Oil Central Heating Boiles Burner - Relocation to outside house

Im in the process of buying a second hand house in Gorey, its central heating system is run on oil and the oil Burner is in the utility. The survey was compaleted today and I am trying to decide if one of the red issues flagged is a show stopper or very expensive to correct. The central heating system is oil based and surveyor has advised that the oil burner will need to be relocated to outside of the house in order to comly with current regulations. (currentley in the utility). The boiler is less than 2 years old, so now needs to be moved outside away form the house, has any one ever had to do this and was it a complex job and or expensive?

Anything useful here?

Not a big job assuming there is space outside for it to go without having a very large run of piping. You are much better to have an oil boiler outside anyways, they stink and also no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. A few grand will get you a very efficient condensing boiler which will see you nicely for the next 10-15 years. Would suggest upgrading the hot water cylinder if it is not factory insulated and upgrade radiators too if required. These are all relatively cheap to do and getting it all done together will reduce the labour costs and disruption.

Plumbers are today doing exactly this at the house we've just bought. There was a smell of kerosene in the bedroom next to the indoor boiler room, so hopefully re-siting it outside should solve that.

The cost? For a new condensing boiler, Including moving pipes to re-site it (and make way for a new en-suite), adding TRVs to the rads, installing one rad, and putting in a wireless zoned heating control module, and the inevitable radiator desludging, the quote came to €9k inc. VAT. We've applied for the €700 SEAI grant for the heating controls upgrade.

. It's a big enough job - takes 2 or 3 days - but, in our case, well worth doing.

Long term we are all moving to heat pumps. Installing a heat pump is expensive, (including upgrading pipes, rads and tank probably ~20K) but there is a grant for 6,500. If you install Gas or Oil, you will still have the expense of replumbing but there won't be any grant. When you take the grant into account it may very well be that the cost of a Heat Pump is similar to installing gas or Oil, but the Heat Pump will be much cheaper to run.

But to get the Heat Pump grant, you have to have a Heat Loss of 2 or less, which might mean you need to insulate walls, roofs new windows etc. The additional cost of upgrading your home might put you off getting the heat pump. If that is the case and you choose to stick with Oil, I strongly advise you to (think long term) plumb the system so that you can swap in a heat pump later. So all the main pipe runs should be plumbed with 32mm pipes, and any new radiators should be sized for a low (40C) flow temperature (i.e. large rads) and the hot water cylinder should be compatible with a low temp heat pump. These small upgrades will add a few hundred to the cost of moving the oil but they will save you thousands if/when you switch to a heat pump.

charlieryan said:

The boiler is less than 2 years old, so now needs to be moved outside away form the house, has any one ever had to do this and was it a complex job and or expensive?

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Regulations state what must be done for current installations, while they are updated regularly, that does not mean that every existing installation must be updated to comply. Installations carried out prior to changes do not need to be updated.

I'd ask your surveyor what specific requirement they are referring to. Building Regulations for boilers are covered in Part J, they do not require boilers be placed outside, but specify the requirements for ventilation for boilers in the home. He may be referring to the need to supply fresh air perhaps.

Leo said:

Regulations state what must be done for current installations, while they are updated regularly, that does not mean that every existing installation must be updated to comply. Installations carried out prior to changes do not need to be updated.

I'd ask your surveyor what specific requirement they are referring to. Building Regulations for boilers are covered in Part J, they do not require boilers be placed outside, but specify the requirements for ventilation for boilers in the home. He may be referring to the need to supply fresh air perhaps.

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I would second this. I don't think existing homes have to meet new requirements.

I would wait til you're in the house a couple of years before doing this, you may want to adjust other things and it will be easier/cheaper to do it all at once.