Switching gas heating/water to oil heating/water - good idea?

lohr500

@wittynamegoeshere :

I can accept that oil is more expensive to install than gas (assuming there is a gas supply already in situ), but based on current prices oil is not more expensive than gas when it comes down to the kwh cost.
With the predicted October and April price cap increases, I strongly suspect the advantage will tip even further towards oil. 

No idea what it costs to get a gas boiler serviced, but I am paying less than £100 a year to have our oil boiler serviced which includes a tank inspection, so I don't think the maintenance costs are high.

From an end user point of view I wouldn't say it is more complicated either. 

wittynamegoeshere

There are lots of regulations on tank placement these days.  It usually has to be away from the building, and there are loads of restrictions on whether you can cover it or grow plants around it.  Basically it has to be capable of being inspected by the person who fills it, as it's their responsibility to ensure it's up to the job.

All of this can mean it's difficult to hide it, and oil theft is absolutely a real risk.  As I say, it's not just the loss of oil but also the damage done.

It's complicated, and expensive, especially if starting from scratch.

Section62

wittynamegoeshere said:

There are lots of regulations on tank placement these days.  It usually has to be away from the building, and there are loads of restrictions on whether you can cover it or grow plants around it.  Basically it has to be capable of being inspected by the person who fills it, as it's their responsibility to ensure it's up to the job.

All of this can mean it's difficult to hide it, and oil theft is absolutely a real risk.  As I say, it's not just the loss of oil but also the damage done.

It's complicated, and expensive, especially if starting from scratch.

You are saying, but not quantifying or evidencing.

A decision like the OP is considering needs to be taken on a rational basis, using facts.  There's lots of opinion about the downsides of oil, but not much in the way of evidence.

Oil theft is a risk.  But how likely is it to happen to someone in the OP's relative's position?  Without knowing where they live and what the oil theft rate is like in that area, the risk of oil theft could just be a bogeyman.

Likewise, I know of a few people who have had oil thefts, none of them involved any damage to the storage tank.  Is that representative of the situation in the OP's relative's location?  No idea.