[Nick L]

With the price of heating oil hovering around 60p per litre does anyone know
roughly what it costs to run a typical domestic oil fired boiler in pence
per kWh ?

Nick
(Thinking of installing an electric boiler)

[Dave Liquorice[_2_]]

On Thu, 15 May 2008 12:23:36 +0100, Nick L wrote:

With the price of heating oil hovering around 60p per litre does anyone
know roughly what it costs to run a typical domestic oil fired boiler in
pence per kWh ?

Have a search back in here (I think) It's been discussed recently. But
basicaly burn 1l of oil in an hour and you get about 10kW of heat. So
60p/l (I'm glad I was sitting down...) is *roughly* 6p/kWhr but you have
to factor in the ineffciency of the boiler so add about 25% to that for a
real cost of useful heat.

(Thinking of installing an electric boiler)

There was a thread about that as well, IIRC it ran quite long and
rambled...

--
Cheers
Dave.

[terry]

On May 16, 7:23*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2008 12:23:36 +0100, Nick L wrote:
With the price of heating oil hovering around 60p per litre does anyone
know roughly what it costs to run a typical domestic oil fired boiler in
pence per kWh ?

Have a search back in here (I think) It's been discussed recently. But
basicaly burn 1l of oil in an hour and you get about 10kW of heat. So
60p/l (I'm glad I was sitting down...) is *roughly* 6p/kWhr but you have
to factor in the ineffciency of the boiler so add about 25% to that for a
real cost of useful heat.

(Thinking of installing an electric boiler)

There was a thread about that as well, IIRC it ran quite long and
rambled...

--
Cheers
Dave.

So oil heat costs around 7.5p per kilowatt/hr.
Electricity which is supposedly 100% efficient etc. costs ???? per kw/
hr.
Syggestion:
Is the changeover cost and any reductions in maintenance cost such as
combustion chamber replacement, chimney cleaning, oil tank mtc. etc.
amortised over say a number of years worth it?
What are expecatations for changes in costs of oil and electrcity?
And yes there was a very long discussion on this matter, here, very
recently.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2008 12:23:36 +0100, Nick L wrote:

With the price of heating oil hovering around 60p per litre does anyone
know roughly what it costs to run a typical domestic oil fired boiler in
pence per kWh ?

Have a search back in here (I think) It's been discussed recently. But
basicaly burn 1l of oil in an hour and you get about 10kW of heat. So
60p/l (I'm glad I was sitting down...) is *roughly* 6p/kWhr but you have
to factor in the ineffciency of the boiler so add about 25% to that for a
real cost of useful heat.

(Thinking of installing an electric boiler)

There was a thread about that as well, IIRC it ran quite long and
rambled...


Yes, twas me that started it.

At that time it came to around 5.8p/unit: oil has gone up since.

I think some of the conclusions bear repeating.

1/. If you can use e.g. UFH in a concrete slab as a massive storage
heater, or use a heat pump, its likely that your ultimate cost will be
below oil at current prices. You could also use a massive insulated tank
- 10,000 liters or more - of water as a heat bank heated by off peak,
and run a heat exchanger through that to power a wet CH system during
the day.

2/. Oil prices currently do not reflect shortage of supply, so much as
speculation and profiteering by all concerned. Hey start a war and buy
oil futures, why not? I would expect oil prices to dip below $100/barrel
later this year, but not by much. That is still above the price at which
oil is competitive against off peak, but off peak itself may rise in cost.

3/. My BELIEF is that long term, we will indeed build a couple more coal
stations before going mainly nuclear, and that long term electric
heating WILL be cost competitive: If I were doing it all over, I'd put
in a heat pump. HOWEVER think 'power cuts' - at least our AGA and the
open wood fires and the wood stove keep us warm when the power lines are
down, which is usually an annual event. The large tank of hot water
under the floor does appeal as well..storage for several days is not
impossible, and a generator could power pumps to circulate it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

terry wrote:
On May 16, 7:23 pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2008 12:23:36 +0100, Nick L wrote:
With the price of heating oil hovering around 60p per litre does anyone
know roughly what it costs to run a typical domestic oil fired boiler in
pence per kWh ?
Have a search back in here (I think) It's been discussed recently. But
basicaly burn 1l of oil in an hour and you get about 10kW of heat. So
60p/l (I'm glad I was sitting down...) is *roughly* 6p/kWhr but you have
to factor in the ineffciency of the boiler so add about 25% to that for a
real cost of useful heat.

(Thinking of installing an electric boiler)
There was a thread about that as well, IIRC it ran quite long and
rambled...

--
Cheers
Dave.

So oil heat costs around 7.5p per kilowatt/hr.
Electricity which is supposedly 100% efficient etc. costs ???? per kw/
hr.
Syggestion:
Is the changeover cost and any reductions in maintenance cost such as
combustion chamber replacement, chimney cleaning, oil tank mtc. etc.
amortised over say a number of years worth it?

I would say its not worth it YET unless you are a heavy user.

However on a new install I would certainly give it thought.


What are expecatations for changes in costs of oil and electrcity?
And yes there was a very long discussion on this matter, here, very
recently.

I think oil will stabilise around the $110 a barrel once the speculators
leave the field..and then steadily rise smoothly as some kind of balance
between supply and demand is achieved. That places it above coal and
nuclear in terms of price. Gas will likely track it higher as well.

Ultimately oil will be an expensive transport fuel only: electricity
generation can be easily done by other means, and that tends to suggest
that electricity will replace fossil fuels as he main method of domestic
heating.

[Dave Liquorice[_2_]]

On Fri, 16 May 2008 20:51:07 -0700 (PDT), terry wrote:

So oil heat costs around 7.5p per kilowatt/hr.

Broadly ATM, at 60p/l I'd put it closer to 8p/unit useable heat.

Electricity which is supposedly 100% efficient etc. costs ???? per kw/
hr.

I pay 8.415p/kWHr on a "normal" tarrif. E7 I pay 4.27/13.18

Is the changeover cost and any reductions in maintenance cost such as
combustion chamber replacement, chimney cleaning, oil tank mtc. etc.
amortised over say a number of years worth it?

If you bring in capital expenses of a change over it's highly unlikely
that it will be worth it in a term less than 10 years.

What are expecatations for changes in costs of oil and electrcity?

Both upward. Oil will rise faster but in smaller steps as it follows the
market price of energy much more closely than electricity. Electric will
rise but in larger more spaced out jumps as and when the power companies
feel they can get away with another 10 to 15% increase after the last
one... I'd expect most suppliers to hoik the prices again before the
winter demand comes in and the "cheap" summer bills have landed. Did I
hear last week that British Gas where thinking about it already?

--
Cheers
Dave.