Smart tech with oil boiler

C

Cambsred

Well-known member
About to buy a house with oil central heating with a water tank.

Was considering how I can manage my heating as efficiently as possible on a budget and was considering what people use. Never had oil before, and I wondered if people used Hive/ nest on a central thermostat like with a standard gas boiler alongside smart room TSVs. Or is there something I should be considering doing differently.

The more I look at energy efficiency the more expensive it becomes, but feel I should be doing as much as I can where possible from an environmental point of view as well as savings.

Any thoughts or experience would be great.
 
Might be worth looking at the age of the boiler .
you maybe be better off getting an air source heat pump with new controls rather buy just a new control/ stat .
I haven’t looked into it but I believe there’s a 5k grant towards it . Hopefully your house is or can be Easily insulated
 
Middlesbrough123 said:
Might be worth looking at the age of the boiler .
you maybe be better off getting an air source heat pump with new controls rather buy just a new control/ stat .
I haven’t looked into it but I believe there’s a 5k grant towards it . Hopefully your house is or can be Easily insulated
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The boiler is fairly old. Not entirely sure how warm the house is but certainly could be an option.
 
Cambsred said:
About to buy a house with oil central heating with a water tank.

Was considering how I can manage my heating as efficiently as possible on a budget and was considering what people use. Never had oil before, and I wondered if people used Hive/ nest on a central thermostat like with a standard gas boiler alongside smart room TSVs. Or is there something I should be considering doing differently.

The more I look at energy efficiency the more expensive it becomes, but feel I should be doing as much as I can where possible from an environmental point of view as well as savings.

Any thoughts or experience would be great.
Click to expand...
Many modern stats use 'time proportional control' which cycles the boiler as the stat approaches the target temperature. Oil boilers aren't suited to this cycling. I had a stat like this which allowed you to limit the cycling frequency such that the oil boiler could cope.
As for air source heating, comments like your house needs to be well insulated and it's at its least efficient when the weather is cold ring alarm bells with me.
 
chickenrunner said:
Many modern stats use 'time proportional control' which cycles the boiler as the stat approaches the target temperature. Oil boilers aren't suited to this cycling. I had a stat like this which allowed you to limit the cycling frequency such that the oil boiler could cope.
As for air source heating, comments like your house needs to be well insulated and it's at its least efficient when the weather is cold ring alarm bells with me.
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No experience of air source or ground source heating. Dont know anyone in the UK that has it.

My reading around smart heating and oil boilers seems conflicted and suggests the current tech is not best suited to oil
 
I think air source heating will ultimately prove to be a 'false step' a bit like compact fluorescent lamps, they were cr@p, now surpassed by LED lighting.
 
I have an (old) oil boiler. Just ordered oil at ninety-something p a litre and there is no price cap. Not going to change it yet as a) don't have the readies and b) not convinced by alternatives just yet. We have TSVs on the radiators but no smart tech. We supplement the heat with multifuel stove in which I burn predominately waste wood logs as they are very dry - it is a life saver when the power is out. I was told that modern oil boilers are very efficient, but I would change it to electric if I could - don't like the idea of having 3/4 of a ton of water in the loft.
 
this place has an electric fire, but the owner suggested up until a year ago it was an open fire and could be opened back up with little effort which is an option.
 
What I would advise @Cambsred is monitoring your oil usage. There is no metering so you're a bit in the dark. I started a spread sheet (yeah nerdy I know) to calculate usage and tank volume from oil height in the tank.
Also what's the state of the tank? Bunded? Water in the bottom?
 
New tank. double bunded.
I monitor things like this far too closely. I expect we will see how we go initially and look at general efficiency.

Got solar panels too which are new to me so trying to learn and understand as much as possible.
 
If it’s easily insulated or already has it ASHP (air sauce heat pump ) is the way to go, it will be mire cost effective . Assuming you have a hit water tank solar can be used to heat hot water via immersions if you don’t have solar thermal .
Just get a local lad in , you won’t even be able to buy a new house with a gas boiler after 2025 .
 
We smash our way through 3000 litres of oil a year .......... we've got an Aga 🙈 ........ and nigh on a tonne of smokeless fuel so I'm probably not the best to advise on fuel efficiency.😆
 
We got an ASHP just before the previous scheme ended, so gov will pay us back the full £13k cost over a number of years. We were nervous about it as we read so much conflicting information. We're delighted so far though, house is warm and cosy.
 
Yeah some have been sized badly in new builds in the passed and customers had huge bills .
Some customers operate them wrong as well .
All comes down to a proper heat loss calc done each job is different

Ground source are better but cost can be huge . If ground source heat pumps are fitted wrong they can freeze the ground 🥶
 
johnsmithsno2 said:
We got an ASHP just before the previous scheme ended, so gov will pay us back the full £13k cost over a number of years. We were nervous about it as we read so much conflicting information. We're delighted so far though, house is warm and cosy.
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What make ASHP did you get and has it been reliable?
 
A lad I know of fits a lot of them ( based down south) I haven’t heard any bad comments about them . What do they charge for the service plan ?
 
ASHPs are suited to underfloor heating, otherwise you have to oversize your radiators as the flow temperatures are much lower than gas boilers. If they aren't set up well the coefficient of performance can be awful. They can't heat water and radiators at the same time so if you want a warm house in the morning your water will be heating up in the early hours with the immersion chipping in if the target temperature isn't reached. All in all they are an option if your off gas but you need to way up the cons and more cons. I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole in a gas area. They will be the next PPI."were you mis-sold an ASHP"
 
We had all the radiators replaced with bigger ones. No disruption, all done in two days. No problems with house temperature or hot water yet. Might be different in December, let's see. Thought we had nothing to lose with the old scheme where everything is paid back over seven years. Not sure I'd get one under the new scheme, a £5,000 grant and you pay the rest yourself.
 
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