Electric boiler

markin

Spend the 4K on Solar and get around 3800kwh a year to offset your winter usage, And just use the plug in heaters or a cheap single aircon/heat pump when you have funds.

Wildcard, Fit a 4 inch pvc pipe from front to back under the crawl space so they can feed the hose under.

lohr500

Following on from @markin wildcard suggestion, have you contacted an oil tank installation specialist?

My parents old house had a tank that was not directly accessible but it did have an external remote fill pipe located at the front of the house which ran down the side of the house and then to the tank at the rear. No idea if such a solution would work for you, or if it is still permissible. The pipes were only about 3" in diameter if I recall correctly.

A small amount of info. here from this website https://www.jdpipes.co.uk/knowledge/storage-tanks/domestic-oil-storage-tank-regulations.html

Oil Storage Overfill Prevention

While your oil delivery person will take every precaution to prevent the overfilling of your oil tank, installing an automatic overfill prevention device will give you that extra peace of mind. In situations where the oil tank is more than 30m from a road (meaning that a remote fill pipe has to be provided for the oil supplier to connect to), they will likely insist on your tank being fitted with an overfill prevention device before making your delivery.

This device ensures that when the tank reaches a certain safety fill level, the oil flow is either cut off or raises an alarm to warn the delivery person to stop the supply. Installing such a device may not always be mandatory, but it is highly recommended to further reduce the risks of an oil spill.

Just a thought.

knightstyle

Whatever you go for always spend available money on draught prevention and insulation. Your heating replaces heat lost from the building!
Plus some air conditioning units only use the heat pump for cooling and use a simple element when in heating mode so as expensive to use as a fan heater.

Be_Happy

Hi ChaunceyGardiner - re Comfortplus withdrawal

Comfortplus was due to be withdrawn in March 2020, March 2022 and rumoured even before that but each time has been rescheduled as unable to implement withdrawal.   Waiting to see what will happen in March 2023.

Is cheaper than E7 for me just now, so will just have to hope withdrawal doesn't happen

jrawle

OP: Am I right in assuming that the previous owners either sold part of their land to developers, or built an additional house there themselves, which is why you no longer have an oil tank? They have left the new owner (you) without central heating, but you knew that when buying and probably paid a lower price for the house as a result.

Going back to oil or gas bottles seems a really backwards step; a heat pump is the way to go, especially as you already have most of the plumbing. Can you survive with cheap heaters for a year or two, and save up?

Also, I haven't used this service from Octopus but have seen people on here recommend it, they seem to offer reasonable quotes for heat pump installation. What does it say if you put your details in?

https://octopus.energy/get-a-heat-pump/