how huch oil to heat home pa?

upinsmoke_2

Can anyone help me please?
I live in rural 3 bed detached farmhouse using oil fired CH and Water Heating (no cooking) . Have just re-ordered further 1000 litres which is 3rd order since Jan 12th 2008. This mean approx 125 pounds per week at this year's prices!!! We keep heating on constant but at low heat which means we wear loads of clothes, hats to keep warm despite prodigious cost. My thinking is that it would cost more to let the place get cold twice daily and then re-heat house from cold. Could boiler be faulty? It was serviced a few months ago and fuel costs were lower for a short couple of months (winter) but are now this high again. If I could get an idea of what others pay for similar residence it would help.Thanks.

Cardew

upinsmoke wrote: »

We keep heating on constant -- My thinking is that it would cost more to let the place get cold twice daily and then re-heat house from cold.

Welcome to the forum.

Whilst your logic is understandable; it most definitely is wrong.

It is not cheaper to do as you say.

Read the Energy Saving Trust website if you need confirmation.

Sunny2

I also live in a 3 bed detached farmhouse. We buy 1000 litres 3 - 4 times a year which provides heating and hot water. We ordered 1000 litres today which has cost us £510 including vat. And, we've been warned that the cost is about to shooting up AGAIN not just because oil prices are still rising but also because of something the govt are doing - something to do with tax? Our heating is on twice a day, from around 6.30-7.30 am and then from about 6.30 - 10pm. Hot water is on for slightly longer. A third order since Jan seems ridiculously high - unless you have the heating and hot water on at a high level all day. We're a family of 4 with two teenagers. We all bath and shower, although I suspect showering is probably uses less oil than baths (?). I shall check out Energy Saving trust web site too, as at the rate oil prices are going we won't be able to afford the heating!

boyse7en

Crikey, upinsmoke is using about 1000 litres per month, and Sunny2, you're on about 3500 per year.

I've got a detached 4 bedroom house, built in 1930s, and have the heating on for the same times as Sunny, plus the hot water on 12 hours per day at the weekends (we've got a combi boiler, so HW on demand). I'm having 1000 litres delivered tomorrow, and expect that to last until at least Xmas. My total per year is about 1600-1800 litres.

I'd invest in some thick coats and woolly socks, as the price of oil is unlikely to drop any time soon.

p.s. Just for laughs, when we moved into the house 7 years ago, oil was 16.4p per litre and I was worried about the cost of heating compared to gas. Those were the days...

TBeckett100

someone i know spends £500pm on oil to heat their home.

hillbilly5

We live in a large old 1930's council house with poor double glazing and no wall insulation (forgotten what you call it>??!!).

My Dad is a heating engineer and he will tell you that EVERY house is individual and you cannot compare one with another. You have to find what is optimum for your house. You need to for instance look at where your thermostat is for the central heating as this will affect when the heating kicks in, also the radiators. Do they have individual room stats on them?

We have our hot water on for one hour in the morning and one in the evening. This allow us all the hot water we need for 5 showers etc etc. We have the central heating on about 17-19 degrees and this keeps an average temp of 20 degrees in the house overall. When we go to bed we turn the thermostat down to 15 degrees as we don't really need the heating overnight.

We currently use about 1000 litres a year just by being careful, but by no means stingy.

ACEELECLTD

hillbilly5 wrote: »

We live in a large old 1930's council house with poor double glazing and no wall insulation (forgotten what you call it>??!!).

We currently use about 1000 litres a year just by being careful, but by no means stingy.

Hello Hillbilly5

my main bit of advice would be that the first thing you should do is invest in spending money on increasing the insulation on your property.

Contact warmfront to find out if you (or anyone in your household) are entitled to any financial help. Failing that contact the Energy Saving trust for some advice.

To extra insulate your house and cavity is not that expensive. Your house must hemorrhage heat at the moment and that needs to be your first thing to address

happy saving

Cardew

ACEELECLTD wrote: »

Hello Hillbilly5

my main bit of advice would be that the first thing you should do is invest in spending money on increasing the insulation on your property.

Contact warmfront to find out if you (or anyone in your household) are entitled to any financial help. Failing that contact the Energy Saving trust for some advice.

To extra insulate your house and cavity is not that expensive. Your house must hemorrhage heat at the moment and that needs to be your first thing to address

happy saving

Bit puzzled by this?

Obviously insulation is very important, but Hillbilly 5 only uses 1000 litres a year(about 10,200kWh) which is quite excellent.

Others in this thread are using 1,000 litres in a couple of months!

samtheman1k

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

Whilst your logic is understandable; it most definitely is wrong.

It is not cheaper to do as you say.

Read the Energy Saving Trust website if you need confirmation.

Have you got a link for this?

Cardew

samtheman1k wrote: »

Have you got a link for this?

It was in their FAQ

Question
Is it more economical to leave my heating on 24hrs in the winter?

Answer
No. It is a common misconception that it is cheaper to leave your hot water and heating on all the time. Boilers use more power initially to heat water from cold, however the cost of this is greatly exceeded by the cost of keeping the boiler running all of the time.

The best solution is to programme your heating system so that it comes on when you need it most (possibly early morning and in the evening), and goes off when you don't need it (when you are out of the house or asleep). There are a range of controls that can be used and your heating engineer will be able to provide you with the most appropriate solution.

Depending on your circumstances it may be necessary to keep the heating on all day during winter but it will cost more than if you turn the heating off when you don't need it.

ACEELECLTD

Cardew wrote: »

Bit puzzled by this?

Obviously insulation is very important, but Hillbilly 5 only uses 1000 litres a year(about 10,200kWh) which is quite excellent.

Others in this thread are using 1,000 litres in a couple of months!

A large house + poor double glazing + no wall insulation = quite remarkable.

Think how little you would spend if you tackled the heat loss issue.

I think you are only using 28ish Kw of energy a day.... that is impressive