Buying a house with oil central heating

A question about : Buying a house with oil central heating

We are considering a bungalow which has a oil tank. The tank looks like it is made of metal and is rusty on the outside. There is no gas supply. I have a few questions:

1. How much difference is there in energy costs between oil and gas?

2. Does having oil central heating effect property prices or the time it takes to sell? The reason I ask is that a few properties in this village have been on the market for a while and I was wondered if oil heating put people off or is it the fact the properties all need 'some work' / updating.

3. Would checking the condition of the tank be included in a survey or would you need a separate person to have a look?

4. If it did need replacing roughly how much would that cost?

Thanks
G
x-posted in House Buying forum

Best answers:

• 1. Compared to what?? maybe a bit dearer than mains gas, but cheaper than LPG and Electric??
  2. Wouldn't have thought so
  3. Survey???
  4. Couple of hundred quid??
  x-posting is 'illegal' methinks
• 1. Oil is about 50% more expensive than gas but is in most circumstances the lowest cost off mains fuel.
  2. I suspect these properties are not selling because they are overpriced not the heating system.
  3. If you're concerned get an OFTEC enigineer to inspect the boiler and tank.
  4. Around a grand.
• This https://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/ is my favourite web site for comparing energy prices. Look in particular at the column marked "Pence per kWh (after boiler efficiency)".
• I have just paid 32.75p per litre (excl. VAT).
• If you need a new heating system, you won't be looking at oil you will be looking at biomass or heat pumps by far the cheapest off grid solutions.
• We had a rusty leaking old oil tank replaced and it cost us just over Ј1000. That was for providing and installing new tank, redirecting the feed to our new boiler, and taking away the old tank. We went for a steel single skinned tank 1360 litres. You may find if the current site is not up to new regulations it might cost a bit more to remedy this, there seem to be a lot of regulations around oil tank sites!
  Would recommend the company we used but I see you are based in Hertfordshire which is probably a bit too far (they are based in Arundel, West Sussex).
• I actually worked out the figures between oil and biomass as I was considering it but the big thing that put me off biomass was the size and cost of the boiler system in comparison to my current oil set up. There is if oil is at .55p a litre and pellets at 250 a ton, .15p difference that's all. Pellet prices are not stable either so they can go up and down.
• 1. Oil fluctuates way more than gas (which is why I always laugh when a few percent change in the price of gas is the lead story on the 10pm news). At the moment it's cheaper, but it's been a long time since that was true.
  2. I moved from a house using oil to one on the gas main. After 14 years of oil, being on the gas main was an absolute requirement for me, so it will put some potential buyers off.
  3. Can't imagine the surveyor saying anything more than they recommend the use of a specialist to check.
  4. These days you're probably looking at something plastic and bunded and likely won't get much change out of Ј1,000 (I looked into it before I move as my tank was steel and rusting)
• I rent a rural property, it has no gas, no mains drainage and a shared water supply.
  My heating and hot water are provided by an oil fired condensing boiler, my sewage is provided through a septic tank. I don't find running the oil boiler that expensive to be honest, and not having a sewer connection means much cheaper water bills. I guess this is all part of country living, and I love it. No gas is the norm here, so it has no affect on local property values.