Gas oil or Kerosene for future

Irish Steve

So, historically, the price differential between Gas oil and Kerosene has never been very wide, and with the difference in calorific values, the price per delivered Kw was very small.


Now, with the Covid grounding of aviation, there's a glut of Kerosene, and the difference in price between the 2 is only massively significant, Gas oil has dropped a little, but nothing like the way that Kerosene has dropped, so that now leaves me with a dilemma.


I have 2 tanks here, and have only been using 1 for a number of years, but the present situation with pricing is making me wonder if I should put as much Kerosene into the spare tank as I can afford, as it's not a massive job to change the boiler over from Gas oil to Kerosene, and I have the tools to do the change when the time comes.


So, all you crystal ball gazers out there, is Kerosene likely to stay low for a while and is there a chance that Gas Oil will follow it down, or should I be looking to change over to Kerosene and take advantage of the present significant difference in price between the 2?

John.G

IMO, Kerosene is the way to go, apart from cost advantage, all HE (condensing) boilers specify it so you will probably changing your (assumed) SE boiler for a HE in the not too distant future?. I wold suggest burning your remaining gasoil and you then have two tanks ready for Kero.

budgemook

Kero price dropped again last night. I am tempted to fill the tank but unsure if it will drop a bit more.

Idbatterim

budgemook wrote: »

Kero price dropped again last night. I am tempted to fill the tank but unsure if it will drop a bit more.

Does it make much difference at this stage? The price has already collapsed

budgemook

Idbatterim wrote: »

Does it make much difference at this stage? The price has already collapsed

Yeah I suppose it's unlikely to drop any further!

ednwireland

used gas oil until my latest boiler change, modern boilers arent designed to run gas oil it tends to run dirtier, but i have found my fancy new condesing boiler users about 500 litres a year more to heat our house than the old non condensing boiler (modern tech !)

DGOBS

@OP, what tools do you have to change over (pressure gauge, and FGA I hope)

Irish Steve

Pressure gauge, FGA, smoke tester, temperature testers, so yes, reasonably comfortable to make changes needed, and the relevant manual for the burner with the guidance settings for both gas oil and kerosene.

Tom44

ednwireland wrote: »

used gas oil until my latest boiler change, modern boilers arent designed to run gas oil it tends to run dirtier, but i have found my fancy new condesing boiler users about 500 litres a year more to heat our house than the old non condensing boiler (modern tech !)

Something seriously wrong then, or extra usage.

I always see a better than 25% savings with my customers changing boiler.

John.G

The big saving with HE (condensing) boilers is that the extra heat exchanger reduces the flue gas temperature by ~ a further 150C? in comparison with a SE (non condensing) boiler. I have a 15 year old SE Firebird 90S which runs with a flue gas temperature of around 230C with boiler flow/return temperatures of 70/50C. I don't know what a "average" HE boiler flue gas temp might be but would say possibly 80C??, if so, then the increase in efficiency (approx 4.5%/100C) would be ~ 7%. IMO, these HE boilers are rarely, if ever, running in condensing mode, possibly with UFH, as condensing doesn't even begin until the flue gas temperature falls to ~ 50c and would not achieve full condensing until a flue gas temperature of 25C/30C is reached, also oil fired HE boilers cannot be run with a return temp of < 40C so will rarely enter condensing mode. If I ever have to renew my ultra reliable Firebird with a HE boiler then I will be very happy to see a efficiency gain of 10% or so, around 150 ltrs less of kero/annum.