[Closed] Does anyone have an external oil boiler?

Does anyone have an external oil boiler?

Is this not the sort of thing used to deter the rabble from visiting your castle in the middle ages?

Can't comment on relative efficiencies of internal vs external but ours is (Worcester Bosch, only a year old) and is outside. They're really quite efficient these days compared to a few years back.

I have experience of internal oil boilers and the smell was very definitely noticeable. I would go external every time for that reason alone. That said, perhaps new internal boilers don't smell?!

Is this not the sort of thing used to deter the rabble from visiting your castle bin the middle ages?

Clearly that will be an advantageous second use, but primarily it will be used for heating the house

Can’t comment on relative efficiencies of internal vs external but ours is (Worcester Bosch, only a year old) and is outside. They’re really quite efficient these days compared to a few years back.

Ah, interesting. Whereabouts do you live? And, super-cheekily, how much oil are you using?

Been running one outside for 4 years now. The frost protection does kick in more than the boiler would run to heat the house or water tank, but it still uses less oil than the old internal boiler it replaced.

Watching with interest.

Not own own experience but our neighbour has an external boiler and as far as I know the most trouble they have had is with the exposed (not lagged) pipework from tanks to boiler, one or two minor leaks from the compression fitting joints.

Hi, we had an Bosch Worcester external fitted about 4 years ago. 10 yrs g/tee. We had a local firm fit for us.
Easy enough job for them, took 2 days with some extra external pipework. Its survived 4 years of wet, cold Cumbria Weather with no issues at all. its a big old beast, so we put some bamboo screening around it.
It wasn't cheap (Nearly £8k for everything)

Literally having a new oil boiler installed today. We had the option of external but are going with internal. Its all down to space, ventilation and convenience. Ours lives in a utility room out of the way and is well ventilated so its no bother.

If it was a small house and in the kitchen was the only option then external makes lots more sense.

This is all looking fairly promising, ta.

How much oil do folks tend to get through per year?

What makes you think frost protection would use so much energy it became a deal-breaking inefficiency?
When we lived off the gas grid, we had an internal oil boiler, but I wouldn't have hesitated about an external one if that's where the sensible space had been.

Oil use depends, we usually get 2 full tanks per year, but have a Multi Fuel burner in the living room too.

What makes you think frost protection would use so much energy it became a deal-breaking inefficiency?

Because we can expect the external temperature to be at or near freezing, especially at night, from pretty much November to April, so we presume that the frost protection would be kicking in a lot.

Don't fuss about the frost protection. When it fires up for frost protection it just gets a bit of heat soak into the thermal mass of the boiler and the bypass pipework. If it does it for 5 minutes, twice a night, it is equivalent to having your heating on for ten minutes longer. I had a problem of frost protection operation triggering the over-temperature cutout (bypass valve had gone dodgy) that meant I had a really good indication of how often the frost protection was kicking in and it wasn't that much (Central Scotland rural location).

My late parents-in-law had an oil burning external one. Seemed to work well for them. Like you it replaced a Rayburn system.

Because we can expect the external temperature to be at or near freezing, especially at night, from pretty much November to April, so we presume that the frost protection would be kicking in a lot.

Next to an insulated tank of hot water?

Have had external wb and external grant vortex and an internal Firebird at various properties

Both the wb and the Firebird always smelt oily no matter what despite getting them checked for leaks several times . The grant has never smelt oily .

Just remember the boiler is rated to heat your house. When all it is doing is heating itself it only needs to be on for a miniscule fraction of the time temps are close to freezing when there is no other call to heat from the house (night time typically).

We are a 3 bed rural semi

We get through 7-800l a year- with a wood burner in the living room as well.

My only regret is going for a combi. I want to fit an tank(didn't have the space when I fitted the combi) now to divert excess solar..... Looking at modifying my boiler - it can be converted to mimic a system boiler I believe.

We've had one for the last 12 years and recently had a new one installed last year. It just sits there really and we forget about it. It can take a while for hot water to come through, servicing costs about £120 a year and we use about 800l per year (4 bed end terrace). I'd certainly have one over a Raeburn, our neighbours had one of those and their oil usage was hair raising.

Heating and hot water (combi) for a 125m2, 3 bed terrace used approx 100l per month for us. Was internal and would have gone external when it needed replacing as you'd sometimes have an oil smell inside.

We have a WB external, that replaced an internal WB Heat slave last year. We're at 240M (Wye Valley) and I expect the frost stat to kick in a couple of times over the winter. Of course that will all depend on the severity of the winter.

Oil use is between 500 and 800 per year. We're tight arsed gits who wear thermals and sit under blankets in the evening if required. We have the obligatory wood burner of course.

We have an external combi and living in the wilds of Herefordshire, at the top of a hill so can get quite cold. Never noticed the frost protection kicking in tbf.

If its that cold outside then wont you have the CH on anyway? even just on tickover to heat the house at night. added to the fact that, as a combi there is a water vessel in the unit with hot hater ready for call from a tap, not been an issue.

no comparison against an internal one, as this was already in place when we moved. The previous owner put an external one in due to catastrophic failure of an internal combi upstairs, leak flooded the house!

Oil usage around 1250ltrs a year, annoying timing the frequency for seasonal low oil prices! My next investment will be for a larger tank, 1500 to 2000 ltrs, to allow more flexibility on volume delivered.

You can get inside/outside hybrids. The guts live inside but are serviced/accessed from outside. Wallstar is the one we went for. Very simple and reliable (that's done it...). No oily chappies inside when it needs servicing FTW.

Ah, interesting. Whereabouts do you live? And, super-cheekily, how much oil are you using?

We live in rural Northumberland at 400m elevation so pretty high and winter lasts a long time. Not sure on usage yet, as we've only had it about 10 months now and have got through about 1000ish litres I would guess? It is a big old house though and I would expect to use about 1200-1500l per month? Working at home all the time does have it's downfalls!

We have an electric Economy 7 aga as well which provides the background heat for most of the house with a wood burner in the lounge which does "that" end of the house in terms of background heat.

I was looking at the stats via google nest the other day and we haven't used the CH since April last year - I treated myself to an hour of heat this morning just to check it was working!

It is a big old house though and I would expect to use about 1200-1500l per month?

modest ..... is it the exxon valdez ?

1200-1500l per month?

Whaaaaaaaat?!

i suspect he added a Zero

Bottom line is no matter what you do ... youll save a fortune from a rayburn

Well spotted to those who picked up on my deliberate error.
That was an annual estimate. Arguably still cheaper than running the raeburn?!

Depending on the hoose and the results of the endless turn it up/turn it down kerfuffle, that sounds about right p/a.

We've got an external Firebird* combi.

External is good from the POV of keeping noise & smell outside (although it doesn't really smell, tbh, but previous oil boilers have). Has enough 'oomph' to provide continuous hot water at power-shower flow rates (120,000 BTU??).

4 bed semi, double glazed, cavity wall insulation, 300mm+ loft insulation, TRVs all round.SWMBO likes the house uncomfortably hot (21.5° on the 'stat).

I've just checked our oil usage - I knew it was a damn sight more than 800l / year: It's 2500 litres/year on average.

*Don't get one, they're carp.