Oil combi boiler finally died

poe.tuesday

After 14 years of hell with the boiler, it has finally died, I did expect it to last longer

It's a Worcester oil combi boiler and now we are going to have to replace it, we are not on mains gas so can't go down that route, also, having the three grand it looks like its going to cost to replace is also an issue

We can get by with electric heating and have an electric shower in the short term but we are going to have to replace the old boiler at some stage, does anyone have any advice on what boilers, alternatives to oil boilers that are not going to cost so much initially etc?

poe.tuesday

Would an electric boiler be an option do you thinks?

We have wet central heating and instant hot water ( no tank)

They look a lot cheaper to buy initially

Richie-from-the-Boro

Unless you live in a passive house.

- electric night store space and water heating on an E7 tariff is the UK's cheapest electric heating option
- electric wet heating is the UK's most expensive electric heating option on any tariff
- electric dry panel heating is a very expensive UK's heating option on any tariff but not as bad as wet heating

captainhindsight_2

stay away from electric, it will be so expensive!

I know you said you've only got £3k But look at biomass, yes the capital cost is high but the long term fuel costs are low and you get rhi payments which will cover the capital cost in about 4-5 years.

What size house do you have, what size boiler do you need?

jwdale80

I'm just wondering if your best option at the moment is to just replace your oil boiler at present. I have been looking at the oil prices recently and to my surprise, kerosine 'which was somewhat expensive compared to gas', is now 'cheaper than gas'. I compared prices online, and one company quotes £418 for 900 litres, so that is 46.5 p per litre- working out at 4.65p per kw. This compares to 4.8p per kw on natural gas, unless they have droped their prices. I realise NI is cheaper, however would the rest of the UK not follow suit? I'm wondering why oil is currently this price, and wondering if it is down to a combination of:
lower prices of crued oil,
more kerosine suppliers and therefore more competition,
more people already converted to gas reducing demand for kerosine,
fewer gas companies reducing competition in gas prices.
Another question that comes to mind is: 'If the demand for gas increases, will gas suppliers drop their prices? My thought is that they will not, but will prefer to cash in on consumer demand.

Finally, with so many people converting to gas, it should be possible to find a decent 2nd hand oil boiler for around £200 which might almost be as good as new if well serviced.