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Beware the LPG Rip Off!
10th December 2004
Contractors, specifiers and installers who fall into the trap of specifying LPG without giving consideration to oil, could be falling into the trap of unwittingly ripping off their customers, thereby sentencing them to years of needlessly high energy costs.
Oil heating is the UK’s preferred fuel choice for space and water heating in non ‘natural’ gas areas and that isn’t a coincidence.
Quite simply, oil heating can cost almost half as much as rip off LPG. It also offers significant savings over other options including Solid Fuel and Electricity. Indeed, in some areas of the UK (e.g. Northern Ireland), oil heating can even cost less than ‘natural’ gas*.
Research undertaken by independent energy consultancy Salkent Limited, and made available by The Oil Firing Technical Association showed that heating a typical three bedroom house in the UK between 1997 and 2004, cost £498 with oil, £544 for Solid Fuel, £630 with Economy 7 Electricity and a whopping £950 to heat the same house with rip off LPG. And of course, the bigger the house… the bigger the savings!
Price however only tells part of the story.
When stored and handled correctly, oil is an inherently safe and environmentally responsible fuel choice. Unlike LPG which can prove explosive, oil isn’t even flammable at normal temperatures.
Oil can also be stored safely and conveniently in a wide range of above ground oil storage tanks. Modern storage tanks consist of a ‘tank within a tank’. Therefore, in the event of a spillage, any surplus fuel will be safely and securely contained within the outer tank and a pollution incident averted. Indeed, oil tanks now can even be remotely monitored by your local fuel supplier… allowing homeowners and householders to combine the freedom and flexibility of oil, with the assurance of supply traditionally only available from ‘mains’ fuels.
Modern oil boilers are also incredibly efficient. According to the government sponsored SEDBUK equipment rating scheme, oil boilers are frequently more efficient than LPG and ‘natural’ gas equivalents. Indeed, the UK’s most efficient boiler is the oil fired Grant Vortex with a net efficiency of 97%... more efficient than any ‘natural’ gas or LPG boiler.
For more information on installing or converting to oil heating, contact your local fuel distributor or any one of thousands of OFTEC Registered Technicians throughout the country, by clicking the link below!
*Salkent Comparative Domestic Heating Costs in the United Kingdom 1998 – 2004, via The Oil Firing Technical Association
