Thought this may interest some of you
Also… they are thinking of giving a “prime” for converting oil boilers older than 10 years…l… so I’m waiting to see what is actually on offer before I jump… thinking of wood-pellet stove to run central heating… but need more info…
Arghhhh, yesterday a French friend asked if I knew about the proposed changes!
I changed my boiler last year (fioul) because it was old and ineffecient. I paid an arm and leg for a new boiler and now it seems that isn’t enough!!
What are the proposed alternatives for the people with fioul ? I ask this because if you already have this system then there will be a tank somewhere in the depths of your house, you will have pipework and radiators that feed from this. How can you replace them, how can a tank that is in place be safely removed?
Bref, I am spitting nails !
My tank is buried under the ground as it takes over 3000 litres and would be an eyesore if not. So once/ if decommissioned it will stay where it is.
Our neighbours installed a wood pellet stove and had awful problems.
Our tank is easily accessible.
Because I am asthmatic we do not light our woodburning stove unless we lose our electricity.
I am wondering if there would be problems with particulates as any boiler would probably have to be installed in our sous -sol.
Well between the fioul tank and radiators will be a boiler, which will need to be replaced.
If your tank is buried have your tank cleaned & then use it for water collection to water the garden. As for the boiler have it converted to burn wood pellets rather than oil.
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I have 2 x1000 ltr tanks in the boiler room… they can be emptied and removed. They came in through the doorway originally… so they can go out the same way… The freed-up space will be great for storing the wood pellets.
The oil boiler and associated pipework is at the other end of the room. Chuck out the oil boiler and replace with a WP boiler, link it to the existing water inflow/outflow etc etc… (I don’t understand all the detail but that seems a rough description …). 
I have more investigating to do…
Stella,
You’ve hit the nail on the head. You just have to find the room to install a hopper for the WPs to feed the boiler.
Jane… you don’t have to change to wood-pellets… and no-one HAS to change. The point is being made (quite reasonably)… that oil is on the wane… in all aspects of life… and that other ways, of heating our homes…do need to be found/arranged…
Exactly, and I have replaced this at great cost. It now seems however that fioul boilers/systems will have to be replaced in the future !
Yes, but not just yet… as the article says… it will probably not be for 15 years, as folk will not find it easy to simply throw away their oil boiler… and this is why the govt will need to find financial inducements … like they are doing with changing diesel vehicule to electric vehicules…
My tank is not buried. My house was built in the late 70’s and has a sous-sol. My tank is in one of the rooms there. The fuel boiler has been there ever since the house was built. Last year I asked 4 heating specialists for their advice and estimations to replace the old boiler. Not one of them suggested changing the boiler to another system. In fact they said it would be much too expensive and not neccessary. Bearing in mind that they are specialists, and that all 4 of them looked at the system and gave their various opinions before giving their estimations I find it astonishing that now it seems I may have to change later (not)
The outlay, just to change the boiler, not to touch any other aspect like radiators or pipework has been at the limit of what I can afford!
Misty,
My reply was to all, not especially directed to you.
If one day anyone has to change their oil burner to another gas / wood pellets / logs they may have to slightly modify the pipe work to connect to the boiler but that’s it the pipe work & the radiators don’t need to be touched.
When the day comes if not before I’ll just adapt my oil boiler to be a pellet burner.
Despite the headline I can’t find any concrete proposal to make oil fired heating illegal, though it looks like some tax/duty increases might be on the cards to “persuade” people to change.
I wouldn’t expect you to have to change the radiators - although for some types of system, e.g pompe à chaleur the low flow temperature might mean existing radiators are less efficient and not a good match to the heat source.
As Warren says conversion to pellets might be a possibility.
Surely an oil fired boiler just heats the water that circulates through the HWS radiators? (and for some bathrooms).
My oil fired boiler works fine but is quite old. The oil tank takes up valuable space. next to the boiler in the boiler shed. Conversion or upgrade in due course is inevitable anyway.
Apart from conversion to wood pellets, is a conversion from an old oil fired boiler to new electric powered boiler a problem or greater price premium? After all most people have electric / off peak water heaters for bathrooms. Unless I’m missing the point.
I suggest you ask for estimates, make sure you are sitting comfortably when they arrive ! 
I’m not sure what you mean by “electric powered boiler” - if you mean heat pump then conversion is not possible per-se and replacement of the boiler by a heat pump would be needed.
The conversions to pellet burning keeps most of the boiler, its plumbing and heat exchanger and just replaces the burner.
Price to completely convert an oil fired system to heat pump - I would think anything from 5k€-15k€, with replacement of the radiators add another 5-10k (but as discussed above this step is probably not necessary if they are in good condition).
Running costs should be comparable for heat pump and fioul - there’s a price comparison here
Direct heating of water for the radiators by electricity would be very expensive but typically a heat pump will put out 3x as much heat as the electricity it consumes, bringing prices back in line with fioul or natural gas.
Seriously thinking of changing to electric for hot water purposes…as currently it is the Oil which provides via internal ballon + on demand…
The insulation of modern electric HW ballons… is so good that we could then move onto Cheap Rate electricity…overnight… and it should stay hot all day. ??? with no need for Oil except for CH when very cold
Trying to cut down on my Oil usage and save money… well, spend a little less, if not actually save it…
Is “cheap rate” really worthwhile… ???
We also have a pompe a chaleur and solar water heating panels.
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