Question on Heating Oil!

sujsuj

Got boiler engineer yesterday & got all sorted. Smoke is back !!
Thanks

youth_leader

Glad to hear it!  Hopefully no more hard lessons.   If you are new to country living, do carry a torch in your car - and for winter, add a few extras like water/chocolate/blanket/candle and matches/spade.  My late husband worked for a brewery and one of the sales men sadly died in his car, stuck in a blizzard on a motorway layby  - apparently just having a tea light in the car would have kept his body temperature up. Lastly don't be upset by the mice - block any obvious entry holes with those metal pan scrubbers. 

sujsuj

I already saw  set of mouse traps in the garage...I think they are under ground now  in winter. Once warn weather starts they too come out. looking for ward  for them

Hasbeen

sujsuj said:

Picture 1. That is a breather to allow air into tank. Do not remove.
Picture 2:
Sight tube will not give correct reading until:
Spring loaded valve is pulled out and wait. Top right hand side of valve. Shown on photo as level with tank bottom edge.
Level will drop in tube to reflect what is left in tank / usage since last check.
Spring loaded valve should return automatically to closed position when released, until next check etc.
Wheel valve in middle is to isolate tank contents from supply pipe to boiler. 2nd one shown as well.
And also to turn to close when cleaning the sludge filter directly underneath wheel valve held on by small bolt.

I gone back and done a second test  what I can see are as below..
Tank is 4X6X4  (H X W X D) feet.
I can see Oil level in 3 ways..
Wet oil mark  on Tank 6 inches , On Gauge Tube  3 inches,  Using Cane  8 inches .
Not sure which is more accurate. 
See photos.
I can see connection to Boiler at the bottom from photo and wet marking above that. So likely some blockages..?? I also found another valve at top of the Tank which can't be opened not sure what's that for..???

I found in the middle of Tank a flat metal beam across for strengthen the structure where I stuck in initial Cane test. 

See reply's under photos 1&2
Is gauge tube level with wet mark? As you have valve body below as well.
Tank capacity 2700 litres. But never gets filled to top so working capacity 2500 litres?

sujsuj

Hasbeen..very useful information. Thanks.

Apintplease

Now you have your long stick and you know how much oil you have paid for, nows the time to mark out your stick and you need to be checking weekly for a while to get some idea of how much oil you are using , esp right now we are in the midst of a cold spell

When we moved here, our kind vendors left us with a completely drained tank so we moved into a house that had been empty and cold for 2 weeks, no oil, and the coldest winter in years

We go a fill and the driver was fit to bleed the boiler for us so we didn't actually freeze to death that night . 

I near enough fainted when 5 weeks later we were out of oil

Im now resigned to using 4000litres a year. Just had a fill today which with fingers crossed and a mild winter will keep us going till March

Living in NI most of us use oil for heating so theres an oil company on the corner of every road - or so it seems. So we dont have the hassle of ringing around, a penny a litre isn't worth it. We usually use a company up the road to us and they dont charge extra for next or same day delivery. They have even been out to us at 9pm to get us up and running

greatcrested

Apintplease said:

Now you have your long stick and you know how much oil you have paid for, nows the time to mark out your stick and you need to be checking weekly for a while to get some idea of how much oil you are using ,
good advice.
Im now resigned to using 4000litres a year. Just had a fill today which with fingers crossed and a mild winter will keep us going till March
How massive is your house? 6 bed farmhouse with heated outbuildings?

Or just a massively old and inefficient boiler? That's not been serviced /cleaned in years?

I live in a 3 bed house with annexe, have the heating on all day, and use a full 2500 tank per year.

strawb_shortcake

3 bed semi, and we use 1000 litres max a year, the water heater is on 20 minutes a day unless someone is having a bath then maybe an extra 20 minute. Heating through the winter the boiler will be on 9 hours a day roughly, I may up this come January/February as the weather drops and I'll be working from home 

Davesnave

We live in a detached 4 bed size bungalow and use anything between 1500 and 2000 litres of oil a year, depending on the cost of oil, the amount of sunshine in winter and how many free logs we have stashed away. When it's sunny, our aspect and a conservatory keeps the property warm all day in the colder months and we switch to oil or logs when necessary outside those times and at night. Water heating is almost always by oil, unless the price goes through the roof!

caprikid1

We live in an old house and use to have an Aga, we knew our oil man well....... Scary consumption !!!