What is the point of heating oil?

PaulF81

We are increasingly burning our Woodburner for 14 hours a day, it doesnt do all of our 6 bed, but certainly helps, cutting our LPG bill down to about 25% of what it was. We are lucky though, I have a free supply of wood next door, as they have 300 acres, of which 50 acres is coppice.

We have a 10Kw dual fuel burner on a lined flue (DIY install) an 30 Kw Lpg boiler.

We spent around 3 grand installing internal solid insulation to all walls without a cavity, had the cavity filled and double lined the loft with rockwool. A lot of dirty, dusty work but has really helped, for 3000 sq Ft property, our LPG bill runs at around 600 per year, electricity for the year is around 500.

Itismehonest

intex wrote: »

A lot of homes in the UK seem to use heating oil. These homes are usually a little bit out of town. Why?

Since a home with heating oil also has electricity, why not just make the whole home electric? Surely it would be cheaper, more convenient and less hassle to maintain? (My home is all electric and my electricity bill has been about £17 a month for many years).

Is there some technical reason why certain homes cannot have heating provided by electricity?

Out in the sticks electricity can be prone to many more outages than in town. Gas is usually not an option.

Anyone living in the countryside who relies totally on electricity finds themselves with no way of cooking, heating water or the home.
It's usual, therefore, to have a mix of electricity, oil, wood or other fuel.

PaulF81

Itismehonest wrote: »

Out in the sticks electricity can be prone to many more outages than in town. Gas is usually not an option.

Anyone living in the countryside who relies totally on electricity finds themselves with no way of cooking, heating water or the home.
It's usual, therefore, to have a mix of electricity, oil, wood or other fuel.

Also dont forget rural supplies, which are largely overhead, were never designed for heating supply, the network could not cope.

fishybusiness

Anyone living in the countryside who relies totally on electricity finds themselves with no way of cooking, heating water or the home.
It's usual, therefore, to have a mix of electricity, oil, wood or other fuel.

Makes little difference, if the electricity goes off, so does the oil

[Deleted User]

I want to add 4penny worth; We have 2.4 pv and also solar panels. The solar panels are very efficient and we are in a s facing suntrap in a code 5 eco house, so massively insulated. The solar panels are not providing enough warm water at the moment just getting to around 36 degrees max. We are topping up with the thermostat and also using various electric heaters set with thermostats (we have a pellet stovefor ch and hot water but are saving the pellets for worse weather) the sun streams in and heats the house when sunny and is absorbed by the heat sink floor and internal wall. Our present electric cost per day is just <£2 ie approximately £60 a month. Summer about 80p a day. I would love gas or oil or lpg as shifting pellets gets harder with passing years. However no maintenance costs and the high insulation would probably mean that electric would be cheaper in our case anyway. Pellets would cost about £7 a week at this time of year and would probably make the house too warm and that doesn`t count the cost of electric for everything other than heating

Just to add that I have alternate methods of cooking in a power cut ie cobb cooker, ozpig or camping gaz but all outdoors. Anyway I am well prepared

total electric bill last year was £360 and pellet bill was £260 ( we used < a tonne). 4 bed detached

fluffymuffy

We have a 4 bed detached solid stone house with single glazing and minimal insulation.

It has oil-fired central heating.

We're currently experimenting with all electric heating and are only using the oil for heating the hot water.

We have one air source heat pump, two oil filled radiators, and two energy-saving fan heaters (yes, really!) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005NCO7ZO/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've been taking weekly electric meter readings and this week has cost about £40. Last week was £48. Of course this electric use includes all our other uses as well as heating - lighting, TV, computers, dishwasher, washing machine (no tumble drier).

I think it's going to work out cheaper. Last year I spent £2000 on oil and another £600 on boiler repairs and servicing.

I'm thinking of not replacing the boiler when it dies eventually.

We would like a woodburning stove. Our chimney needs some work first.

intex

Thanks for all your replies. To those of you interested :-

I have a 2 bedroom top floor flat with 2 overnight heaters and some normal electric heaters. I have the heating on all winter. My electricity bill has been about £17 a month for the entire 4 years I have lived in this flat.

I guess I am going to get a shock when I move out soon to a larger house, because it sounds like I am getting a really good deal on energy living here.

Was interesting to hear that the overhead power cables in rural areas were not designed for heating supply. I guess this must be the main reason why rural houses mainly seem to use oil for heating.

INSPIRED

intex wrote: »

Was interesting to hear that the overhead power cables in rural areas were not designed for heating supply. I guess this must be the main reason why rural houses mainly seem to use oil for heating.

We live in a small country village where there is no gas supply so most homes have oil.

In bad weather, we often lose our electricity supply for days so an oil fired Rayburn provides warmth, food and kettles of hot water.

Wish our monthly DD for electricity was £17! I have never heard that about the overhead power cables not being designed for heating supply. Our overhead infrastructure is as unreliable as the overhead telephone lines - when the wind blows the internet is on/off all day.

And the wind turbines have to be switched off!!

This is in "wealthy" Scotland :rotfl:

Cardew

intex wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. To those of you interested :-

I have a 2 bedroom top floor flat with 2 overnight heaters and some normal electric heaters. I have the heating on all winter. My electricity bill has been about £17 a month for the entire 4 years I have lived in this flat.

I guess I am going to get a shock when I move out soon to a larger house, because it sounds like I am getting a really good deal on energy living here.

.

Something is wrong with your billing. It is absolutely impossible to heat a flat all winter, have hot water and other electrical consumption on £17 a month; and that £17 to remain static whilst prices have risen a great deal.

Which company are you with?

Have you checked your meter readings on the bill against your meter?

Are you sure that the meter is connected to your flat?

INSPIRED

fluffymuffy wrote: »

We have one air source heat pump, two oil filled radiators, and two energy-saving fan heaters (yes, really!) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005NCO7ZO/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Does anyone else have experience of these fan heaters? Lots of 5* reviews but are they any more efficient than, say, a Delhongi 2kw oil filled heater? If so, this may be the solution to a problem we have. I have always thought that fan heaters were the most expensive form of portable heating.

Many thanks.