Oil Fired Boilers
If your home is not on the gas main then it is quite likely that you use oil to heat your home. Despite high oil prices recently, heating oil has been significantly cheaper to use than bottled gas or LPG over most of the past 10 years.
Modern condensing oil boilers are very efficient. As with gas condensing boilers, they ‘recycle' the heat from the exhaust gases. There are many models that achieve the SEDBUK ‘A' rating for efficiency. Some models list efficiencies of up to 97%.
However, if you currently use oil for heating your home and are considering replacing your boiler, or you are considering oil fired heating, there are some other alternatives that you should consider first. This because:
a) If you don't live in a city then you may be able to use alternative systems to heat your home, which can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions from heating to virtually zero
b) Oil produces higher carbon dioxide emissions than gas, so is a worse fuel to burn. Figures from the UK's Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) indicate a carbon content for domestic heating oil (kerosene) of 0.24kgCO2 per kWh, compared to 0.19kgCO2 per kWh for gas.
The alternative systems that we recommend people investigate are:
Biomass boilers - otherwise known as wood or pellet-burning boilers: modern biomass boilers automatically feed fuel into the stove and remove the ash, so they are very easy to run and maintain. Plus because they don't burn fossil fuels, they are almost ‘zero carbon', that is they make a minimal contribution to Global Warming. Click here to learn more about Biomass (Wood or Pellet-Burning) Boilers.
Solar hot water - by putting some solar panels on your roof you can supply 50 to 70% of your hot water needs without using any fuel - just by trapping and using the sun's heat. This tried and tested technology is worth considering whether or not you use oil to heat your home. Click here to learn more about Solar Hot Water.
If having investigated these options you still want to install a new oil boiler, then we recommend that you go for one of the most efficient models, with a SEDBUK ‘A' rating. You must also choose a condensing boiler. Since 1st April 2007, Building Regulations have stipulated that all new oil boilers must be condensing boilers.
There is no legal requirement for an oil boiler to be installed by a specially qualified person (unlike gas boilers which must be installed by a CORGI registered engineer). However, we recommend that you do use a contractor who is registered with the Oil-Fired Technical Association (OFTEC).
