New House - what to do?

rosscouk

Hi all,

I am on the verge of moving into a house in the country which does not have access to gas. The house is an end of terrace with 3 bed, approx 130 sq m.

Currently the house is heated by a Stanley Superstar (Donard 60K) range oven, with 11 radiators to heat and a 1000 litre external oil tank. There is a water tank upstairs with an immersion heater and 2 electric showers. There is also an open fire in the living room.

I think the Stanley may not be the best way to heat the house, plus it does not appear to be very flexible in terms of cooking options. So I am wondering whether I should take it out and replace it either with an electric range or an LPG range. I would then install an oil fired boiler to heat the house, something new an efficient.

What do people think? Any opinions would be useful. Should I remove the range? Are ranges any less efficient at heating when compared to dedicated oil boilers.
Cheers
Rossco

Swipe

Why not try it over winter first and see how you get on? If you are still not happy you can replace it next spring / summer when the demand is lower for heating engineers and you might get a better deal.

rosscouk

I originally intended to do that, but wondered if I might take advantage of new year sales. Leaving it over winter might still be the best option.

Pincher

When people say "country", my word association is "free wood".
Been using MSE too long.

A._Badger

I think Swipe is right. Until you've lived with the system you've no idea how it performs. Modern oil boilers are actually very good (I have one) and I've no complaints, other than about the cost of oil and the way it yo-yos around. I'm less than keen on LPG for cooking, however, as I've found it surprisingly expensive to run. That said, given the unreliability of electricity supplies in rural areas, replacing the existing electric cooker with LPG when I moved in has proved the sensible choice.

I think the real issue with a range might be the lack of control and the hassle of keeping it alight. Certainly when I looked at the various solid fuel cooker options, they all looked very time consuming to live with.

[Deleted User]

rosscouk wrote: »

Hi all,

I am on the verge of moving into a house in the country which does not have access to gas. The house is an end of terrace with 3 bed, approx 130 sq m.

Currently the house is heated by a Stanley Superstar (Donard 60K) range oven, with 11 radiators to heat and a 1000 litre external oil tank. There is a water tank upstairs with an immersion heater and 2 electric showers. There is also an open fire in the living room.

I think the Stanley may not be the best way to heat the house, plus it does not appear to be very flexible in terms of cooking options. So I am wondering whether I should take it out and replace it either with an electric range or an LPG range. I would then install an oil fired boiler to heat the house, something new an efficient.

What do people think? Any opinions would be useful. Should I remove the range? Are ranges any less efficient at heating when compared to dedicated oil boilers.
Cheers
Rossco

As said before there are so many options now available to off grid houses you really need to live in the house as is then assess it's and your needs and take it from there...

rosscouk

Thanks for the advice, after reading your comments I think I will leave for a while to get used to the current system and then see what might be best to do.

I am anticipating moving into the house with a pretty much empty oil tank as the current owners will not want to fill it up. I bet it will be quite expensive to fill up a 1000 litre tank just before Christmas!!!

suki1964

rosscouk wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, after reading your comments I think I will leave for a while to get used to the current system and then see what might be best to do.

I am anticipating moving into the house with a pretty much empty oil tank as the current owners will not want to fill it up. I bet it will be quite expensive to fill up a 1000 litre tank just before Christmas!!!

Yes oil will be dearer but then if you only want to get through the winter you possibly wont want 1000 litres