Changing from Oil to Gas

Zola. · 15 May 2017 at 10:52AM

Is there an average ball park figure of what converting Oil to Gas is these days?

Worth doing? Is it about the same price as running an oil heating system?

Iam considering it....would allow for a bigger bathroom (no hotpress), bigger garden (no oil tank area), and instant hot water.

saverbuyer · 15 May 2017 at 11:14AM

Budget about 3-3.5 thousand.

You only get rid of the tank if you go for a combi boiler. Combine will be high pressure so you might need pipework replaced. I didn't go for a combi but went for a system boiler with a mega flow tank. Multiple bathrooms with high pressure output on each running from a large tank in the attic. Combi only works if you only use one output at a time. Tap or shower etc.

Gas is good, I'd never go back to oil now.

jenny-wren · 15 May 2017 at 12:48PM

Our basic quote was between £3 and £3.7K. It's worth getting at least 3 or 4 quotes for the job as the price will vary quite a bit between installers. Installers will advise on the best location for your boiler. Most people go for a hot press installation but we wanted the extra bathroom space so ours is in the kitchen. Phoenix will install your meter up to 2m from the front of your property. If you want it further back they will charge you extra per metre.

If you go for a combi gas boiler and have microbore copper piping to your radiators it's worth considering replacing this with new copper. Some of the installers we got quotes from recommended replacing our microbore piping, others never mentioned it. However it could add around £1k to your bill and floorboards will need to come up. We spent around £5k but this included all new copper piping, new radiators and a 'smart' thermostat.

Our hot water takes a while to come through to the kitchen and bathroom taps but aside from that it's great (and the extra space in the garden and hot press is a bonus!). The heat took forever to come through when we had oil, now the radiators heat up really quickly.

It's worth checking what offers Phoenix have on. We got £500 cashback that they were offering through one of the local home shows.

Hope this helps.

Wookey · 15 May 2017 at 2:25PM

Zola. wrote: »

Is there an average ball park figure of what converting Oil to Gas is these days?

Worth doing? Is it about the same price as running an oil heating system?

Iam considering it....would allow for a bigger bathroom (no hotpress), bigger garden (no oil tank area), and instant hot water.

Quite a bit may depend on if you have a pressurized oil boiler or normal gravity fed system and in how good a condition your radiators are, the vast majority of gas boilers have a pressurized heating side and if your old rads aren't up to the job they could start leaking once the pressure goes on them. If your heating system has been well maintained and treated with fernox inhibitor they should be fine but if not you could be looking at potentially replacing all the rads.

I see very little reason to replace copper piping unless its a microbore drop pipe system and you don't want to see pipes running down the walls or you intend to extend at some point and need extra flow capacity on pipe runs.

Instant hot water although usually being a bit cheaper than stored hot water is generally poor if multiple draw off's happen at the same time at peak times (usually morning rush) with bathrooms and en suites in the same house, electric showers installed can help there.

You will need CO alarms added as well if you put the boiler inside.

Zola. · 16 May 2017 at 12:31PM

Cheers! Didn't think it was going to be quite as expensive, I thought around 2k!

Its not an urgent thing at all really, our house is warm, i guess the switch is more of a nice to have.

saverbuyer · 16 May 2017 at 1:00PM

Zola. wrote: »

Cheers! Didn't think it was going to be quite as expensive, I thought around 2k!

Its not an urgent thing at all really, our house is warm, i guess the switch is more of a nice to have.

I'd wait until your oil boiler packs in.

TBH if I still had an oil boiler, I'd go on one of those courses or watch youtube and learn how to service it myself. Save yourself £50 a year to put towards the conversion when you actually need it.

Gas is good for the convenience but 3-4k is a lot to try and make back.

Wookey · 16 May 2017 at 1:34PM

Zola. wrote: »

Cheers! Didn't think it was going to be quite as expensive, I thought around 2k!

Its not an urgent thing at all really, our house is warm, i guess the switch is more of a nice to have.

Firmus do give grants now and again still i think, it might be worth keeping an eye out for those though the amount of grant given used to depend on what type of boiler and what level of control you went for ie. heating only or combi. Something else to consider is switching to a gas cooker.

Whilst gas maybe slightly cheaper fuel costs you are tied to the suppliers price, no shopping around or waiting to see what way oil prices go to buy in bulk, world gas prices fluctuate as much as oil but oil prices grab the headlines more due to the costs in filling up cars. Downside to gas is you must service the boiler regularly which is something you do not have to do with oil as long as it is setup correctly initially.

Zola. · 16 May 2017 at 2:35PM

The boiler came with the house and is basically new, only 4 year old tops... the guy who serviced it last year said it needed nothing and is a cracking boiler.

Probably better saving the money for something else!

bingo_bango · 17 May 2017 at 3:23PM

I jumped ship to gas when oil prices were at their highest. Cost £2200 for the conversion and the savings meant I would recoup the cost in about 3-4 years.

Well that was about 3 years ago, and the oil prices coming down meant that was no longer the ROI timeframe. However, the convenience made it worthwhile anyway. Radiators are piping hot within 3-4 minutes whereas with the oil it took a good 20-30 from cold. Costs me around £420 per year in gas costs, and another £50 for the annual service for an extended two bed property.

Still glad I made the jump, but if you are doing it solely for financial gains, then look at how long it will take you to recover that £2-3K before you decide anything. Since you already have a decent boiler, there is no point moving for the sake of it.

Changing from Oil to Gas

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