Oil fire heating

[Buckman]

Daughter has seen a very nice home in a rural area however oil is used for heating. Oil is about £0.94p a litre at present and the tank holds 1200 litres. It will be full to the brim on commencement of tenancy and when the lease is up, the tenant has to leave the tank full. She is only looking at the moment as no idea when they can arrive.

This raises and interesting aspect. I would think that the hot water boiler would be powered by electric, but unsure. Her spouse normally works from home as an IT specialist so probably need heating all day as they will be coming from the tropics and it takes 2 - 3 years to adjust to British weather.

How does oil heating compare to gas or air source heating as I would think heating for the home would be required from Oct to May?

 

[otherclive]

Daughter has seen a very nice home in a rural area however oil is used for heating. Oil is about £0.94p a litre at present and the tank holds 1200 litres. It will be full to the brim on commencement of tenancy and when the lease is up, the tenant has to leave the tank full. She is only looking at the moment as no idea when they can arrive.

This raises and interesting aspect. I would think that the hot water boiler would be powered by electric, but unsure. Her spouse normally works from home as an IT specialist so probably need heating all day as they will be coming from the tropics and it takes 2 - 3 years to adjust to British weather.

How does oil heating compare to gas or air source heating as I would think heating for the home would be required from Oct to May?

We have had two houses with oil fired heating, and both had heating and hot water powered by oil. The hot water cylinder also had an electric immersion heater too. The systems worked no differently to gas systems, and were effective . But in both houses we had the oil systems removed and installed gas as even in 1976, and 1982 the oil price was volatile and more expensive than gas, plus no need to pre order for winter etc so much easier to budget.

 

[Hutch]

I used to have oil fired central heating, 40 years ago. The hot water was done by the same unit. Resonably efficient, as for aclimatising, I worked in the tropics most of my life on 6 weeks on 6 off. Never really felt any difference, you were either hot sweaty and damp or cold and damp.

 

[Buckman]

I used to have oil fired central heating, 40 years ago. The hot water was done by the same unit. Resonably efficient, as for aclimatising, I worked in the tropics most of my life on 6 weeks on 6 off. Never really felt any difference, you were either hot sweaty and damp or cold and damp.

They were born in the tropics and have lived in the tropics all their lives and will feel the cold here more than someone who was born and lived in the UK from when they were young. I am talking from experience as it took me several years to sort of acclimatise. Even at 20C I still find it a bit cool for me!

 

[ProfJohnL]

We are all slightly different and each person will their own comfort temperature, but it also depends on what you are doing. Generally the more sedentary you are you will probably need a slightly warmer temperature than when you are active, and the more active you are you will lower the ambient. generally daytime comfort ranges for the home usually fall between 18 and 22C.i

From a technical perspective, modern domestic gas boilers will always be slightly more efficient than oil boilers, and certainly they are cleaner in terms of emissions, and generally lower cost for maintenance and servicing.

Unfortunately it does seem that for domestic quantities gas is cheaper than oil, which is always a sore point for areas where gas is not available.

Electric heating is always 100% efficient, and its installation and maintenance costs are also the lowest , but assuming off peak electricity is used, its not always most convenient, as you have to predict usage patterns and changing ambient temperatures.

Some times using a combination of different systems can make a lot of sense. For example set a low base load temperature for the whole property then have point of use heating to raise small areas when needed. Or for example, I have gas CH set to 19C, but one room needs to be warmer for a disabled person, so I have economy 7 storage heater which boosts the temperature conveniently. This approach would also work for a home office.

 

[otherclive]

Even people that live in cold climates can find Britain cold in winter even though the thermometer doesn’t drop as low here as it would in their home country. I was on a 6 month course in Plymouth with a group of Canadians and they frequently commented that both here and in Western Europe they never felt comfortably warm. Mainly down to our humidity, poor heating systems and buildings with inadequate or non existent insulation. Yet when I was in Ottawa for 12 months most of my winter clothes were my British outdoors kit, and the house, office and restaurants were always delightfully comfortable. Energy and wood were cheap as chips too.

 

[Buckman]

Even people that live in cold climates can find Britain cold in winter even though the thermometer doesn’t drop as low here as it would in their home country. I was on a 6 month course in Plymouth with a group of Canadians and they frequently commented that both here and in Western Europe they never felt comfortably warm. Mainly down to our humidity, poor heating systems and buildings with inadequate or non existent insulation. Yet when I was in Ottawa for 12 months most of my winter clothes were my British outdoors kit, and the house, office and restaurants were always delightfully comfortable. Energy and wood were cheap as chips too.

By the same token my nephew who was born and lived in South Africa until about 10 years ago lives in Christchurch wears shorts no matter what the weather is doing and he is not a postman.
However he lived in Cape Town where the winters can get very cold with snow on the mountains as opposed to Durban where in mid winter the temperature can be 26C.

 

[Raywood]

They do need to be aware that there is a rash of thefts from these tanks as a result of price rises, so good security is needed. Working from home will help with this however.

 

[Buckman]

They do need to be aware that there is a rash of thefts from these tanks as a result of price rises, so good security is needed. Working from home will help with this however.

The home if they get it is in a small rural village and the tank can be difficult to access, but thanks for the heads up as something I never knew.

 

[otherclive]

The home if they get it is in a small rural village and the tank cna be difficult to access, but thanks for the heads up as something I never knew.

One thing we found is that in very cold weather the oil could be distinctly sluggish to flow first thing in the morning even though the tank base was at the height of the garage roof. So I spent time trenching the pipe into the ground or insulating it where trenching wasn’t feasible.

 

[Buckman]

One thing we found is that in very cold weather the oil could be distinctly sluggish to flow first thing in the morning even though the tank base was at the height of the garage roof. So I spent time trenching the pipe into the ground or insulating it where trenching wasn’t feasible.

If I remember correctly the pipes are buried. The home has only recently being entirely refurbished and if they get it, they will be the first in.
Their biggest hurdle is no credit history and no employment although both are skilled and should get jobs quickly. In addition to deposit paid, they are wiling to pay 6 months rent upfront, but LL's still seem reluctant to accept them.
This is one of the higher priced rentals in the area plus it is about 10 miles outside the city in a rural area so there will not be many takers so just maybe?