looking to move house soon, but not sure of costs of LPG or oil heating. As i'm moving to a rural area just wondering how much more fuels like LPG or oil cost over mains gas. I havent narrowed down where i'll move to yet so could pick areas with mains gas if other fuels are much more expensive.

Thanks

Mains gas is much cheaper (I believe) and much more convenient (fact) than LPG or oil.

mastiles_fanylion – Member
Mains gas is much cheaper (I believe) and much more convenient (fact) than LPG or oil.

Not so sure…

Convenience? I get my oil tank filled twice per year, pay for it and errr use it. Apart from making a couple of phone calls to make sure I'm getting the best price, how is that inconvenient?

Price? Depends how you use it I suppose. I pay about £500 per year for heating and hot water. Large 4 bed detached, using the heating sensibly i.e. not at full bore during summer but nothing silly. Dunno how that relates to mains gas but I don't think it's excessive for the size of house and type of use.

LPG in big storage thingies should be cheaper than bottled. I'd porbably think twice about running on 47kg Propane cyclinders but I don't have any sensible info to base this statement on other than the bollock ache of changing them frequently….

My folks moved house from one with LPG – partly 'cos it was over £2000 pa in lpg to heat the house.

as above at our house. you can even have a widget fitted to you tank so you dont need to check it yourself.

how is that inconvenient?

I want to switch on my gas cooker – I switch it on and pay my bills by direct debit.

Perhaps I was wrong to say 'much' more. But it is undeniably more inconvenient to use LPG or oil. Until the Ukrainians switch off the gas supply to the UK, then we will all come round to your house for tea.

Perhaps I am wrong about cost, but I am sure I read something somewhere very recently that said like-for-like gas was the cheapest heating source. Of course I can't find that proof now I need to prove it.

I am doing my best to use as little gas as possible to be honest. We have gas central heating and water (mains) which goes on for an hour first thing in the morning and another hour late afternoon. Turned to wood for my main heating (wood burning stove in the dining room and one in the living room).

If you get somewhere with an oil/LPG system and you have space then it is reasonably straight forward to convert to a wood pellet based system which is both cheaper to run than oil, and close to carbon neutral (assuming that there is a local producer and distributor of wood pellets that is!). You can then be smug when the gas gets switched off and you are still warm 😉 I am also a big fan of Esse Ironheart stoves – basically a wood burner with over and hot plates. Ace things… just wondering how much it will cost to get my dining room fireplace opened up a touch more and fit one in there. Apparently it used to have a solid fuel range cooker installed so it should be doable!

you can get "watchman" systems on both types, when the level gets low, it automatically requests more from your provider.
other than keeping an eye on your bill, to check they arnt scammin you (billing you for more than your using) you need no input.

however, my currentjob revolves around cleaning up oil spills from the tanks.

nothing ruins your weekend like 2000L of kerosene sluicing through your kitchen, and having to have your entire house taken down to clean it up again.

this is more common than you would think!

while modern plastic tanks are better than they have been, the fact of the matter is, while steel tanks rust from the inside, and start to drip, plastic tanks weaken with age, and then split when loaded, (usually while being refilled) so end up with a catastrophic loss event.

it is also not uncommon for oil to be stolen, which involves cutting the oil line at the base of the tank, putting a bucket under the oil line, realising the 2000L of oil wont fit in a 5L bucket, and legging it, leaving the oil to piss out everywhere.

gas blows away on the wind. nuff said.

go with oil, keep me in a job!

Yup, mains gas is best and cheapest, but that's perfectly useless if you live in a rural area that doesn't have mains supply within 5 miles like all our houses over the last 18 years.

Options are therefore oil, bottled gas and electricity.
Oil – cost OK, convenience OK (use Watchman and large tank so ideally fill up maximum twice a year
Electricity – convenient and expensive
Bottled gas – inconvenient and expensive

hmmm i guess i'm trying to find out what the rough % cost of oil or LPG is over mains gas, but cant find anything on the net they all just say its more expensive, maybe impossible to compare due to constant price fluctuations. I suppose if i'm looking at fuels like oil / LPG then the insulation / efficiency of the houses i look at becomes a more important factor.

edit – just another point, how much does oil fluctuate, eg whats the highest price you have paid over say the last 4-5 years, and is it increasing quite a lot each year?

nothing ruins your weekend like 2000L of kerosene sluicing through your kitchen

😯 It is just about possible to imagine scenarios which would ruin a weekend more comprehensively, but they all involve leprosy, kidnapping or rabid dwarf ninjas…

mee – my parents paid over £2000 a year for heating and cooking for a 3 bed detached house using LPG in a big tank – and that was a year ago. Probably twice the cost of mains gas or maybe even more for them

Olly, the bursting tanks is something I worry about from time to time – mine is about 4 feet away from my back door, slightly uphill. What do you suggest people do to minimise the chances of it happening, getting a new tank every once in a while is all I can think of?

Its less about the cost of fuel, more the amount of fuel you'll need to use – so irrelevent of type, look for insulation, porches, shelter from the wind etc.

My folks recently moved their Aga from coal/coke to oil, about the same money but far more convienent – but not obviously as mains gas.

I think electric heating would put me off, if for nothing else than when we rented with Economy 7, it was never 'on' when we wanted it.

Inspection and/or regular replacement of the tank. The only other thing you could do is to build a massive bund that will contain a full tanks worth of fuel until somone like Olly shows up. Unfortunately this solution would lead to other problems like how to deal with rainwater accumulation as for obvious reasons you can't have an open drain.

that and or bund it. (build a water tight brick tray around the base that has a capacity of the tank + a bit)

theres no way of telling when they will go.

is it supported properly, on a plinth, with no over hang?

some of the installations people put up with are incredible

check THIS out.

this on a slipway at beer beach as well.
its not gonna be pretty when it goes, and it will go.

you may never have a problem!!!
then again, if its more than 10 years old, i would weigh up your options vs consequenses.
bear in mind, if you remove a tank, the new laws apply to the tank that replaces it, so you may have to relocate it (cant be within 700mm of a flamable boundary like a fence or hedge)

as for a replacement tank, i would reccomend a steel plastic combined tank.
any steel tank will rust, from the inside due to condensation (remember, water that condenses on the inside of a tank, will sink through the oil and sit in a puddle at the bottom of the oil at the lowest point, the oil doesnt help stop it rust at all), but a drip is much easier to deal with than a split or a burst.
the steel casing will protect the inner plastic tank from the UV and physical damage. which make it the reccomended option

Oil price fluctuates hugely. It is directly linked to the world oil price. For instance, 2 years ago before the crash it was very expensive, but when the oil market crashed last year, so did our oil price. Unlike mains gas where it seems the only way is up. I's also cheaper in spring summer that autumn/winter.

Bottom line, it's probably a bit more expensive than mains gas, but not stupidely so. If you have a mains gas supply use it; if not oil is the only real choice

i think the OP is asking, captain, because the house isnt on a mains supply.
if your not next to the pipe, you dont have the option of mains gas, simple as that. suprising how many people assume gas supplys, along with sewage mains go everywhere. They dont.

the OPs queery is either;

Oil

or

LPG

pick one of those eyesores and potential environmental disaster/fire hazards to have at the bottom or top of your garden.

It's level, right by a hedge, and very stable (I've stood on it to cut the hedge, perhaps I'll avoid doing that again). It's on bricks and slabs, at ground level, no chance of it toppling. It's a Titan LP 1200 and I think it was installed no more than 10 yrs ago according to the neighbours.

I had a steel tank which eventually started oozing so I got a placky one of the same capacity. How a plastic tank is ever gonna spring a leak is beyond me (apart from being in an accident!)as long as it's fitted correctly in the first place.
What price is oil these days anyway? I think the last load I got was about 15p a litre!

Mains gas is much cheaper (I believe)

Correct. LPG is very expensive.

and much more convenient (fact) than LPG or oil.

Incorrect. The supply company keeps the tank topped up and we pay by direct debit. We don't have to lift a finger.

We pay about £1000 per year for LPG and £400 for wood (4 bed detached). And we couldn't turn the heating down any more than it is at the moment.

50p a litre a couple of months ago, where I am anyway.

Olly – Member
i think the OP is asking, captain, because the house isnt on a mains supply.
if your not next to the pipe, you dont have the option of mains gas, simple as that. suprising how many people assume gas supplys, along with sewage mains go everywhere. They dont.

Exactly what I said in both my posts 🙄

Yup, mains gas is best and cheapest, but that's perfectly useless if you live in a rural area that doesn't have mains supply within 5 miles like all our houses over the last 18 years

If you have a mains gas supply use it; if not oil is the only real choice

4 bed house, wife who likes to keep the house warm enough to make Satan feel comfortable. 3 of the cleanest kids in Christendom (loads of baths)£120 a month on oil!

I think that's a lot.

I've used oil in a couple of houses, it's not really massively bothersome to get the thing refilled, only happens once or twice a year anyway. The real PITA one was solid fuel, hmmm, oh how I enjoyed collecting bucket fulls of coke on a wet and windy winters night from the coal bunker…

About 35p per litre last time we bought some back in April/May

mastiles_fanylion – Member

how is that inconvenient?
<snip> Until the Ukrainians switch off the gas supply to the UK, then we will all come round to your house for tea.

And you'll all be very welcome so long as you wipe your feet. Well apart from the mad duo Moz and Kasabian, no not them thank you very much, they might eat the kids…

i think the OP is asking, captain, because the house isnt on a mains supply.

No – he was asking so he can base his decision on where to look for houses.

Incorrect. The supply company keeps the tank topped up and we pay by direct debit. We don't have to lift a finger.

Fair enough can't argue with first-hand experience.

Neighbour bought some oil this week @37p. How I laughed when I brimmed our tank to avoid the application of VAT a few years ago, the sight glass valve threw a wobbly and with it 1000L of oil into the garden. It looked like we'd been visited by the Amoco Kadiz….

I was shocked to find that as a family, we burn more oil to (moderately) heat the house and water than we use in our 3 cars.
Aren't we supposed to be running out of this stuff?

thanks for all the info guys!

I havent actually decided on a house yet as still in the early stages of looking and i think maybe i should rephrase the question a bit as i still have the option to have mains gas depending on which village i move to (quite a few options at moment)

so..
If you're on oil / LPG now, would it majorly influence your choice if you had to move again? ie is it that much more expensive / hassle? And does the price fluctuation thing worry you?

I had a steel tank which eventually started oozing so I got a placky one of the same capacity. How a plastic tank is ever gonna spring a leak is beyond me (apart from being in an accident!)as long as it's fitted correctly in the first place.

the seam around the middle of the tank, is a sonic weld.
95% of our job involve Atlas and Titan Tanks where the weld has sheared, so the top half of the tank empties in the space of a few minutes
basically the weld system used wasn't/isnt up to it.

its a tank, containing oil, that is basicly made of oil products.

i have NO idea whether they have improved. they have no real reason to, they don't pay for the damage, and they do say on them (when you get them at least) to replace them after 10 years.

we cover the SW peninsula of England, and get probably 2 jobs a week. (each takes months, sometimes years to sort out)
we work for pretty much one loss adjuster, so i'm guessing other loss adjusters give their work to other people.

It's a Titan LP 1200

you may never have a problem, i dont know the statistics of how many fail out of how many made.

but PERSONALLY "titan LP1200" doesnt fill me with confidence.

+ if you do have a problem, your insurance pays for it
– but it can be a hell of a disruption
+ if in doubt, only half fill it!
– doubles your call out charges

Most people dont know what to do if they spring a leak, why would anyone want to know until its too late, i hadnt a clue before i started the job.

IF YOU SPRING A LEAK

grab a bar of soap, and rub it into the crack. pack it in as hard as you can, the more the better.
then call you heating engineer, and get them to come with a spare tank, some slabs to sit it on, and a pump to empty your cracked tank into.
most companies will come 24/7/365.
the fire brigade are also equipped to do this too.

We have a rural 3 bed cottage with single-skin walls (18th-19th century), shaky old lattice windows and your average olde worlde roofing. 4yr old oil boiler and rads.

Currently paying approx £400 pa for heating – we use the immersion for hot water cos it's cheaper. Tend to buy from Boilerjuice. All in all, no complaints.

Previous to this I lived in a huge 2 bed Victorian house that was equal in size to many 5 bed homes, but it ran off OPG. Horrendously expensive. Heating system was rubbish – we could have it on 30deg and still be freezing. It cost me nearly £500 just for one month in March 06. Spoke to British Gas about getting a mains supply and they said we'd be looking at £10k minimum.

If you get a chance to check out some bills then do so.

If you're on oil / LPG now, would it majorly influence your choice if you had to move again? ie is it that much more expensive / hassle? And does the price fluctuation thing worry you?

Nope. It would be a contributing factor, but not a telling one.

IMO, if you have a sound heating/hot water system and a decent fuel tank (for oil or OPG), then you're less likely to have any hassle. All you've got to do is buy say 1000 litres once a year and you're done.

THe only concern I would have longterm is the possibility of oil rising dramatically, let's say 100% over 5-10 years. Could happen. But even then, that's what, an extra £500/year (for us) … okay, that's maybe not afforable to everyone, but for most it's probably something you can live with.

THe only concern I would have longterm is the possibility of oil rising dramatically, let's say 100% over 5-10 years.

Well given that the oil price halved in the space of 6 months earlier this year I'd say it's more than a possibility. The trouble is the price of LPG and Natural Gas is strongly linked to the price of oil as well as they are effectively from the same source.

The real PITA one was solid fuel, hmmm, oh how I enjoyed collecting bucket fulls of coke on a wet and windy winters night from the coal bunker…

Don't know about that – takes me about 5 minutes at the weekend to fill our two coal buckets for the week from the woodshed and about the same nightly to make sure the wood stack is topped up next to the wood burner.

We moved to a rural area and bought an end of terrace with night storage heaters so faced the decision of LPG / oil or solid fuel. Went with the latter primarily on cost – entire central heating system and stove came in at about £3.5K including labour. We also have an immersion heater. IN the summer our electricity bills are between £15 and £25 a month. In the winter we pay the same for electric and about £50 in wood and coal. Less if we get more free wood from various neighbours.

We were looking at significantly more on installation alone for oil or LPG. Our neighbour has oil and is considering having it replaced with a solid fuel system due to monthly costs – the work would pay for itself relatively quickly.

Personally it would affect my decision in buying a house – fuel costs do tend to fluctuate and we're on a relatively tight budget. It's a complete bonus knowing exactly what our costs will be and not having to worry about the affect any price increases would have. It's bad enough having to build in contingencies for petrol incesssantly going up…

meeee, using oil instead of mains gas is so trivial it should absolutely not influence your house buying. We've used oil in 5 different houses in different villages for 18 years and never heard of anyone having an issue. If you really wanted to do a belt and braces, put in a new tank when you move in – pretty cheap compared to cost of house and moving.

All the new tanks are plastic and are double skinned so you you won't get a leak. In the incredibly unlikely event of something happening to the pipe you go and turn off the valve at the tank – simples. Fill up once or twice a year – you don't even have to be there when they do it.

The oil and gas market prices are inextricably linked so there will never be any vast difference in price movements except if the price drops because your gas company will not pass the reductions on

Usualy the same price as (tax free) diesel, so about 35-45p a litre, fluctuations are mroe extream than petrol prices though.

eg.

1 ltr petrol = £1

1 ltr fuel oil = £40p

now say the price of oil increaces 30%

1 ltr petrol = £109 (9% increace)

1 ltr fuel oil = 55p (30% increace)

Fuel taxation actualy means we pay less every year for automotive fuel than the Ammericans as we've been encouraged for decades to buy small cars and live close to work and use trains. Over the pond they live much further away from work, drive huge V8's and considder buses for poor people only. As a result (at the old £1:$2 rate) paid more for fuel annualy than we did. Who says green taxes dont work?

We got through 2500l last year Oct-Oct, mostly Oct-Apr in our oh so rustic french rental house…and we still froze.

However that says more about the quality of the house's air tightness and thermal mass than the advantages/ dsadvantages of oil.

My parents have it in the UK and don't seem to suffer any inconveniences.