T
tintin
Hi Folks,
Not sure if I am in the right place but looking for some help from more enlightened ones on the issue of home heating.
My current situation is as follows. I live in the UK in a 1970s 3 bed room semi detached.
Oil fired boiler, open front fire with a back boiler that heats the hot water through a twin coil cylinder tank. 9 radiators. In the winter my oil boiler is on for 2 hr in the morning, 2 hr in the evening, and the odd hr in the afternoon if we are in. The fire is on if the temperature outside is single figures, we burn coal and wood. In the summer the oil boiler is used for 1 hr in the morning and 30min in the evening, all rads are closed and the fire never on. This supplies all the hot water we need and keeps the house cosy for me the wife and 2 young kids.
I worked out that my average cost of oil has been £550 per year averaged over the last 8. Quite happy with that, but my coal and wood bill for the open fire is averaged at £220 a year which caught me suprised. My plumber assures me my oil boiler is excellent and has tested it at 90% efficiency.
So I am looking at he options and hoping some help from you guys may make the decision process a bit clearer.
One option is gas. Many folk in my town have been fitting gas over the last decade. Now while the initial outlay is substantial, the efficency would surely be much greater, and the space saving by removing all the infrastructure of my oil system would be a bonus, and the option of fitting a balanced flue gas fire is appealing. No coal or wood needing stored, and no mess! Now I just calculated the gas price and found it to be 10% more expensive than oil, but with the efficiency it may be like splitting hairs.
Another option would be remove my open front fire and fit a multi fuel burner, however I am a bit reluctant to do this as my baxi back boiler would then be redundant. I did enquire with a local tradesman years ago regarding fitting a wood burning with a boiler to my existing back boiler pipes, but he said they were of a diameter that could not be used by modern burners (too small).
And the final option, do nothing and cut back on the open fire usage, much to my wife's annoyance (she loves the fire on a winter evening).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Not sure if I am in the right place but looking for some help from more enlightened ones on the issue of home heating.
My current situation is as follows. I live in the UK in a 1970s 3 bed room semi detached.
Oil fired boiler, open front fire with a back boiler that heats the hot water through a twin coil cylinder tank. 9 radiators. In the winter my oil boiler is on for 2 hr in the morning, 2 hr in the evening, and the odd hr in the afternoon if we are in. The fire is on if the temperature outside is single figures, we burn coal and wood. In the summer the oil boiler is used for 1 hr in the morning and 30min in the evening, all rads are closed and the fire never on. This supplies all the hot water we need and keeps the house cosy for me the wife and 2 young kids.
I worked out that my average cost of oil has been £550 per year averaged over the last 8. Quite happy with that, but my coal and wood bill for the open fire is averaged at £220 a year which caught me suprised. My plumber assures me my oil boiler is excellent and has tested it at 90% efficiency.
So I am looking at he options and hoping some help from you guys may make the decision process a bit clearer.
One option is gas. Many folk in my town have been fitting gas over the last decade. Now while the initial outlay is substantial, the efficency would surely be much greater, and the space saving by removing all the infrastructure of my oil system would be a bonus, and the option of fitting a balanced flue gas fire is appealing. No coal or wood needing stored, and no mess! Now I just calculated the gas price and found it to be 10% more expensive than oil, but with the efficiency it may be like splitting hairs.
Another option would be remove my open front fire and fit a multi fuel burner, however I am a bit reluctant to do this as my baxi back boiler would then be redundant. I did enquire with a local tradesman years ago regarding fitting a wood burning with a boiler to my existing back boiler pipes, but he said they were of a diameter that could not be used by modern burners (too small).
And the final option, do nothing and cut back on the open fire usage, much to my wife's annoyance (she loves the fire on a winter evening).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks