Oil heating - economy tips?

Tunya

Hi

I live in a rented property and have oil CH/HW. The whole village is on oil (all owned by same landlord) and there is no desire from the landlord to change over to gas.

Does anyone have any tips about conserving the incredibly expensive liquid??

Im down to 2 again on my meter so will need to top up soon. I have radiators turned off in the spare room and hallway and on low in the kitchen and the boiler itself on the lowest settings possible.

Does turning off radiators help? Also the heating will not come on until you turn the thermostat upto 20 (even when its baltic)

Regards

Tun.

Oldernotwiser

Well, if you're running central heating in June then it's bound to be expensive!

Tunya

Oh, its not on at the moment even with the recent rubbish weather. Id rather stick a jumper on and a pair of socks. I just meant in general.

zarazara

put foil behind the radiators or youcan buy specially made stuff for this job.heat as few rooms as possible, do the radiators have thermostatic valves? just use as few rooms as possible and only heat those. if the house has fireplaces consider opening them up and lighting fires.use heavy lined curtains and close them at dusk.bubble wrap at windows in rooms you dont use,or in some of the windows eg if you have a big picture window cover half of it in bubble wrap, will help conserve heat.wear wooly -pullys anda hat indoors.termal underwear, silk is bestthose microwave wheat bags are good too.if your on benefits or a pensioner you can get the loft lagged for free.see your elec supplier about grants available.

owned_by_2_Siamese

Oil and no choice here too !

We've just turned our boiler UP to midway - and set the water timer to 15 mins in the morning and 15 mins at night. The water is fine to use without cold - showers/washing up. It is more efficicent to 'burn' continuously for 15 minutes than to 'cycle' on and off for an hour or so (the boiler has to light, then hot water is circulating through the heat exchanger in the boiler without heating until the temp drops to the low setting and the boiler comes on) - I'm not sure its going to make me rich - but we definately are using less oil !

I think the key is to try your timer and keep the time its on to a minimum. Have also insulated the pipes from teh boiler to the hot water tank - and the hot water pipes (where I can get to them) so any valuable heat isn't wasted

One last tip - get the boiler serviced! Oil boilers need a new 'jet' nozzel every year so they burn efficiently and only the minimum fuel. It will cost around £70 tops - but will save you ove rthe year more than it costs - especially if you havent had it serviced for a while! - tip if you can see your flue and its black you're probably burning inefficiently!

Meanwhile I'll keep my fingers crossed the cost comes down.....