viewing houses - oil fired central heating

chops05

The previous property that I lived in had oil fired central heating and electric appliances. I used about £600 in oil in a year and minimal amount of electric and I thought it was much cheaper than gas and electric.

I used to pay a DD for my oil and whenever the tank was getting low just phoned up the supplier and they came along and filled it for me. I paid £25pm DD for oil and i now pay double that pm for gas!

cjard

I've always thought that oil was cheaper than gas - in the isle of man, it certainly is (but we wont go into that £120million shafting that some dodgy directors of the main gas supplier did to the customers before disappearing to the cayman islands..)..

Dont forget, you can always do more to insulate your home and yourself than relying on heating - modern houses developed in colder climates have very little heating at all because the materials they are made from are so good. We need to see some of that here, but first, all the traditionalists in the local planning offices need firing..

Debt_Free_Chick

No gas in our village either, so it's electric, oil or LPG/Calor.

Looking at the price of gas vs oil alone is not enough - you need to consider how much volume (of each) needs to be consumed to create a specific amount of heat. And the efficiency of the boiler makes a difference too, as does insulation/draught proofing.

We have a four bed detached with very bad insulation (no DG, insufficient loft insulation, no cavity walls to insulate etc) and our oil consumption for both the CH & Aga is about 3,600 litres a year.

benood

We are on oil and have been for about 7 years in the good old days of $20/bbl oil it was really cheap cf gas, however, it is now expensive.

It's way less convenient than gas, but when you've woken up to a cold shower once you tend to remember to check the tank level a bit more frequently, suffice to say we've not run out since.

If you're like me and one of those people who like to know how far you can get on your car's reserve tank it can be a bit of a rollercoaster - esp. when you think you are about to run out and and a cold snap has started - all the delivery firms suddenly start quoting dates 2 weeks hence which doesn't go down well with OH's

Having said all that oil's fine and you can feel more in control - when the tank level goes down slowly I feel very virtuous, plus I quite like phoning round the delivery co's and haggling for the best deal, very moneysaving.

bs0u0128

do u have to refill yearly, or if it lasted u 4 yrs on on tank, in theory, would that be ok

Debt_Free_Chick

benood wrote:

It's way less convenient than gas, but when you've woken up to a cold shower once you tend to remember to check the tank level a bit more frequently, suffice to say we've not run out since.

Many oil suppliers will install a Sentinel, which monitors the level of oil in the tank and sends an electronic message to the depot when you get low.

However, they charge for it and it limits your ability to shop around.

That reminds me ... I need to order some oil

sured

we have oil watch on our tank, its just a small thing that is plugged into a socket that is linked to the tank,
it digitally displays the level of the tank, so its very easy to know when you need oil, without checking the actual tank,
and it still leaves us free to shop around for the best prices.

sured

double post.

benood

bs0u0128 wrote:

do u have to refill yearly, or if it lasted u 4 yrs on on tank, in theory, would that be ok

If only we used that little. In theory oil will last indefinitely, so yes that would be ok.

david29dpo

its all part of living in the country! enjoy it.