How can I find my old pictures?

[Sil-El]

We are thinking of upping sticks and moving from East Anglia to Wales sometime next year and the area we are looking at is not on mains gas and so oil fired central heating seems to be the method employed in most houses there.

 

I've been reading a lot of negative comments about how inefficient it is is, how expensive it is, and generally what a truly horrific thing it all is and should never have been invented, etc and was wondering if anyone on here has any experience of this type of heating system and whether there are any good points?

 

We are looking at a property on Thursday that we really like the look of which has a newly installed oil system so I would guess if it's new it would be more efficient than older ones and it also has a wood burner in the lounge and also electric storage heaters so we would have options but the house also has a septic tank and I'm not sure about those either.

 

Any comments or advice would be appreciated.....

[newcountrygirl]

Hi - we moved from West Yorkshire to Lincolnshire nearly 5 years ago and were only ever used to gas central heating. We have oil fired central heating and have never found it to be a problem. It provides the heating and hot water in exactly the same way. The only thing you have to remember is to check that you aren't running low on oil and remember to order some. It could be with a new system there is something in place for this purpose, ours is an old system.

 

We installed solar panels which provides us with lots of cheap and free electricity and paid extra to have a water heating facility so in the summer we have that and turn off the oil. We find that we get enough electricity to run our electric Everhot cooker - which is on at all times too.

 

We also have a septic tank. If they are working properly they dont need pumping out too often. It depends on how many people are using it. There are only two of us most of the time and only extras when family come to stay. Ours was last pumped out 4 years ago at a cost of £65 by the local farmer - so not expensive, plus the water rate bill is reduced.

Good look with your house search. If Wales doesn't work out I can recommend Lincolnshire. Lol

[Olly]

Can't comment on the oil-fired heating, but I grew up in a house with a septic tank and have friends who live in a property with one. Treated properly, they should not be a problem at all. if you want to live somewhere rural, mains gas and mains drainage are very likely to be a compromise.

 

Quite seriously, I'd be more concerned about Internet access in a rural area! It may be worth checking on that.

[Daphne]

My parents had oil CH in the 1970s and switched to gas when it was offered in the 1980s. My grandparents had it too, my memories are that it worked, but was very pricey. Although oil is cheap right this minute, I would be concerned about price rises. However, I don't know anything about more modern systems, perhaps they are efficient. I've lived in several houses overseas with septic tanks, and if they are old/not looked after properly then they can stink. However, right this minute, me, my bro and my SIL all have septic tanks (not in UK) and none of us have had a problem in 20 years. As Olly says, rural properties are often not on mains gas (we use tanks) or sewage, and neither of these factors would bother me. Although my memories of electric storage heating aren't brilliant, we had it 20 years ago and you had to be sitting on the rad virtually to get warm, but I should think more modern systems are much better. And woodburners are variable. They can be brilliant, when they are the right size for the room and properly installed, or they can be virtually useless. And in my book there is nothing worse than being too cold, so check it all out properly

[Guest]

One of my previous houses was oil fired central heating (new boiler) I found it very efficient. The best thing is to get together with neighbouring properties so you all order from same supplier at same time to get the best deal (I used Brobot), the same goes with LPG.

 

 

 

Septic tank is no problem at all. I used to get mine emptied every couple of years but some need emptying less frequently.

[soapdragon]

Parents in law used to live in a house with a combined septic tank/soak away just next to their huge veg patch.....I've never seen rhubarb grow so big/so fast Mind you, I always gave the crumble a miss!

 

With both septic tank and oil fired heating its just a case of being organised/aware in terms of scheduling an empty and refill respectively! Certainly don't let either put you off at all if you fall in love with the property.

[Sil-El]

Thanks all for your comments, very helpful

 

I think, as has been pointed out, it's a question of being organised and doing research beforehand and as the whole area is on oil then it shouldn't be a problem sorting a regular supply.

 

Good thinking too on the internet access - we have very good, very fast broadband here, so that is definitely something to take into account if we move.

 

When we look at the house on Thursday I will be asking lots of questions and taking careful notes

[sarahjayne]

We had oil at our last house as there was no mains gas in the whole village. We had an 'oil watchman' which was on the tank with a remote small monitor which was plugged into an electrical socket in the house. It counted down as the oil was used so, as long as we kept an eye on that, we would not run out. We also belonged to a syndicate which covered 3 villages. Every quarter we received an email from the organiser who then collated the total amount the 3 villages needed and then shopped around for the best bulk deal. Oil was delivered to individual tanks and invoice put through the door so you did not need to be at home when oil was delivered. Oil is like petrol, prices go up and down.

 

We have a cess pit now which we empty once a year (family of 4) at the cost of £126.

[Egzandra]

Let us know how you got on, when you get time! We moved to Norfolk late last year and inherited an oil system. We think it has worked out fine. We did have some problems with the system generally but that was the fault of it being an old system rather than it being oil. Had to spend some money getting it working efficiently with new radiators and boiler, also it was found, when the work we had done was being checked, that the oil tank had a hole on the inside skin. Moral of that - if the tank is less than ten years see if it is still under guarantee. Ours wasn't, although it was a fairly new tank, presumably put in by cowboys and we had to have another oil tank. However, the beauty of that was that we were able to choose the location and have it put where we wanted it.

 

Maybe if you decide to go ahead with this property, ask if you can check that the system is working well. Apart from our teething problems, we are quite happy to be using oil.

 

Get a really good structural survey done by a trusted firm. We had a structural survey but unfortunately there were some things he did not show up. We had to have lots of other work done, some we knew about and some we didn't. But at the end of the day, even though it has cost us more than we thought, we are very happy here! I hope things will go right for you!