Question on Heating Oil!

Madmel

sujsuj, you need to get a bit more organised!  I am not trying to be mean - I am a born & bred townie so living rurally for the last 14 years has been a steep learning curve for me too.  We had the issue of running out of oil but in our case, DH who is really practical got the boiler working again straight away.

What we do is have a big book.  Every time we read an electricity meter or water meter, the date & the reading goes in the book.  Our property is complicated. Our 4 bed stone/cob/brick house is in the middle. Attached on side is a converted cob barn which is a 3 bed house used by my father as a 2nd (or during Covid, permanent) home.  On the other is a converted creamery/stable which is a holiday cottage that we let out.  It is made from brick.  The 2 cottages are heated by electric storage heaters.  There is only one supply which comes into our house and we are on an economy 7 tariff.  The cottages both have dual meters and water meters.  Our house is heated by oil and we have a bottle gas hob.  With all that to keep tabs on, our book is invaluable. Every time DH measures the oil level, it is noted in the book.  He also checks which of the 2 gas bottles is being used so we don't run out of that either.  

As soon as the level in mm gets down to around 200, I start checking prices.  If you don't need it in a hurry, you get a better price with Boiler Juice.  Then I put the order in.  We tend to use between 750 - 1000 litres per year but the heating is off most of the day apart from in the depths of winter.  We try to time it so we get summer deliveries.  July/August has been the cheapest time and also local companies can do next day deliveries.

If I was more organised, I would put all the readings into a spreadsheet and look at our usage.  However, with remote lessons & live lessons to plan & deliver right now, it's at the bottom of the list.  Rural living is different, but at the moment it is brilliant to be able to step outside and see trees and hear birds.  Within 5 minutes, I am up on the Common, away from it all.  

sujsuj

Ok. Thanks Finally did another panic buy 1000L. this time from https://comparetheoilprice.com/
Seems to be not much higher than previous panic buy!! But another £70 less than Boiler Juice on the day.

Yes, I need to be more oraganised, Looking forward for Summer to enjoy most of better side of my Garden etc..
I had  pleasant Xmas surprise, probably gift rural life in the form of a bottle on the side fence from my neighbout whom I never met!! Thanks

Davesnave

sujsuj said:

I had  pleasant Xmas surprise, probably gift rural life in the form of a bottle on the side fence from my neighbour whom I never met!! Thanks

Rural life has its compensations, though scratches down the left side of any car over 6months old aren't one of them!

Apintplease

Davesnave said:

sujsuj said:

I had  pleasant Xmas surprise, probably gift rural life in the form of a bottle on the side fence from my neighbour whom I never met!! Thanks

Rural life has its compensations, though scratches down the left side of any car over 6months old aren't one of them!

urgh, got the mud washed off my car over the holiday season, and Ive two down to bare metal

Single width lanes, muck spreaders and hedgerows aren't a good combo when it comes to keeping the car looking good

youth_leader

And the punctures from the hawthorn hedge cuttings when the hedge cutter has been out .....

sujsuj

Ohh dear...I need to tackle the other issue...Emptying septic Tank. Surely I will not end up starting a thread on that subject after failure on that!!!

MobileSaver

Apintplease said:

yes it really is possible to run out of 1000ltrs in a month, all depends on your insulation, your boiler and how warm you keep your house and what subsidiary heating you have ... If Mum wasn't with us, our heating oil bill would be halved

Agreed! In the middle of winter if elderly relatives are staying with us, we can easily go through 2000 ltrs in a single month; not surprisingly we're on first name terms with our oil delivery driver.

greatcrested

MobileSaver said:

Apintplease said:

yes it really is possible to run out of 1000ltrs in a month, all depends on your insulation, your boiler and how warm you keep your house and what subsidiary heating you have ... If Mum wasn't with us, our heating oil bill would be halved

Agreed! In the middle of winter if elderly relatives are staying with us, we can easily go through 2000 ltrs in a single month; not surprisingly we're on first name terms with our oil delivery driver.

I'm amazed by this. Very old/inefficient boiler?

As I said earlier I have an old stone 3 bed house + 2 room annexe, and have the heating on constantly all day every day. No other heating. I've used around half a (2500 litre) tank since start of October.

Ohh dear...I need to tackle the other issue...Emptying septic Tank.

When was it last emptied? They should not be emptied too often as that removes all the 'good' bacteria that is needed for them to working properly. Once a year max (we do it around every 2 years).

But you need to check it is compliant with the new rules. On sale of a property, STs must comply with the 2020 rules. Where does the outflow go? If to a watercourse, you'll need to upgrade, probably to a small sewage works.

MobileSaver

greatcrested said:

MobileSaver said:

In the middle of winter if elderly relatives are staying with us, we can easily go through 2000 ltrs in a single month; not surprisingly we're on first name terms with our oil delivery driver.

Very old/inefficient boiler?

old stone 3 bed house + 2 room annexe, and have the heating on constantly all day every day. No other heating. I've used around half a (2500 litre) tank since start of October.

It's an old boiler but not particularly inefficient; we had a heating engineer test efficiency the year before last and there wasn't a massive difference between ours and a modern boiler. It is however a large eight bedroom hundred years old house with a huge number of single glazed windows.

A key factor I have to admit is that my girlfriend is nesh and she'll have rooms uncomfortably hot for me but this is normally achieved by having roaring open fires as well as the oil-powered central heating on all day...

Fortunately this winter has been relatively mild until recently and lockdown means we haven't had the usual elderly relatives this holiday season so we've only used around 700 ltrs since the last delivery on Christmas Eve.

sujsuj

greatcrested said:

I'm amazed by this. Very old/inefficient boiler?

As I said earlier I have an old stone 3 bed house + 2 room annexe, and have the heating on constantly all day every day. No other heating. I've used around half a (2500 litre) tank since start of October.

Ohh dear...I need to tackle the other issue...Emptying septic Tank.

When was it last emptied? They should not be emptied too often as that removes all the 'good' bacteria that is needed for them to working properly. Once a year max (we do it around every 2 years).

But you need to check it is compliant with the new rules. On sale of a property, STs must comply with the 2020 rules. Where does the outflow go? If to a watercourse, you'll need to upgrade, probably to a small sewage works.

Thanks.
One query I have on Oil delivery is, Is there any proof that I am getting what I paid for..?? I have seen US Oil delivery where kind of meter punched receipt.  ie before opening tap  reading is taken/punched into receipt and after pouring say 1000L meter punched again from meter associated with Tanker which effectively proves I am getting what I paid for.

For my last delivery  I got a receipt saying 1000L but none proves I got what I paid for..? Or I am a too mean townie suspecting innocent delivery/Oil companies..??