could in total cost me just under 3k + oil payments
- Bottled LPG was quoted at £1750 to include everything; boiler, pipes, thermostats, etc but not empty/new bottles as I already have access to these.
I'm shying away from oil because of;
- large chunks of payments for the minimum amount of oil you have to buy (500 litres from Goff)
- theft
My neighbour switched his house from oil to bottled LPG. The couple he rented out to went through 6 large bottles in 11 months (at £50 p/bottle = say £300 for the year)
Awaiting a quote for the 500 litres from Goff - a couple of family friends has said this minimum amount usually lasts them for the year.
I work 9 to 5 Mon-Fri and live alone so don't really need heating on all day or on high excessively.
I just wondered what other people have plumped for when facing the same decision - or if there's any techs out there that do oil AND LPG and can therefore provide an unbiased opinion.
Thanks
If you've arrived from Google, our fully researched Cheap Heating Oil guide may be helpful.
Back to the original post...
Hi all, at my wit's end here.
I bought a property back in October 2011. It had been empty for about a year as the previous owner had been in care. The central heating is oil - however, the tank leaked so was taken away. I'm left with an oil boiler that I'm not sure works and two options;
1 - Get a new tank and run the risk of needing a new oil boiler if the current one doesn't work, or
2 - Switch to LPG.
Now, I've checked out several forums and the majority of them compare oil heating to LPG tanks - I won't be getting a tank though, instead planning to run off gas bottles.
I've received quotes from a LPG certified tech (January) and an oil tech (yesterday). The situation is this;
- I pay just under £800 for a new single skin tank and base
- Told by oil tech that current boiler will probably run at about 75% efficiency compared to 92% of a new one
- This ties me to sticking to oil and the possibility of needing a new boiler (been quoted £2000) so could in total cost me just under 3k + oil payments
- Bottled LPG was quoted at £1750 to include everything; boiler, pipes, thermostats, etc but not empty/new bottles as I already have access to these.
I'm shying away from oil because of;
- large chunks of payments for the minimum amount of oil you have to buy (500 litres from Goff)
- theft
My neighbour switched his house from oil to bottled LPG. The couple he rented out to went through 6 large bottles in 11 months (at £50 p/bottle = say £300 for the year)
Awaiting a quote for the 500 litres from Goff - a couple of family friends has said this minimum amount usually lasts them for the year.
I work 9 to 5 Mon-Fri and live alone so don't really need heating on all day or on high excessively.
I just wondered what other people have plumped for when facing the same decision - or if there's any techs out there that do oil AND LPG and can therefore provide an unbiased opinion.
Thanks
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Comments
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In terms of ongoing running costs oil will definitely be cheaper to run than bottled gas. There is no doubt around that.
This puts the dilemma around the upfront costs and whether you want to save upfront cost now or pay later in higher running costs
My first thought though was whether you need to replace the oil boiler at all. In this regard it might be worth sharing the make and model of the existing oil boiler because 75% efficient isn't that bad (boiler efficiencies are a bit like MPG ratings for cars - totally devoid from the real world!) and sometimes the older models/makes are more reliable than the new ones anyway. Plumbers always want to whack a new boiler in at any opportunity as the margins are high so this might have been why the plumber "recommended" it.
Whether or not the old oil boiler works, however, would seem to be your real unknown! There may be a way though that an oil engineer could test this - eg. hooking it up to a small barrel of oil or something.0 -
Definitely some food for thought there jeepjunkie, thanks.
The only thing I could tell you about the existing boiler, ilikecookies, is that it has Camray Compact on the front. There no model number or anything like that, just Camray Compact. Both techs I've had give me a quote have said, "If only you had a tank so we could test it"... which gave me the impression that there was no other way to test it.
Goff came back with a quote of £367.24 inc VAT for 500 litres of oil, which, according to several other people with oil, should last me a year. So I'm pitting that figure against my neighbour's bottled gas costs for 11 months (6 bottles at £66 a bottle, from Flogas, makes it £396).
So that suggests that oil is actually the cheapest to run... but of course depends on efficiency and whether 500 litres will actually last me a year.
But I do agree that finding a way of knowing whether the current boiler works or not would be helpful. I've got another tech to call today who I think does oil and LPG - will check with him if there's a way to test the boiler.
Someone told me last night that they have a big LPG tank running all their heating and hot water and they've already got through £1200 worth this winter alone.
Oh the joys of being a homeowner...0 -
Definitely some food for thought there jeepjunkie, thanks.
The only thing I could tell you about the existing boiler, ilikecookies, is that it has Camray Compact on the front. There no model number or anything like that, just Camray Compact. Both techs I've had give me a quote have said, "If only you had a tank so we could test it"... which gave me the impression that there was no other way to test it.
Goff came back with a quote of £367.24 inc VAT for 500 litres of oil, which, according to several other people with oil, should last me a year. So I'm pitting that figure against my neighbour's bottled gas costs for 11 months (6 bottles at £66 a bottle, from Flogas, makes it £396).
So that suggests that oil is actually the cheapest to run... but of course depends on efficiency and whether 500 litres will actually last me a year.
But I do agree that finding a way of knowing whether the current boiler works or not would be helpful. I've got another tech to call today who I think does oil and LPG - will check with him if there's a way to test the boiler.
Someone told me last night that they have a big LPG tank running all their heating and hot water and they've already got through £1200 worth this winter alone.
Oh the joys of being a homeowner...
Your best means of running cost comparison is the pence per kWh as quoted by jeepjunkie. THese show lpg as only 6.7% more expensive than oil [both at 90% efficiency]. My impression has been for a long time that the differential was much greater than that. Beware of anecdotal running costs -different households have widely differing heating demands and sometimes you get boasting akin to saloon bar car mpg. stories. I'm sure that a plumber could test the old boiler by fixing up a temp. fuel supply and that would answer the boiler question.0 -
Your best means of running cost comparison is the pence per kWh as quoted by jeepjunkie. THese show lpg as only 6.7% more expensive than oil [both at 90% efficiency]. My impression has been for a long time that the differential was much greater than that. Beware of anecdotal running costs -different households have widely differing heating demands and sometimes you get boasting akin to saloon bar car mpg. stories. I'm sure that a plumber could test the old boiler by fixing up a temp. fuel supply and that would answer the boiler question.
Okay, so is there any way I can work out the pence per kWh using the prices I've been quoted? ie what's the formula?0 -
The other option is of course an Air source heat pump. It will cost a bit more than a new oil boiler plus tank. But there have been government grants to cover that and im sure there will be more annouced next month.
You would need to ensure the house is well insulated for it to be suitable.
I would strongly advise against LPG because of the ongoing costs and long term contracts you have to sign up to.0 -
Okay, so is there any way I can work out the pence per kWh using the prices I've been quoted? ie what's the formula?
Take the cost per litre, then the kWh value per litre, and factor the cost per kWh.
So for example, 100p per litre at 10kWh per litre gives a cost per kWh of 10p.
As it assumes 100% boiler efficiency, it is of course only a theoretical figure, (the cost per kWh of fuel used, not the cost per kWh of heat produced), but will enable you to compare the two fuels.No free lunch, and no free laptop
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The other option is of course an Air source heat pump. It will cost a bit more than a new oil boiler plus tank. But there have been government grants to cover that and im sure there will be more annouced next month.
You would need to ensure the house is well insulated for it to be suitable.
I would strongly advise against LPG because of the ongoing costs and long term contracts you have to sign up to.
Do you mean the green deal? That's just a loan though isn't it?
And with the bottled propane there won't be long term contracts.0 -
Take the cost per litre, then the kWh value per litre, and factor the cost per kWh.
So for example, 100p per litre at 10kWh per litre gives a cost per kWh of 10p.
As it assumes 100% boiler efficiency, it is of course only a theoretical figure, (the cost per kWh of fuel used, not the cost per kWh of heat produced), but will enable you to compare the two fuels.
So my next question is how do find out the kWh value per litre?0 -
Okay, so is there any way I can work out the pence per kWh using the prices I've been quoted? ie what's the formula?
There's a good comparison table in jeepjunkie's linkjeepjunkie wrote: »0
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