Oil Heating using 100 litrs a week-is this right?

brrritscold

Hi,we live in a private rented detached old two bed house,single brick,metal windows and brrr it's really cold,when we have the heating on it uses the oil like it has gone out of fashion,if we don't use it you can see your breath frosting in the air! It has cost some £900.00 since 20th December and yesterday it has run out -yet again! it equates to some 100 litres per week and just seems so incredibly expensive!! does anybody know what these oil systems are supposed to use or an average,there are 3 double radiators,3 singles and a smaller double,trouble is even in the summer,it has to go on in the evenings due to being a single brick property.

we are fed up paying fortunes and are seeking a more economical alternative if there is one? by the way,we can have either oil or electric as there is no gas in the village,please advise!???

Cardew

A non-cavity walled, detached house with metal widows is a surefire recipe for high bills, as you are finding out. With it being an old house, it probably also has an old inefficient boiler as well.

Not really much else to say, in a rented house there is not much you can do, and that consumption, whilst very high, is not surprising.

elljay

Hi, I also live in a rented 2bed detached single-glazed house about 1000 ft up a windy hill heated by an old oil boiler and I think that's an incredible amount for oil. Even in a rented house there's lots you can do. Has the boiler been serviced recently? If not, that's worth doing, mine gets a bit gunged up and is serviced around every 18 months. Get someone to check also that there are no leaks in the valves, pipes etc. Is there an open fire? I have one in the kitchen and use it a lot, even in summer - logs are way cheaper. If you don't use it, block it off as lots of heat goes up a chimney.

The best thing however is to sort out the insulation. If you look on the old style board there's a thread about preparing for winter with masses of ideas, such as double curtains, insulating windows and skirting gaps, foil behind radiators, closing doors and so on. My house is freezing even in the summer so these sorts of ideas are great as well as being cheap and appropriate for a rented house.

I paid around £400 in early Jan and guess there's around a third of the tank left. Are you shopping around for the best price for oil? There's another thread on here somewhere about using Boilerjuice etc but I find it best to ring around the local suppliers, their prices can change daily so don't rely on the price you paid last time.

Hope that helps.

Liz

Father_Jack_2

I was wondering the same thing yesterday....we had 500l delivered on 17th Jan and woke up yesterday with no heating and a stopped boiler (more expense getting it bled through by an engineer now). I assumed that there must have been a leak but it looks as though our system just uses alot of oil.

We are in a rented detached 2 bed house on the top of a hill.

owned_by_2_Siamese

100 ltrs a week is incredible! We have oil - and admittedly a condensing boiler/insulation - but in an exposed rural large house - we've used just under 2000 litres in a year! - I have to say that we are 'careful' - the heating times (morning and evening) are trimmed to the minimum ! and the room stat is set at 18 (so its jumpers but not uncomfortably cold) I have to say that we have a small wood burning stove that is lit all the time we're in the house - I would recommend exploring log/solid fuel fire as a supplemental heat source (and yes its a faff!! ash chopping wood etc...) However I think the biggest improvement you could make would be to get the boiler serviced (should be less than £100.) You need a new 'nozzle' evry 12 months or so - this is where the oil burns from - the oil is under pressure so it 'wears' the fine hole - this results in more oil that needed to combust going into your boiler. If you can see the flue and its blackened - or you can smell 'burning oil' from it then you will probably benefit from getting it checked.

Bear in mind - if its an old boiler - say 60% efficient - each litre of oil is giving you 6.0 KW of heat, multiply this by 100 litres 600KW - that 85KW a day - so that means if its working at its best efficiency you should produce the equivalent heat of 42 fan heaters on full for an hour (assuming 2KW)

Check with your landlord - if it really is using that much oil it needs attention !

Cardew

owned_by_2_Siamese wrote: »

Bear in mind - if its an old boiler - say 60% efficient - each litre of oil is giving you 6.0 KW of heat, multiply this by 100 litres 600KW - that 85KW a day - !

Agree with most of your post, especially getting the boiler serviced.

Also agree that 600kWh for 100 litres from an old boiler is realistic.

However IMO 600kWh in mid-winter is not incredible consumption for a house with very poor insulation(non-cavity walls and metal windows). It runs the equivalent of 10 radiators and presumably hot water.

600kWh from a modern gas boiler(say 90% efficient) would cost in the region of £15 and few would think that high for 10 radiators & HW in a house with poor insulation.

As said above, oil + old inefficient boiler + poor insulation in winter makes high consumption/costs inevitable.

Serendipity_phoenix

Thanks for posting this, i though it was just us, we are in a 3bed semi (next door have no heating or loft insulating so might as well be detached) we are on top of a hill in Cornwall, and our oil ran out a couple of days ago, when we moved in we done without heating from October till dec until we saved enough to put 500 liters in the tank, but it has ran out already, The house is freezing, the windows and doors might as well not be there, with the draft they let through, but i am loathed to apply for grants etc to get the place warmer as we have just found out the LL is riping us off for over £150 more a month than they have ever charged any one else! and this place is a 1890's built, 1970 decorated nightmare, which they will not allow us to decorate! (avocado bathroom suit and all!) in fact with in the first month the roof leaked so bad it ruined our only bed, and we still don't have one, as our insurance will not pay out and the landlord doesn't care! so i don't hold out much hope for getting them to service the boiler(that served the ark before us)!!

gerry,66

brrritscold wrote: »

Hi,we live in a private rented detached old two bed house,single brick,metal windows and brrr it's really cold,when we have the heating on it uses the oil like it has gone out of fashion,if we don't use it you can see your breath frosting in the air! It has cost some £900.00 since 20th December and yesterday it has run out -yet again! it equates to some 100 litres per week and just seems so incredibly expensive!! does anybody know what these oil systems are supposed to use or an average,there are 3 double radiators,3 singles and a smaller double,trouble is even in the summer,it has to go on in the evenings due to being a single brick property.

we are fed up paying fortunes and are seeking a more economical alternative if there is one? by the way,we can have either oil or electric as there is no gas in the village,please advise!???

Hi There
I live in a new de-tached house(2.5years old).Got 500 litres at the start of Feb,checked it today and need more.The heat would be on an average 7hours/day.I have too heat 4 bedrooms-the heat isn,t on during the day as it,s up too over 400quid for 900 litres