Oil versus Gas

avonne

I currently have a 25 year old oil burner that needs replacing.

Options;

Would it be better to have a Gas fired condensing boiler and use this in the evening for water and heating, then use my immersion heater on Eco7 to heat the water in the morning.

Or

Should I stick with Oil and still use the immersion,

Or

Stick with Oil.

Comments please.

samtheman1k

Or switch the who system over to a Gas combi boiler for all your heating and water?

Cardew

Really a no contest IMO

Get rid of the oil and gas for everything.

As you already will have a hot water tank and all the plumbing it is a matter of debate if you should have a gas combi or a 'normal' free standing gas boiler.

Certainly if your property is large a normal boiler would be my recommendation; although a combi can still supply to the HW tank.

Having got both systems, there is no doubt that IMO you should retain the HW tank at all costs.

You should also look closely at the economics of retaining Economy 7. Most gas CH properties cannot make Economy 7 pay - you do appreciate that you pay more for all daytime electricity when on E7?

Just a note of caution. Unless you have gas at your house, you might find the cost of laying a gas main staggering - even for a short distance.

samtheman1k

Cardew wrote: »

ust a note of caution. Unless you have gas at your house, you might find the cost of laying a gas main staggering - even for a short distance.

We had some quotes for this, expect to pay >£500 just to bring the gas mains out of the ground and connected to a meter. If any trenches need to be dug (i.e. if the mains is not next to your house wall, then expect to pay anything from £2k per day for contractors to dig/lay/make good the trench (although you can do it yourself to save some money).

samtheman1k

Also, why are you thinking of keeping the hot water tank anyway? A combi boiler will supply hot water on demand, and I think that you can get high throughput ones that will work at 'near to' mains level flow rates, if not, then you could use something like a Gledhil Boilermate to act as a thermal store (which is heated by water from the boiler) to provide mains pressure hot water.

Cardew

samtheman1k wrote: »

Also, why are you thinking of keeping the hot water tank anyway? A combi boiler will supply hot water on demand, and I think that you can get high throughput ones that will work at 'near to' mains level flow rates, if not, then you could use something like a Gledhil Boilermate to act as a thermal store (which is heated by water from the boiler) to provide mains pressure hot water.

As the OP has oil CH and an immersion heater, the house will already have a Hot water tank with all the plumbing already installed; so it is a reasonably simple job to swop the oil boiler for a gas boiler.

I have experience of using a few combi boilers, and I have never seen one that supplies what I would call a mains level flow of hot water.

I would agree that the simplicity of a combi boiler system would be worth considering if you were installing a CH system from scratch; but with a system already in place, personaly I would always keep a HW tank.

avonne

I am lucky to have the gas pipe capped off under the downstairs bath.

As for the eco7, I have got the electricity people to tell me what my bills would have been on normal tarrif and it works out to be less that a fiver on most bills.

So I could have the gas on at night and heat the water with eco7 just before the switch to daytime rate.

I like the idea of the hot water tank being retained.

I suppose I should have asked are their any financial benefits to switching from oil to gas?

Cardew

avonne wrote: »

I am lucky to have the gas pipe capped off under the downstairs bath.

As for the eco7, I have got the electricity people to tell me what my bills would have been on normal tarrif and it works out to be less that a fiver on most bills.

So I could have the gas on at night and heat the water with eco7 just before the switch to daytime rate.

I like the idea of the hot water tank being retained.

I suppose I should have asked are their any financial benefits to switching from oil to gas?

With oil @ 45p litre you are looking at a price of approx 4.5p a kWh before you start considering the efficiency of the boiler. Given the boiler is 25 years old you are probably looking at an efficiency around 60%(if that). So you are paying around 7p to 8p for a kWh

So it makes sense to use Economy 7 at 3p - 4p a kWh (??) to heat water.

However a modern condensing gas boiler should have an efficiency of 90% or better; and with gas at around 2.5p for a kWh it will be marginally cheaper to heat water with gas than E7.

Now a modern oil boiler will also have an efficiency of 90% of more, but, at current prices, oil still will be costing around double the cost of gas in running costs.

So if you heat HW with gas, getting rid of E7 will mean a considerable saving on your Electriciy bill as you won't be using an immersion heater.

Lotus-eater

About 6 years ago I was told that oil was slightly cheaper to run than gas, I presume that is why a house with gas has an oil fired boiler?

As we all know this has now changed round dramatically. Surely no-one in the right mind would now choose oil over gas, given the chance.

Cardew

Lotus-eater wrote: »

About 6 years ago I was told that oil was slightly cheaper to run than gas, I presume that is why a house with gas has an oil fired boiler?

As we all know this has now changed round dramatically. Surely no-one in the right mind would now choose oil over gas, given the chance.

Agreed as of Feb 2nd 2008 you are absoutely correct.

However in 6 years time??

Some years ago 'Which' had a supplement that examined costs all the CH fuels and came out firmly in favour of oil, even though oil boilers were more expensive and extra cost of tank etc.

On the strength of that recommendation I spent a fortune having an oil CH system fitted.

Along came a Middle East crisis - oil prices went through the roof - and within a year it was one of the worst decisions I had ever made.

GB Ltd are fast running out of gas from the North Sea and we, like the rest of Europe, will have a huge dependancy on Russia for gas. Still President(soon to be Prime Minister) Putin is a nice man and he will look after us I am sure!!!

Lotus-eater

I did the same, over 4.5 years ago, however even looking back its difficult to imagine what a better alternative would be. Tanked gas is the only other real option. And at the moment more expensive.
A woodburner has been a good alternative to turning on the heating at nights.