Should I change to gas?

TARDISGIRL

I'm about to move house and the new property has oil heating. I've been used to having gas for the last 20 years and I'm aware of the convience so was planning to change the heating to gas. However given the latest news about blackouts and shortages I'm now wondering if its worth the risk. The property does have an open fire in one room and a bottled gas fire in the other but that wouldn't heat the water. I live in N Ireland. Should I change to gas or stick with the oil? Any thoughts welcome.

lohr500

Do you have access to mains gas, or would you need an LPG tank installing? 
Do you know how old the oil boiler is?

Strummer22

Why does the property have oil heating? Usually this is only the case if the house isn't connected to the gas grid, so you might not be able to switch to gas (affordably) anyway. 

Even if there are electricity blackouts this winter that won't affect gas supply to people's homes. In fact, part of the reason for blackouts would be diverting gas from power stations to ensure people have supply to their homes.

dunstonh

I'm about to move house and the new property has oil heating. I've been used to having gas for the last 20 years and I'm aware of the convience so was planning to change the heating to gas.

To convert from oil to gas is probably going to be an expense you would never recover.

The property does have an open fire in one room and a bottled gas fire in the other but that wouldn't heat the water. 

Switching the open fire to a multi-fuel burner (even if you burn only wood) is probably the better option in terms of cost savings and heat generation.

Should I change to gas or stick with the oil?

I'm on oil but wouldn't switch to gas even if I could.  That is not the way things are travelling.    Ultimately, you will need to change at some point but that's the same whether you go gas or oil. 

Oil is no more difficult than gas providing you remember to budget for it (if budgeting is an issue). e.g. if you need 3000 litres a year over 3 fill ups, then put aside an amount  each month that covers that.

Ebe_Scrooge

I have to agree with @dunstonh.  If there's not already a gas supply to your area then it's a no-go anyway.  Even if there are gas pipes nearby, you're still looking at a pretty large bill to run gas to the property.  Then you've got the cost of a new boiler.  Then for day-to-day running costs, there's hardly any difference between the two - I wouldn't be surprised is oil is actually marginally cheaper than gas overall.

Yes, budgeting is the only "headache", and one that catches a lot of new oil-users out.  But it really needn't be anything to fret about.  Instead of having a direct debit to your gas supplier, just set up a regular transfer each month yourself to a savings account, then you'll have the money to pay for the oil when you need it.  If you're able to earn a few pennies of interest on your "oil money" then that's a Brucie Bonus.

Always shop around every time you order oil - the price difference between local suppliers can be substantial, and the cheapest supplier one time will often not be the cheapest the next time.  Most of them will price-match their competitors if you tell them you've already had a cheaper quote.

And with gas, of course, you've got a standing charge to pay, which you don't have with oil.  Now, an oil tank won't last forever, and will need replacing at some point, so I guess you could look upon that as a kind of "standing charge" to factor in.  But a tank should last easily 20 - 25 years.  A new one is going to be in the region of £700 or so, plus fitting costs.  The current cap on the gas standing charge is 28p per day.  So that's over £2000 over 20 years.  So even if your oil tank needs replacing after 20 years, you're quids-in compared to the standing charge you'd have paid on gas.

When we moved to our current house about 15 years ago, it was the first time I'd ever come across oil heating, and I knew nothing about it.  But like the previous poster, I don't think I'd switch to gas now even if I had the option.

lohr500

@Ebe_Scrooge You might get away with a single skin oil tank replacement at a tank cost of £700 so long as the location complies with all the requirements in the 2001 Control of Pollution Regulations. We ended up having to replace our 2500 litre single skinned tank with a bunded tank and the bill came in at just over £2500. This included temporarily transferring the fuel in the old tank into storage tanks, extending the concrete base slab, installing a new bunded tank and pumping the old fuel back into the new tank. Even so, as you say the cost of replacement will largely be covered by the saving in daily standing charges.

Just because any existing tank is single skinned, it doesn't mean you can replace it with a single skinned tank.

Still awaiting an answer from the OP on my initial questions. As others have mentioned, I am guessing that as the new house has oil heating, then it is unlikely that mains gas is nearby. But only the OP can confirm this.

Reed_Richards

Prices may differ in NI but in England mains gas is currently about 10.3p per kWh.  Heating oil costs £1 per litre or less and 1 litre gets you 10.35 kWh of heat so £1 per litre is equivalent to 9.7p per kWh.  At these prices an oil boiler is cheaper to run than a gas boiler, assuming they can both achieve the same efficiency of operation.