Replace oil heating, but replace it with what?

Hello We have just looked at a house that we would like to buy. The year of construction is 2000. However, the house has an oil heating system, which I would like to replace. Now my question is which type of heating do you recommend? Gas would be a problem, since there is a connection in the street but not at the house, pellets or heat pump? And what kind of costs should we roughly expect for dismantling and disposal of the oil heating system + installation of the new heating system? Possibly, we will also have underfloor heating installed in all rooms. What would that cost approximately for 120 sqm? Thank you very much for your help

I would keep the oil heating running as long as possible, but at least until all conversion measures are completed. This way, you can determine the heating demand (required supply temperature, maximum heating load, consumption) over one winter and plan the new heating system properly. Especially if insulation measures are still pending, plan these out before you replace the heating system.

Gas or wood are probably the most sensible options, unless you actually install [!] underfloor heating everywhere or other low-temperature radiators and the house is/is going to be properly insulated. Then you can also consider a heat pump.

I am not familiar with retrofitting underfloor heating, but that is probably no fun in an existing building: floors out, screed new or milled. That does not sound reasonable for a building year 2000.

There are subsidies available for heating system replacements, so get informed about that as well.

Hello, thank you for your answer. We still need to take action anyway, as the seller wants about 500,000 for the house. It was built in 2000, plot size 380 sqm, living area 130 sqm. The tenants who lived there before spent about 1200€ per year on heating oil.

Well, for a 2000 build year, probably no insulation measure is worthwhile. I would also replace the oil heating medium-term. Heat pump is probably out without underfloor heating or replacing all radiators with low-temperature ones. It is not necessarily necessary to renew the screed throughout the whole house for underfloor heating. There are retrofit systems with 2 cm build-up. However, I would not do that extensively. I would go with gas when the heating system is due for replacement. Pellets only make sense in new builds with KFW efficiency house 55 or 40. Not financially. Otherwise, a new system at around 12,000+- and you have space for pellets thanks to the oil tanks that can be removed. Gas connection depends on the network operator. Should be 1,000-2,000€. Oil tank dismantling (plastic) 500-1,000. New gas heating around 7,000-8,000. Solar thermal 5,000-7,000 with heating support. Plus 2,500€ from BAFA and 1,200€ KfW grant. Possibly also municipal or grants from state banks or similar. New oil heating is usually 1,500€ more expensive than gas heating, so it evens out.

Hi, what exactly do you mean by there isn’t a single insulation measure worth it? Because it’s too old?

Hello, with 1200 euros heating costs per year, it is never worth it, a well-maintained oil heating works quite well! I still had it replaced back then, but only in the medium term, first I had gas installed in the house and then that was it! After the oil heating broke down after about 4 years, I had it removed. The steel oil tank 5000l was 480 euros including disposal with invoice back then (2012). I disassembled the heating system myself and had a scrap dealer pick it up. The gas heating then cost 7500 euros, consumption decreased by about 15-20%. Gas is clean, established on the market, has no teething problems and is inexpensive.

Best regards