Cost of oil central heating

Cardew · 23 February 2011 at 11:11PM

SammyFace wrote: »

how do I work out the cost per kw to run my boiler which I believe runs at approx 94% efficiency?

A litre of oil contains approx 10kWh(10.2 is the normally quoted figure)

So if you pay 55p a litre the cost is approx 5.5p/kWh. At 94% that would work out to 5.85p/kWh

Condensing boiler efficiency figures are much like 'showroom' MPG figures on cars - rarely achievable.

However the only time you would need to work out the cost per kWh, taking into account boiler efficiency, is if you wanted to compare what you pay for heating/hot water against what it would cost if you used electricity - which is 100% efficient.

SammyFace · 23 February 2011 at 11:13PM

Thanks so much Cardew.

owned_by_2_Siamese · 24 February 2011 at 6:53PM

Geotherm wrote: »

To owned by 2 siamese.

A couple of questions:
Why is ASHP and GSHP not mature enough. It has been going for many years and is known more in Scandinavian countries than in the UK, where temperatures get far lower.
What was your oil consumption over 2 years, + your £300 for additional heat from the fire, plus your electricity bill, as they probably included everything?
Size of your house and temperature settings (18C you say) against theirs.
So many variables that are not defined, so unable to compare.

Hi Geotherm -
I think thats my point its impossible to compare!
In terms of ASHP and GSHP a neighbour has exactly the same house and works full time - as I mentioned their electric bill for one quarter was almost two years of my oil usage ( I know bad example - too many variables) some of the comments on the forum indicate that this technology may not be as 'sorted' as we would all like to believe. On top of that most of us have radiator based systems - not underfloor heating which lends itself much better to the lower temp continuous run systems - so I guess in my opinion its not yet a viable alternative for many of us.

Also scandinavia has considerable hydroelectric power - the unit cost is much lower - making it more viable!

Last two years oil consumption (march 2009 - Feb 2011) is 3200 litres - this years is higher due to sustained lower temp. The £300 coal/wood was this year - last year £172 (just shows how much coal went up!)
House has 5 double beds, 3 baths, three large receptions, combined kitchen/garden room (42 feet wide!) one wall 1.5 storeys high glass in this room (k glass triple glazed) valuted 1.5 story ceilings (put like this I guess it is big!)

Electric we pay £45 a month which just about covers (100% cfl/LED lighting, all kitchen apps A or A+)

;-)

lovesgshp · 24 February 2011 at 7:48PM

Thanks for that info. I will try to compare it to a house here of 350 sq mtrs, only double glazed, with no insulation in the roof, stone built solid walls, again with no insulation running on radiators. Previously on LPG, but now with 2x11Kw GSHP heat pumps since Nov 2010.
If I take your oil bill @ say 50p ltr, then £1600 pounds for 3 months is your neighbours bill. Obviously I do not know their heating settings/temp settings/ pump running times etc, or their other usage rates.
The comments are from an email received this month, after asking how a system was performing. Our electricity costs here in Italy are higher than the UK, so please take that into account and the figures are in Euros.

" Everything seems to be working a treat, we are delighted with it all. We got our first bill today for a month, considering we had to put it on pretty high at the beginning and assuming the cost will be much less in the summer months at euro 311 I think not bad. We should achieve about a 50% saving compared to the gas. It is also working well with the timer so we have it working as much as possible in the night and that seems to have helped since the cost is split in the three phases of the day. We really like the way it heats and maintains the warmth at a lower temperature than with the gas."

bernithebiker · 24 February 2011 at 8:33PM

Not sure where you're getting oil (it's actually a kerosene blend) at 0.55p a litre from. Here in France it's now 0.85 Euro a litre, (70p) and that's before crude broke through $110. Can't imagine it's loads cheaper in the UK is it?!

lovesgshp · 24 February 2011 at 9:52PM

bernithebiker wrote: »

Not sure where you're getting oil (it's actually a kerosene blend) at 0.55p a litre from. Here in France it's now 0.85 Euro a litre, (70p) and that's before crude broke through $110. Can't imagine it's loads cheaper in the UK is it?!

Not me, I just put in a estimate cost as a comparison. Everything here in Italy is expensive as well.

suki1964 · 25 February 2011 at 11:01AM

Here in NI oil is averaging 55ppl ATM

Diesel is 134ppl

rslgb · 4 March 2011 at 11:30PM

I have a multistove burning coal, that heats my 2 bedroom house and all the hot water i need, on average it cost's £450 pa. we are thinking of changing to oil but it seems it might cost as much as £1200 pa and the C.H would be on a timer and trying to spare hot water. we live in cold scotland, the stove burns 24/7 for 6 mounths of the year. am i missing something or has oil become a non starter. my coal cost's £12.50 for a 50kg bag of smokeless and oil seems to be around 60p per ltr, coal is hard work but at these prices coal wins easy?

suki1964 · 4 March 2011 at 11:38PM

rslgb wrote: »

I have a multistove burning coal, that heats my 2 bedroom house and all the hot water i need, on average it cost's £450 pa. we are thinking of changing to oil but it seems it might cost as much as £1200 pa and the C.H would be on a timer and trying to spare hot water. we live in cold scotland, the stove burns 24/7 for 6 mounths of the year. am i missing something or has oil become a non starter. my coal cost's £12.50 for a 50kg bag of smokeless and oil seems to be around 60p per ltr, coal is hard work but at these prices coal wins easy?

I dont think you are missing anything

Reading through the threads and you will see many of us on oil use the coal to boost the heating and eek out the oil

Hard work - not really - 10 mins a day for a toasty house. And if you are getting rads and water on top then its a winner

Oil is never going to be "cheap" again

rslgb · 5 March 2011 at 12:00AM

thanks for the reply,over the last 2 or 3 weeks i have been shocked at what oil might cost and thought i might be getting my figures wrong but even here it seems i would be making a big mistake putting oil in, we have had our stove for 25years and just wanted something easyer? think i will replace the stove with a new stove and just carry on with coal.

Cost of oil central heating

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