Electric boiler or oil burner?

[vbuckle]

Hello all

I am in the process of purchasing a property which still needs a heating system installed, I would normally just install a Boiler, however have heard that it would be wiser to go for a oil burner?
Truth is I know nothing about this, and would appreciate any advise from people in the know, I want to also install central heating, the radiators have been supplied with the property.
Has anyone got a oil burner, I've heard that they are installed by a company and one can then rent it and pay for the oil and maintenance etc, is this so?
I can't help but think it would be simpler to just install a boiler, the central headting system can run from a boiler can't it?!

V

[Mazan]

>I am in the process of
>purchasing a property which still
>needs a heating system installed,
>I would normally just install
>a Boiler, however have heard
>that it would be wiser
>to go for a oil
>burner?

In France central heating is run by a boiler (or very rarely an Aga type device). This may be gas or oil powered (also wood and coal though these aren't very common any more). It could also be powered by electricity but I dread to think what the bill would be!

Oil-fired central heating is far and away the cheapest to run here.

I don't know what you mean by an "oil burner" though our oil-fired boiler has a burner attachment on the front that controls the oilflow and pumps and ignites the oil.

[Liz]

I don't know what an oil burner is either. We have an oil fired central heating boiler which provides hot water and central heating by radiators. There is no storage tank as such but within the boiler a certain amount of hot water is stored and as you run it off the boiler comes on and tops up the temperature according to the thermostat setting. The manufacturer of the boiler is Geminox which happens to be a local firm (29) although they trade nationwide. I have seen lots of similar boilers in shops such as Leroy Merlin (check their web site for 'how to do it' leaflets) and Brico Depot.

We have found this a pretty efficient system as we have it on a time switch and only have hot water or heating when we need it. A slight downside is that you have to have a largish storage tank for the oil and I think this has to be indoors.

Hope this helps!