Gas or Oil

4 Posts
My property is heated by a 20 year old oil boiler. It runs ok but engineers say its about 30% inefficient.
The property is a 1970s bungalow with a well insulated loft, cavity wall insulation, and double glazing.
Quotes suggest costs to upgrade the heating system are £8k for oil and ££6.5k for gas, including connection. My calculations suggest annual heating by oil would be about £350 cheaper or £550 with the predicted 20% increase.
What to do?
The property is a 1970s bungalow with a well insulated loft, cavity wall insulation, and double glazing.
Quotes suggest costs to upgrade the heating system are £8k for oil and ££6.5k for gas, including connection. My calculations suggest annual heating by oil would be about £350 cheaper or £550 with the predicted 20% increase.
What to do?
0
Latest MSE News and Guides
Replies
are you including the cost of maintaining/replacing over time the oil tank?
It is only relatively recently afaik that oil has become cheaper to run than gas & who knows what may happen to prices in the future ...
Firstly I would say that £8k sounds very expensive to replace an existing oil boiler with a new one. Does the quote include relocating the boler or changing it to a different type with associated plumbing changes? (eg regular boiler to combi).
We paid £5k a couple of years ago to replace ours (32kW boiler) and that included relocating the boiler to the outside of the house, fitting a magnetic filter, converting the system to a fully pumped s plan configuration, installing one larger radiator and plumbing in an under kitchen unit plinth heater.
Aside from the relative costs of replacing oil vs gas, as Buff has commented, the biggest unknown is the future price of oil and gas. In your position I think I would stick with oil but shop around for some more competitive quotes.
You should be able to get an oil boiler with a 10 year parts & labour guarantee (subject to annual servicing by an approved technician) and oil boiler servicing shouldn't be much more expensive than gas.
Buff is also correct to ask about the maintenance/replacement of your tank. That is something to factor in when comparing costs of oil vs gas. You should assume somewhere in the region of £2k to £3k to replace the tank depending on size and location. And depending on age and condition expect to have to do this every 10 to 15 years. Many tanks will last much longer, but most of the plastic tanks usually only have a 10 year warranty. Safer to budget for a replacement at some point.