Heating options for the home - Germany

We have found a house that we really like but the heating for it oil.

I have heard that oil is more expensive to run and maintain when compared to water. Is this correct? If it is, how much more expensive is it?

Any insight to this is appreciated.

Cheers,

Um... Don't you mean they burn the oil (instead of electric, gas or wood or solar) to heat the water going round the radiators? In which case, it is still oil fired central heating.

You see, the only oil filled radiators I've come across are electrically powered, so they're electric heating, which is expensive.

Thanks for that. I think I need to ask them how the heating really works. You are probably right that the oil is electrically heated, but I am going to clarify.

Cheers,

I suggest you really do try to understand what you are talking about before you ask any questions, or you'll find the people you ask will be laughing as much as I am at the moment.

Most domestic "central" heating systems work by circulating hot water around a closed system of radiators.

The water that is circulating must be continuously heated. The most common fuels used to heat the water are natural gas and oil, but it is also possible to use LPG (bottled gas), electricity or wood/coal. Sometimes even a combination of fuels. It is also possible to be connected to a heating "plant" which simply sends you hot water (either generated themselves, e.g. by burning of rubbish or extracted from deep in the ground) to heat your own. It is also possible to supplement the traditional heating source using solar energy.

There are some arguments as to which fuel is cheaper or more environmentally friendly, and this may be factor in your final decision, but both the economics and the environmental protection will depend heavily on the construction of the heating system so it's never an easy comparison. In general it is accepted that gas-fired heating services are cheaper, cleaner and more convenient than oil-fired services, but oil may often be the only alternative if the property has no connection to a gas or alternative service.

Oil-filled radiators are usually stand-alone radiators and not part of a central heating system. The oil is heated by an electrical coil and is used simply because of better heat retention. It is also possible to have electric ("storage") radiators which heat up heat-retaining stones using overnight (cheap-rate) electricity such that the stones release the heat in the daytime when electricity would be otherwise more expensive to use. In general it is not efficient (read "expensive") to use electricity as your major source of domestic heat.

Separate to your domestic heating system is your water heating service. This usually uses the same source of heat, but simply heats up incoming water for domestic use rather than a circulating system for heating.

Patience of a saint that man.

Ummm... I'm completely missing "real" oil heating in the above posts. As in individual ovens with an oil-fueled fire in each room. No central burner and radiators, but individual ovens.

Along with the same setup fueled by gas, this was the standard heating system up till the 80s in Germany.

My assumption was that the house, like most modern residences, would be "centrally" heated, i.e a central heating plant with the heat distributed to heat exchangers (radiators) in each room. Of course, individual and independent room heating is also a possibility, using electricity or gas (not sure I ever heard of oil in this context, but it's not impossible) where each (some) room(s) have their own self-powered heaters, or even a coal/wood fired open fire or oven.

I have lived in a house with oil fired central heating in the past. Can't really think of any pros, but cons are:

1. Expensive, and likely to get more so as oil price increases
2. a right bugger if you run out. Our tank had no gauge so it was guesswork as to how much oil was left. On one rather cold february morning, we discovered that the oil had run out and we couldn't get anymore until the following day
3. Unsightly tank next to house
4. Deliveries

I'd think again if I was you

We had oil fired central heating when we moved into our house, and yes, it was a bit of a pain. Huge tank in the basement and always making sure we didn't run out. We had the tank taken out and switched to natural gas and have been happy every since.

The house i live in had individual oil ovens and boilers in two flats, and individual gas ovens and boilers in the other two (upgraded) flats, as well as two wood fireplaces.
In the 90s replaced by four sets of gas-fired central heating systems (one for each flat), then ten years later upgraded by hooking the four central systems in the house together and plugging it into district heating (Fernwärme).

I think the oil tanks are still in the basement...

What the big deal? With the common tank sizes you have enough oil for 1.5 to 2.5 years depending on your consume habits. You have plenty of time, one day you got nothing else to do you go to your cellar and check how much oil you still have and order if needed. Normally they do not have any gauges but you just turn off the lights and bring a lamp or torch light and point it to the tank. Come on, it is not rocket science.

The OP needs to give a bit more info, since at this point we're just guessing. Not all German homes use water to radiate heat, or even those stone-filled radiators. Those two methods seem the most common, but I've run across a few others.

We looked at a few houses that were built in the 1950s and had a German version of central hot air heating. The houses had not been renovated much since they were built, and you could see that the air shafts were not added on afterwards so this was the original heating concept. But it was definitely quite a bit different from the central forced air heating and airconditioning that I had back in Canada.

My husband couldn't make the viewing due to a business trip, so I took lots of photos of one house to email to him. We quickly decided that this house needed too much work to make it livable again. But I still get chuckles at some of the photos. Below you'll get an idea of the heating system.



1. There was an oil burner in the kitchen which was embedded into the wall shared with the living room.
2. The living room had the main part of the oven, an big ugly yellow thing.
3. Since hot air rises, the air should go up the shaft and magically (no fan) get distributed to all the other rooms through vents in the walls near the floor of the upstairs rooms.
4. The oil tank was in the basement.

Thanks for all the useful replies, even YorkshireLad's reply was useful after having a dig at me for not phrasing the question correctly. Like I always said, if you don't ask, you won't know.

After further thoughts, I believe that the house has oil fired central heating instead of my initial assumption of having heated oil circulating throughout the house. At the house inspection, there were two large tanks in the cellar and it had a particular smell to it. It sort smelled like diesel but not quite. After asking around today, it appears that it is basically diesel but with an additive which caused it to produce a specific smell when burn. Apparently, the additive is use to detract the oil from being used as car fuel.

Does anyone have any ideas how much these oil cost?

Many thanks.

http://www.tecson.de/pheizoel.htm

http://www.wer-ist-billiger.de/heizoel-tarifrechner/?t=g373

The top link shows the average current prices of oil, and the bottom one allows you to enter your details, ie Liefermenge = quantity to be delivered, PLZ is your post code and Abladestellen = how many deliveries (ie it can a bit cheaper if you join together with a neighbour or two for a multi-delivery).

While diesel used to be practically interchangeable with heating oil, in the last 15 years changes to the composition of heating oil (especially sulphur additives) render it unusable in modern diesel engines which would be quickly damaged if it were used. Notwithstanding of course that it would be illegal to use in a car.

From your description of tanks and the smell them it would be reasonable to assume the house you are considering has oil-fired central heating.