Replace oil heating with gas or not ?

galaxy12

I know this question has been asked a number of times in this forum but I'll give it another go.

Our thoughts to replace OFH is because we find it messy.We cough out 700/800 euros every year and we have a smallish back garden and the space the oil tank takes in it makes it look like a topaz filling station.

On the other hand we haven't had any problems with the boiler or the heating so looking at the upcoming carbon action plans as stated here

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0617/1055808-climate-action-plan/


will it be better to wait a few years and then make a decision on replacing with other alternatives ...??as heat pumps are way outside our budget right now .

The house is a 1970s 4 bed built semi d we bought 3 years back and quite well insulated now to B3 from BER E...

Didn't change from oil to gas back in 2017 when we bought as plumber asked us to keep the boiler .It was only 2 year's old then and working well. So we just laid the gas pipes when the house was being renovated and so that the eventual switch would be easier...

Citizenpain

Are you on mains gas ?

galaxy12

Citizenpain wrote: »

Are you on mains gas ?

No

K.Flyer

galaxy12 wrote: »

No

Then stick with the oil for now, maybe get a smaller, narrower tank if the one you have is too bulky.

Tails142

SEAI have a chart where you can compare current fuel costs per kWh - https://www.seai.ie/resources/publications/Domestic-Fuel-Cost-Comparison.pdf

When I last looked at this about 2 years ago , gas and oil were neck and neck. I was in the same boat as you with an oil boiler considering changing to gas for convenience. i have just stuck with the oil boiler for now but it is old and will need to be replaced in the next few years and I am still undecided about gas versus oil.

The latest chart linked shows that gas is now 2 cent cheaper per kwh than kerosene, or about 20% (8 cent for kero versus 6.3 cent for gas) although they have oil priced at 81 cent a litre and my fill last month cost me 75 cent so the saving with gas is perhaps less but still better than it was two years ago. The gas may be available cheaper too though with the discounts that are available. Their stat shows kero price has increased 17.9% since last year... ouch.

If you are not on mains gas though and buying LPG, you can see that bulk LPG is 11 cent per kwh and bottled LPG is 21 cent so it works out more expensive than kerosene, a lot more if you are dealing with bottles.

Benefits of mains gas:
don't have to worry about reordering/tank running low
no risk of theft

Cons of main gas:
no heating if there were to be some sort of energy crisis/winter gas shortage/network issue
some people fear having gas in the house but I think there is little reason to worry if serviced properly

Qrt

You could always go down the heat pump route? Do they use radiators?

galaxy12

Qrt wrote: »

You could always go down the heat pump route? Do they use radiators?

Don't have budget for a heat pump.
Have new rads and not sure if they work best with heat pumps...

donegal.

Qrt wrote: »

You could always go down the heat pump route? Do they use radiators?

€18 k with the grants

Yes you can use them with radiators but you'll probably need to replace all your existing ones.

s7ryf3925pivug

donegal. wrote: »

€18 k with the grants

Yes you can use them with radiators but you'll probably need to replace all your existing ones.

Get an opinion on whether it is heat pump ready. Our house was built in 70s and heat pump was ruled out as excessively expensive due to other changes required.

Those wood pellet boilers are supposed to be carbon neutral so they might become the option of choice for off-grid houses not suitable for heat pumps.

Alkers

Hadleigh Wonderful Army wrote: »

Get an opinion on whether it is heat pump ready. Our house was built in 70s and heat pump was ruled out as excessively expensive due to other changes required.

Those wood pellet boilers are supposed to be carbon neutral so they might become the option of choice for off-grid houses not suitable for heat pumps.

Can you get mains gas?
How many showers do you have?

s7ryf3925pivug

Alkers wrote: »

Can you get mains gas?
How many showers do you have?

Me? No we’re off grid. Already got an lpg combi boiler installed so too late to change. (Happy with it so far anyway.)

Alkers

Hadleigh Wonderful Army wrote: »

Me? No we’re off grid. Already got an lpg combi boiler installed so too late to change. (Happy with it so far anyway.)

Sorry meant to ask the OP!

galaxy12

Alkers wrote: »

Can you get mains gas?
How many showers do you have?

Yes can get mains easily.
2 showers.

Also current boiler is a firebird environmax which is about 6 years old...

John.G

You want to get rid of the oil tank so go for it then, the pipes are already laid, just pay the connection fee, install a new gas boiler and away you go, running costs will be similar to oil but gas does tend to be a bit cheaper in times of volatile, rising oil prices (trouble in the Gulf). Gas (and oil boilers) can still be sold until 2025 I think. You might get a few bob for the environmax as well.

Alkers

galaxy12 wrote: »

Yes can get mains easily.
2 showers.

Also current boiler is a firebird environmax which is about 6 years old...

Look into a combi-boiler, which heats hot water as you use it only - no need for a hot water cylinder, hot water on demand. When you think about it, the Irish practice of heating the full hot water cylinder every day is madness.

You will gain the space of the oil tank in the garden and the hot press in the house and your bills should reduce significantly, especially during the summer where you'll only be paying to use whatever hot water demand you have.

Do you use both showers at the same time frequently? If that's the case, you might need to change one to electric as the combi-boiler might not have the output for both showers at the same time.

Alkers

Alkers wrote: »

Look into a combi-boiler, which heats hot water as you use it only - no need for a hot water cylinder, hot water on demand. When you think about it, the Irish practice of heating the full hot water cylinder every day is madness.

You will gain the space of the oil tank in the garden and the hot press in the house and your bills should reduce significantly, especially during the summer where you'll only be paying to use whatever hot water demand you have.

Do you use both showers at the same time frequently? If that's the case, you might need to change one to electric as the combi-boiler might not have the output for both showers at the same time.

It is not a Irish practice it’s a heating engineers response to a given requirement.

John.G

+1

lipso

How do you find lpg costs as opposed to oil?

John.G

https://www.seai.ie/publications/Domestic-Fuel-Cost-Comparison.pdf

Rem its the cost per kwh that's important, not the price per litre as LPG has a much lower energy value per litre v/vis oil.