Getting the most from oil

koomber

Hi all,

I've moved into a new house with an oil fired central heating system, something I've not used before as I used to live in a flat with gas heating.

I've been tracking our oil use since we've moved in and had a few questions and know there are a lot of experienced people who could help.

We're currently using about 65L of fuel per week. I've worked this out from dips on the oil tank. The house is over 3 floors with 4 rooms on the top floor, 4 on the middle and the kitchen and a large hall on the bottom.

We have the heating set to come on for 2 hours per day at 6am and 6pm repesctively, it runs on a timer and all the radiators have thermostatic valves fitted.

It seems that the volume of fuel we are using is rather a lot and I'm wondering if there is anything we can do to reduce it. One though I've had is that because we are only running the boiler for 1 hour, the boiler has to burn more fuel for longer each time it turns on to get the water up to temperature, where as if it were on for longer it wouldn't be a problem.

I've also been thinking about turning off some of the radiators as some of the rooms aren't used very often, however I'm worried that the cool air in these rooms might sink via the stairs and cool the rest of the house down, making it less efficient. As it stands the ground floor never gets warm so I'm also thinking about just shutting these radiators off completely since it's only the kitchen and I have visions of all the heat going out through these radiators, cooling the system down more quickly once the boiler goes off.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Silent_Dancer

You've moved from a flat to a large house so your heating bills would be much larger no matter what the fuel.

The best thing you can do to reduce bills is insulate. Dig out the EPC from when you moved in. It will have tips on how you can save energy and also give an estimate of the your heating consumption and bills.

thozza

65 litres of fuel oil equates to 676 kWh (@ 10.4 kWh/l), however it is difficult to say if this is a lot or a little without knowing more about the property; does it have solid walls/floors, is the roof insulated, is it double glazed etc. Also what type of oil boiler do you have, is it old or modern, the difference in efficiency can be significant.

As has been said, check the property EPC, this will give you an idea of the energy efficiency of the property, if it is poor, then insulation is the best bet.

You can try turning off radiators in rooms that you do not use, if you shut the doors, it should not affect the heating of the rest of the house.

Running heating for longer will result in using more energy. Systems do take some time to heat up but running the heating for longer will not save money, this is discussed extensively here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4327195

Robwiz

In answer to your questions: yes, turn off the radiators in the rooms you don't use but keep their doors closed; the fewer radiators you have working the less fuel will be used. Regularly check the unheated rooms for condensation and early signs of mould growth though, particularly when the outside temperature is lower.

It's difficult to comment on your oil consumption without knowing the size of the rooms, the level of insulation and your thermostat settings (and actual internal and external temperatures too) other than to say that 10 litres per day at 66p per litre sounds pretty expensive for what has been a mild autumn!

You may find it works better to set your thermostat(s) lower – say 16º C, to provide a background level of heating that takes the chill off the house supplemented by other heat sources in the room you spend most time in. We find 16º C an acceptable temperature for our bedrooms – it's fine for getting showered/dressed/undressed, but not for sitting reading or listening to music.

Smiley_Dan

koomber wrote: »

Hi all,
It seems that the volume of fuel we are using is rather a lot and I'm wondering if there is anything we can do to reduce it. One though I've had is that because we are only running the boiler for 1 hour, the boiler has to burn more fuel for longer each time it turns on to get the water up to temperature, where as if it were on for longer it wouldn't be a problem.

65L a week is a lot for most houses but not Buckingham Palace. As Robwiz said you have to provide a bit more info. Number of rooms, insulation, windows. Find the full EPC for your house here: https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressTerms.html?redirect=reportSearchAddressByPostcode and then post what it says for annual space heating (and other useful bits).

Do you know the construction of your house? Timber frame? Are the internal walls plastered or boarded?

I've also been thinking about turning off some of the radiators as some of the rooms aren't used very often, however I'm worried that the cool air in these rooms might sink via the stairs and cool the rest of the house down, making it less efficient. As it stands the ground floor never gets warm so I'm also thinking about just shutting these radiators off completely since it's only the kitchen and I have visions of all the heat going out through these radiators, cooling the system down more quickly once the boiler goes off.

Definitely close doors.

"Heat rises" is only part of the story. The effect on the house is to increase air pressure at the top of the house and decrease it at the bottom. This then has the effect of trying to equalise by sucking more air in from outside. The effect is further complicated by wind etc but that's the general rule.

So any draught proofing you can do, especially at the bottom of the house where the thermal envelope is breached, is valuable. There are a lot of sources of draughts, and even the smallest hole adds up.

koomber

Thanks for the replies. The rooms are pretty large with high ceilings in the ground and first floor, but the second floor has lower ceiling heights 7ft or so, but the roofs slope as it is partially in the attic space.

It's an old build sandstone walls building, there is insulation in the room (100mm) and double glazing throughout. The total floor area of the property according to the home report is 142m^2. It's a rather large house and the two main rooms are probably the same size as my old flat!

As far as I can tell the insulation is pretty good throughout the first and second floors. No draughts at least. I think the biggest problem we've got is the ground floor which as I said before, never gets warm.

The boiler is quite old, however when we had it serviced when we moved in, it tested at 91% efficiency, which the guy assured us would not be worth replacing. What information should I be looking at for the boiler?

Is there some way to work out if the heating cost is high or low for the given area? Something like the total KWh/floor area?

The heating is on a timer with only thermostatic valves in the rooms, would we be better moving way from the timer and getting a thermostat fitted?

Silent_Dancer

To check the efficiency of the boiler go to http://www.ncm-pcdb.org.uk/sap/pcdbsearch.jsp?pid=26

The heating system should have a room thermostat.

Go to your EPC which will give you a calculated value for what the house should cost to heat.

reeac

"Old build, sandstone walls" makes me wonder if they're solid walls rather than cavity which would make a huge difference and make 65 l./week a likely Winter consumption figure [although we're not really into Winter yet].