Oil fuel

dd7ewer

Recently moved have oil fuel  don't know how much to order as outside tank no gauge to see how much oil is in tank I've ordered 500 ltrs with boiler juice  £222  info. Please how to gauge oil in tank  n do i need to service  boiler  annually  and would  I need  a plumber or electrician?  My 1st question  oap 

Fredw56

If it is a standard tank and not a bunded tank you can measure it an calculate the volume. You never totally fill a tank, there is always a free space at the top. The tank may have some manufacturer's markings. If it does look it up on their website. Failing all that, ask the tanker driver what he knows. Those lads see tanks all day every day. A bunded tank is double skinned, a tank within a tank. They look bigger because there is a big empty space around it.
Yes you need an annual service. Oil is dirty relative to gas. You just need an oil fired boiler technician. Look for one on the OFTEC website. You can search by postcode. Stick to OFTEC registered competent contractors to be certain they know what they are doing. many plumbers will too but it's not worth the trial and error.
In the summer, fill your tank ready for winter. You have just paid about 44p per litre. Last autumn it was 28p. We have paid up to 70p. The latter is a disaster, we turned our heating off (that was winter 2011). The more you buy, the lower the price but few domestic houses have a tank much above 1250 litres. Folk with oil Aga cookers do, we had a 2600L tank when we had an Aga. Hideous things.
Some villages organise a buying group so the tanker comes to a number of houses on one journey. Saves a little. Ask around the neighbours. There will probably be an OFTEC person in the locality too. Ask any local tradesman, they all know each other.

Nearly oap but had lots of oil boilers.

dd7ewer

Very helpful will take your advice 😊

matelodave

You dont need a gauge to check how much is in the tank - use a stick (make sure its clean to avoid introducing dirt) and then dip it to the bottom to estimate how much is in there.

If you get clever you can mark it off in either litres or any other graduations that you like to enable you to gauge how much is in there and when you need a fill.

Do it now, before you get your 500l and then again after it's been filled. That will show you roughly the depth of 500litres and how far up the tank it is

dunstonh

You need to either (or both) invest in a broom handle or cane or get yourself an apollo monitor (not the smart monitor but the cheaper and better 10 bar monitor).

With the "stick", you can dip it so it touches the bottom, then pull the stick out and put a pen marker indicating where full.    Then when it drops to about halfway, order a full to top from a local independent supplier.  It won't be as cheap in most cases but you can tell them you dont know how much it needs and you are new to oil but your stick tells you its half full.   Local suppliers are usually much more helpful and will come along and fill you up without having a specific amount ordered.  They may have filled up there before and give you some history on the tank.   

The day the delivery comes, dip the stick and mark the level.   Once the delivery has been and confirmed full to top, you will get a slip telling you how much they put in.   And that is your first benchmark to note.  You can write that on the stick.  So, know at that level, you order xxx litres.  Next time do it at a different point so you can mark a few more.

The apollo monitor is a bit easier as long as you set it correctly.  It has 10 bars and they drop as it empties.   Like the stick, you use a local supplier telling them you are new and want a fill to top.    Then record how much is filled up with x number of bars on the monitor.  Then you know in future that if the monitor shows x bars, you order y litres.

I have the monitor and the stick as it does no harm to have a backup if the monitor fails.  Plus, I just liked to know for myself. 

Oil boilers are very similar in maintenance requirements to a gas boiler.  So, an annual service is required.   There are parts that should be changed each year.   £70-£100 a service.   We recently changed our service engineer as our boiler failed. just about 2 months after service.  The normal company didn't do out of hours so I got someone else in.    They fixed the issue and serviced it again as they found the nozzle hadn't been changed in years, the filters were filthy (not at a level they should be after 2 months) and the pot by the tank hadn't been emptied. Some of the flexi hoses were years old and they should have been changed.    So, quality will vary.   Ironically, the newer better engineer was also cheaper.  

Never let the tank empty as it can cause damage.   Plus, your tank will never use all the oil in it.  If you look at your tank, you will see the exit pipe is a couple of inches off the bottom.  So, dont assume because you have say a 1500 litre tank that it means you have 1500 useable litres.   The tank is never filled to the brim (as oil can expand) and the bottom is never used.  So, you could have 1400 useable litres in a 1500 litre tank.

Oil is easy once you get the hang of it.   

Generally, you will use very little between mid April to September.  Autumn months speed up use a bit but Dec/Jan/Feb you will use a heck of a lot.   My tank is too small for the house size at 1494 litires.  We use 2600 litres a year and fill up four times a year with approx 800 litres each time.  January, March, October, December typically.  So, you can see the use is heavy now with 3 fill-ups covering 4/5 months. 

dogshome

Boiler Juice are just one supplier and they don't supply direct - What they do is farm the fill out to suppliers close to you, place the order with cheapest and add some margin for themselves on top

Build up a list of Oil suppliers in your area. ( hopefully at least 5 ), and phone all of them for a price when you need a re-fill - Don't assume the cheapest on this refill will be the cheapest on next- Phone all of them each time

twiglet98

If you are able to contact the previous owners (or tenants) perhaps they could let you know who they normally used to service the boiler, and to supply their oil (although it is always advisable to get a number of quotes before placing the order - and BoilerJuice has never been competitively priced for mine). 

greatcrested

An oil boiler service is more important than a gas boiler so yes, annual service.

https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/oil-boiler-servicing-and-maintenance-guide

No not a plumber, nor an electrician! Find a local OFTEC registered oil engineer.

Simplest solution to measure tank is a long bamboo cane. Dip it till it touches the bottom. If he tank i full, mark where the oil comes to on the cane, then mark off halfway, quarter, eigth etc.

But to start, measure where it is now and again after your delivery to get an idea how much difference 500 ltrs makes, and how full the tank is.

Read the various threads on this forum for lots of guidance on buying oil!

Hasbeen

dd7ewer said:

Recently moved have oil fuel  don't know how much to order as outside tank no gauge to see how much oil is in tank I've ordered 500 ltrs with boiler juice  £222  info. Please how to gauge oil in tank  n do i need to service  boiler  annually  and would  I need  a plumber or electrician?  My 1st question  oap 

Op:  Just ordered oil at price of 37p per litre. You paid 44p difference was £37.  Boiler juice is usually expensive for me.
Next time google local suppliers in your area. Most have online quotes. Get at last 6 prices.

You need to get it serviced by OFTEC heating engineer.

Measure your tank to work out capacity. You get oil cheaper the more you buy. I usually tell supplier to fill to required capacity when price is cheap. Prices fluctuate in each area through out year.

As others have advised use a cane or brush handle marked off when tank is full. As tank goes down regular checks will tell you what is left and also an indication of usage.

Coys

Occasionally I've ordered too much because I've allowed for delivery in 3 weeks and they turn up the next day or so. But I've always been refunded the difference very quickly.

Some local suppliers will offer a top-up service if you pay by direct debit. They just fill the tank and charge you for how much went in, so no need to guess.

Boilerjuice are usually cheaper than my local supplier's direct price, but more often than not it turns out to be the local supplier who does the delivery anyway.

Ebe_Scrooge

Coys said:

Occasionally I've ordered too much because I've allowed for delivery in 3 weeks and they turn up the next day or so. But I've always been refunded the difference very quickly.

Some local suppliers will offer a top-up service if you pay by direct debit. They just fill the tank and charge you for how much went in, so no need to guess.

Boilerjuice are usually cheaper than my local supplier's direct price, but more often than not it turns out to be the local supplier who does the delivery anyway.

The direct debit thing is offered by pretty much all my local suppliers.  It's convenient, but definitely not MSE, as you're then tied in to one supplier.  I just ring around about 8 of my local suppliers each time I need to fill up, and almost without exception, the cheapest one last time is not the cheapest this time.  Far better to just put money aside each month into a separate account, then ring around for the cheapest quote each time you need to order.

Interesting that you have found BoilerJuice the cheapest - the opposite has been true every time I look.  Yes, it'll be a local supplier that delivers for BJ, but I've always found it quite a bit cheaper by going direct to the supplier.  But it's always worth a look at BJ first, if only to get a benchmark of the current going rate.

One other useful tip - certainly for my local suppliers, 500 litres is the minimum order, but you'll get a better price if you order at least 900 litres.