Should I change to LPG from

KeithLancashure

When we bought the house 42 years ago it was and still is an oil fired  boiler system 
Gas is not available as it’s a rural area 
The existing boiler a Firebird external  boiler about 8 years old 
Each time there is a problem with the boiler there is a problem getting an engineer 
Been without heating now for a week and struggling to get it fixed 
Am considering changing to LPG - are there any downsides ? 
 

KeithLancashure

Heading should have said shall I change from oil 

QrizB

From people on this forum, I get the impression that LPG has it's advantages (the boilers are generally better and more reliable) but the LPG suppliers are mostly sharks and customers are fish bait.

Oil's also slightly cheaper, most of the time.

I'm sure some oil and LPG folks will be along before very long to share their experiences.

On the other hand, have you considered a heat pump?

matt_drummer

Why do you want to keep burning stuff?

It's not the future in any way, shape or form.

You really want to move from burning oil stored in a tank to burning gas stored in a tank?

Have you thought about a heat pump as an alternative to your fossil fuel burner?

QrizB

I'd just like to add that Matt and I are not a double act working on behalf of the Heat Pump Mafia, we just happened to read your messages and reply at roughly the same time!

KeithLancashure

When my wife and I bought this house in 1982 it had an oil tank 
We got calor to give a quote when we moved in but when they inspected they said that there was nowhere that they could install a tank within the regs / end of that story -,stuck with oil
Heat pump / I know nothing about them 
I am 82 now - just me now - my wife died 5 years ago I don’t want to burn anything 
just want a system that keeps me warm in winter and does not give me hassle every year 

KeithLancashure

Hi
I did approach Octopus Energy for a quote on a heat pump just a few days ago but don’t know anything about heat pumps 
Just looking for help from people who know 

Veteransaver

LPG is generally more expensive than oil and normal gas 
In fact oil is currently cheaper than natural gas unless you are on a good fix tariff (and you have no standing charge on oil)
LPG also involves long contracts as they supply the tank so you are very tied to a supplier who can basically charge whatever they like.
There's very little to go wrong on oil boilers, unless it is literally kaput and the water jacket is leaking the only other part that goes wrong is in the burner unit which is usually a fairly cheap replacement, or individual components like the flame sensor, valve solenoid etc, get a decent engineer in, is it actually a problem with the boiler, or elsewhere in your heating system?
Eg is the boiler overheating, which could be an issue with a blocked system or circulating pump?
If it does need a totally new oil boiler though they are more expensive than gas boilers, but as yours is already an external one then a new external oil boiler is around £2k plus fitting (but fitting should be very easy).
I'd say it would be far cheaper to replace the oil boiler, than it would be to fit a gas boiler (I don't know of any external gas boilers so it would have to be moved inside, flued and all your pipework reconfigured)
You should look at heat pumps though, you can get a £7500 grant for them which depending on the size of your house and heatpump required can be mostly covered by the grant.
Heatpump *should* be slightly cheaper to run overall, as long as you are on a good electric tariff, a lot of people use cheap overnight electric as much as possible, eg to heat the hot water and keep the house warm overnight so it only needs to tick over during the peak hours.

Veteransaver

KeithLancashure said:

Hi
I did approach Octopus Energy for a quote on a heat pump just a few days ago but don’t know anything about heat pumps 
Just looking for help from people who know 

Do you have an idea of what exactly is wrong with the boiler, it could be as simple as a blocked filter, dirty fuel, water in the fuel, broken pump, faulty zone valve etc.
Is the boiler firing up at all?

KeithLancashure

Thank you to all who are helping me 

In reply to 

“ There's very little to go wrong on oil boilers, unless it is literally kaput and the water jacket is leaking the only other part that goes wrong is in the burner unit which is usually a fairly cheap replacement, or individual components like the flame sensor, valve solenoid etc, get a decent engineer in” 

This boiler has been very troublesome over the 8 years 

Until 8 years ago our boiler was housed inside in the utility room 

8 years ago when our previous boiler was getting old the then engineer persuaded us to have a new Firebird boiler installed externally I cannot remember the reason why - obviously it involved the piping being reroute under the floor from the utility room to the outside - a major job 

The boiler has been serviced every year but has had numerous faults / breakdowns - I can’t remember all the faults as I know little about boilers - the most recent ones I remember are replacement of an expansion vessel - ignition problem - not recognising a flame ? and last September the replacement of the pump 

The oil tank is regularly topped up by the same local oil supplier 

It is very difficult to find a decent oil engineer here in West Lancashire 

I phoned one last Thursday afternoon and he was driving — he took my details and the nature of the problem and said he would ring me back later when he could look at his diary 

He never returned the call 

I texted him first thing on Friday morning to remind him and never heard from him but got no response 

I have some emergency homr cover with my Bank account so I rang them and they arranged for an engineer to come out on Saturday afternoon from a Manchester firm 

He was unable to fix the problem and said he would ask his head office to book a further appointment - I am still waiting for that appointment 

Hence my frustration with oil boilers and my wanting to change systems if possible if that would make things better for me 

In reply to ;- 

“ is it actually a problem with the boiler, or elsewhere in your heating system?

Eg is the boiler overheating, which could be an issue with a blocked system or circulating pump?” 

The nature of the problem is that the radiators get hot upstairs but hardly at all downstairs - to me who knows little is that not a circulation problem ??

Also the boiler heats the hot water OK 

I only have 9 degrees downstairs showing on thermometers whilst upstairs it is 20 degrees 

The thermostat which is on the dining room wall is set at 20 degrees 

The house which is too big for me now that my family are no longer here ( but I don’t really want to move until I have to but I do look around to downsize ) is a 4 bedroomed stone house in a rural area 

I live mainly upstairs ( which is far from ideal ) until this problem is sorted 

Cheers, Keith 

Veteransaver

Yes it sounds like a circulation problem affecting downstairs. Do you have 2 heating zones, ie is there an upstairs and a downstairs zone (you will have 2 separate thermostats).
If so it could well be a failed zone valve, you may be able to set it manually if it's just a motor failure.
Alternatively could be blocked or sludged downstairs radiators