anyone changed from oil to gas in same house?

Chunkycw

Hi. I am looking to see if anyone has changed from oil to gas without moving house! I am living in a 3 bed semi with oil central heating. We are hoping to build on large 2 storey extension soon and are about to tender out the job. I am gonna insulate and insulate and insulate til the cows come home bcoz it's the coldest house in Ireland! But, while we are updating the heating system would we be better off changing over to gas. So if you have changed over, maybe you could tell me was it the best thing you ever did or the biggest regret?
Appreciate any advice.

ravendude

Yes, I did, - make sure the boiler you installed is big enough for the house, - mine wasn't and getting it sorted was a bit of a headache.

You can get grants for the job BTW from the SEAI

Chunkycw

do you find that the gas is better than the oil?? i have only ever had oil but i have never been in the position to change til now. i like the idea of a bi monthly bill rather than having to find a big lump sum upfront. i like the space saving bit. i don't like the idea of paying rental during the summer when the heating is off. that's why i was hoping that someone that had converted would be able to tell me whether it worked out or not!! thanks

MiniGolf

Chunkycw wrote: »

Hi. I am looking to see if anyone has changed from oil to gas without moving house! I am living in a 3 bed semi with oil central heating. We are hoping to build on large 2 storey extension soon and are about to tender out the job. I am gonna insulate and insulate and insulate til the cows come home bcoz it's the coldest house in Ireland! But, while we are updating the heating system would we be better off changing over to gas. So if you have changed over, maybe you could tell me was it the best thing you ever did or the biggest regret?
Appreciate any advice.

I did my own conversion a year ago next week! I am an RGI by the way

I reckon that I will have saved in the region of 40% in my fuel costs. I heat all my hot water throughout the year with the gas boiler. I never use the electric immersion.
Mine is probably the best example you could get as far as savings are concerned as the controls I installed were top of the range. I have weather compensation controls that adjust the output of the boiler according to the temperature outside.
Simply put it runs the system hotter when it is cold and cooler when it is milder.
These controls are not cheap and are specific to my boiler but even if I installed it for you as part of a system install it would pay for itself in a very short time.
As an aside, the boiler I installed was a Worcester-Bosch and because I am an approved installer I have a 7 year parts and labour warranty!!

I will try to answer any questions you may have but my best advice to you is to do some research on the boiler and controls and choose the best you can afford.
Probably the most important thing to get right is the installer. Get one that has a good reputation and don't let price be the deciding factor.

MG

ravendude

Chunkycw wrote: »

do you find that the gas is better than the oil?? i have only ever had oil but i have never been in the position to change til now. i like the idea of a bi monthly bill rather than having to find a big lump sum upfront. i like the space saving bit. i don't like the idea of paying rental during the summer when the heating is off. that's why i was hoping that someone that had converted would be able to tell me whether it worked out or not!! thanks

Yes it's definitely a better job all round. A bit cheaper certainly, less fluctuation and variance on price as compared to oil as its regulated. Less messing with deliveries , less space requirements, seems to heat up faster I think also.

As mentioned above, do not skimp on the installer. I actually didn't skimp at all and went for a dearer guy that seemed more professional, but still even had a bit of grief,- even though it has mostly been sorted now.

eniarrol175

MiniGolf wrote: »

I did my own conversion a year ago next week! I am an RGI by the way

I reckon that I will have saved in the region of 40% in my fuel costs. I heat all my hot water throughout the year with the gas boiler. I never use the electric immersion.
Mine is probably the best example you could get as far as savings are concerned as the controls I installed were top of the range. I have weather compensation controls that adjust the output of the boiler according to the temperature outside.
Simply put it runs the system hotter when it is cold and cooler when it is milder.
These controls are not cheap and are specific to my boiler but even if I installed it for you as part of a system install it would pay for itself in a very short time.
As an aside, the boiler I installed was a Worcester-Bosch and because I am an approved installer I have a 7 year parts and labour warranty!!

I will try to answer any questions you may have but my best advice to you is to do some research on the boiler and controls and choose the best you can afford.
Probably the most important thing to get right is the installer. Get one that has a good reputation and don't let price be the deciding factor.

MG

Could i ask you your opinion on whats better a Bosch or a Veissmann ? I need to get a new boiler and i just dont know what the major difference between the two are. I had a 3 bed semi detached and we are going with a condenser boiler. I would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

MiniGolf

eniarrol175 wrote: »

Could i ask you your opinion on whats better a Bosch or a Veissmann ? I need to get a new boiler and i just dont know what the major difference between the two are. I had a 3 bed semi detached and we are going with a condenser boiler. I would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

I am obviously going to prefer the Bosch as that's what I install!
However, if I wasn't fitting Bosch I would fit Viessmann. Both are excellent products. I may sound like a broken record but the installer in the most important thing.
All new or replacement boilers have to be condensing.

eniarrol175

Yeah that seems to be what im hearing a lot. Basically we have a few friends who fit boilers and yes they are all saying the Bosch because that is what they are all trained in but i got a few quotes from the internet and out of the 3 people that came to the house 2 of them recommended the Viessmann. My friends dont know anything about the Viessmann so im stuck. Im thinking that if i was to have any problems with the Bosch that my friends would be able to deal with it BUT hopefully nothing will go wrong and that the reason for parts & labour warranty

Thanks

MiniGolf

eniarrol175 wrote: »

Yeah that seems to be what im hearing a lot. Basically we have a few friends who fit boilers and yes they are all saying the Bosch because that is what they are all trained in but i got a few quotes from the internet and out of the 3 people that came to the house 2 of them recommended the Viessmann. My friends dont know anything about the Viessmann so im stuck. Im thinking that if i was to have any problems with the Bosch that my friends would be able to deal with it BUT hopefully nothing will go wrong and that the reason for parts & labour warranty

Thanks

I don't fit large numbers of boilers as I work alone but in the 8 odd years I have been fitting Worcester-Bosch I have had 1 warranty call. Even that one I suspected soneone was messing with it!!!