Oil fired heating

Joined
27 Jun 2003
Messages
407
Reaction score
8
Country
United Kingdom
Guys i could do with soem advice with regard to oil fired heating systems. A new property i have been looking at doesn't have gas despite been 50m away from houses that do! Apparently they were quoted £42K to have a main put in! Anyway, the house has an oil fired system, i have requested the make, model & tank size but at the moment i just wanted to know what the costs are like compared to gas? I have done a quick search and some people say the tank costs £1k to fill and needs doing 2-3 times a year!! The developer claimed the tank would cost around £1k to fill and last 12-18 months so a bit of a difference. Thanks for any advice.
 
Sponsored Links
It depends. How large is your house? Is it a new build with insulation to current standards? On top of a hill in the wilds or nestled in town? Are you at home all day? Active, sedentary, young, old, large family, on your own? do you like to live in a sauna or do you love cold showers?

The costy of oil varies, unfortunately I paid 63p a litre in the summer, but now I believe it has fallen to around the 50p mark. You can get an average at www.boilerjuice.com. I live in a large old and cold house with poor insulation. It is quite possible to use 100 litres a week or more in the winter. A smaller better-insulated house would use less. We use at a guess 1500 litres a year, that's heating and h/w in winter only, the boiler is off when heating is not required, but I am 'careful' with the heating.

If the tank takes around £1k to fill it might be 2000 litre capacity.

You also have servicing costs which might be slightly more than gas (we're having ours serviced today, should cost about £65).
 
Hi, thanks for the reply. It's a 4 bed new build so all brand new insulation & windows etc. Our heating here is set to 19 degrees, i don't like it hot but there would be hot baths & showers each night! What i am trying to find out is the cost compared to gas, eg, if gas is £250 a quarter what would oil be like? I really don't like the sound of 3 tanks a year at £1k a pop.............
 
I couldn't really say. I doubt if you will need three tank fills a year, two maybe. What sort of boiler is it (combi, condensing?). Will you use the boiler for h/w in the summer?

I suppose there are figures somwhere for costs per kw for oil and gas. You will get around 8.5 kw from a litre of oil, so 1kw of oily heat would cost around 6p at 50p a litre. I haven't a clue what 1kw of gas costs. All these costs move from month to month so it is difficult to estimate. I think that you can be fairly sure that oil is more expensive than gas (as long as we keep smiling at the Russians), but how much more I don't know. Not massively more!
 
Sponsored Links
I'll hopefully have the full details on the system later. I would guess they will have fitted the most efficient system as everything else has been speced very well.
 
I had a Stanley 60k btu cooker/boiler at my last house and used 1,300 litres in 10 months for cooking,CH and HW for a 3bed pre war semi with no double glazing and solid 9" walls. I would guess your 4 bed modern house would use less. I now live in a relatively modern bungalow with a similar cooker/boiler and well insulated and used 880 litres in 10 months. Current price is 42p per litre + VAT. Therefore at current prices your house should cost no more than (and probably less than) £1000 per year (2000 litres) This, I think is probably less than mains gas.
 
Very helpful, thanks. I'll post up details of the system when i have it but so far the info above has been of great use :D
 
I am stunned that you are all using so much oil. 3 x £1k fill ups per year would kill me, I just couldnt afford it.

I used £700 last year in a 140yr old large 4 bed stone cottage with no cavity and not much in the loft insulation department (soon to be addressed). Our boiler is a 20 yr old Worcester lump

We use the immersion for occasional baths, and one of the two electric showers daily. We are all out all day (Work/School) so the heating only ever gets put on in the evenings. I dont put it on at all on weekday mornings.

I'm hoping to get a multi fuel Aga fitted shortly so the oil bill will drop even further!

Box-tightasaducksbutt-Cleva
 
I am stunned that you are all using so much oil. 3 x £1k fill ups per year would kill me, I just couldnt afford it.

I can't quite see who all the people are, who are using £3000 of oil a year. :confused:
 
I am stunned that you are all using so much oil. 3 x £1k fill ups per year would kill me, I just couldnt afford it.

I can't quite see who all the people are, who are using £3000 of oil a year. :confused:
I did some quick googling over the weekend and found plenty of people who claimed they were filling 2000 litre tanks 3 times a year! This has put me off some what........
 
We have a customer that has a 2500lt tank feeding a 20/25 combi boiler.

They have a refill approximately every 12 months. £1250 if oil is @ 50p/lt

Large house with 4 bed rooms and they dont like the cold :LOL:
 
Just bought 2200 liters @ 40 pence.
Happy days. :D
I fill my tank about every 18 months. Its a big ole farm house (stone walls) with less than adequate insulation.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top