Heating Fuel opinions

Message

FlyingKiwi · #1 Post by **FlyingKiwi** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:52 pm

Hi all,
Having moved to a Rural village last year we lost the benefits of natural gas and ended up with lpg. We've got an old boiler that needs changing and are thinking of changing to oil at the same time.
If anyone has experience with changing over fuels I'd be interested in their opinions on which is the cheaper to run.
Cheers,
FK

Samray · #2 Post by **Samray** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:00 pm

Oil was always better value but seems to have increased in price about 25% over 6 months.
I'm guessing lpg might have gone the same way?

FlyingKiwi · #3 Post by **FlyingKiwi** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:07 pm

Yeah price is very similar. we're currently paying 40p alitre for lpg although 5 of that is a "temporary" surcharge.
It's down to which is more efficient and uses less/costs less

Samray · #4 Post by **Samray** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:14 pm

http://www.ruralfuel.co.uk/fuel-compari ... -chart.htm

FlyingKiwi · #5 Post by **FlyingKiwi** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:12 pm

yep been there. recommended by shell gas
needless to say it says lpg is best

Samray · #6 Post by **Samray** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:05 pm

Only if you wanna cook on it too Shirley?
Those that arent biased by one supplier or the other are biased by 'green' issues.

snapdragon · #7 Post by **snapdragon** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:30 pm

In a similar position
Having just bought a two cylinder Calor change at fliipin £84 FFS

I'm looking at other options - am told a new boiler (already booked and in the plan) will be more efficient, but know that in very cold weather we can use a bottle a week (CH only)
our neighbours one side have oil (smelly and not much cheaper it seems) t'other side have a wood burner (he gets to chop his own)which seems to need a lot of attention (I hear banging and clanging noises)

solar panels and a multifuel boiler in a currently unused fireplace are what we're considering now - with gas as a backup. This of course all depends if I'm still in work this time next week

rockman · #8 Post by **rockman** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:43 pm

Oil is the cheaper to run but more expensive to install. Not only are the boilers more expensive but there is also the cost of the oil tank although you only pay once whereas with lpg you have cylinder/tank rental costs. Whichever fuel you go for the existing system will probably need at least upgrading to the current energy efficiency requirements.

rockman · #9 Post by **rockman** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:45 pm

snapdragon wrote: our neighbours one side have oil (smelly and not much cheaper it seems)

If the oil boiler is smelly it's not set up properly and in need of a service. Nowadays they "should" run really clean.

ligloo · #10 Post by **ligloo** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:51 pm

rockman wrote:Oil is the cheaper to run but more expensive to install. Not only are the boilers more expensive but there is also the cost of the oil tank although you only pay once whereas with lpg you have cylinder/tank rental costs. Whichever fuel you go for the existing system will probably need at least upgrading to the current energy efficiency requirements.

and whatever you do, if you opt for oil, take out insurance against your boiler, mine is forever packing up and things going wrong with it.... the policy has more than paid for itself a few times over each year.

ligloo · #11 Post by **ligloo** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:51 pm

rockman wrote:
snapdragon wrote: our neighbours one side have oil (smelly and not much cheaper it seems)

If the oil boiler is smelly it's not set up properly and in need of a service. Nowadays they "should" run really clean.

see what I mean lol, mine stinks

rockman · #12 Post by **rockman** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:55 pm

ligloo wrote:
and whatever you do, if you opt for oil, take out insurance against your boiler, mine is forever packing up and things going wrong with it.... the policy has more than paid for itself a few times over each year.

Most come with a two year Guarantee these days and the option of extending that with the manufacturer. This is the way to go especially in rural areas as they can get an engineer with a van full of parts out faster than new parts can be posted.

#13 Post by **Kwackerz** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:59 pm

This of course all depends if I'm still in work this time next week

?

Gio · #14 Post by **Gio** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:00 pm

You can run your oil system on old chip fat*, fish and chip shops pay to have their oil collected, so you could collect it for nothing. You must however bleed the water content off (not as difficult as they'd have you believe)

Sod the green bit, its a load of bollox created by politicians and tree huggers to make more money off us.

*We used to do that in Cornwall in the 60-70's

rockman · #15 Post by **rockman** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 pm

Gio wrote:You can run your oil system on old chip fat*, fish and chip shops pay to have their oil collected, so you could collect it for nothing. You must however bleed the water content off (not as difficult as they'd have you believe)

You will need to fit a pre heater in the oil line to do that, same as running them on red diesel.