Annual domestic oil usage

Sisyphean_Task

How much evaporation of oil do people experience?

We haven't used our boiler since 8/5 yet our oil gauge is now 3 inches lower down. In our 2600 ltr tank that equates to over 150 litres so down 15 litres a week when not using any oil.

I have mentioned this to our landlord who insists there isn't a leak but says "evaporation is a fact of life".

TankMaster

I wouldn't place too much credence upon level measurement - aside from giving you and indication of when you need to reorder.

Firstly, any tank be it metal or plastic has 'creep' designed into it. In essence, the tank is designed to expand slightly when it is full of fuel as obviously the strains and stresses are very different to when it is empty. As the level falls, the distortion will be less; when the level of fuel is higher, it will be greater. Its a pretty complex and non-linear relationship and varies according to a raft of factors - such as the batch of material the tank is made from; the make of tank; the model of tank, the density of the stored fuel etc.

Secondly, yup - the tank expands with heat and contracts with cold. Its designed to do precisely that. Hence, the reason why first generation plastic tanks were calibrated on the outside, until tank manufactuers were on the receiving calls from irate oil distributors whose customers were accusing them of under delivering. The reality of course was that the deliveries were fine - its just the calibrations were far from accurate.

Sisyphean Task - that is a heck of an amount of fuel to lose in that period of time. Sure, evaporation will be an issue - but it shouldn't be anything near that extent. I would make a point of asking the Landlord to arrange an inspection of the tank and of the oil line - something, somewhere is not right, albeit if you had a leak with that amount of oil, you'd certainly be able to easily see (and smell) it.

Incidentally, if anyone is serious abour measuring their heating oil consumption - I've installed a few of these recently at private rented properties, where each home is drawing from a large communal tank:

http://www.atkinsonequipment.com/default.cfm/loadlevel.4/loadindex.28

Highly recommended and by reconciling the amount each tank has used with the volume of the tank, pretty accurate too

Regards

TM

N9eav

I have used 1000 litres less in the past 12 months, but turning OFF the automatic timer on the control box of the central heating. By all means have it come on in the morning, but turn it off when you feel warm. In the evening 'boost' the heating when you feel you need it. This way you don't automatically heat the house and then open the windows cos you are hot. Quite often most winter days are not that cold.....

Sisyphean_Task

Tankmaster,
When I told my landlord on 21/6 that the oil level had gone down 2 inches (=100 ltrs) in 9 weeks without using the boiler he laughed at me and said a leak of that amount would be showing on the floor. He then turned the tap off on front of the tank. Since then the level is down another inch (50 ltrs) so I don't think there can be an issue with the pipe to the house.

The weather has not been sunny June/July until now so in theory the oil level should be going up as it expands.

The problem with saying not to put much credence on oil measurement is that when we leave this property we have to top the tank back up to where it was when we moved in and the price has gone up 50% since then.

paceinternet

Is this a sight tube up the side of the tank?
They normally have an open/close valve at the bottom of the tube for safety reasons which should be kept closed until you open it to take a reading. People sometimes do not know this and can see the sight tube levels changing due to seepage past the valve. This is unlikely to be showing the real level.

Sisyphean_Task

It is a glass pipe at the front of the tank but I can't see a valve at the bottom. If that was the problem I would have thought the landlord would know but he turned the tap off that feeds oil to the house instead.

I would love to be able to do something to that pipe that makes the oil level shoot up!

paceinternet

Some of the valves look like a knob that you pull out to open and push back in to close after taking the level reading.

Lotus-eater

paceinternet wrote: »

Some of the valves look like a knob that you pull out to open and push back in to close after taking the level reading.

Mine, you have a little knurled nut that you press to get the correct level.

Sisyphean_Task

You people built my hopes up.... but to no avail

The oil level on the gauge is definitely correct because today I put a stick in the tank lowering it a bit at a time until it reached the oil. Made a mark on the stick and then compared it to the gauge on the front of the tank and the oil level was the same on both. I was hoping there would be several inches more oil in the tank.

SKIPPY

It does sound like a leak of some kind. A friend of mine had a leak from her tank which was actually under the house, they couldn't understand why they were using so much oil either. Eventually it was discovered and they spent almost 3 years in a rented house whilst the whole of the ground floor of the house was dug up etc. Incidently I have a 1,000 litres of fuel each year for a three bedroom semi