Which to fit, LPG or OIL boiler ?????

If you're in a rural area I'd be tempted to go for gas as there is a lot of theft of oil going on from domestic oil tanks.

 

I agree with Stu,oil theft goes on all the time now I have quite a few customers on oil that have had to have alarms fitted to their tanks after thefts.
Go for the gas

 

Wood chip...


(Lots of grants and very cheap to run. Oh yes, it's meant to be green too...)

 

I had never really thought of someone swiping your oil

 

It happens a lot down here in devon, the thieves have been known to follow the tankers round on delivers making note and then coming back later to rob it.

 

They both do the same job multijack,the choice is yours.

 

Its a difficult choice as in both cases prices will fluctuate. May be worth speaking to a few of your neighbours and see what they have, as for the servicing side again its a pretty similar in costs but again prone to fluctuation.

 

Wood chip is not instant, so I believe you'd need a hot cylinder. BUT it's fully automated (fed by a hopper which is part of the unit), MUCH cheaper than either gas or oil (and no horrible tanks outside), and you get a whopping grant to help install the boiler and I think you get regular payments depending on how much it's used - which can almost mean it pays for itself.

I only know a wee bit about this, but my bro is seriously considering it for his wee hoosie in t'Utter Hebrides.

I'd recommend you look in to this or you could well end up kicking yourself quite hard. Financially.

 

Thanks for looking at woodchip - and that's useful feedback for my bro .

I can't answer your Q about 'instant' delivery from an oil unit, but the integral tank makes sense, and is in fact used in some gas combi boilers too to provide just what you say, instant HW. I know that my GlowWorm gas jobbie fires up every now and then to keep it all 'hot' inside ready for action, even tho' it doesn't have a HW storage tank inside as such.

You want definitive answers? Email the manufacturers of a couple of oil boilers . I'm not sure there are many 'oil' peeps on here, tho' I could be wrong.

 

Oil combi boilers have very good DHW flow rates as they have a very high boiler water content which is like a small thermal store. Oil combis can be fitted outside - recommended. Rural properties tend to have more space around them for this.

LPG is the same as many mains natural gas appliances. Some models are identical with a few amendments. Gas boilers are not external, apart from the Vokera balcony model.

The great thing about oil and LPG is that you are not restricted in size to what comes down a gas pipe from the street. I know someone who got an excellent deal on a 100kW oil external boiler. He fitted a large plate heat exchanger, flow switch and 3-way diverter valve at the side of the boiler converting it to a combi. It belts out DHW. Similar with LPG, although the pipe bore from the LPG tank to the boiler has to be big enough.

Gas boilers last far longer than oil boilers.

It now comes down to installation costs and the most important, the running costs. Oil boilers are generally more expensive to buy and there is the cost of the oil tanks and its security. LPG gas boilers are cheaper and the LPG tank is generally rented. Oil to buy was vastly cheaper than LP not long ago. You will have to do some research on this and what is available in your area.

Have you considered a ground sourced electric heat pump? Or better, a water sourced heat pump if a stream is on the property?

 

I run LPG and while mains gas would be my first choice, LPG is OK, the benefit of having gas in the property is that I can still have a gas hob etc. I think my gas is about 38p/L that gives about 6.6kwh. My tank is also buried, so no obvious signs.

I did look at pellet heating, but there were some drawbacks, particularly as has been mentioned, the storage and the absolute requirement to keep the moisture down. They also tend to take up a fair bit of room too, compared to a gas boiler.
I've just replaced my **** vokera with a WB 440cdi, very happy with the water output, yes I would have had better flow from a tank, but no place to put it... and with the ability to switch off the store until I need it suits me and saves it boosting it during the night / day when it's not used.

 

The average for natural gas is around 4.5 to 5.5p per kWh. So that is not bad. What is oil on average per kWh these days?

The floor standing storage WB 440cdi has a decent flow rate indeed. It is well insulated so will not lose much heat. As you are not restricted by a gas meter and mains supply pipe did you consider using two LPG non-storage combis? Buying two can be cheaper than one large storage combi boiler with a deal for buying two. You can have one do upstairs heating and one downstairs. The DHW can be split amongst the two. The important running costs will be less. LPG condensing combis are essential to keep running costs down. Also having oversized radiators at 60C flow and 40C return and running the boiler at a lower temperature.

 

woodchip, pellets, air source heat pump, or if you've got the land ground source. mmm RHI.

infact if you can get some solar pv goodness and a immersion diverter, youll have free hot water during the sunny days. I haven't needed the boiler on until the cold weather started.

ooh and get a wood stove, Burley do high efficiency ones, we use ours every night, the boiler gets used in the morning and for hot water during the winter.

 

The best is water sourced heat pumps, then ground in a vertical bore, then ground in trenches and then air. Air are very iffy.