Oil Fired systems

londontj

Hi,

I'm in a bit of a situation where my partner, myself and his family have decided to buy a property and move in together but I've now been left with the job of research and stuff. I'm only 25 and lived in london all my life till I moved to the South west and until recently I didn't even relaize that there were such things as oil fired systems I just always thought it was electric or gas. Well any way I've found a company for the oil but I dont know how much it will take to run the property and how long it will last. sorry if this seems to be a bit of a silly question but I wanted to find out before we buy and have a heart attack over the oil used as oil prices are constantly going up.
Just to give you an idea of the size of the house. it's a 6 bed, 1 ensuite, 1 shower room, 1 bathroom, kitchen, lounge & dinner.

Any info on about how many liters are used per day/per week/per month during winter and summer would most grateful.

Chees

TJ

owned_by_2_Siamese

Hello! Well - what can I say - welcome to the rural world of oil central heating!!
Your question is really hard to answer - but here are some 'variables that could help!'
Oil is more expensive than gas!
Oil is cheaper than lpg (bottles gas)
Oil is still cheaper than electric (just!)
You have to buy your oil in advance rather than monthly(some suppliers will have monthly plansd but these are ususally in advnce so not great!)

Most tanks at between 1000 litres and 2000 litres - this means it can cost between £700 and £1400 to fill up (remember you have to pay at the time you buy the oil!)

Now - as to how much it costs!
How old is the house? Is it well insulated with double glazing? Will you have any other source of heat - for example an open fire/stove? How many people will live in the house? Will you need heat only when everyone is home?
How old is the boiler? This is key as efficiency varies from about 60% for old (+5 years) to 95% for condensing newer boilers.
Now a litre of oil is worth about 10KW before you burn it so a good boiler givers you 9.5 KW of heat you can use - the older one 6KW - this will make a difference in a big house!

I live in an exposed remote and rural area of Northumberland -in a 5 bed large house with good insulation and a wood burning stove. We're out all day during the week. Last year (May to this May we used 2500 litres of oil and were very very frugal (wood stove flat out most of the time) out neighbours used nearly 3500 litres.....

Oil is currently 70p plus VAT a litre....

If you can be frugal (and that doesnt mean freezing!) I would bank on a starter of 3000 litres in a well insulated house with a newish boiler...

Hope this helps!

londontj

Hiya,

Thank you very much for your reply, your pointers are very helpful and have given me new questions to ask the owners when we meet them tomorrow.

I'm glad I've found this site it has been very helpful as I only knew of gas and electric, and as for bottled gas I've only used them when I've gone camping never thought it would be used for homes, lol. it just makes me think what a sheltered life I've had.

cheers