Phasing out oil boilers - can anyone give me the definitive situation!

Reed_Richards

lohr500 said:

Is it still not the case though that at current pricing for oil and electricity, an oil boiler will be cheaper to run than an ASHP? 

That's what I asserted a few posts back.

lohr500 said:

If I understand it correctly a well setup ASHP should achieve about a 3:1 efficiency gain. 

That's about what you would aspire to using radiators.  With Underfloor Heating designed to use lower flow temperatures you might do significantly better.

lohr500 said:

Green consideration aside, why would anyone want to take on board the significantly higher cost of replacing an oil boiler with an ASHP based on today's energy costs?

Some people are prepared to pay to be green.  Putting that aside and if you assume todays energy costs will be maintained (or at least the relative costs of oil and electricity) and you don't have UFH throughout your house then I agree that you would choose oil.  Historically there isn't much past evidence to suggest that the relative costs of oil and electricity will be maintained so if you are forced to replace an expired oil boiler you will have to take a guess about what will happen to fuel prices in future.   

ThisIsWeird

Fredw56 said:

If someone markets a truly modulating oil boiler and genuine vegetable oil fuels are approved (with no Palm Oil) there may be longer life for oil (vegetable). That’s a holy grail which may never happen.

This is what I've been looking for - comments on the likelihood of existing - and new - oil boilers being modified (at an apparent cost of only around £200) to run on 'hydro-treated vegetable oil' made from waste cooking oil or veg waste.

This is seemingly what George Eustice has recently claimed, adding it should reduce carbon emissions by 88%.

Any info on this, folks?

Reed_Richards

As in

Tory MP George Eustice compares new oil boiler ban to Ulez for rural communities

Achieving "Net Zero" is likely to cost people money in the short term, although climate change could well work out more expensive in the longer term.  So should governments (or mayors) push through unpopular policies at the expense of making themselves unpopular?  It's a dilemma.  I suspect that there isn't a large enough lobby in favour of maintaining oil boilers for government to turn around on that one.  But I could be wrong.   

ThisIsWeird

Thanks.

I notice that Bosch are already making such conversion kits, whilst they admit that there is currently not a lot of the HTV oil available. They reckon - expect - that to change, tho'.

The single biggest lesson I've taken from this (rightful) move to green is, stick with what you have for as long as you can! Anyone who 'jumps' before they actually need to will, very possibly, rue the day as they see new technologies and new alternatives come along.

lohr500

With the exception of the Vortex Blue Flame range, most of the recent Grant oil boilers are compatible with HVO. 

https://www.grantuk.com/media/5432/rd037k-2-issued-oil-burner-settings-riello-rdb-low-nox-hvo-100.pdf
https://www.grantuk.com/knowledge-hub/education-area/biofuels/

When I spoke with our Grant approved heating engineer a few months ago, he said that it may be possible to convert our Blue Flame boiler by replacing the whole blower unit. We agreed to investigate further as/when/if HVO becomes widely available in our area at a reasonable price. This post has prompted me to contact Grant to ask the question.

HL365

The proposed new oil boiler ban has now been moved from 2026 to 2035

HL365

Quote from Heating oil dot co UK email

The government have announced plans to delay the ban on oil boilers until 2035, providing a 9-year extension on the proposals made in October 2021. The original ban would have meant no oil boilers could be replaced from 2026 and instead a heat pump would need to be installed. That date has been pushed out to 2035, while a proposed 20% of very hard to convert homes, will be exempt all together.

FreeBear

QrizB said: Instead, here's an anecdote. Last winter (not an especially cold one) my patchily-insulated 1950s semi was kept pleasantly warm by a gas boiler running a ~50C flow temperature.

Winter 20/23 was the last one using an ancient Baxi back boiler in my (late) 1920s semi. Hodge podge of insulation (haven't got all the walls insulated yet, but have plenty in the loft). Also running at 50°C flow, and got through some 3500KWh of gas - A good chunk of that was for heating a tank of water.

OK, I was also using a wood stove to supplement the gas CH, but the stove on its own is not sufficient to heat the whole house.