We have ‘used’ 600 litres of heating oil in 8 days!

cannugec5

Effician said:

Did the heating engineer pressure test the pipework from tank to boiler to confirm 100% you have a leak?  you only say he wouldn't put a new line in, as Lohr say's very odd that with with that amount of leakage you can't smell it.

Other than magic, there is no other explanation for the oil vanishing. 

It is not possible to have burnt that amount. 

It continued to vanish when the boiler was off. 

The tank was locked. 

It stopped vanishing when the stopcock was finally turned off with brute force. 

We live on rocky ground. 

Effician

cannugec5 said:

We do not know the actual route the fuel pipe takes. Logic would have it going by the shortest route. However this does not appear to be the case. Oddly at the tank end the pipe goes backwards under a boundary wall. (When our house was built the owner owned both properties.) 

Has your neighbour lost their free heating now you've turned off the supply.

thrope

I think it is possible to find local installers who might be a bit more pragmatic about the regulations and replace like for like if it's been in situ for decades. So could start with the new line, then look to change the tank when necessary.

Or at least get a second opinion on why it is impossible. I think it is 30cm from the boundary, but the regulations allow for use of fireproof fencing in some situations.

Qyburn

cannugec5 said:
 

We do not know the actual route the fuel pipe takes. Logic would have it going by the shortest route. However this does not appear to be the case. Oddly at the tank end the pipe goes backwards under a boundary wall. (When our house was built the owner owned both properties.) Digging up to actually find the old leaky pipe will not help us, . 

A new pipe doesn't need to follow the same route as the old especially as it doesn't seem a sensible route anyway.

Personally I'd rather not excavate to the leak, you might then find you're legally obliged to decontaminate.

MikeJXE

Personally I would have a new temporary over ground pipe fitted rather than go without heating 

35har1old

cannugec5 said:

We had out tank filled last Monday. That was a surprise as it had only lasted 6 weeks, but we did have a long, cold spell in December so put it down to that. Our oil usually lasts 3-6 months, with on average 2 fills per year. 

On Monday they filled up with the full 1200 litres. 

Since then the weather has been miserable and wet, but not below freezing until yesterday. 

Today I checked the tank again and we are down below half! 

We have the thermostat set at 18 in the day and 10.5 at night. 

The water heats for an hour in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening. ( Electric showers).

The ‘Watchman’ has not detected a sudden drop, so unlikely to be a theft. 

We have today, turned the boiler right off. Out heating engineer cannot come until next week so until then we will use the electric heater in the living room, and the immersion heater. We want to preserve the remaining oil if possible, or perhaps see if it is leaking out. 

I fail to understand how we could have an oil leak and not smell it 
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? 

We cannot afford £500 a week! 

Do you use the same oil company all the time. 

matelodave

You could do what my bro did and install the new tank himself 

cannugec5

matelodave said:

You could do what my bro did and install the new tank himself 

If it is not meeting legislation then the drivers could refuse to deliver oil to it. 

cannugec5

MikeJXE said:

Personally I would have a new temporary over ground pipe fitted rather than go without heating 

The Heating Engineer has come back to us, with this as a possibility. He is getting the pipe. It will be longer as it will have to go round the perimeter to prevent it being driven over. 

It will enable us to use up whatever oil remains  in the tank. 

Initially when I asked if it was possible he wasn’t sure if it would be legal, but has checked up. As long as it is only a temporary solution we can have an over ground pipe. 

At least that buys us time:) 

cannugec5

35har1old said:

Do you use the same oil company all the time. 

We have two companies that deliver here. We tend to stick with one but have on occasions used the other.