Heating oil - help/advice needed!

Madammoments

Hi

I moved into my 2 bed house in Lincolnshire (near S!!!!horpe) and had to buy 500 litres of heating oil for the oil tank as soon as I moved in, as the 1200l tank had less than 10% left in it. Plus the house had been stood empty for approximatey 4 months.

The house is probably considered an old house but is looked after by a housing association and from what I can tell, is reasonably insulated in the roof. Most of the rooms are carpeted too.

The windows need sealing and I'm waiting for the housing association to sort this, as well as the slight draft at the front door.

I had just had a baby when I moved in, who is now coming up to 8 weeks old, so I've had the heating on everyday and admittedly majority of the time it has been all day sometimes.

After about a month and a half, the oil is almost gone.

The oil engineer that came recently to fit an oil watchman said that this seems to have gone quickly and told me to keep an eye on it. He thinks it might be down to the house standing empty for so long so the boiler has worked extra hard to get the heat back into the walls!? Plus the unsealed windows and drafty door won't be helping. He said that the heating on all day with the thermostat at 21c, shouldn't really use that much oil because the boiler would just kick in when it drops below 21c.

Also, I use an electric cooker/oven and I've only just discovered that there is an immersion heater for the boiler...so I've also been using the oil to heat the water too. I've just picked up a big electric heater too which seems to pump out a lot of heat so I now have an alternative heat source for the living room.

I just can't afford £200 every 1-2 months, is this normal!?

Any advice provided would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

If you're keeping the heating on all day, that sort of usage doesn't sound unrealistic.

You won't be filling it up every 2 months, unless you're going to running the heating all year round. I don't know Lincolnshire well, but I'm assuming it gets some sun in the summer?

zaax

You need the draughts sorted, Lidl are doing some draftproofing tape at present. There needs to be at least 500mm of insulation in the loft. Also we are at the bottom of winter. Also only heat one room in winter, and heat hot water when needed.

Ebe_Scrooge

Oil heating is no different to any other form of heating, in as much as you're going to burn more fuel in the winter months. Your priority needs to be to increase the insulation, stop draughts, etc., which you say is in hand.


An example - I bought 1000 litres towards the end of October last year, I'm going to need to refill in a couple of weeks' time. My previous fill-up was 1000 litres at the beginning of March. So 1000 litres lasts me about 7 months in the summer, or 3 months in the winter. Obviously there are a lot of variables, but it shows you what a difference there can be.


In terms of buying the oil - make sure you phone half a dozen local suppliers each time you fill up, and don't be sucked into a direct debit plan with one supplier. From my experience, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive supplier can be as much as 10p per litre, which is a big difference. And the cheapest supplier one time will odds on not be the cheapest the next time. And a lot of suppliers will price-match if you tell them you've had a better quote.


Finally, oil will still be cheaper than electricity. So using the immersion rather than the boiler to heat your water may be a false economy. Likewise the electric heater - although there is an argument to say that if you're using it to heat just one room, and the rest of the heating is off, then it may be worthwhile. But just like any other form of heating, make sure you only heat the rooms you need. Most people, for instance, like to have the lounge and the bathroom nice and warm, but bedrooms a bit cooler. If you have TRVs fitted on the rads, you can adjust the temperature in each room to suit your personal preference.

beautiful_ravens

Last year when oil was cheap I bought 1500 litres, ran it at 21*c for a lot of the day [16*c overnight] and it lasted Oct - April. My house is old and draughty aswell.

Your oil usage sounds realistic at the temp and your house, Im afraid. If I ran mine at that temp it would be gone as fast as yours.

I usually ration my oil, I have the heating on in the morning, at lunch for a while, and in the evening, at about 18*c, and I turn the thermostat down to 15* at 9pm so it only comes on if really cold. I can get 1000 litres to last from november to march, but only just, with rationing and being watchful.

Also, if I use the oil to heat the water, it only needs 10-15 minutes to be scalding so I had set that each morning to come on for only 10 minutes. The electric water heater takes AGES.

molerat

Heating oil gives around 10 kWh/litre. 500l = 5000 kWh / 6 weeks = 119kWh a day, equal to 10.6 metric gas units. Slightly on the high side for this time of year but with a draughty house and a new baby possibly expected. The downside being heating oil costing 5p / kWh but gas costing under 3p. Still much cheaper than electricity though.

matelodave

Dont be tempted to replace your heating with the electric radiator, as Molerat says, oil is around 5p/kwh whereas electricity is around 12-15p/kwh = twice to three times the price.

The same goes for using the immersion heater, it's cheaper to heat your hot water using oil rather than leccy which would cost you at least twice as much

Do your best to eliminatee draughts and try turn the stat down a degree - just one degree can save you a noticeable amount. Turn it down a couple of degrees overnight as well

Dont let the house get cold, especially with a baby, but dont overheat it either. See if you can reduce the temperatures in the rooms that aren't in use.

What do you consider to be a reasonable amount of insulation - it should be at least 200mm (8") thick and ideally 300mm, if not ask the housing association to upgrade it.

As said, this is the coldest time of the year and places like Lincolnshire and where I live in wildest Cambridgeshire it can get very cold, damp and windy. We are all electric and my energy cost increases from around £35 a month in the summer to nigh on £135 a month when it's as cold as it has been over the past few weeks.

Although you are concentrating on the cost of oil, don't forget how much you are spending on leccy as well, so keep an eye on your consumption, check your meter regularly and make sure that you check your bills - do not accept estimates, get them corrected. Make sure that your payments are just about covering your use at this time of the year and you aren't running up a big debt.

Madammoments

Thank you everyone for your advice. As you can tell, I'm very new to the oil central heating thing so it's going to take a bit of trial and error for me to, somewhat, master it.

I did forget to mention that the heating does get turned off at night, although there has been the odd occasion when I've forgotten but majority of the time it got turned off. I also keep doors shut, even rooms that I'm not in, just to help retain the heat.

I think there is roughly 300mm of insulation in the loft. Definitely going to nudge the housing association to hurry up with the draft proofing on the windows. Still waiting for an appointment!

Again, thank you all for the advice!

gamston

as said above ring a few companies when looking for oil, last time I order some we got it from Woldlink, £80 cheaper than others, but time before we used someone else,
check out this thread, https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/27753


as we need 4 wheeled tanker to get down my lane, I can't get oil via the oil club

G_M

1) have you had the boiler serviced? If it's not running efficiently it will burn more oil. A service is also wise for safety reasones - have you got a CO alarm?
£16 for one or £20 for two. Or £23 for a CO plus smoke alarm.

2) Insulate the loft. £20 at B&Q (or similar) and a couple of hours in the attic next saturday. Sorted.

3) Insulate the doors/windows. While at B&Q pick up some insulation strips. Sorted

4) Shop around for oil. Start with boilerjuice or www.directoil.co.uk or a similar online quote to get a benchmark for prices. Then ring around local suppliers and compare prices. Check for local group-buying clubs but don't assume they are automatically cheapest. My local one never is (I suspect because the guy running it gets free/discounted oil himself in return for directing orders to specific suppliers..... - no names!)

5) turn the thermostat down - every degree lower will save your boiler from hard work. Top up one room for your baby with a room heater on its own thermostat. You don't need the whole house heated to 21 degrees.

ktee_uk

I also live in Lincolnshire and yes we do get sunshine
Live in 3 bed bungalow big rooms lots of windows but fairly modern
I get through about 1800 litres a year averaged over last 10 years
On all weekend and from 4pm to 10 pm mon to fri
Use oil for water & heating iwhen we are using heating
But switch to elec immersion for water in spring/summer