oil heating installation

bessy1134

Hi im new to this forum just looking on costs of installation of oil central heating, no option available for gas mains as live rural area in fife!!! i already have lpg so its just the cost of a new bolier and tank, any suggestions on boiler type would be great thnxs:)

ilikecookies

Hi Bessy,

A couple of years back we replaced our LPG central heating system for oil and so like you had the cost of a new oil boiler, oil storage tank and various accessories (eg. tiger loop, fire valve, magnaclean). Assuming you are having an old LPG tank uplifted you may be able to use the old concrete base for the new oil storage tank but obviously if the tank you choose is bigger than this then you'll need to have it enlarged which adds more cost.

As regards the costs it's difficult to say as we don't know how big a boiler you need, the make of boiler you want, is it external or internal, size of the oil tank selected, how you plan to flue, etc and cost of labour in your area. As a very rough ballpark I'd expect a bill in the region of £3000-£5000, composed as follows:

£1200-£2000 for the boiler
£500-£1000 for the oil tank
£300 for accessories (fire valve, tiger loop, magnaclean, inhibitor, etc)
£800-£1200 for the labour

That's very very rough! And there are so many variables, eg. if your system needs a powerflush prior to fitting the new boiler then add another £300-500.

I suggest getting at least 3 quotes, preferably 5, from OFTEC registered folks.

Hope that helps!

Silent_Dancer

Prices quoted by ilikecookies are about right. I'm sure if you get enough quotes and your installation is simple you'll find one at the £3K end of things.

Worcester oil boilers at the moment are available on a 5 year guarantee increasing to 7 years if you use one of their accredited installers.

G_M

I'd only add -get the biggest tank you can fit/afford.

That gives you lots more flexibility about when to refill. You can monitor oil prices and top up if/when they drop/dip eg in summer if your tank is half empty.

With a small tank, you are constantly re-filling when you have to, rather than when you want to.

(nothing worse than the tank running low in mid december, with chistmas coming, bank holidays, snow, cold and high oil prices....)

bessy1134

Ok thats great thnxs not sure whether to replace the radiators aswell ? Had a quote for new boiler for outside and tank was over 4k as they says its a big job ie removal of hot water tan etc!!!

reeac

G_M wrote: »

I'd only add -get the biggest tank you can fit/afford.

That gives you lots more flexibility about when to refill. You can monitor oil prices and top up if/when they drop/dip eg in summer if your tank is half empty.

With a small tank, you are constantly re-filling when you have to, rather than when you want to.

(nothing worse than the tank running low in mid december, with chistmas coming, bank holidays, snow, cold and high oil prices....)

I absolutely agree! I keep preaching this message where I live but noone takes any notice. We have a 2500l. tank and use 1800-2000 l.p.a.

malc_b

reeac wrote: »

I absolutely agree! I keep preaching this message where I live but noone takes any notice. We have a 2500l. tank and use 1800-2000 l.p.a.

But, watch out for house insurance. Mine covers loss of heating oil but capped at £1000 AFAIR. At today's prices that's under 2000 l.

ilikecookies

bessy1134 wrote: »

Ok thats great thnxs not sure whether to replace the radiators aswell ? Had a quote for new boiler for outside and tank was over 4k as they says its a big job ie removal of hot water tan etc!!!

As regards the radiators there is no need to replace them per se unless they don't throw out enough heat or are being problematic.

Obviously it depends how many rads and the quality of the rads but this could add a lot of cost to an already expensive job. To spread the cost we tackled the boiler install in year 1, did the most important rads in year 2 and plan to do the remaining rads at a later date.

And I totally agree with the advice to get as big an oil storage tank as you can accommodate/afford. You can then stock up in the summer when its cheap(er) and ride out the winter months when the prices always go crazy. Try to locate the tank as discretely as possible though to reduce the likelihood of theft.