Cheaper Oil for Fuel?

oilbaron

Most kind, thank you.

I suppose effectively we are slightly stuffed (unless we move)

That figure is also based on only a few radiators on in the house (6,500sq ft) - by no means all of them, and the heating runs for 2 hours, twice a day. The rest of the time it's off! Hot water likewise.

So, something is seriously wrong. Ground Source Heat Pump is apparently not an option according to the Worcester Bosch online 'checker'.

I think we therefore need to review our boiler, pronto, (yes it's 20+ years old) but, I'm nervous about ripping something out at great cost and replacing it with something that's no more efficient, or something that might take 10 years to see a benefit! There's an AGA of course that's getting switched off at the earliest opportunity too!

firebird1

oap wrote: »

Hi, does anybody know anybody who has the new type electric boiler, with which you replace your old oil, or gas or whatever boiler? Apparently it runs the existing radiators at a much reduced cost to oil or gas, but we do not know anyone who has one? Thank you, Regards oap

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No way on this planet should you consider the electric boiler for your radiators.

I have been testing some up in Grange Over Sands, and they are rated at 12 kW.

They WILL cost a fortune to run !

Steer clear !

poe.tuesday

oilbaron wrote: »

After we got up again we noticed the major culprit as the oil usage, at c. £1,000 pcm.

I can't get my head around that figure, are you having the tank filled every month?

we have oil, we fill the tank up twice a year costing us about £1000 per year (given today's oil costs), the house has 8 radiators and a combi boiler that gives us instant hot water, we have the heating on all day in the winter and the water is used all the time especially with 2 young children

Something is very, very wrong with that £1000 a month on oil figure, someone must be stealing your oil :eek:

as for replacing your boiler, it will cost you about a £1000 plus the fitting, if you really believe it's your boiler that is drinking your oil then the cost of changing it (and going by how much we spend per month on oil) your monthly costs for oil would drop from £1000 to about £80, you will recoup the initial cost of the new boiler within 2 months

I still can not believe you spend £1000 per month on oil, when did you discover this?

oysterman

HappyMan wrote: »

Hello, I was reading the threads relating to this forum with interest. I have personally looked at alternative options other than oil, but like most thinks - cost is a factor. Recently I invited representatives from solar power companies and we were shocked at the cost and the time it would take to recuperate the expense. We both recognise the benefits, not when it will mean a substantial amount of our monthly income.

I have considered speaking to my neighbours with the view of starting a syndicate. Have any of you experience; organising or being part of a syndicate? What were the pro’s and con’s?

I have been using CPS for number of years, making payment via DD. I have been advised that this isn’t the best way to pay for oil, especially in today’s climate – shop around. Why, when all I do is contact CPS and they deliver the oil?

I look forward to your comments.

CPS, now owned by Goff. Paying by D/D is not cheapest way of buying oil, they are offering you a service & they will charge you for that service by a higher oil
prices.

Either shop around or get involved in a syndicate, as many as you can. The more oil you order the cheaper it is(normally)

oilbaron

poe.tuesday wrote: »

I can't get my head around that figure, are you having the tank filled every month?

Taking the last three months... We used
FEB -ONE full tank 1700 LITRES (£1,000)
MARCH - one full tank
APRIL - half a tank.

Over the course of this 3 month period, our radiators that are on (only 7, the rest are off!) and our 2 oven Aga haven't been touched.

So, 2 full tanks then suddenly half a tank is strange, although I have been told a dip in ambient temp and some draught can make a huge difference to how much oil you burn.

Our property is 6,500sq feet, and we have metal framed single glazing windows. The boiler is a 75kw and about 25 years old!

poe.tuesday wrote: »

Something is very, very wrong with that £1000 a month on oil figure, someone must be stealing your oil :eek:

We've thought about this obviously, but no one can get in, the only way something underhand is going on is if a rogue delivery driver is sucking it out rather than putting it in. I now check as often as I can.

poe.tuesday wrote: »

as for replacing your boiler, it will cost you about a £1000 plus the fitting

I wish! the Kidd boiler we are contemplating cost £4,500 plus fitting plus several other bits like chimney tubing etc. They are suggesting my current boiler may be barely 50% efficient.

poe.tuesday wrote: »

I still can not believe you spend £1000 per month on oil, when did you discover this?

No, nor can we! It's been an issue since we moved here really, 18 months ago, but with oil now at 60p/L, we really need to get to the bottom of it.

poe.tuesday

that's terrible news oilbaron and you must get something sorted out, do you also not have any other options as regards to the boiler (I know that you may need a different one as you have an aga)

arealhighlander

Why has it taken you 18 months to figure out you're spending too much!

Firstly, £4500 for a new boiler - thats a ridiculous price you can get it cheaper than that.

Second, they dont need to "suggest" how efficient your boiler is, any decent service engineer can TELL you how efficient the burning process is with the correct tools.

What size is your tank, 1700 litres? - have you got a leak??? Or is it being stolen. Either way you REALLY need to do something about it. Even with a 50% efficient boiler for all you run it, there is no way you are burning that much oil.

Even if it did cost you about £5000 to install a new boiler, you would be paid back within a year, easy.

oilbaron

Tank is 2,700 litres. No leaks as far as I can see, in fact all the black iron pipe work was replaced last summer.

It's a mystery, especially why over the same time period we suddenly have used half as much as the previous 2 months. There's no way a lorry has been here nicking the stuff as we're behind electric gates, but I suppose someone could have come across country with containers and taken it directly from the tank. That's a hell of a lot of containers though without a vehicle to put them in!

Another interesting story... The reason we had the pipework replaced was because a workman split the old one with a mini digger. No one knew until the next day, when a FULL tank had disappeared overnight. (I had filled up that day) we found where the pipe had a nick out of it. Apart from a bit of oil around the hole, there was NO SIGN of any oil anywhere. Could 2,700 litres sink without a trace in a matter of hours? No one could or has since been able to work out what happened....

Lotus-eater

Oilbaron you have a SEVERE problem and you must do something about it instead of just buying a tank of oil a month.
Tbh when I first read your post I thought it was a wind up, its so unbelievable.
It depends what the ground is like where you are of course, whether that oil could sink without trace, I think you should have noticed it, if only because it would have poisoned the ground. I'm going to stick my neck out here, I think the new pipework has a leak............ and if you are spending that much, paying someone to dig it up and check through your whole system is actually going to be saving you money in a couple of weeks. Do it!!

mute_posting

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Oilbaron you have a SEVERE problem and you must do something about it instead of just buying a tank of oil a month.
Tbh when I first read your post I thought it was a wind up, its so unbelievable.
It depends what the ground is like where you are of course, whether that oil could sink without trace, I think you should have noticed it, if only because it would have poisoned the ground. I'm going to stick my neck out here, I think the new pipework has a leak............ and if you are spending that much, paying someone to dig it up and check through your whole system is actually going to be saving you money in a couple of weeks. Do it!!

Probably wouldn't need to dig pipe up - could disconnect both ends, cap one off and do a pressure test I would imagine most heating engineers who work on oil systems will have necessary fittings to do this.

MP