Solid Fuel V Oil Heating

TerryP

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Hi, We live in a small 2 bed terraced cottage, have only been living here since May this year. Our heating & hot water came from a Parkray boiler stove. Unfortunately the boiler has just died (it was very old), we would like to go with a similar (but more efficient system). Two suppliers of solid fuel stoves have tried to talk us over to an oil boiler, stating their greater efficiency. We really would like to stay traditional.....does anybody have a similar system, and would hopefully recommend staying traditional !. To my mind oil is only ever going to go up in price, so burning coal, supplimented by free logs once in a while makes perfect sense. Has anybody ever done the maths, and found the difference between the running costs of oil and coal/logs. Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

TerryP

st999

I used to have a open coal fire then I put in radiators with a smokeless coal room heater because there was no gas and the council wouldn't let me put in an oil tank or LPG tank. The smokeless coal room heater cost a fortune in expensive smokeless coal. Couldn't burn logs in it. That was a big mistake.

I moved into a house that had gas central heating and it was like going from the dark ages. Controllable heat and hot water. No mess and no ashes to get rid off.

Go for the oil. Traditional is costly and messy usually.

jonewer

Solid fuel is good for weekends, when you need a backup, and generally poncing it up in a middle class manner.

If you want practical and functional, solid fuel is going to be a lot of work. Not advised unless you have a full time domestic servant to do the work for you.

TerryP

Thanks jonewer, have you experienced solid fuel heating yourself. The previous occupiers of our cottage ran this system for over 20 years, can it really be that bad ?.

Mrs_justjohn

We have a large(ish) 5 bed house which used to be heated with a solid fuel stove that ran 12 rad's. It did the job well enough but the effort that went into keeping the house warm was immense. Hubby was getting up an hour before everyone else to stoke the stove and top it up and god help us if it had gone out over night - it took forever to ramp up again!

We switched to oil and for me the 'control' this has given us (with timers and thermostats etc) and the ease in which it can be turned on/off up/down makes it well worth the extra expense.

I will be the first to admit that I didn't want oil as I was into the romance of open fires...but a year of coal dust and mess and freezing mornings soon made me change my mind!

TerryP

Yes I can see your point of view, I can see the advantage of timers, and thermostats etc. However we are a small terraced cottage, with just the two of us to worry about. I am more interested in if a boiler can efficientely heat 6 radiators, and give us hot water for a couple of showers and washing up etc. In the summer hot water is supplied via an immersion heater, but for winter I will need a boiler to run rads, and heat the water. Apart from the drawbacks you already mention, the biggest I can think of is coming back to a cold house after a weekend away!.

Mrs_justjohn

TerryP wrote: »

Yes I can see your point of view, I can see the advantage of timers, and thermostats etc. However we are a small terraced cottage, with just the two of us to worry about. I am more interested in if a boiler can efficientely heat 6 radiators, and give us hot water for a couple of showers and washing up etc. In the summer hot water is supplied via an immersion heater, but for winter I will need a boiler to run rads, and heat the water. Apart from the drawbacks you already mention, the biggest I can think of is coming back to a cold house after a weekend away!.

Our oil boiler comfortably does all of our rads (now 13 of them) and gives us hot water all day. If we have a bath then we use all the hot water but can simply flick it back on again and 10 mins later we have another full tank and can turn the hot water off again. We do have a fairly large boiler but even the smallest of boilers should heat a 2 bed cottage well enough. YOur heating engineer/plumber will be able to advise you (do a bit of research on the internet so you can challenge them if they try to sell you bigger than you need! )

Rolandtheroadie

Oils 44p a litre and never going to come down much. I've paid as much as 65p a litre although only once.
When my parents got it in it was 8p (mid 90's)
I went from LPG to oil in 2000. recently I wanted to tie the oil to a multifuel fire with backboiler so I had a choice but our twins took over the finances. Peerhaps looking into that would be an idea? Convenience of oil when you cant be bothered, cheapness of solid fuel when you can be bothered.
We still went with installing a stand alone multi fuel stove tho, nothing better now winters here, a local quarrys hit coal and selling it for around £90 a ton.
Google dunsley neutraliser for a method to link 2 systems and take it from there.

jonewer

TerryP wrote: »

Thanks jonewer, have you experienced solid fuel heating yourself. The previous occupiers of our cottage ran this system for over 20 years, can it really be that bad ?.

Yes, when I grew up I lived in Africa where there was no electric or gas heating. Everyday the boiler had to be lit.

Fortunately labour was cheap so we could employ someone to do it for us but its hard work compared to simply having a thermostat that kicks in when its cold.

More recently I lived in a big old cold house with an inglenook and a wood supply. Fires were wonderful but the last thing you want when you come home from a hard days work is to have to battle with the fire just so you can have some hot water.

Even at the weekends, some days you just cant be ar-sed to go through all the faff of lighting the fire. Its time consuming, dirty, fussy, and at times smelly.

Fires for ambience and as secondary heat. YES
Fires for regular everyday hotwater and heat. NO.

I'd rather not live in the dark ages!

TerryP

Our Parkray stayed in for weeks at a time without relighting. Granted we had to daily rake through to get rid of excess ash, and get a hod full of coal in (One hod would last a whole day). I must admit though, I am not getting any encouraging comments re solid fuel boilers.

SurferDan

Hi

We have a Trianco TR45 solid fuel boiler - burns most natural and manufactured smokeless fuels.
Used for hot water and central heating
Always got hot water, bathroom is never cold in the morning
Upstairs radiators always warm due to hot water rising creating
circulation without the need for the pump to be on.
The boiler is gravity fed from an integral hopper.
Stays lit for weeks on end.