Considering a move to an area in Northumberland with no mains gas.

The majority of the houses have electric storage heaters which are just shit!

I would probably install a full wet central heating system in any house I bought and was wondering if an oil system costs about the same as a LPG gas one to supply and fit?

Oil cheaper than LPG to run, oil combis are expensive just had a grant boiler fitted £3.5k mates rates – rest depends on size/number of rads. Get a solid fuel log burner in at least one maybe two rooms (multifuel) stock up on logs and smokeless coal “things” as they will save your ass in a bad winter.

plant a forest and whilst its growing start a thread about fitting a log burner would be the STW standard.

Boiler might be little bit more than a gas one but you will of course have the tank to install and they are big ugly things that need to go in an appropriate place.

Have a look at Worcester Bosch oil combis.. The look pretty good as an external fitting and a tank above ground is no more obtrusive than a lpg, but oil works out cheaper

Oil will be dearer to install, but cheaper to run than LPG by a considerable amount.

No idea why people should assume you want a combi thoough, you may be able to use the exisitng cylinder if it has a coil, or if pressure and flow are ok then unvented is a better option IMHO.

Oil! Install your own tank and buy the oil from the cheapest supplier.
LPG, unless you buy bu the bottle, requires your supplier to fit their own tank and rent it to you. They won’t supply the gas unless you lock youreslf into a 2-3 year one sided contract allowing them to charge whatever they like for the gas.

oil is always cheaper if you dont have mains gas

It might also be cheaper to do a back boiler to a wood burner or some such and use that – this needs to be on all the time mind and lacks the controllability of other options. House is a tad cold after a week away for example.

Oil cheaper than LPG to run

You can’t really say that, as both are linked to ‘market prices’.

buy the oil from the cheapest supplier.

If you’re rural they’ll probably be a limited number of suppliers, we’re just over the border from Northumberland and there are only two who’ll deliver oil. I just ring up both when needing the tank filling, and go with the cheapest.

Heating-wise, we’ve an old mill and have a wood burner at one end and an oil-fired AGA at the other (plus towel rails linked to the AGA-heated water upstairs). If you do go oil, get a bigger than 1000 litre tank, so you can order a 1000 litres and still have ‘reserve’.

What about the biomass wood pellet boilers? Are they the same price?

I can’t remember the name but there is actually a price comparison site for oil buying now.

We are rural Norfolk, and found oil worked out a lot cheaper than LPG, most heating comes from woodburner though (with good insulation).

What about the biomass wood pellet boilers? Are they the same price?

Usually about 80% more expensive and require massive amounts of space to install and fuel.

Our quote for a replacement Combi was £3800 and £3500 for an external.

plant a forest and whilst its growing start a thread about fitting a log burner would be the STW standard.

That’s what I did. 4000 trees down, 2000 to go…

I already have oil tough. Just having a log burner would be a full time job.

when i looked 4 years ago they were giving away boilers and tanks with LPG contracts …….

when i looked 4 years ago it still didnt make sense to sign up.

paid 1800 for an external Grant vortex 32

Just had complete oil combi system fitted(external boiler),from scatch as no water tank as no useable loft space for it.Grant combi.
For 5k ,thats euro’s so guess 4.5k sterling .

Plus have wood burner for lounge use too.Old irish cottage with added conservatory so 9 rads plus towel rail all pipes in copper.

it’s probably worth sitting down and doing the maths on ROI for this. If a boiler on its own is £4k, lets say the full system is something around £6k (including rads & fitting) – if a house is £200/year cheaper on oil than on electricity (economy 7) that’s a 30 year payback, not including service costs (which I imagine are mostly zero on night storage heaters?)

source : https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/heating-costs-gas-vs-oil-vs-electric-storage-heaters.html

but then theres the convienance of not having to plan your heat requirements in advance

plus folk i know with electric storage heaters and similar houses to me pay my yearly oil bill in 2 winter months….

although in true STW style i have a woodburner in the front room and a chainsaw so may be not like for like in terms of heatrequirements

Oil has been historically cheaper than oil, in fact pretty certain at no point has LPG been cheaper to use than oil.