Oil Central Heating

[Albert Bridge]

We've recently moved into a property that has Oil Central Heating and are STUNNED by the amount of oil we are getting through. In 3 months we've used about £1000 worth of oil. Is this normal???
There are just the two of us so just a couple of showers a day, water for washing up and heating comes on a couple of times a day.
We are in the process of having a Wood Burning Stove installed that should help with the cost but does anyone know if it is normal to get through this much oil in such a short space of time?

Thanks.

[monthefish]

That seems like a hell of a lot. How well insulated is the property?

I'll be interetsed to hear others' views...

[Albert Bridge]

We had an insulation guy round yesterday that stuck a camera in the walls and said it was already insulated. We are in the process of ripping up the sitting room floor which is directly above the garage - there is no insulation there whatsoever, just chipboard then a void of about a foot and more chipboard. We've bought rolls of insulation to stick in there so hopefully will notice a difference.

When I ordered more oil today the delivery guy actually called me back to say he'd delivered in December - I think even he was shocked at the amount we'd got through.

[XMES RUS]

You might have a leak?

No I lived in a barn which was heated by Oil, and it was bloody expensive, and this was about 4 years ago.
How many Litres did you get for £1000?

[tango2]

Sounds a hell of a lot - we're on oil, had £750 in September - still got just under a third of a tank left, just to 2 of us too! We changed our boiler this year - much more economical, as the old one was rather terrible and kept breaking down, and guzzled too.

[Dave_ST220]

Recently looked into a new build that was heated by oil, did some research & came to the conclusion it WAS expensive. Was enough to put me off.

[Oldandslow]

Have you had it serviced? If they are not set right or clogged with soot they are not efficient. Even at that it seems very thirsty. Look for a leak or a local gyp..sorry "travelling community" encampment

[n3il123]

Ouch.. I would say that is a lot.

I have a 3 bed 1950's style house, which isn't particularly well insulated and I reckon I use about 300 litres a quarter. I do have an electric shower so use hardly any hot water, but the heating is on a fair bit.

Might be worth getting a man to come and check that the boiler is setup properly? Also is the tank secure? as it is getting very common for low lifes to go and drain it out over night, had a couple in our villiage already this year.

[esselte]

It's not been stolen has it...?Serious point,saw an item on a news program where people with oil tanks had had the locks broken off,the oil stolen and then the locks put back on so it was only on close inspection they could see they had been robbed...(oh and obviously they appeared to use a lot of oil)

[XMES RUS]

or maybe the wife is entertaining by bathing lots of men when you are at work

[esselte]

I don't have oil fired heating but just found this on the web..may be useful

Edited by esselte on Friday 6th February 14:11

[crankedup]

Strewth! you must live in a very very large house and feel the cold + crappy old boiler too.

[monthefish]

XMES RUS said:

You might have a leak?

Oldandslow said:

or clogged with soot they are not efficient.

esselte said:

It's not been stolen has it...?

XMES RUS said:

or maybe the wife is entertaining by bathing lots of men when you are at work

Place your bets now....

[esselte]

monthefish said:

XMES RUS said:

You might have a leak?

Oldandslow said:

or clogged with soot they are not efficient.

esselte said:

It's not been stolen has it...?

XMES RUS said:

or maybe the wife is entertaining by bathing lots of men when you are at work

Place your bets now....

It's good to have options..

[XMES RUS]

well if were going to completely panic him,


http://www.sligochampion.ie/lifestyle/features/be-...

[marshalla]

esselte said:

I don't have oil fired heating but just found this on the web..may be useful

Edited by esselte on Friday 6th February 14:11

Boilerjuice is never the cheapest for me.

Back to OP - £1k worth of oil would be around 2000 litres (a bit less) at the prices being charged before Xmas. That's a lot. We get through about 1000 litres in 2-3 months during cold periods and that's for heating & cooking. What sort of boiler do you have ?

Edited by marshalla on Friday 6th February 14:21

[esselte]

marshalla said:

esselte said:

I don't have oil fired heating but just found this on the web..may be useful

Edited by esselte on Friday 6th February 14:11

Boilerjuice is never the cheapest for me.

As I said I havae no experience of oil fired but that site came up on a google search...

[Silent1]

We've got Oil fired cental heating/water at home.

It's pretty expensive, but when oil was sensible (IIRC 9p) a litre 10 years ago it was cheap, right now it's 63p a litre, compared to only 30p a litre this time last year, they're predicting it to come down according to this chart:

[Ron Burgundy]

Yep oil heaters are a right bd, id get used to it

[marshalla]

Silent1 said:

We've got Oil fired cental heating/water at home.

It's pretty expensive, but when oil was sensible (IIRC 9p) a litre 10 years ago it was cheap, right now it's 63p a litre, compared to only 30p a litre this time last year, they're predicting it to come down according to this chart:

63p !!!! You're being ripped off - I can order 500l. for delivery next week at 32p.