Fitting oil central heating

[sweetheart]

OK, I probably already know the answer to this but I need someone to mansplain it in simple terms so I am sure what I am talking about:

When you fit oil central heating, what is involved?

I currently have no oil, no tank, no pipes - in fact nothing......

simple things like how do they get the oil form the tank to the boiler and from the boiler to the radiators etc please.

I know I sound daft but my OH is fixated with getting oil ( we are not on the gas grid).

I currently have electric (E7) - and frankly, whatever others think, I like it. Its simple, doesnt disrupt the house, never goes wrong and its simple for me to switch on and off and its clean.

Also, how much will it cost to buy the stuff and fit the oil heating etc? OH thinks he can do it himself but I fear this is a job with a lot of disruption.... and cost to fabric of the house and decoration etc ???

OH wont fix any of those things afterwards.

So, just a simple explanation of what is involved ( not a moral tale of costs please).

[Jonathan]

You will need space for a bunded oil tank. A small pipe brings the oil to the boiler, which you will need to find space for in your house. The biggest disruption will be fitting pipes round the house from the boiler going to each radiator.

Jonathan

[sweetheart]

Let me get this straight, the garden/ drive or paths will have to be dug up for the pipes?

[sweetheart]

Then presumably the pipes to the radiators will have to be brought through floors walls and ceilings? ( by putting holes in them?)

I know that sounds over simple but am, I right? So in other words major disruption and mucking up of walls and decorations etc?.... and a lot of making good again?

How about the pipe from the tank and the pipe from the boiler? Underground - dig up the ground to put them in?

[Graeme]

In message , sweetheart writes

Depends where you put the tank. You could have it close to the house, but keep in mind you will have oil arriving by tanker, so the tanker needs to get close enough to your tank to enable the driver to pull his hose from his tanker to your tank.

But yes, you will almost certainly require the pipe from your tank to your boiler to be underground.

[Graeme]

In message , sweetheart writes

Yes, but not as much making good as you may imagine, at least not to the walls. The pipes generally run under floors, so all you see is pipes popping up through the floor, directly below the radiators. That does mean lifting carpets, floor boards etc. All bets are off if you have solid floors.

[RJH]

Pretty much. It is possible to conceal almost all pipework, including feeds to the radiators, with a bit of lateral thinking and some work/mess.

The extent of the work depends in large part on the construction of your house and neatness of the installation. Solid floors and walls would mean surface mounting I'd have thought.

The oil is delivered by tanker, so that would need access. Then a small pipe from tank to boiler for oil - might need a small trench, depends where it's located. Then the boiler heats water, which circulates around the radiators.

[Chris Hogg]

Read some of the articles here to get some preliminary ideas.

IMO anyone with limited DIY skills attempting to install their own oil-fired CH system is asking for disaster. Has he a yen to get on TV? Is this some sort of cover in order to be on BBC's DIY S-O-S?

There must be easier ways to get himself on TV.

[alan_m]

They have very long hoses. A friend of mine has terrace house in a rural village. The delivery tanker parks at the front door the hose goes through the house - front door to back door - and then 20 metres to the bottom of the garden.

But only requires a narrow trench to be dug.

[damduck-egg]

You don't always have to find space in the House. Models are available that are designed to be installed outside on an exterior wall, can save quite a lot of room inside if you have enough exterior space available.

That still applies but at least with an external boiler you don't need to make a hole for the exhaust through the wall and entrys for pipe and electrical connections can be low down. This just might make a difference to use of the interior wall beside it leaving space for kitchen units etc.

G.Harman

[The Natural Philosopher]

pipes.

Its worth it.

So too will oil be correctly installed.

3-6000

Boiler, if you are sensible mains pressure hot water tank, oil tank (bunded) whicvh must be sited oustide on a concrete slab a suitable distance from the house. Oil pipes and fire valves to the boiler. Radiators thermostats and TRVs.

Boiler itself. About the size of an undercounter fridge, will need holes punched in the walls to let air in and exchauust out and of course oil in.

Radiators TRVs and pipework for central heating. Messy and disruptive.

Probably a water softener if you want your hot water system to last as scaling is a real problem with DHW systems

Maybe a mains pressure tank for hot water.

Some electrical work and a thermostat to get it all working.

Its a big big job.

Don't let him do it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

a little, yes. pil pipe dioesnt have to go underground, but its safer if it does. Its very small so a very narrow trench is enoough

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes. A LOT.

And the better a final job you make, the more distruptive it is, like e.g. taking up floors to lay pipes under then rather than across te skirtings.

Yup, mostly

[The Natural Philosopher]

so no more than 100 meters from where the tanker can park

[Brian Gaff]

Same as gas for radiators, ie lots of pipework to radiators for hot water. Somewhere to put boiler as per gas, but need oil tank and this has to be declared safe by qualified fitters just like gas installations do, and of course access for oil tanker to be able to fill the tank.

Brian

[alan_m]

If you can fit pipes under the floor the major disruption is lifting carpets and floor board. The pipe runs will be hidden under the floor and only emerge at the skirting board to attach to the radiators which will hang on brackets on the wall. If you haven't decorated behind you existing radiators (storage heaters) then putting the new radiators in the same position may be advisable.

Downstairs to upstairs will require two 22mm pipes running vertically up a wall. Depending on the layout of the house these could be hidden in a cupboard, under the stairs or surface mounted in a corner of a room and painted to match existing decoration.

[Brian Gaff]

Well not really, depends where the tank for the oil is and how fare it is away from the boiler.

The other pipes are just water of the hot kind inside the hous betweent he boiler and radiators. Probably a closed system in the loop or may well have an expansion tank in the loft. Brian

[alan_m]

Assuming a basic competency in plumbing and trench digging and with and 'professional' help with the boiler installation a DIY approach is possible. The CH will require some design work for sizing radiators and boiler capacity but these calculations are easily researched on the web.

[sweetheart]

Are you being facetious or are you being honest? Difficult to tell on a new sgroup. I am inclined not to want it done. I have no love of oil ( I can sm ell the now disused tanks next door at times so siting a tank near my house would not be a first choice. Siting it further away means longer pipework, bigger trench and more cost?

The thing has to use electric? So, its useless if the power goes off? ( oft en does where I live - rural, storms and overhead power lines)

I know people think oil etc is the bees knees but the arguments dont convin ce me. If it is cheaper, then why have so many in my village discontinued using it?

Its a big outlay for me. I cannot see as it is cost effective . Electricity might be dearer but the cost of installing this is considerable isn't it? Thats without taking into account I have to live in a building site for wee ks.

[sweetheart]

ugh floors walls and ceilings? ( by putting holes in them?)

disruption and mucking up of walls and decorations etc?.... and a lot of m aking good again?

und - dig up the ground to put them in?

I have mice under the floor. I have spent years trying to get rid of them a nd now I have managed to seal them out completely ( although I know they ar e still there as when a door was replaced they found their way into the kit chen again. Holes in floors means room for the little blighters to invade d oesnt it?