Advice on oil central heating/cost of installing gas please?

Lizbetty

Hi everyone!
We have unfortunately fallen for a house up the road from us at rather an unsuitable time, which needs a lot doing to it. There's a lot of umming and arring in our house at the mo..

One of the things I hesitated on is the fact that it has oil central heating. An old lady owned the house and all we know is that she had it maintained on contract like the 5 star British Gas , and we also know the last time we had a look round there was quite a large pool of oil near to the pipe from the tank in the garden.

It's something I know nothing at all about. The estate agent said that there is gas available in the vicinity and so this can be installed, but the cost is an unknown quantity.

I hate to admit it on here but we'd be up to the chins if we did go for it because of the work that needs doing, so with fuel costs rising we'd have to make sure we could run the heating as cheaply as possible rather than be pouring money down the drain cos we couldn't afford to change to gas iyswim.

You know what it's like, heart before heads with houses sometimes init.

Hope to hear some advice which might make us sway one way or the other! Sort of hoping that someone'll say oooh, it's fab, cheap and reliable, go for it! But I doubt that somehow..:rolleyes:

Thanks lots folks for any advice you might have.
Best wishes
Luce

Lizbetty

Anyone please?

paceinternet

you will find in the forum people posting that it can cost £1000 to have gas connected to an adjoining property, right up to maybe £40000 if it is somewhere down the road, so the only way to be realistic is to ask BG/Transco/whoever for a quote.

Oil is more expensive than gas per kwh, but the recent fall in oil prices and the increase in Gas prices might console you a little. Again, lots of posts in the forum. Quote from a previous post:
"A litre of oil gives approx 10kWh; so at 60p/ltr this is 6p/kWh
Actually people are being quoted around 55p / litre at the moment.

Gas is between 3 and 6 p per kwh so check your own local prices.

Efficiency of the boiler has to be taken into account with both fuels, but your old oil fired boiler may be around 80%, but you will have to check the model.

So, all fuels are significantly more expensive than this time last year, nearly double in fact.
The most difficult problem might be having to buy say 1000 litres which could be £600 up front unless your local oil supplier will work with you on a monthly ddbt, but then you loose the chance to shop around for the best price when it is time for more fuel.

Servicing an oil boiler is probably more necessary than a gas boiler, but again you need to check out the cost in your area. Check where the leak is coming from to avoid wasting it and causing contamination.

Going on from oil, you will find lots of postings in the forum about alternative heating such as wood fuel and heat pumps. Lots of new solutions are becoming viable as we adjust to higher fuel prices, so keep your options open as you learn more.

Lizbetty

Thanks so much for that. I understand much more more and it is a lot less scary!

I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a detailed reply. :A

I guess we need to do a lot of homework and find out some more about what the system is and suchlike. The estate agent seemed pretty clueless so will have to get digging!

Thanks again :T
Lucy

thrifty_mike

Lucy

Hope this is not too late. I live in an area with NO gas and have lived with oil for 16 years. The modern boilers are just SO efficient (mine is 92%, with a conventional flue) and I use approx 2200 litres p.a. for a 5-bed house (inc. hot water and cooking). They are also quiet and do not smell.

The cost of installation probably makes gas a non starter (and you would also have to fund a new gas boiler). So consider instead a new oil boiler (Grant is a vg make) for low running costs into the future. Yes, all energy is costly, but oil does go down as well as up. If you are planning a major refurb, include the best insulation and modern heating controls (grants are available for this).

I would be VERY WARY of any serius oil leak as this can contaminate the soil and cost oodles to clean up. What you see on the ground may be hiding a much more serious problem in the subsoil. Get this properly investigated before you commit - and be prepared to pull out if the news is bad. Also, check the oil tank - if you need a replacement new Building Regs mean that you may not be able to site it where the old one was.

Good Luck!

nesssie1702

A lot of people forget to check out the Building Reg implications when they're installing or changing an oil tank.

The contaminated land side of things could have an impact and it's something that you might want to sort out before you buy/rent the property, otherwise you could be liable. It might be worth your while speaking to your local Contaminated land section in the Council - they normally fall under Environmental Health - just to get some advice?