own houses with land - heating question

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Achinghips

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I'm going to lookd at 2 houses today, being out in the sticks (all I can afford with land), one has LPG central heating (with a tank in the garden), the other oil. They also both have private drainage.

Not used to this at home as I live currently in very modern civilisation -brand new Wimpy house in middle of estate - and hardly need to have the (gas) heating on, also never even thought about drainage:D

Would this be enough to prevent you buying/ any thoughts?:):confused:
 
guessing you have the pleasure of a cess pit then, wouldnt put me off but then ive grown up with private drainage, you soon learn not to flush too much toilet roll ect down as it soon fills up if you do & then you have to get them out to empty it (factor that in to costings along with the cost of heating fuels when planning long term)

good luck with the viewings but go in with your eyes open.
 
Heating (oil) varies as the price goes up and down. I havent got any since October but prices vary across the country ( a bit like petrol does)

I have got 1000 litres (does me most of the winter) for £300 - £900!
I tend to fill up twice a year but live on my own (OH stays half the week (ish)) - But in the winter it was baltic here so had heating on most of the time!

Drainage isnt an expense. If you actually use eco friendly products and throw a dead rabbit into your pit, you should have to empty it!

The thought is that the bacteria off the dead rabbit eats everything in the pit and by not using bleach etc, you dont kill them!

Dont do this myself but my friend does and has no problem!
Let us know how you get on!
 
oil and LPG are both somewhat more expensive than gas. Howevee, oil has the advantage of allowing you more freedom in that you generally have your own tank and then buy from whoever is cheaper. With LPG generally its the companys tank and you are tied into buying from them and cant move (or at least not easily, the tank sometimes has to be removed and replaced as the new co wont accept it etc), its all a bit of a cartel as there arent many suppliers and a captive market. It is ridiculously unfair that the govt ignores the biggest group of fuel poverty peeps, those who are dependent on LPG.

Oil is I think cheaper than LPG too, LPG is the most expensive I think. And I dont like the idea of a big tank of gas!

You can guess we put oil in cant you! (we cant do solar at present cos in GII* listed property but still hoping).

If the house is very well insulated oil doest cost the earth, unless you run an aga, but would def check the insulation levels of the property (a start would be the energy rating colour coded thing)

As far as the drainage goes, asssuming it is private drainage, then check what type it is (full treatment plant (best), septic tank and outflow (OK) or cesspit (not ok, budget to have to put in full treatment plant maybe £10k as the council may require that (up here in Scotland all septic tanks have to be registered with all the details). Als check what its made of (concrete or pre formed chamber)

Find out when the tank was last emptied, get in writing whether any problems have occurred with it in last 10 years etc. Also check the capacity of it.

If its a septic tank and outflow (important to have the outflow rin otherwise just a cess pit with walls!) then it should be fine as long as you try to use eco detergents and washing liquid etc (bleach = bad cos kills the god bugs) and dont flush anything other than loo roll down, and only sensible amounts of that.

Only the LPG part would put me off, and that would put me off unless the house was a dream

edited to add that one advantage of oil vs gas C/H is that you buy your fuel and then like having a big pile of logs stored, that you have paid for all your fuel and dont have to worry about bills clocking up that you dont know how much they will be. Only downside is that it has been known for thieves to empty tanks, so make sure its visible from house/locked/alarmed.
 
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We have oil heating and a septic tank ( massive tank under gound) We get 2 oil fills a year of a 1000 litres a time, price fluctuates. Use hardly any April till November but it gobbles it up when the heating is on. Have paid as low as £170 and as much as £470 so depends on price at the time. I pay £70 a month direct depit to the oil company so it's not such a big outlay. Ring around for best prices, but the company i use are always the cheapest.
I don't buy eco friendly washing powder etc just use ordinary products but do warn the kids about too much loo roll as our drains are narrow. Septic tank gets emptied once a year. Round here price is anything from £80 - £200 but i know a chap who does ours for £50 when he is going back with a part load. Wouldn't put me off buying a property but just check tanks and drains are in good order as they would be expensive to replace or repair.
 
Septic tanks not a problem & it wouldn't put me off! Absolutely HATE having oil or gas (lpg) central heating/hot water!! Big tip, if you haven't got a immersion heater fitted GET ONE, because if your anything like me, or most of the people i know at some point you will run out of oil/gas & there is nothing worse than having no hot water, also getting a shower fitted is a good idea if there isn't one (make sure its one that heats its own water)! Also make sure you set up a direct debit to the oil or gas company, finding £50 a month is a damn sight easier than trying to find £300 or £400 in one go. We are actually in the middle of doing a barn conversion & have decided to get a log burner with a back boiler to do the rads...no way am i putting oil or gas in here!
 
We have a septic tank (under the stables!!) and we've been here 4 years now without emptying it though I think it probably needs doing (don't want to look!)
We have to be careful with the drains as they do seem to block quite easily, hubby has his very own set of shiny drain rods and is a dab hand at it now (in fact just unblocked them as I type!).
We have an insurance which covers the drains etc and they did come and rebuild one of the walls for us when it collapsed, Homeserve, I think it is.
We also have an oil boiler which we replaced last year as the old one wasn't up to the job, it is very expensive to run as oil is so expensive and the insulation in the old part of the cottage is poor...we're getting there slowly. We did look into ground source/air source heat pump things but they were so prohibitively expensive to install at the time that we decided we would never get our money back in our lifetime anyway. I'm not sure if the government has better initiatives now for installation as obviously they are very eco friendly.
We also looked into getting a wind generator but again not cost effective at the moment.

All in all I wouldn't trade the hassle/expense for a life in a brand new wimpy or any other home anywhere. we love the peace and quiet, no passing traffic, no near neighbours and I can see my horses anytime I want! Dogs love the freedom too of their own land too.
 
Rotchana said:
I'm going to lookd at 2 houses today, being out in the sticks (all I can afford with land), one has LPG central heating (with a tank in the garden), the other oil. They also both have private drainage.

Not used to this at home as I live currently in very modern civilisation -brand new Wimpy house in middle of estate - and hardly need to have the (gas) heating on, also never even thought about drainage:D

Would this be enough to prevent you buying/ any thoughts?:):confused:
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ahahaha! aww hun, im sorry to giggle at you, but its all ive ever known! Certainly up here in Scotland you wouldnt get a rural house with land as you describe that DIDNT have a septic tank and an oil/gas tank for heating.

So no, it wouldnt put me off, bless you. We do have mains water though and one thing im not keen on is a private water supply. They do have a habit of freezing up in winter - my sis in law was without water for about 8 weeks after xmas last year:eek:

ETA - navhoe we have never run out of oil/gas. OP, if you do it can seriously damage your system. We have a watchman monitor plugged in in the kitchen which tells you the level on the tank and flashes when it starts to get low.
 
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We've been here for 5 years & have a septic tank & oil. I was v sceptical at first, but it's all fine. No bother at all, really. But try not to run out of oil in the middle of winter cos when you eventually get some delivered (inevitably it will snow so the lorry can't get through, & then there'll be a backlog etc) the boiler will get in a huff & not light til you've had it serviced.
 
NeverSayNever said:
ETA - navhoe we have never run out of oil/gas. OP, if you do it can seriously damage your system. We have a watchman monitor plugged in in the kitchen which tells you the level on the tank and flashes when it starts to get low.
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Sadly living in rented houses they never seem to bother with anything apart from your memory to go out & check the tank, we used about £500 of oil in 3 months once & ran out...needless to say i wasn't actually expecting it to run out after putting that much in! But its not just us who do, ive plenty of fiends who have run out as well, its a nightmare really, plus like you say it can damage the system (though touch wood its never happened to me!)
 
navaho said:
Sadly living in rented houses they never seem to bother with anything apart from your memory to go out & check the tank, we used about £500 of oil in 3 months once & ran out...needless to say i wasn't actually expecting it to run out after putting that much in! But its not just us who do, ive plenty of fiends who have run out as well, its a nightmare really, plus like you say it can damage the system (though touch wood its never happened to me!)
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if you can get a watchman monitor to plug in in your kitchen it's a life saver:)
 
We have a 4500l ceptic tank which gets emptied every two years at a cost of £90 and run our heating system on oil. Get through about 3000l a year but its on all day in the winter and the rooms are fairly large.
Have one of those oil watchmans in the kitchen so never run out.

We have a large tank so fill up in the summer when the prices are lower, also we save money in a separate account monthly so we can shop around for the cheapest supplier.

Really is no hassle and its lovely looking at our watchman seeing a full reading and knowing that we are going to be lovely a toasty all winter knowing its all paid for in advance.
 
Hi, we live in an old cob farmhouse with no central heating and only an oil-fired rayburn for our hot water and cooking - we have 2 woodburners for our winter heating and to be honest only regularly use the one in our sitting room. Our septic tank was built in 1956 and, in all those years, the tank was emptied for the first time this summer to get rid of the fat and washing powder that had congealed over the 50-odd years!!

As others have said, LPG is more expensive than oil, as you can shop around for oil prices which can vary as much as 5p/litre - with some companies, you can also get a slightly lower price if you order over 900 litres a time.

I think what would put me off more would be the quality of insulation/draft-proofing ie: decent windows and roof as this is what would drive up the cost of heating. This however can easily be rectified if the house and land was worth it in your mind. Happy hunting!
 
We have a wood/coal burning stove which heats the whole house, without radiators, except in the very coldest weather. Fortunately our water and sewage mains. I'm not sure I would want either to be a private arrangement but having said that, we had to have our water supply pipe replaced when we moved in because 6 houses along a private lane shared one supply pipe, and as we were at the top of the incline, so if any-one else was running a bath or doing the washing we couldn't get any water. It used to take us 2 hours to fill water buckets for 4 horses! So I would certainly recommend checking it all out.
 
We have Oil CH & Hot water and our own drainage pit. Drainge = smaller water bills for us as we dont get charged for being connected to main drainage system in village. But, then you do have to pay to have it emptied, i got a feeling it was around £100 when we last had it done but that was a couple of years ago. The oil for CH can be expensive but is cheaper than LPG. We have saved over a thousand last winter by installing a wood burner in the lounge and it warms the whole house, therefore the oil is only used for the hot water. We also have an electric shower so the oil isnt used for showers and very rarely does any of us go in bath, we prefer the showers. I wouldnt let either put you off! :)
 
We were concerend when we bought a house with oil CH and a septic tank....9 years and no problems later we moved to another house with the same!

Benefits - No drainage rates to pay :-)
When you find an oil supplier most will allow you to pay monthly by DD - same as gas + electric if you don't want to fork out up front.
We have installed a more efficient boiler and have just had a statement from our oil supplier to say we are £1400 in credit!!
We will be installing a ground source heat pump when we re build the house along with underfloor heating too.

Don't let it put you off!!
 
Septic tanks and oil or gas tanks are part and parcel of rural living. If it puts you off buying houses you'll have to stay closer to the mains!! We moved from all mod cons in London but very rapidly grew accustomed to ensuring the cess pit was emptied at reasonable intervals and checking the oil tank had sufficient fuel. It just becomes part of everyday life. Don't leave the cess pit too long before getting it emptied......I did that once. It was during wet weather and the soak away was, well soaked. I first noticed an awful stink and then spotted a man hole cover making its way along the lawn hotly pursued by a trail of you know what.
 
The only thing I know about septic tanks is that you have to be careful about the cleaning products you use - we have one at work, and the cleaners used bleach, and OH MY GOD the smell:eek:! I think it kills off the bacteria that eat the nasty stuff (or something like that anyway):)
 
We also have watchman so we never run out of oil either, you can buy them I think even if you rent the house, its a simple device and has a thing that sits in the tank and a plug in thing in the house with a little number display, v simples.

We have not had our well private water supply freeze in the house despite temps here last winter reaching -21 degrees!!!!!! The critical thing I believe is the stone floor with underfloor heating underneath, it seems to keep the pipes coming into the house warm enough, and having put it all in ourselves,its all properly lagged. Also we had feet of snow on the ground before it got to -21 so that insulates the ground.
 
Welcome to the country! I think oil is better than LPG, although any sort of "carbon fuel" is getting more and more expensive. We turn our Rayburn off in the summer to save fuel.
As for drainage - I don't think about it too much! Needs emptying every so often, but there are plenty of firms around. Have to tell visitors, especially teenage girls not to put "things" in the loo or risk a blockage but haven't ever had a problem here.

Re the wood burner. We don't have central heating, the Rayburn heats the water and the kitchen and does the cooking. We have a wood burner for the evenings which is quite to light and gives out masses of heat but I don't know if it would want to rely 100% on a wood supply for all needs. Someone has to cut and cart it.
We also have an immersion heater for the summer and our electricty bills aren't too big.
We can't have an electric shower as the cost of the cable is too much (big house).

But a word of caution, have more than one source of heat/power for those times when the electricity is cut because what ever sort of central heating you have there is an electric pump to drive it. Back inthe winter the poor people in the new housing estate couldn't even boil a kettle for water unless they had a camping stove.

I know it doesn't happen very often, but a power cut in the snow is misery if you can't have something hot
 
I have solar panels on my house, absolutely brill! Get free hot water enough for baths, washing up, washing etc april-oct, no need for heating between then. When i put the heating on the sun heats it to a certain point then the gas hits in
 
Really interested in this Lizness, I keep trying to convince husband but he says it is not "cost effective." But the price of electricity is not going to go down is it?

What sort of solar panels do you have?
 
Rotchana said:
I'm going to lookd at 2 houses today, being out in the sticks (all I can afford with land), one has LPG central heating (with a tank in the garden), the other oil. They also both have private drainage.
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this is perfectly normal for a non town property! it shouldnt put you off in the slightest ;)
 
we have oil , just paid 43.5 per litre for 300 litres , £680 odd, that wont last long ,
we also have 4 open fires and 4 multifuel woodburners,we use coal in them all as wood does not give us enough heat rooms are large , £11.50 each bag of coal .
our septic tank gets emptied ever 2 year approx.
 
This may sound silly, but you will get used to wearing more clothes! :D Especially if the horses are at home, as you tend to bob in and out a lot more. Nothing beats a good wool jumper, especially if you have sheared the sheep, spun the wool and done the knitting :D
 
We havent had our septic tank emptied in the 15 years that we have lived here. If they work well there is no need. I use bleach in regularly in the loo. Also so have oil central heating and lpg cooker. Would agree with having an imersion heater just in case you run out of oil as cold showers are no fun
 
Rotchana said:
I'm going to lookd at 2 houses today, being out in the sticks (all I can afford with land), one has LPG central heating (with a tank in the garden), the other oil. They also both have private drainage.

Not used to this at home as I live currently in very modern civilisation -brand new Wimpy house in middle of estate - and hardly need to have the (gas) heating on, also never even thought about drainage:D

Would this be enough to prevent you buying/ any thoughts?:):confused:
Click to expand...
I think
the main thing is that the house has good insulation otherwise you will spend a lot on heating regardless of what you use as fuel!! ask the vendors how much they spend on heating and ask a builders advice about improving the insulation if its a modern house built in say the last twenty years it shoud be ok but old houses often can and need to be improved ...
 
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