Its is pretty near useless.
I monitor oil usage closely: we burn next to Nowt June/July/August around 70% is burned December January February and the remaining 30% is spread over the spring and autumn months, as the weather dictates.
That winter usage is ALL DAY usage. It is simply not possible to store enough overnight to not be freezing in the evening: With our underfloor (admittedly high lag) the heating needs to be on all day and off all night. In prolonged cold weather it runs 24x7.
We run very light kerosene suitable for Agas..its never waxed yet, and even the coldest year I can remember in an earlier house when a radiator inisde the house froze (in an area tht was zoned off) the oil tank never froze to the point of the oil boiler not working.
Higher costs. LPG is far more dangerous than oil, and needs a special tank sited away from the habitable areas.
.I don't service my oil boiler at all till it starts to fail to ignite..like it is now.
Needs some soot taken off the sensor probly.
No need for annual leakage safety checks.
LPG should be avoided like the plague.
Its more expensive in every sense than oil. It has no advantages whatsoever except for cooking on.
Trust me, I considered it, did the sums, and discarded it. And fitted an oil system.
You can't do "comparison", when the median you are using for the others is total junk. It questions the validity of the others, making the whole worthless.
I have to agree with your comments. I'm in oil in a four bedroom cottage near Edinburgh and my oil bill is now up to a bit over =A3400 a year. I would suggest that the figures in tis chart are silly.
Rob
And the cost of a bottle of gas for cooking is about =A31 per week. A =A335 bottle will last us most of the year.
Rob
Compare complete oil vs LPG system and LPG wins hands down.
Nope. A competent DIYer can do it - legally.
Rubbish, LPG tanks do not come cheap, or do you really think the suppler gives [1] you the tank?...
[1] as in, here is something for free.
The great thing about LPG and oil boilers that they are not restricted to the size of the gas mains. Well you can always have a larger gas main installed, but the meter rental is higher for the lager meter. Using a thermal store you can have a large oil or LPG boiler which will take all its output and not cycle. Also this means rapid recovery of the thermal store and the ability to cope with higher DHW demands.
I stayed in one of these for a number of months. You sweat like mad during the night in bed as the heating comes on.
Actually they are 'free.' The tank is not your property and is owned and maintained by your gas supplier. You have to pay an annual rental/maintenance charge for it. (peanuts)
Julian.
Here's one advantage - buy the correct tackle (off the e-bay) and you can fill your LPG burning car with the stuff. You need a tank valve with a bottom pick up to get liquid gas rather than the vapours.
Julian.
So it's not free then is it, you pay for it as part of your contract (and that means it's not so simple to swap supplier) - unlike an oil tank, OK there is a one off payment and that is peanuts compared to an on going hire contract.
29.8 was the lowest price around here (Herefordshire) in late January.
I don't think you've any experience of this. LPG is cheaper to install, because you've no (bunded) oil tank to purchase. Gas boilers are cheaper than oil boilers too. The law has changed regarding gas supplier's contracts now, It only takes a phone call to change suppliers. The gas companies have a workforce who do nothing other than remove 'Brand B's' tank and replace it with their own.
The annual rental and maintenance charge is (for me) £50/year, compare that with the cost of bunded oil tank purchase (plastic ones spit at the seams on occasion) and the higher cost of an oil fired boiler and it's anyone's guess which is best. I've had both and understand the costs involved - what's your experience on the matter?
Julian.
Legally? Are there tracers in "heating" LPG?
How do you convert litres to kg so you can pay HMR&C the duty due calculated at 12.21p/kg (currently) on LPG for road use. AFAICS on the HMR&C site only road use of LPG attracts any duty.
No, obviously not legal unless you make proper provsion to pay duty and plan to use the vehicle on the road. Shell will supply the tank with bottom feed equipment - I made enquiries last summer when I changed suplier. But I don't have an LPG powered vehicles so took it no further. There's no tracer in the fuel AFAIk, LPG is just regular propane.
Ask me one on sport! But given that forecourt pumps dispense LPG by the Litre then I don't suppose it's too tricky.
Julian.
In message , ian writes
OP here. Thanks everyone for all the feedback. Most illuminating.
You've put me off oil and LPG for life!
So it's solid fuel then?
A wood pellet boiler and a heat bank would be a good way to go, but if you don't have a wood pellet supplier close by transport costs might be prohibative.
Opposed to just getting supplier C to re-fill an oil tank when you decided to stop using company B with no messing around having people change tanks over - what's more an oil tank can often be better sighted on the property.
That's 350 quid over a 7 year boiler life, but then oil burning boilers tend to last longer than gas ones, so whilst the LPG set up cost might be a bit cheaper over an extended period oil becomes cheaper.
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