Should I be cautious of oil central heating?

Getting_greyer

Hi, 

Viewed a property the other day, everything was great however I saw that the house was not connected to gas.  The current set up was an oil tank in the garden that fuels the heating. There was also a big calor gas bottle that fuels the gas fire in the living room.   I guess there's not much other option if the property can't be connected to mains. 

For those of you that work of oil- do you consider it a massive drawback or something that you get used to? 

comeandgo

Never having had anything other than oil I don't know if it's a massive drawback but the price does fluctuate.  It's cheaper now than it's ever been,  a third of the price it was two years ago, it is linked to the oil prices.

Getting_greyer

comeandgo said:

Never having had anything other than oil I don't know if it's a massive drawback but the price does fluctuate.  It's cheaper now than it's ever been,  a third of the price it was two years ago, it is linked to the oil prices.

Yeah i suppose it's a relative experience.  Maybe I'm seeing doom and gloom as I'm not used to sourcing the fuel myself.

Robin9

Be more cautious of the gas bottle in the living room - needs ventilation

Getting_greyer

Robin9 said:

Be more cautious of the gas bottle in the living room - needs ventilation

Bottle stands in the garden. I guess a hose connects somewhere through the wall. 

dogshome

If there is no mains Gas in the area, then oil is the next best thing, ( I had it for 20+ years till gas came to the village)

The basic rules are:

Get the boiler serviced once a year

Always ring around 4/5 local suppliers for their price when the tank needs a fill

Never sign a supply contract with one supplier, despite the promises of never running out of oil

It the oil tank is plastic, make sure it's under cover as direct sunlight degrades the plastic.

Mickey666

It could it could be argued that you should be wary of any form of fossil fuel heating.  According to this report, new gas boilers will be banned within 5 years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47559920
The writing is on the wall for coal, oil, gas - all fossil fuels.  The only uncertainty is the timescale it will be forced through.
Make of that what you will.

Mister_G

Until our national electricity distribution network is significantly upgraded (at huge cost), I suspect that fossil fuels will be with us for a good few years yet.

Mickey666

Probably true, but it’s an indication of where we’re all heading.

tim_p

Mister_G said:

Until our national electricity distribution network is significantly upgraded (at huge cost), I suspect that fossil fuels will be with us for a good few years yet.

No doubt the consumer (us!) will pay through the nose for the upgrade process and then again once we’re using electricity instead of gas.  Hoping gas and fossil fuels will see me out!
Strangely the ‘electricity too cheap to meter’ never happened - who’d have thought!!

dunstonh

Our place has oil.  When we moved in, we had been on gas for the previous 25 years.  So, I understand your nervousness.
However, it is easy but you do need to spend a bit of time understanding your tank and how much you use.
If the previous owners dont leave it, then get yourself an APOLLO OIL LEVEL MONITOR.   Not the smart version. The simple 10 bar display version.  (the smart version is flawed).
This will give you an indication of the level of oil in your tank.  
If you can access a club or discount source that will fill to top rather than require a specific amount use them.  If not, use a local oil company.  They will likely be more expensive but the first two fill ups you ideally want to know how much oil it takes to fill up from x bars on the monitor to the top.  i.e. if your monitor is showing 4 bars remaining and the oil delivery says it was 753 litres to fill it up then in future you can order 700 litres every time it falls to 4 bars.    Try ordering at different number of bars for the first two as tanks are often not shaped equally. Even if they look it from the outside.  e.g. a bunded cylinder tank will have curves at the bottom and you cant use the bottom 8cm or so in the tank.

If you are like most, you will use barely any oil between June and September but speed up outside those months with particularly heavy amounts used between November to February.     

For us, our tank is too small for the size of the property and we need to fill up 4 times a year.   Almost like clockwork, the oil needs filling up in the same months of the year each year.   March, Sept, November, January and then March, Sept, Nov and Jan etc etc.    I order at 3 bars in March and Sept but 5 bars (half way) in November & January as it drops almost a bar a week during extreme cold periods and oil delivery demand during cold spells is high and you may have to wait up to 4 weeks for the discount oil supplies.

For a back up, use a cane (or an old broom handle in our case) and dip it in the tank.  We did this to help understand the depth of the oil vs the bars on the monitor and litre capacity at various points.    Probably a bit of overkill to do both.  Most probably do one or the other.   But it was only really to help me learn about our usage so we never run out.  I rarely use the broom handle nowadays but if the monitor ever fails I have that manual backup method.

Once you learn and understand your use, it is an absolute doddle as the boiler and radiators work the same way as gas when it comes to heating the house.  The radiators are still water-filled.  There are the thermostats and timer etc.  It's just the fuel that differs and the fact you have to order the fuel yourself.