Oil or LPG?

tinkerbell19

We are in the process of buying a new house, which is in a rural area which does not have a mains gas supply. The house currently has oil fired heating but we have never used oil before so do not know what to expect when it comes to cost. Some people have said it is best to convert to an lpg tank, rather than using oil. Any info would be great. The house is a 3 bed extended semi detached, which we are going to extend further. It is brick built and rendered. Thanks in advance. :undecided

MrsWenger

Hi, we had to make this choice when buying a new boiler 4 years ago. We stayed with LPG cylinders in the end because to have the bulk tank didn't work for us due to the criteria of where it can be sited. LPG was better than oil at that time and we were able to do the calculations based on usage as we had been here a number of years. I would suggest you explore both options locally as LPG prices vary hugely across regions and do take into account that engineers need a different certification for LPG so not all companies will offer LPG servicing etc.

Good luck and enjoy your new home:)

dogshome

Stay with oil, where you are still master of your own destiny and can buy supplies from any supplier of your choice.
The ground rules are to always purchase oil by ringing round at least 5 local suppliers for the best price, and never, never signing any deal which limits your supply to one company.

Because LPG often requires a pressured storage tank that must meet strict criteria, it's usually rented from a supplier, which leaves the customer wide open to unfair contracts and high prices

footyguy

tinkerbell19 wrote: »

We are in the process of buying a new house, which is in a rural area which does not have a mains gas supply. The house currently has oil fired heating but we have never used oil before so do not know what to expect when it comes to cost. Some people have said it is best to convert to an lpg tank, rather than using oil. Any info would be great. The house is a 3 bed extended semi detached, which we are going to extend further. It is brick built and rendered. Thanks in advance. :undecided

Welcome to MSE :hello:
(although I see you have been here for over 2 years, it's still your first post :T)

Ask those people you refer to who have already given you advice to provide their reasoning.
If still confused, post that reasoning here

onomatopoeia99

dogshome wrote: »

The ground rules are to always purchase oil by ringing round at least 5 local suppliers for the best price, and never, never signing any deal which limits your supply to one company.

One of the reasons that I only considered houses on the gas main when I moved was heating oil is still locked in the 1970s in purchasing terms. There is no other product that I buy that requires phone calls to compare prices as no individual supplier will publish prices on a website. It's an archaic, outdated practice with no place in this century and it made me want to gouge my own eyes out (but I moved house instead).

Have a look at the MSE page on heating oil and see that it's a right pain in the bum, nothing like switching gas supplier.

I'd advise the OP not to buy the house and get one on the gas main :rotfl:.

dogshome

Whoops - Forgot an important ground rule for Oil

Organise your oil buys to Summer months, say July and August
At this time of year suppliers are desperate to move the product and that's reflected in the price, ( In winter everyone wants delivery and the price goes up).
If your tankage isn't big enough to contain an entire winters supply, then if you have the space, it's worth installing an additional tank, (They can be bought second hand)

Buying oil is indeed different from Gas, that's because the retail price of oil is based on that day's price on the oil market, unlike Gas where the suppliers fix a price to cover what they see as the highest price their market will go to, and pocket more cash when the market price falls
At present oil heating is dearer than gas per Kwh, but that's before taking into account the around 25p a day + 5% VAT ( £96 pa) standing charge for gas which goes a long way to even things up

Oakdene

tinkerbell19 wrote: »

We are in the process of buying a new house, which is in a rural area which does not have a mains gas supply. The house currently has oil fired heating but we have never used oil before so do not know what to expect when it comes to cost. Some people have said it is best to convert to an lpg tank, rather than using oil. Any info would be great. The house is a 3 bed extended semi detached, which we are going to extend further. It is brick built and rendered. Thanks in advance. :undecided

Just as someone who lives rurally & has oil fired central heating its always worth checking with your neighbours if you have any, to see if they need to buy when you do as often you get a cheaper price per litre if you buy in bigger quantities.

footyguy

dogshome wrote: »

Whoops - Forgot an important ground rule for Oil

Organise your oil buys to Summer months, say July and August
At this time of year suppliers are desperate to move the product and that's reflected in the price, ( In winter everyone wants delivery and the price goes up).
If your tankage isn't big enough to contain an entire winters supply, then if you have the space, it's worth installing an additional tank, (They can be bought second hand)

Buying oil is indeed different from Gas, that's because the retail price of oil is based on that day's price on the oil market, unlike Gas where the suppliers fix a price to cover what they see as the highest price their market will go to, and pocket more cash when the market price falls
At present oil heating is dearer than gas per Kwh, but that's before taking into account the around 25p a day + 5% VAT ( £96 pa) standing charge for gas which goes a long way to even things up

Surely there is no standing charge to pay for LPG? :huh:
(or oil)

But I suspect LPG is far more expensive than mains gas which is presumably what you are comparing against, and that the OP cannot obtain.

footyguy

This thread would probably be better suited to the LPG, Heating Oil, Solid & Other Fuels sub-board.

But in the meantime, if the OP visits that board, there are seperate stickys for advice on how to find the best deal on LPG and the best deal on Oil.

tinkerbell19

Thanks everyone for your help. We have chosen a rural area as we prefer that to city living, and being in the Cotswolds we are spoilt when it comes to stunning views. Oil heating, or LPG, is something we have accepted as part of the deal of living in the middle of nowhere. It is very confusing when you haven't used either before, and when I've read horror stories and it costing in excess of 1k a year in oil, compared to gas which is a couple of hundred. I think we will be staying with oil, based on advice such as yours on here, but will be investing in a new top notch boiler to run it as efficiently as possible. Can anyone tell me how much they pay a year in oil please? Obviously we all live differently, but would like to try and get a rough idea of costs. Great advice on speaking to the neighbours, although there aren't many of them, and also ordering in the summer months. We will certainly be taking that on board. Apologies if I have posted in the wrong place too. I'm a newbie here����

Rolandtheroadie

When I went from LPG to Oil around 2004, LPG was much more expensive. The boiler, tank and associated work was paid for with the savings in under 2 years.
http://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/index.php/domestic-fuels/fuel-prices#.V-6Xv_ArLcs
The above link seems to suggest oil is still cheaper per kWh.

The over £1000 a year would have been when oil was at it's highest. Pretty sure I was around 70ppl at one point, most recent fill it was under 30ppl. Online quote just now is 37.8 ppl, inc VAT, I'm hoping to get it a bit cheaper than that.

Not 100% certain on useage, I'm needing oil just now, 6 months after my last 1000ltr fill, so probably around 2500 a year to take winter into account. That's a 3 bed semi in Central Scotland, brick built and rendered too, and a 12 year old non combi boiler.