Immersion heater v Oil boiler (not combi)

HillStreetBlues

I only use the oil but still have the immersion heater. I last paid 52p a litre for the oil.
What would I need and how do I go about calculating the tipping point when it would be cheaper to use the IH?

molerat

Domestic heating oil gives around 10 kWh per litre.  Your boiler should hopefully have a minimum efficiency of 70% so 7 kWh effective heat which is 7.4p per kWh v 23p+ for electric.

HillStreetBlues

molerat said:

Domestic heating oil gives around 10 kWh per litre.  Your boiler should hopefully have a minimum efficiency of 70% so 7 kWh effective heat which is 7.4p per kWh v 23p+ for electric.

When getting boiler serviced can they tell the efficiency?

Reed_Richards

HillStreetBlues said:

molerat said:

Domestic heating oil gives around 10 kWh per litre.  Your boiler should hopefully have a minimum efficiency of 70% so 7 kWh effective heat which is 7.4p per kWh v 23p+ for electric.

When getting boiler serviced can they tell the efficiency?

Tell, no.  But I'm sure a service engineer could make an estimate based on the age and state of the boiler.

FreeBear

HillStreetBlues said:

molerat said:

Domestic heating oil gives around 10 kWh per litre.  Your boiler should hopefully have a minimum efficiency of 70% so 7 kWh effective heat which is 7.4p per kWh v 23p+ for electric.

When getting boiler serviced can they tell the efficiency?

Highly unlikely they could tell you how efficient the boiler is running. The engineer would be able to measure the flue gasses to check that it is running within recommended guidelines.. You can look up published efficiency ratings for your boiler here -> https://www.ncm-pcdb.org.uk/sap/pcdbsearch.jsp?pid=26

The numbers need to be treated as a guide only as usage patterns can make quite a bit of difference.

I've got monitoring equipment hooked up to my heating system and record how much heat is being used. Based on that data along with gas consumption from the meter, I'm running at around 94% efficiency for both water and heating. The database reckons I should be at 88.5% at this time of year.