tanked gas or fioul

[MKJ]

I have checked the archives and cannot find any recent articles comparing the runnign costs of these two systems of central heating.

It used to be said that fioul (oil) was much cheaper to run, however I understand that it fluctuates with the oil price and as this is at a near all time high, and may go higher still, is it still cheaper to run than gas? (we have no natural gas and two winters of fighting the woodburner have driven us mad - dunno how anyone holds down a full time job and has one of them!)

we have the option of installing either, but i prefer gas as it wont smell and i am hopeful that the ugly white tank can be buried (can anybody confirm this too?). Also the gas boilers seem quieter, smaller and less smelly than the enormous red giant types of fioul boiler we have seen. It may also be cheaper as the fioul boilers seem so expensive here. My husband is fearful that it will be alot more expensive.

Is there any way i can calculate which is likely to be cheaper for us to run? our house is a maison individuelle with about 150m living space.
thankyou in advance
maria

[Nick Trollope]

Essentially;

Gas (LPG) boilers are cheaper & more efficient,
Fioul is cheaper/Kw.

The maths must be possible, but I'm buggered if I can work it out, so I'm sticking to my oil boiler.....

Nick
http://www.aplaceinfrance.com

[Delboy]

Can't comment on the prices (not living in France yet), but can confirm that there are gas tanks that can be buried, at least here in the UK. One was installed at a house that I was doing some work on - the only thing visible was a manhole-type access trap in the ground.

DB

[Bw]

We had a buried gas tank installed by Primagaz. There was no charge for the tank but it remains their property. As a lawyer, I noticed that the contract didn't actually give them the right of access over our land to remove it.

The benefit of gas is that you can use it for heating and cooking. The downside is that it seems to be very expensive. Having our tank filled costs about EUR1,500 and we got through one and a third of these in 6 months over winter (5 bed chalet in a ski resort). The per litre price was actually no less than if I was buying a few litres of LPG for a car at the local petrol station!

[Bobdude]

Modern fioul boilers are much smaller than the older giants. Ours is only the size of a washing machine, and that's for a 170 m2 house. The question of smell I suppose depends on where the boiler is situated. Ours is in the garage adjoining the house and we don't get any smell. It runs exactly the same (regarding noise etc) as our gas boiler in the UK used to, not noticed any difference at all. We used 1000 litres between October and April (not had it on since) and it cost about 385 euros. The boiler was less than 1500 euros to buy new at Bricomarche. With the radiators, pipes, burner, connection kit for the tank, etc it was 2000 euros, but we did have an existing tank at the property. If you need a tank I believe they are about 300 euros (plastic)

[Paulal]

We have recently had an underground gas tank installed. Dealt with Butagaz via the internet. They have a couple of english speaking staff.
we had to arrange to have the pit dug, it now looks like a giant submarine has landed in our garden, waiting to be burried. we still have to have it connected up then Butagaz will have it inspected and supply the gas.
There is a deposit for the tank of 1,000 euros which you get back if you ever have the tank removed (ha ha - as if!), however there is a 500 euro on-line discount to offset the costs. The cost to fill will be about 750 euros and we estimate this will last us six months.

Butagaz maintain the tank and do all the servicing and checking when necessary at no extra charge.

Paula