Oil Tank refilling advice please?

suki1964

You can buy tension rods and use lightweight cheap fleeces for the windows instead of heavy curtains

Get yourself on to the preparing for winter thread, theres a lot of good advice from those living in big old cold houses

YORKSHIRELASS

Ah well actually when I say we havent had the central heating on I have to confess that we have been using some forms of heating! With oil prices as they are we now run electric heaters in a couple of rooms or use the open fires instead of putting the central heating on if we can. Others may be dispute the economics of this but I think it is saving us money, especially early and late winter when you can manage without the full heating going.

We have just bought a second Swan oil filled radiator and I can highly recommend these. For an outlay of £35 or so they are very handy.

highrisklowreturn

Remember I had gas in a one bedder flat one year ago - my total utility bill for a year would have been around £350 tops for gas and electricity.

aliasojo

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Others may be dispute the economics of this but I think it is saving us money, especially early and late winter when you can manage without the full heating going.

We have just bought a second Swan oil filled radiator and I can highly recommend these. For an outlay of £35 or so they are very handy.

Now I was always told those were really expensive to run. :undecided

suki1964

aliasojo wrote: »

Now I was always told those were really expensive to run. :undecided

Aliasojo - a KW of energy is a KW of energy when its electric. So if you are paying 15p a KW for your electric and you buy a 1kw rad - it will cost 15pence and hour to run. 2kw - 30p an hour etc etc

for heating one room they are not expensive to run

I will use the oil sparingly to keep at a lower temp to stop the house getting cold. We use coal on stoves to boost the temp in the rooms we sit in. If I didnt have the stoves then I would have used electic heaters to boost the temp

moonrakerz

I had oil heating in my last house for 21 years, we had a 600 gal tank (2500L), I ALWAYS filled it to the top Sept/Oct time. I knew people in the village who didn't fill up and come January they were out of oil and:
a. the price had soared
b. they had to wait 10 days for the tanker to get round to them

Having to pay up front is a bind, but it does make you a little more fuel concious.

welda

moonrakerz wrote: »

Having to pay up front is a bind, but it does make you a little more fuel concious.

I actually didn't mind paying up front, once paid, I knew that was me for nigh on a year, depending on weather? That said though, this was pre 2004, when fuel was not horrendous cost, normally paid for by two or three homers

I'm actually in the process of moving my dual fuel account, having to pay by DD (no option) I reckon monthly cost is a tad OTT, I'll see how it goes though, I prefer to manage my £££'s in my own account, not their's!!

:beer:

morocha

i am checking oil suppliers, we really need to buy some oil this month. The cheapest at the moment is £582 for 1000l. My OH is used to a cold house, and gets hot quickly, me, i come from South America and this weather right now is terrible cold for me. Our DD is fine, kinda like her daddy, gets hot quickly.

Ive bought some 15tog duvets to prepare for the winter and of course electric blankets. Our house keeps warm , no heating on so far.
Ideally i would like to use this oil in the really cold months -end nov/ december- till February, i hope it lasts.

cyngor_cymru

I buy oil for my parents' house in South Wales - and for the last couple of years have been using Watsons. My parents can't afford to buy upfront, but they're on a monthly dd scheme to spread the cost over the 12months. This way they know they don't need to worry about a large bill, and they know how much it's costing each month. As a (little!) bonus, when their account is in credit they get something back from them in interest (something like 3 or 4 % i think if i remember correctly). It doesn't work out as much obviously, but if it works out at a few £ a month off then we'll take it!

I still call around for prices and do my homework, but to be fair Watsons have either been the cheapest or have matched any better price i have had. They seem to be really nice people and have never let us down - even when we had the snow last year. My parents also think it's great that they're still family owned - and not part of the ever-increasing GB Oils company that appears to be taking over the UK. They bought out another local company around here the other week - but the man i spoke to last at Watsons told me they are too big to be bought by them - so i hope to have many more years of dealing with them as a family company.

G_M

cyngor_cymru wrote: »

I buy oil for my parents' house in South Wales - and for the last couple of years have been using Watsons. My parents can't afford to buy upfront, but they're on a monthly dd scheme to spread the cost over the 12months. This way they know they don't need to worry about a large bill, and they know how much it's costing each month. As a (little!) bonus, when their account is in credit they get something back from them in interest (something like 3 or 4 % i think if i remember correctly). It doesn't work out as much obviously, but if it works out at a few £ a month off then we'll take it!

I still call around for prices and do my homework, but to be fair Watsons have either been the cheapest or have matched any better price i have had. They seem to be really nice people and have never let us down - even when we had the snow last year. My parents also think it's great that they're still family owned - and not part of the ever-increasing GB Oils company that appears to be taking over the UK. They bought out another local company around here the other week - but the man i spoke to last at Watsons told me they are too big to be bought by them - so i hope to have many more years of dealing with them as a family company.

That seems to work for you... them, but I'd still suggest:

Instead of a DD to Watsons, which ties you to them (however good they are), why not open a decent savings account and pay into that each month?
* online instant access around 3%
* Regular saver around 5-6% (though with tighter restrictions on withdrawals
* flexible option to buy from Watsons.... or anyone else