Gas vs Diesel Heating

[Ashley Burton]

Has anyone got any experience with either?

Which would be more cost effective?

I plan to heat my hot water also

Many Thanks

 

[julianf]

theres websites where you can just look this stuff up.

from memory, the list goes somthing like (cheapest to most expensive, financially) -

coal
mains gas
oil
bottle gas
electric
wood (delivered / paid for)

 

[8ob]

Oil is cheapest if you have a big storage capacity and buy in at the right time. At some point in the year the price will trough.

Bob

 

[Ruffian]

Waste engine oils would probably be even cheaper.

 

[Ashley Burton]

Waste engine oils would probably be even cheaper.

Are you legally allowed to burn it?

 

[james butler]

i use a diesel space heater for my garage which works well but you have to keep the door open because of the fumes which kinda defeats the object. but to a freezing mechanic heat is heat.
ive not much experience of gas other than a little calor heater i used to have in a flat which caused condensation.
looked like thishttps://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-mobile-gas-heater-mgh1/

 

[addjunkie]

For a house. If you have mains gas use it. If not look at other options. Airsource is an option, ground source, pellet boilers, wood through a back boiler in a multifuel stove.

Insulation makes a huge difference to how much fuel you use

As an example my 4 bed detached we use about 1500 ltrs oil a year plus about. 2 tons of logs plus about 5 bags off ovals
A neighbour house built late 80s dormers similar to mine. 4500 lts oil, and about the same in logs. Same boilers! We buy our oil in the summer too.

In a new build a friend is building very eco house, hes gone underfloor heating from an electric boiler, loads of solar panels. And a rediculous amount of insulation.

 

[merryman]

Waste engine oils would probably be even cheaper.

Are you legally allowed to burn it?

Yes, no problem, except you need an annual check of the smoke emisions. Cost of check by DEFRA £1500

Ashley Burton didn't make clear if he meant bottle gas or mains, I suspect there will be a big difference in price between the two. Most domestic systems don't use Diesel either. I did a stint as an apprentice with the heating maintenance gang at a factory, and we had to crawl about inside the Gas Oil (Diesel) furnaces to remove ash every few months, seemed to be mostly the pink dye that they include in red diesel.

Just a thought, either gas or Diesel can run combined heat and power boilers, initial cost is higher but, like solar power you get a feed in tarif for the electricity produced.

 

[Ashley Burton]

I should have made it clear that this for a mobile living space, So no means of mains gas.

 

[addjunkie]

Esbacher diesel heater

 

[Ashley Burton]

Esbacher diesel heater

Have you got one yourself?

 

[addjunkie]

Ive sailed yachts with them, many campers and such use them or similar

 

[8ob]

Have you got one yourself?

They are the market leaders Ashley, pretty much fitted to everything from motorhomes to truck cabs.

Bob

 

[Luke]

For a boat, van, etc. I'd definitely go for a diesel air heater. Eberspacher or Webasto are the well known names.

 

[armalites]

Yes, no problem, except you need an annual check of the smoke emisions. Cost of check by DEFRA £1500

£1500 would make it not worthwhile given that even with todays high prices you could buy 3000L heating oil with it.

It's clear they don't actually want anyone burning waste oil.

I was chatting to someone who put a waste oil air heater in to use the clean oil they generated from the equipment they serviced. He said the key was get the heater delivered somewhere else and not register the warranty.

 

[Ashley Burton]

Doesn't look like they use much diesel either, So going to be cheaper to run than gas from what I can gather!

 

[julianf]

For a vehical, as said, eberspacher.

If you can add another tank and run of kerosene. They don't soot up as quick on kero.

I have a D2 and a couple of hydronic ones. They're expensive but good.

 

[Ruffian]

@Hood just fitted or in the process of one of the chinese diesel heaters.

It's identical to the mv airo

 

[supaimpy]

Depends what you want to do , air heaters are great for quick response, D2 is enough for most applications, a D4 will do an ambulance or minibus, remember though the air at the outlet will be 80c so dont be tempted to blow directly at your screen if you want to preheat engine as well then a hydronic and utilise the blower feed (switches on when water temp reaches 35c) and you can demist screens as well as heat the cabin.
Dont fit to big , they need to work hard to avoid carboning up as the various heat modes moves the flame point inside the burner helping to avoid the carbon/soot
D4WSC fitted on my Landie works a treat especially with a programmer set to turn itself on for frosty morning

 

[Hood]

@Hood just fitted or in the process of one of the chinese diesel heaters.

It's identical to the mv airo

It was fitted and still not working as far as I know
Seems it is faulty, we get it primed but the control just flashes 2 LEDs at us. Seemingly, according to guys on facebook, that means over voltage. Well it is supposedly a 24v heater and the boat is 24v and it is reading 27v or so when the engine is running which is well within normal range of a 24v system. So either the LED error is not an over voltage error or the PCB is faulty or it is a 12v heater in 24v clothing
The skipper was going to be trying to hook it up to a single battery to test it but I am not sure if he has tried yet, my concern with that is the pump is 24v so it still probably won't work, it may however half work