how huch oil to heat home pa?

upinsmoke_2

Hi everyone, thanks for all the responses.

Sorry i haven't been back sooner, been fighting off a cold.......:rotfl:

I have taken this forums advise (after reading many threads) and have set the heating and hot water to mornings and evenings. Also turned down the hot water thermostat to 49 (should it be lower?). We have only ever been shower people though and rarely take baths.
So hopefully this will cut down the cost dramatically.

We worked out how much it is costing us at the minute, oil prices rising aside its costing us about £4000 a year to heat this place, give or take.
Our last bill from the oil company was £514 for 1000L all in and considering thats our 3rd 1000L this year.....its totally ludicrous!!!!
Its a big place sure but for that money i would want tropical gardens everytime i went anywhere in my home. The reality of it all though is that we walk around in dressing gowns and hats over our normal clothes as the place is more like the arctic than the sub-tropics.
Temperature never is over 20 in the house and usually sits between 17-19 when the heating is on.

We have been in contact with Warmfront who after 8 weeks are coming out this monday so hopefully we may be elligible for them to rip out this rip off boiler and do....well....ANYTHING!!

We even have our curtains closed all day to cut down heat loss, but as i am in the house all day, a dark cold house isn't exactly the pinnacle of living and after the heating goes off in the morning it seems like waiting a lifetime for it to come back on again at 5pm as its soooooo cold.

Any more advise is greatly welcomed and thanks to all that chipped in above.

peat

I could be wrong but I dont think your thermostat should be set below 60 degrees because of the danger of Legionaires disease!

mute_posting

upinsmoke wrote: »

Also turned down the hot water thermostat to 49 (should it be lower?). We have only ever been shower people though and rarely take baths.
So hopefully this will cut down the cost dramatically.

<SNIP>

We even have our curtains closed all day to cut down heat loss, but as i am in the house all day, a dark cold house isn't exactly the pinnacle of living and after the heating goes off in the morning it seems like waiting a lifetime for it to come back on again at 5pm as its soooooo cold.

Any more advise is greatly welcomed and thanks to all that chipped in above.

As has may have been mentioned on other threads, I think the water should actually be 60-65 degrees (and as you have showers this may be even MORE important!)

WHY? Because the bugs that cause legionaires disease can survive below 60 deg C. In public places it is a requirement that water above 60 degreees reaches a draw-off point within 1 minute (at work we have people periodically going round checking this happens) As for the shower part the bugs are "caught" when fine mists are present and inhaled which is much more likely with a shower.

Of course I'm not suggesting you should be showering at 60 degrees (think it is closer to 40?) but the hot water should be hot enough for the bugs not to survive right upto the point of mixing / blending.

Now... onto the curtains, whilst the CH is switched off during the day you may be better to open the curtains to benefit form any solar gain.

I was reading a book on eco-homes and apparently that is the some of the thinking on making best use of nature.

HTH

MP

Supercali

We bought a 2 bed 1800s cottage with old Trianco boiler and used about 3000 litres a year. We are currently in the middle of renovation and converting it to a 3 bed house and it will all be brought up to current spec with regards to insulation etc

We have justed started to use our new Grant Vortex boiler the last couple of days but the new rooms are so much warmer and hold the heat in, even after the heating has been off for hours. The existing rooms are still a bit chilly but the lounge still has the stairs which we will be moving to a hall at some point.

I don't know how much I will use in the next year but fingers crossed that it will be more effective and efficient (esp with the hike in oil prices :eek: ). We also have a multi-fuel stove and will be using this again by next winter (need to rebuild the chimney)

upinsmoke_2

Wow thank you so much for that Peat/Mute_Posting :T i had no idea about Legionnaires Disease. I've just put it up to 62.

The nice lady from Warm Front has just been and assessed our whole place, she said even given the size of the place theres no way in hell we should be using 8000L a year. She laughed when i put the estimated cost to her of £4000pa saying 1000L in our place should be lasting us about 4-5 months.
She also said even if we had the place on constant at a very high temp we shouldn't be using what we are.
She said something is definately wrong with our system and it needs sorting.

Shes putting in for a repair but has warned us that the earliest apt will be 3 months from now. Oh well, at least its something!!