| Really boring domestic question... 21:05 - May 12 with 1985 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
Does anybody have any idea how the running costs compare between running central heating on electricity or oil and would it offset the lower installation cost. For when the wood burner goes out. |  |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 22:10 - May 12 with 1657 views | GeoffSentence |
Tough one because oil prices fluctuate so much.
We are all electric, with an ASHP, and the running costs for that are about the same as we were paying for oil with oil at about 60p per litre. That might help as a guideline.
Having solar panels helps as well, on a cool but sunny day we can be getting free heating and water.
Our ASHP was pretty cheap to install, the biggest costs were actually improvements to our loft insulation and a water softener. The ASHP itself, including upgrading some radiators set us back less than £1K |  |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 22:20 - May 12 with 1631 views | malbec_blue |
I was running on oil for a few years and it was hideously expensive.
But that would/could be down entirely to the times and I have no idea how that would compare now so that's not a lot of use. I'm assuming you've not near mains gas hence your question.
As you live out in the sticks I would be looking at off-setting the risk of pillaging a neighbouring village for their supplies against getting caught. If you play your cards right the modernisation won't be a consideration for some years yet. |  | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 22:47 - May 12 with 1569 views | Lord_Lucan |
We have oil in one of our places and it's blooming brilliant. |  |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 23:40 - May 12 with 1499 views | Ryorry |
Can’t compare with oil as I’ve never had that, but leccy can still be *relatively* cheap generally if your lifestyle means you can max out utilisation of Economy 7, which some providers still offer a tariff for, though you may have to pay for the meter to be installed, or agree to a smart meter.
Sadly, I don’t think any are providing Economy 10 meters anymore, but the one I had installed 9 years ago still records 10 hours daily cheap rate, at least till 2025. After that I think it’ll only be available via smart meter. |  |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 07:27 - May 13 with 1383 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Really boring domestic question... on 22:10 - May 12 by GeoffSentence |
Tough one because oil prices fluctuate so much.
We are all electric, with an ASHP, and the running costs for that are about the same as we were paying for oil with oil at about 60p per litre. That might help as a guideline.
Having solar panels helps as well, on a cool but sunny day we can be getting free heating and water.
Our ASHP was pretty cheap to install, the biggest costs were actually improvements to our loft insulation and a water softener. The ASHP itself, including upgrading some radiators set us back less than £1K |
The house in question is currently F rated for energy efficiency and only has open fires and a couple of storage heaters so not sure that ASHP is a realistic option. No gas option. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:04 - May 13 with 1317 views | GeoffSentence |
| Really boring domestic question... on 07:27 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
The house in question is currently F rated for energy efficiency and only has open fires and a couple of storage heaters so not sure that ASHP is a realistic option. No gas option. |
Blimey, F-rated. No matter what form of heating you have it's going to leak heat and be expensive. Any prospect of increasing the inulation.
With an f-rated house I don't think you'd get a grant for a heat pump, which wouldmake it expensive. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:08 - May 13 with 1295 views | GeoffSentence |
| Really boring domestic question... on 22:47 - May 12 by Lord_Lucan |
We have oil in one of our places and it's blooming brilliant. |
Things I liked about OFCH:
Easy and flexible off gas grid option
Could shop around for best price
Things I didn't like
Smell from tank
Price could fluctuate wildly
Danger of leaks (house in our road ended up with a £75K clean up bill after a gauge split)
Paying large sum up front | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:13 - May 13 with 1277 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:04 - May 13 by GeoffSentence |
Blimey, F-rated. No matter what form of heating you have it's going to leak heat and be expensive. Any prospect of increasing the inulation.
With an f-rated house I don't think you'd get a grant for a heat pump, which wouldmake it expensive. |
First job is a loft hatch and insulation in the roof. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:20 - May 13 with 1245 views | Leaky |
| Really boring domestic question... on 07:27 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
The house in question is currently F rated for energy efficiency and only has open fires and a couple of storage heaters so not sure that ASHP is a realistic option. No gas option. |
If it's F rated an ASHP would be a non starter. Sounds like it's an old property possibly with 9 inch solid walls. Oil or LPG sound like your main options. |  | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:22 - May 13 with 1235 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:20 - May 13 by Leaky |
If it's F rated an ASHP would be a non starter. Sounds like it's an old property possibly with 9 inch solid walls. Oil or LPG sound like your main options. |
Yup, built about 1900.
So are you ruling electric out due to the running cost? | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:28 - May 13 with 1211 views | _clive_baker_ |
It's an interesting question, I was oil at my last gaff and gas / electric now.
As others have said the price of oil fluctuates and my current house is about twice the size of my old one so it's not a fair comparison, but I don't think there's loads in it TBH. Especially when you consider the ever increasing daily charges which aren't a thing with oil. I remember paying about 28p a litre in covid for Oil which was incredible, topped the 1000l tank up to the brim and it lasted the best part of a year what with the nice summer we had, 2 log burners and it being a small house. |  | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:28 - May 13 with 1205 views | lowhouseblue |
| Really boring domestic question... on 07:27 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
The house in question is currently F rated for energy efficiency and only has open fires and a couple of storage heaters so not sure that ASHP is a realistic option. No gas option. |
we went from what you describe to a wood pellet system - which is great and has all the flexibility of central heating fuelled by anything else. but you need space for a big heat store (which you can also put solar into) and it only really works financially with some sort of grant like the renewable heat incentive. but for us it's the insulation etc that has really made the biggest difference. |  |
| And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 09:29 - May 13 with 1204 views | mr_bean |
If you decide to go down the oil route, it's well worth joining one of the oil-buying community groups. They'll do the legwork involved in gathering quotes from different suppliers, and are able to negotiate the best price by pooling everyone's orders together.
I use this one:
https://www.affinityfuels.co.uk/ | | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:36 - May 13 with 1160 views | Leaky |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:22 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
Yup, built about 1900.
So are you ruling electric out due to the running cost? |
It wouldn't be cost effective without cavity wall insulation. LPG & oil would be your alternatives. However you would then need a storage tank along with a risk assessment as to whether they are feasible. I have fitted an ASHP in a late 60's property & the client has been happy with it. Would have been better with EV solar panels though. | | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:48 - May 13 with 1117 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:36 - May 13 by Leaky |
It wouldn't be cost effective without cavity wall insulation. LPG & oil would be your alternatives. However you would then need a storage tank along with a risk assessment as to whether they are feasible. I have fitted an ASHP in a late 60's property & the client has been happy with it. Would have been better with EV solar panels though. |
I'm not even considering an ASHP, just wandering if an electric boiler/central heating is worth considering rather than oil or would it cost too much to run. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 10:01 - May 13 with 1081 views | Leaky |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:48 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
I'm not even considering an ASHP, just wandering if an electric boiler/central heating is worth considering rather than oil or would it cost too much to run. |
You would need to get a sparky in to check if your electrical system can handle the load. Only ever fitted two leccy boilers in recent times one was for a builder who renovated a property so never got feed back how it worked. The other was in a cattery so never had a complaint from a cat. I just assume if they don't complain all must be good.
Did a Electric dry core boiler install on a housing site in the early 90's where the boiler is basically a night storage heater heats bricks up during off peak that then heats water filled rads during the day. Couldn't have been very successful as they changed to oil after about 10 houses had been built | | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 10:55 - May 13 with 1035 views | Ryorry |
| Really boring domestic question... on 09:28 - May 13 by lowhouseblue |
we went from what you describe to a wood pellet system - which is great and has all the flexibility of central heating fuelled by anything else. but you need space for a big heat store (which you can also put solar into) and it only really works financially with some sort of grant like the renewable heat incentive. but for us it's the insulation etc that has really made the biggest difference. |
I also have a wood pellet biomass boiler, which even being on the RHI scheme hasn’t financially covered due to pellet prices trebling during 2022-3 because of Ukraine etc; even now they’re still about double what they were in 2020. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 11:15 - May 13 with 1007 views | lowhouseblue |
| Really boring domestic question... on 10:55 - May 13 by Ryorry |
I also have a wood pellet biomass boiler, which even being on the RHI scheme hasn’t financially covered due to pellet prices trebling during 2022-3 because of Ukraine etc; even now they’re still about double what they were in 2020. |
but that's pretty much true of all fuel prices at that time. i think we're only using about 2 tonnes a year which isn't bad for hot water and heating - but we just rely on occasional wood burners when needed in early autumn and in spring. | |
| And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 11:19 - May 13 with 987 views | Ryorry |
| Really boring domestic question... on 10:01 - May 13 by Leaky |
You would need to get a sparky in to check if your electrical system can handle the load. Only ever fitted two leccy boilers in recent times one was for a builder who renovated a property so never got feed back how it worked. The other was in a cattery so never had a complaint from a cat. I just assume if they don't complain all must be good.
Did a Electric dry core boiler install on a housing site in the early 90's where the boiler is basically a night storage heater heats bricks up during off peak that then heats water filled rads during the day. Couldn't have been very successful as they changed to oil after about 10 houses had been built |
I also had one of those electric storage boilers (GEC) in my old house, installed in 1994, but even on Economy7 it was extremely expensive to run, and very ineffective from the outset too. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 11:26 - May 13 with 950 views | leitrimblue |
Stoves/woodburner with a backboiler our handy yokes.
We use stove to heat water/ radiators when in use and oil on the very odd occasion its to warm in the West of Ireland to light the stove. |  | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 11:32 - May 13 with 918 views | Ryorry |
| Really boring domestic question... on 11:15 - May 13 by lowhouseblue |
but that's pretty much true of all fuel prices at that time. i think we're only using about 2 tonnes a year which isn't bad for hot water and heating - but we just rely on occasional wood burners when needed in early autumn and in spring. |
Fair point. You’re doing well on only 2t; we’re on about 10! but that’s for 2 properties including annexe.
Yeah, spring/autumn are when thermostats don’t kick in and wood burners get used the most. | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 11:37 - May 13 with 894 views | lowhouseblue |
| Really boring domestic question... on 11:32 - May 13 by Ryorry |
Fair point. You’re doing well on only 2t; we’re on about 10! but that’s for 2 properties including annexe.
Yeah, spring/autumn are when thermostats don’t kick in and wood burners get used the most. |
we were pretty much gutting the place so were able to add internal wall insulation pretty much through out. it means the woodburners would pretty much heat the place effectively all winter - but that's not terribly convenient. | |
| And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 12:42 - May 13 with 823 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Really boring domestic question... on 11:26 - May 13 by leitrimblue |
Stoves/woodburner with a backboiler our handy yokes.
We use stove to heat water/ radiators when in use and oil on the very odd occasion its to warm in the West of Ireland to light the stove. |
This is the combination of system we are leaning towards, can your recommend a particular burner that could be fitted in a standard fireplace? Does your oil just do hot water or the radiators too? | |
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| Really boring domestic question... on 13:59 - May 13 with 741 views | leitrimblue |
| Really boring domestic question... on 12:42 - May 13 by BanksterDebtSlave |
This is the combination of system we are leaning towards, can your recommend a particular burner that could be fitted in a standard fireplace? Does your oil just do hot water or the radiators too? |
I have an enormous, almost a metre square double doored stove. But I removed the old chimney and fireplace to fit it in.
The oil heats water first, then once it hits a certain temperature ( we set by thermostat) it heats the radiators.
Its very cheap and efficient, especially if you have access to a lot of free wood..
We barely use the oil, perhaps for 20 minutes on a cold morning just to kick the heating on quickly. Otherwise we just use it in the summer when it's to warm to light stove and we need hot water for baths/showers etc | | | |
| Really boring domestic question... on 14:32 - May 13 with 669 views | naa |
If you aren';t considering an air source heat pump electricity is a non-starter. It's around 4 times more expensive than gas per kWh, so it'll cost you a fortune. Heat pumps are 4 times more efficient so make up for it.
Wood burning is a heavy polluter (though, ironically, good for the offsetting the greenhouse effect) and quite expensive, unless you have a way of getting suitable wood on the cheap.
Oil has its downsides. Is LPG an option? I'd go with that if yuo have a system with an external tank. | | | |
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