Calor gas boiler -- "forget that if i were you"

[jessejazza]

I'm considering a calor gas boiler. From what i can work out they are more economical than i thought. When the heating engineer was last round he said forget the idea.

I've been trying to sort out the pros and cons. So far for living in a rural area where one's choice is oil, calor gas or electric - it would appear [to humble me!] that calor is the best option.

If one has the tank or vessel i've been quoted about two fills a year about £1k. With bottle at £120/pair about 8 deliveries/year almost £1k - that seems to be the consumption with a modest house and the convenience of paying by cheque. mains gas by comparison folk have said they're on a £100/month DD. Oil by comparison more than twice the price of any at 3-4 fills a year £2500.

after what the heating engineer said i'd be grateful for feedback from folks. From the people i've spoken to they are quite happy with it.

thanks

 

[petit_pablo]

Oil by comparison more than twice the price of any at 3-4 fills a year £2500.
thanks

How much are you using.

It costs just less than a 1k a year for me to heat a 3 bed house.

 

[jessejazza]

Oil by comparison more than twice the price of any at 3-4 fills a year £2500.
thanks

How much are you using.

It costs just less than a 1k a year for me to heat a 3 bed house.

We have the 1100/1200 standard tank and that requires 3-4 fills per year. that is the same as most folk in the area - most with an older solid wall house... no modern insulation. If yours is a modern house then that's probably why your consumption is less. Most folk here use an open fire or stove for heating during the day. I reckon on two fills if milder but last year with the open fire as well i got through three fills. This year i have managed on one fill but oil's gone up to 70p/litre again i.e. £700/tank. The pain as well is having to order in bulk.

 

[Tibbot]

You're relying on inaccurate information and guess work.

Mains gas is about 4p per kW
Solid Fuel 4 to 5p per kW
Oil (Kerosene) 6p per kW
LPG Bulk tanks (Calor, Flogas etc) 8 to 9p per kW. Bottles even more.
Electricity (Std tariff) 10 to 13p per kW.

 

[Diyisfun]

You're relying on inaccurate information and guess work.

Mains gas is about 4p per kW
Solid Fuel 4 to 5p per kW
Oil (Kerosene) 6p per kW
LPG Bulk tanks (Calor, Flogas etc) 8 to 9p per kW. Bottles even more.
Electricity (Std tariff) 10 to 13p per kW.

Just a question ..so dont bite my head off.
Whilst the elec is dearest, does it work out the cheapest due to efficencys

 

[Tibbot]

Electricity is supposed to be 100% efficient at point of use, but new gas and oil boilers achieve over 90% so still cost less to burn. Solid fuel boilers only have to reach 72% to comply with standards but anthracite is the cheapest rural fossil fuel to buy.

 

[jessejazza]

Thanks for your replies.

Tibbot: you've listed the costs/KW... that's fine but practically comparing i think is a different thing. Which is what i did. Everyone i've spoken too oil seems to cost twice that of others. Most folk here use dual fuel as i said.

I've got a way with one fill so far and using coal during the day which has cost £200 so far.

Diyisfun: you raise a fair point. I've looked into an electric boiler and all seem expensive to run. One person said to me only worth consideration if you want to take out a second mortgage. someone said they're run best on eCONomy 7 - CON being the operative word. You get electricity for 2p less during one third of the 24 hours, the other two thirds you're charged an extra 2p and you're only going to use the night rate for heating for one third of the year i.e. winter... four months.

 

[Tibbot]

you've listed the costs/KW... that's fine but practically comparing i think is a different thing.

What ever way you compare will not alter the laws of physics. You get a 3rd less energy out of a litre of LPG compared with oil. They cost about the same per volume and the oil boiler will return a higher efficiency rating.

Heating your home with LPG is at best the 2nd dearest choice available.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Calor may still work out cheaper, if the pi keys find it difficult to 'borrow' the gas.

 

[jessejazza]

Solid fuel boilers only have to reach 72% to comply with standards but anthracite is the cheapest rural fossil fuel to buy.

anthracite is £18/sack? During peak winter for a 40k BTU boiler one'll use 4 hods which is a sack 18 x 4 x 7 = 504 that doesn't seem cheap to me. The boiler burns at a much faster rate than a stove. Also one's got to have a separate flue which isn't cheap. Rayburn/AGA is a better bet i think.

For an open fire [our's is an inset one] i've got a grill than is less deep and higher than the standard ones along the lines of what the Victorian's did i.e. there is more height so more red cinder givjng out heat and reckon a sack of housecoal lasts 3-4 days as well as any wood i can use.

 

[jessejazza]

What ever way you compare will not alter the laws of physics. You get a 3rd less energy out of a litre of LPG compared with oil. They cost about the same per volume and the oil boiler will return a higher efficiency rating.

Heating your home with LPG is at best the 2nd dearest choice available.

I'm an engineering graduate and i don't disagree with what you've said. Having said that why are those with oil spending £2.5-3k compared with £1-1.5k for gas.

 

[Tibbot]

anthracite is £18/sack?

Divided by 50Kg @ 9kW each = 4p per kW.

You can argue fuel calorific values and combustion efficiencies all night, in the hope that it'll make LPG what you want to believe.

 

[Tibbot]

why are those with oil spending £2.5-3k compared with £1-1.5k for gas.

Who knows? I prefer to go by the maths.

 

[The Baker]

Have you considered calculating the actual heat loss of your house, it may be worth while considering air, ground, or bore hole heat pump set up.

Many radiator companies have heat loss calculators on their web sites.

The following link for the heat line site brings up a radiator sizing calculator which you could use to extrapolate the actual building heating needs.

Tim

http://www.heatline.co.uk/calculator/

 

[dcawkwell]

Your figures are wrong.
According to the oftec website oil will be the cheapest form
of heating and hot water.

However if you have a fairly small house lpg does make sense
as the boilers are cheaper and installation costs are less.

The oil boilers last forever virtually though and easily repaired
with very little to go wrong. Unlike gas boilers.