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Heating oil

Need advice we had a brand new heating system fitted June last year this is are second winter and we are using 100 litters on 6 days
We have a 4 bedroom bungalow the boiler is set on a timer for a few hours a day. The thermostat is turned down to 18.c and the boiler thermostat is all the way down. Is this to much or should I expect this. Thanks

Comments

  • Benight
    Benight Posts: 418 Forumite
    100 Posts
    Samhaines wrote: »
    Need advice we had a brand new heating system fitted June last year this is are second winter and we are using 100 litters on 6 days
    We have a 4 bedroom bungalow the boiler is set on a timer for a few hours a day. The thermostat is turned down to 18.c and the boiler thermostat is all the way down. Is this to much or should I expect this. Thanks

    Typical/average usage is about 2000 litres per year

    So 100 litres in almost a week during winter is not that unusual, obviously depending on how you are operating the heating.
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,722 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    How have you measured 100 litres, it's not usually very easy to measure unless you have a metered supply.

    However that said if you have used 100litres, thats equivalent to just over 1000kwh and assuming that your boiler is 90% efficient that about 900kwh of heat which is presumably heating your bungalow and your hot water but 150kwh a day does sound like a lot - have you checked for leaks in the oil supply

    We dont know where you live how old the bungalow is, how much insulation that its got (walls, floor, roof, double glazing etc) all of which make a significant difference to how much heat you need to keep it warm.
    How much did you use last winter, what sort of heating did you have before and how much did that use. Did you keep detailed records of your consumption then or have you just started
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • SonOf
    SonOf Posts: 2,631 Forumite
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    When the temperature drops, the oil contracts. So, it's not unusual to drop a bar on your oil monitor for that reason. Oil monitors are not reliable for micromanagement. Indeed ours dropped a bar the other day when temperatures got down to freezing. It has just gone up a bar as the temperature has risen.

    If you are like most households you use hardly any oil between May and October. The bulk of your annual oil use is in the cold months

    When we first started using oil after moving in, I used a local delivery service. It wasnt cheap but he would fill the tank to the top and he helped calibrate the oil monitor (which was wrongly set). Sadly, he was too expensive to continue using (10p a litre). So, I kept a speadsheet of the dates I filled up, the price and amounts etc. It gave me an idea a clear indication of my use over different periods of the year. You may wish to do the same as it is a bit of a learning process.

    For reference, we filled up in both December 2018 and January 2019. That was over 700 litres in a month. Then next one was March, then September and now again in December. Each time ordering 700 litres when the meter hits 4. (how much you order and your trigger point will vary depending on your use and the size of your tank).
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I use around 2000+ litres a year, maybe a bit more now I'm home all day.


    That's 38 litres a week. But the boiler's off most of the summer, so prob twice that in winter (76-86) and zero in summer.


    4 bed house. But how you can tell you've used 100 litres I've no idea. Electron monitors are not that acurate. I use a bamboo dipstick, marked off at 1/2, 1/4, 18th points and that's pretty rough and ready too.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Unless you have a rectangular tank, the trusty 'bit of stick' really isn't that trusty either!


    We have a wood burner taking most of the strain, so our consumption is normally well under 100l a week, but the current shower is on leccy, there's only 2 of us most of the time and our heat store tank is very well insulated as well. Lots of other variables to consider too, like whether people are in or out during the day, aspect creating solar heat gain and insulation levels generally.
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