Oil fired central heating boiler for workshop & garage ?

[CompoSimmonite]

Oil fired central heating boilers seem to be available for peanuts so I'm thinking of one for heating my 18' x 9' garage, 10' x 8' workshop (when built behind garage !) and also the carport when working under there.
Idea is site the boiler under carport and then have water powered rads / Myson (or more probably old bus type) blown units.
Thinking is a rad would take up less space than a wood burner in garage plus less danger with flammables such as petrol about and heavily insulated pipework would allow one boiler to heat both garage & workshop. Simple valves would restrict flow to where ever heat needed.
I know heating oil isn't cheap but neither is LPG nor electricity.
Stupid idea or viable ?

Cheers.

Paul H

 

[Burdekin]

We have oil at our cottage, it's very cheap at the moment with the low oil price. Oil boilers can be less reliable because they burn oil and not clean dry gas, just my opinion. Our old boiler was a Worcester and was never that reliable. Our new boiler is a Grant and I would say if buying an oil boiler it is the best and the brand to chose.

 

[julianf]

I have a boiler in my garage. Its installed and fires up, just not plumbed in yet. Been that way for about 2 years now...

I even have a hot water tank for it, as I figure a sink with hot water would be very useful for me at times.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I'm thinking of Freecycle / 99p eBay boiler so wouldn't have much choice of type. No timer - just fire up when ever needed.

 

[wookie]

Not a bad idea, but I'd put antifreeze in your radiators just to avoid it freezing up in winter when you aren’t using the garage, the last thing you want is to open up one morning and find a pipe has burst and your garage is now a swimming pool. You could use a frost stat but that would be a waste of oil in my opinion.

 

[julianf]

I'm thinking of Freecycle / 99p eBay boiler so wouldn't have much choice of type. No timer - just fire up when ever needed.

Get a plan for the flue - that may cost you more than the boiler, if you're not careful.

I had some Selkirk twin wall knocking about, so I used that, but, when I re-roof the garage, I'll need to buy a proper flashing, rather than the mastic I stuck it through with currently.

 

[Burdekin]

Not a bad idea, but I'd put antifreeze in your radiators just to avoid it freezing up in winter when you aren’t using the garage, the last thing you want is to open up one morning and find a pipe has burst and your garage is now a swimming pool. You could use a frost stat but that would be a waste of oil in my opinion.

Also you could get fancy and put in a Hive or similar controller and have a min temp setup and turn the boiler on before you go so the workshop is warm when you get there. That would be nice in winter.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

In my big work shops and stowage sheds (ex calf pens) we got an old oil heater.
It is an old bit of kit, burns old engine oil.
A series of old cast iron school style radiators and they are great to keep the spaces at a nice even temp.
We paid to have a thermostat installed to switch it on in cold weather so no frozen pipes and it keeps the condensation at bay.
The flue is lost up next the gable end and unless you are the village "Nimby" it does not give any problems.

 

[pedrobedro]

In my big work shops and stowage sheds (ex calf pens) we got an old oil heater.
It is an old bit of kit, burns old engine oil.unless you are the village "Nimby" it does not give any problems.

Under DEFRA regulations all waste oil burners are now classed as incinerators and should conform to Industrial Emissions Directives and operating them now involves a hefty cost "with an initial application fee of £3218 and an annual fee of £1,384." Watch out for those Nimby characters they could cost you a lot of money

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@pedrobedro
Thanks for that, it is something we need o look into.

 

[octo0072000]

Under DEFRA regulations all waste oil burners are now classed as incinerators and should conform to Industrial Emissions Directives and operating them now involves a hefty cost "with an initial application fee of £3218 and an annual fee of £1,384." Watch out for those Nimby characters they could cost you a lot of money

so if he converts it to diesel it becomes a heater not a incinerator