"Standard heating oil + additives" vs "Premium heating oil"

quartzz

The premium sales text has buzzwords like

• Clean & safe for domestic storage
• Improved efficiency vs other fuel types
• Clean & hot burn for efficient fuel
• Reduces tank sludge build up
• Cleaner burn, reducing emissions
• Longer lasting for optimum economy

I've just put some Hydra Vulcan additive into some standard heating oil, and have half a bottle left.

Any suggestions if will adding the additive to the normal stuff, do all the extra things that the premium does? The difference is £10 which honestly isn't break the bank money. But I don't want to have "too much" cleaning additive substance in the liquid, in case it damages rubber seals, runs too hot, damages the hardware, or other "bad things" (which might be break the bank money). if premium heating oil + additive does actually give any improvements over standard + additive, I'll pay the extra tenner

lohr500

I've been adding Hydra Vulcan or Phoenix at the recommended dose to every standard oil delivery for years.

I've never paid extra for the premium oil that's offered as rightly or wrongly, I've assumed it is just bog standard oil with a similar additive added by the supplier.

Never had any issues with the DIY additive approach in terms of damaging any of the boiler systems.

Our old boiler was well over thirty years old and every time I serviced it, the blower unit was always really clean with minimal soot build up.

The new boiler is now four years old and at every service the engineer has commented on how clean it runs.

No idea if the cleanliness is anything to do with the additive or not, but at +/- £12.50 per 1000 litres of oil, I intend to continue.

Based on a quote this morning, ordering premium oil from Boilerjuice costs £25 more on a 1000 litres than standard, so if the DIY additive is similar to what their suppliers add to their premium oil deliveries, then it works out at half the cost.

quartzz

sure. indeed. the numbers here are £15 for the hydra vulcan for the sized tank I have, or £10 more for 500ltrs of the premium oil. at first glance, assuming (...) Hydra are making their 40% markup on one sale, it seems similar

lohr500

The last Hydra I bought was £31.25 for a 500ml bottle that treats 2500 litres. So that works out at £6.25 to treat 500 litres. I got it off eBay as that was the cheapest place at the time. But I have bought from Amazon in the past as well.

quartzz

In fact if the boiler refuses to blow up, £16 for 100ml / £31 for 500ml, there seems to be some cost savings there if this is a per 6 months or per year thing.

spannerzone

I used the Hydra cleaner in the last two tank fillups I had and previously I've not done that for the previous 14 years I've been using the tank and boiler. My boiler started to burn a bit dirty a year ago and tried the Hydra liquid and frankly I'm doubtful it's done much to improve the burn (which my service engineer couldn't sort out for some reason) - so I think the treatment may slightly help, I'm not sure it really does much based on the previous 10+ years of not using it.

I'd not be paying for premium oil though, I'd either do nothing or just add a little Hydra on the next fill.

lohr500

I'm presuming the service engineer replaced the injector nozzle and checked the air mix to try and get the burner running as clean as possible? Also checked the flue and internal baffles for any obstructions?

Or perhaps a bad batch of oil?

400ixl

Snake oil and totally unnecessary if set up and maintained properly.

Our oil boiler is over 30 years old, burns cleanly and has never seen a drop of anything other than standard heating  oil kerosene.

None of the heating engineers around here would recommend them either.