Cost of oil central heating

I am about to move house - from oil fired to gas. Give me a few months and I'll let you know my thoughts on that move.
I will be going to a smaller house with a warm air system rather than rads - it 'aint gonna be easy to compare the two cost-wise !

Re: Boulter Camray 2

I wish I had seen this post before

Skidduck and paul_h

As an oil heating engineer of 29 years I feel qualified to say what an absolute load of crap you both talk ...that's the kind of blurb I would expect from a manufacturer trying to flog their new "more efficient" boilers. Efficiency is determined by the quality of the commissioning or service engineer, not by the manufacturers, OFTEC or SEDBUK. Just because a boiler is capable of reaching 95% - doesn't mean that it always will !, moreover, just because a boiler is classed as "condensing" - doesn't mean it's always in condensing mode, a good service engineer is required to keep it there.

I service dozens of Boulter Camray 2's every year and not one of them falls below 86% and some will reach 90% but they are still worthy of a SEDBUK band B listing. The Boulter Camray 2 is not in the sedbuk listings because it has simply been superceeded. Interestingly, all of the parts for the Boulter Camray 2 are still available today and they have one of the most reliable burners, that being Riello's Mectron 2M & 3BM for most domestic models.

So often I hear people harking on about Worcester Bosch being so wonderful, like many engineers I too suspect that Worcester bosch acquired Boulter because the quality build and reliability of the Boulter Boilers product was a threat to Worcester Bosch. Of all the boilers I service every year I am called on to replace more parts on a Worcester Bosch boiler than any other make (with perhaps a single exception being Eurocal), the least number of parts required is associated with Boulter Boilers. So when taking into consideration the efficiency of a boiler we must consider the cost of ongoing maintenance and lets not forget the energy required to produce those replacement parts for the Worcester Heatslave. If you own a later version of the Worcester Bosch Heatslave with the plastic Honeywell divertor valve you should expect to be shelling out before too long on a new valve cartridge and labour charges.
Be under no illusion, just because a boiler has been superceeded doesn't mean that it is inneficient, it usually means that a manufacturer has run out of things to sell you and it will tell the consumer anything in order to make a sale. Worcester Bosch are the market leaders not because their boilers are more efficient or reliable but because they have huge resources to pump into marketing hype. If their product is so good, why do we hear their adverts so often on the radio and TV. A good product sells itself !

And as for the "Cost of oil central heating" consumers might do better to brush away all of the marketing hype and brainwash that's flying about and concentrate more on long term maintenance costs, Boulter Boilers were always out in front on this score.

Curiously at the time of writing I hear on the news that gas and electricity prices are expected to rise by 40% !

Pilly57 wrote: »

I service dozens of Boulter Camray 2's every year and not one of them falls below 86% and some will reach 90% but they are still worthy of a SEDBUK band B listing. The Boulter Camray 2 is not in the sedbuk listings because it has simply been superceeded. !

Interesting post.

Do you measure the efficiency of an installed boiler with a flue gas analyser? which presumably measures combustion efficiency.

I have never really understood the effect of the various factors that contribute to the overall efficiency of a boiler, and how that degrades with age.

For instance I have a 20 year old Ideal Mexico Gas boiler that has a nominal rating of 65% - I would be interested to be able to determine its efficiency now.

Watching the various Corgi engineers service the boiler over the years, and reading the full servicing manual, the servicing consists mainly of cleaning.

The only adjustments are for the pilot light and gas pressure(if required - and I believe it never has needed adjusting ) so it is difficult to see how that will have a great effect on efficiency.

I'm in a large old 3 bed semi in East Anglia, timber framed with concrete infill, 80s aluminium double glazing, loft insulated to depth of rafters. Open fire in sitting room, 10 rads with thermostatic valves, plus wall 'stat in middle of house set at 21C in winter. Previous owners installed a double-sized bath so we never use it, only shower, though the shower comes off the HW tank, it's not an electric one. Family is me and 4 'kids' between 16 and 26. The Camray 2 boiler is 22 years old and serviced most years. Electricity meter was on 'Domestic Night & Day' tariff when I came here in 1991 but changed to Economy 7 when the meter was compulsorily updated. No gas in the village, electric cooking on solid hotplates. Son uses electric convector in a caravan in the garden.

My electricity monthly d/d has just gone up from £78 to £95 and I'm currently paying £140/month on the budget scheme for oil. I have a 2600 litre tank and get 1000 litres at a time, which lasts about 8 weeks in winter - I get four or five deliveries a year, depending how long the cold season is. The heating is on 0600 to 0800 and 1700 to 2130 from about Oct to April/May, water only on from 0600 to 0700 and 1800 to 1900 in summer. The oil payments were set in January and certainly won't cover this year's use.

I've just bought some 2nd hand electric oil filled radiators in the hope they'll be cheaper if only in bedrooms. Planning to change the old Rayburn Rembrandt open fire for a woodburner with closed doors so we can keep it going most of the time. I'm having two trees down soon but the wood won't be seasoned enough for next winter. Just wonder if installing a back boiler for water only is worthwhile, or is it only worth doing if it's running the heating too?

Welcome to the forum.

There are a couple of threads on the problems of incorporating solid fuel heating into a central heating system - I have such a system.

There are safety issues which are not easy to overcome.

Money spent on insulation - particularly the roof - will never be wasted.

As you are on Economy 7 what is the ratio of usage i.e. Night units to day units?

I would carefully consider getting some storage heaters instead of oil filled heaters and even consider putting one in the caravan.