Gas or Oil Heating? What would you choose and why?

mfmaybe

OP - I assume when you say you live in an old farmhouse, you are talking about bulk LPG rather than mains gas? That's a very different scenario and there are some important factors to consider. I'm not even going to go into the heat output/cost/CO2 impact as frankly I don't think they are all that clear! I too have a similar style house, which was on LPG when we moved in.

1. LPG boilers need someone qualified in LPG to install and maintain them. It's a specific training, so not all heating engineers can look after them. Firstly, make sure there is someone local to you who can do it.

2. Oil can be stolen from a tank - it's considerably harder to steal gas!

3. LPG is a very narrow market. I am currently beholden to one supplier, who I won't name here, but if you read one of the sticky threads about the LPG market at the top of the page, you will see where I (and many of the other contributors) are coming from. It is often very hard to switch suppliers.

4. Bulk LPG needs a tank - either underground or above ground, and there seem to be some major restrictions on where you can put it. If you get it wrong, you won't be able to switch (my current situation)

5. Replacing your boiler full stop will improve your efficiency (assuming it's fairly old), whether you go for Oil or Gas. Do things like use draught excluders at all doors, loft insulation, thick curtains, draught excluding tape around windows. We installed a new front door and this has made the most difference of all! Even in all the recent high winds we've barely felt a draft.

Apologies if you are talking mains gas - if you were, then I'm inclined to say to go for that every time!

spiro

From next Oct (2012) DECC are introducing Green Deal which will allow you to get energy efficient measures installed at no up front cost and the payments are added to your elec bill. There is also a Golden Rule that say the saving must equal to or be greater than the costs. The repayments stay with the property. You might want to wait until then before you do anything.

grahamc2003

Gas or Oil isn't the only choice. You could have an electric heat pump system. While there are concerns over the operation of air source HPs at low temperatures, they have the advantage of being viewed as 'green' and hence the government sees fit to throw tax payers money at some of them, via the renewable heat incentive and an interim payment (itself worth a grand or two iirc), so payments every year, tax free, for 20 or so years (the details are still being worked out).

Imv, the combination of the fuel costs plus the RHI will almost certainly make grant qualifying HPs the cheapest cost overall. Would be prudent to also install a stove or suchlike in them main living area just for the very cold days when the performance of air-to-water hps is still in question (a so-called, sort of home made bi-valent system).

As to your original question, I really thought there was no comparison between gas v oil ... I'd have thought gas wins hands down. Judging by the cost of running my oil fired Aga, I at least hope gas is cheaper overall.

thenudeone

grahamc2003 wrote: »

As to your original question, I really thought there was no comparison between gas v oil ... I'd have thought gas wins hands down. Judging by the cost of running my oil fired Aga, I at least hope gas is cheaper overall.

I would agree with you that gas is cheaper than oil but I don't think it's reasonable to bring agas into the equation.

A modern oil boiler could have efficiency of over 90% which is streets ahead of an oil-fired aga, which reportedly achieves efficiency of just 49-55%. http://ecobro.org/node/156