How much heating oil have you been getting through?

daftolddad

We got through about 900 litres in three months this winter - about the same as last winter. This year we kept the heating on permanently at a comfortable temperature instead of heating the place up and letting it cool down. Same cost.

Has anyone ordered oil from The Heating Oil Club? They do seem quite cheap but I am a bit nervous about using an internet based company.

:beer:

MDJO_2

I estimate we have used about 500 litres in 7 weeks; mind you we only have the heating on for 2 hours per day. Big 4 bed house in Northumberland, double glazed and reasonably insulated. Also use oil for the aga, but again this is on a minimum setting, just enough to stop it going out. Have switched off the radiators and closed the doors on 2 bedrooms and one living room. Light a coal fire everynight. Still freezing.

susank

New boiler went live on 14/10/10 Also a firebird 50 - 90,000 btu Not a combi - filled up with 1300 litres and refilled up to the top 2 weeks ago and only got 938 litres into the tank - its a 1450 tank so we had used less than I thought we had. we have it set at 21 degrees =-4 bed bungalow not very well insulated with our bedroom rad switched off and 2 spare rooms turned minumum to keep just the cold off them - its been on most of the day for the winter as its been so cold but occasionally its off for an hour in the morning and an hour in afternoon - Its lovely though!

manda1205

suki1964 wrote: »

If you are keeping a tank of water hot all day that's where you are looking at the biggest wasted usage. But I thought on a combi you didn't have a tank and that the water was heated as required? Or are oil boiler different from gas?

youmademerealise wrote: »

Yep, the boiler just has a very small tank within the housing that it keeps warm, only enough for a bowl of washing up. Not even that much really

We have an oil combi, my hubby says we have a very small tank that the boiler will keep heating 24/7, but it really is small, not enough to fill a sink bowl. We thought the reason was because our boiler is an outside one and so needed to help keep the boiler warm, as you hear it cut in and out during the night sometimes, but not for long. I really dont think it makes you use loads of oil.
We had a delivery to top up on 1st Dec, our signalman then went to 9 pips, we now have 5 pips. Tank is 1200l, and I know the signalman is not perfect, I suspect we have over half left in tank. Oh and we have heating on timed, not at all over night. Not much help I know, but your usage does seem very high to me.

suki1964

Yes I see what the OP means about the water tank. Sounded at first like he was heating the hot water all the time at first - which he obviously isnt given its a combi

I think the average usage is one litre an hour, so I have mine on for 6 hours - I use 6 litres (which works out roughly right with my figures for my use ) So I guess if you have yours on for 10 hours you will use 10 litres

Jinx

We used 500 litres in 6 weeks over the cold snap leading up to christmas. That was us having the heating on 24/7 in a 4 bed bungalow. We thought it was quite a lot, but we had had a lot of snow!! Now its milder its back on the timer....

donteatthat

We've got through quite a lot of oil too over Dec/Jan. Somewhere around 800 litres I guesstimate from the lines on our sonic watchman. We have a 200 year old detached property which takes some heating. Fortunately we topped up 1200l at the end of November at a reasonable ppl, but I was hoping it would last a while longer than I think it will before I need to reorder. I have been running the heating 24 hours at 18 degrees as I've been getting up at night to deal with a baby, and we also had a shower mixer fail which was sending mains cold water through our hot water system for a couple of weeks so using more to heat the water than we should have done. But baby is now sleeping through more or less so heating has gone back on the timer. I think everyone seems to have used more than they would like to think they have!

reeac

Three bedroom bungalow with very good insulation and two retired occupants so at home much of the time. Thermostat in hall set to 19-20C but all switched off from 2230 - 0630. My experience is that we use 200l/month in winter and 50 l/month in summer [hot water only in summer]. That's 8 months at 200 l. plus 4 months at 50 l. so total 1800/year. During the recent cold weather it's been nearer 300l./month though. We use no supplementary heating but have a wood burner for emergency use.

tori.k

I think good insulation is key we have used around 300l since october, mainly because our is a 3 bed terrace so only 2 outside walls but the loft/walls are well insulated, we re-insulated the loft before the combi- boiler went in last march the effect was instant. we've average about 3 hours heating a day

Johnhowell

For November and December we used on average 10litres a day. Boiler was put on during the days we had to "Working from Home" due to being snowed in and the holiday period.

I had a volume meter fitted when we had the new tank location commissioned so record the amounts used same as electric and water.

John