No experience of this and a number of the properies we are looking at have it. OK or cash vacuum?
Rental or buy? If rental, then you need to time things well when you move out otherwise you can end up leaving a few hundred quid if fuel behind.
I reckon it is more expensive than gas but cheaper than electric. It is cheaper if you have a big tank and can stock up in summer, prices go up during cold winters. Many areas have local coops which get better deals. Also bear in mind you will always be prepaying.
Also, both places I have lived with it always had a faint whiff of diesel around the boiler, which was less of a problem in the place where the boiler was in a separate utility room.
I wouldn't rule somewhere out because of it, and in many rural areas it's inevitable unless you go for gas cylinders which I imagine are more expensive and hassle.
Delivery is not a hassle, you usually pay the supplier over the phone / internet and someone turns up during the day (you don't need to be in) and fills an outside tank.
As apj says, not sure on cost vs gas, as we don't have gas! Takes a bit of monitoring, and planning when to order, but you soon get used to it. We used to have our boiler in the utility room and it did smell, now moved into the garage (but it is about 20 years old so newer ones may be better.
I have a 3 year old combi (Worcester Bosch) and the oil smell problem has gone away with the modern machine.
For an average sized house I'd suggest you'd want a 1500l tank minimum so you can can get a 1000l drop in he summer when it's cheaper. I quite like the ability to shop around and get a good price - you can't do that with gas!
Everyone says it's more expensive than gas but it's not been significant when I think back to the last house, but it's hard to compare I guess. Certainly not a reason not to buy a property.
Unlike gas you actually have a price choice. As has already been said, prices generally drop in the summer and rise in the winter although we've had the lowest prices in about 2 years over the last couple of months (mild winter I guess).
World political unrest can also make prices jump overnight so you learn to watch the price graphs and buy accordingly.
Although it's probably more expensive than gas I actually quite enjoy checking prices/deciding whether it's going to drop more or to buy now!
We have a 2500l tank but usually only put 500/1000 or maybe 1500 litres in at a time - depends how flush I am!
Running out is not fun, especially if you can't bleed the feed/pump yourself (I've got quite good at it after 11 years!)
We have an old boiler in a separate boiler room but no oil smell.
Certainly not a deal breaker for me. In fact if a house had a gas supply there's probably too many houses nearby for my liking 🙂
edit: forgot to add.... the more you buy the cheaper cost/ltr. I don't bother with a co-op, takes too long for a delivery. I check the price on the boilerjuice graph then phone the two suppliers near me. Play one off against the other until the price seems right.
http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,59188&_dad=portal
That gives you an idea of price per kW for comparison.
As other posters. One factor that other fuel sources don't suffer is that oil is prone to theft in some rural areas. It's a bit of a problem here in Cumbria for example. But as others say, don't let presence/absence of oil be a deal breaker if you see a good property.
and another comparator site, although oddly quite a but of variance from Bear's.
http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/
either way, oil is significantly more expensive than gas on a net energy basis.
We are on oil too and our place has a 15,000 litre underground tank. Why, I'll never know. I am worried more about condensation to be honest. It's a conventional system with a hot water tank and I wish it was a combi. It sounds like burning cash to heat water we don't use but an oil combi is a big expense.
As others say you pre pay for oil, so put a little cash away each month....
This is one in a series of threads from members concerned about the cost of oil central heating. They would do better asking about how to work out the energy demand of the house and what the potential is for reducing it through insulation. You can buy a lot of insulating material for the cost of a few thousand litres of fuel oil.
We live somewhere a little warmer but haven't lit the wood burner in over a week (no other heating), a few frosty mornings, maxes of 16-20 and it's currently 19.8 in the house.
Prices have dropped this winter for the first time in years. Still doesn't make it cheap though. But, IMO and in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't discount a house purely because it was running oil. It ain't cheap, but it ain't going to leave you without food on the table*. LPG on the other hand is a ****ing rip off IME @ £500/month - and that was 8 years ago.
Boilerjuice is where we get most of our oil. But I know people who chose a local supplier eg Lintons 5 years ago, and paid more per litre back then but pay less now as they've built up a longer term relationship.
* unless you really are up against it budget-wise.
Check the price graph on boiler juice, and make sure you don't have to buy mid winter.
I currently make a living by remediating domestic oil spills. I'd give some serious attention to the condition of the installation and its fuel feed line. The cost to replace a few hundred litres of kerosene is likely to be the very least of your worries if the worst happens.