Heating Oil Consumption

[parisdisneyfan]

We are newish to oil too. Thanks for your thread as it reminded me to go and check ours!

We inherited a dodgy gauge on the tank and even older boiler than you so for our first 6 weeks we have no idea what our consumption was!

The tank was bone dry at the beginning of December 2019 which was when we also had the new boiler fitted. So far in 13 months we have used approximately 3000 litres. However for most of that dh has worked from home (sitting at computer so feels the cold!) Constant battle as I turn it down and he turns it back up! Ds moved in at the start of March and DD has probably lived with us for total of 3 months in the past year as well. We had a new Nest thermostat fitted which just works on temp not on time. Our hot water is from the oil too, it is on for about 3-4 hours a day (3-4 showers a day!) According to the plumber who has changed some of the rads we have a 1970's single pipe system not the dual pipe that is used these days. Apparently that is really inefficient but short of ripping everything out and starting from scratch nothing we can do

We now have new windows but we still have a 12 year old polycarb roof on the conservatory which we use as a dining room and I'm pretty sure the heat just goes straight out of that! Our next job is converting the integral garage (which we have to walk through to get from the kitchen to the conservatory, or take food through hall, lounge and then into conservatory) Hopefully once it is done and insulated to current regs our oil consumption will go down.

On our list of stuff to do is to change our tank as well. Apparently everyone knows that boilers break but forgets about tanks! Ours is ok at the moment but is only a single skin and does have a small bulge in it. Pretty sure it isn't leaking as sure I would be able to smell it but it is perhaps worth checking?

Not sure how much oil costs with you, but on the good side the last tank full was 1/2 the price of the one in December last year! Good luck with it all, lots more to taking on an older house than we realised!

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

We are newish to oil too. Thanks for your thread as it reminded me to go and check ours!

We inherited a dodgy gauge on the tank and even older boiler than you so for our first 6 weeks we have no idea what our consumption was!

The tank was bone dry at the beginning of December 2019 which was when we also had the new boiler fitted. So far in 13 months we have used approximately 3000 litres. However for most of that dh has worked from home (sitting at computer so feels the cold!) Constant battle as I turn it down and he turns it back up! Ds moved in at the start of March and DD has probably lived with us for total of 3 months in the past year as well. We had a new Nest thermostat fitted which just works on temp not on time. Our hot water is from the oil too, it is on for about 3-4 hours a day (3-4 showers a day!) According to the plumber who has changed some of the rads we have a 1970's single pipe system not the dual pipe that is used these days. Apparently that is really inefficient but short of ripping everything out and starting from scratch nothing we can do

We now have new windows but we still have a 12 year old polycarb roof on the conservatory which we use as a dining room and I'm pretty sure the heat just goes straight out of that! Our next job is converting the integral garage (which we have to walk through to get from the kitchen to the conservatory, or take food through hall, lounge and then into conservatory) Hopefully once it is done and insulated to current regs our oil consumption will go down.

On our list of stuff to do is to change our tank as well. Apparently everyone knows that boilers break but forgets about tanks! Ours is ok at the moment but is only a single skin and does have a small bulge in it. Pretty sure it isn't leaking as sure I would be able to smell it but it is perhaps worth checking?

Not sure how much oil costs with you, but on the good side the last tank full was 1/2 the price of the one in December last year! Good luck with it all, lots more to taking on an older house than we realised!

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We moved from a 1913 house, so we were hoping this one would be easier and warmer!

My Dad, bless him, has offered to install water underfloor heating in our living/dining room, so I might take him up on that. We had electric underfloor heating in our old living/dining room, and it made a big difference. That might either reduce our consumption or, at least, make it feel warmer when the heating is running.

We also have hot water linked to heating on the thermostat - we can't have the heating turned on without the hot water, although we can turn on hot water without heating. I wonder if separating the two would be more efficient?

My FIL is a window fitter, so might ask him to take a look at the windows and see if they'd benefit from replacing.

Oh well, at least oil is cheap for now, I think I paid £180 for the 500 litres the other week.

[lizzie145]

I used about 1200 litres October to February last winter, then about the same again until October this year. Currently about 2/3 to 3/4 full - I have a stick to measure!

Trying not to heat the house during week days as just in one room but it's on more at the weekends or Christmas.
The boiler is fairly old, at least 20 years but they are supposed to last a long time if serviced and maintained. Mine is efficient but when they did the extension they didnt change the pipes so it has to work harder to heat an extended 3 bed semi.

My bedroom in the extension is blooming cold

[2waterford]

We have a 4 bed detached house and use about 700 litres a year but I am tight with the heating, we do have a wood burning stove, we have 2 rooms furthest away from stove that would be cold. A few weeks ago I bought a dehumidifier and those 2 rooms are some much easier to heat now, amazed how much moisture was in those 2 rooms.

[Hopefulholiday]

We have a 2500litre tank and probably use around 3000 litres a year, when we’re home over the winter period and the heating is on all day we use lots of oil, obviously a lot less when we were all out at school & work all day pre Covid as we only had it on in the morning and evening. Our house is quite poorly insulated partly due to the type of property but we’ve done what we can to improve that, new windows, additional insulation etc and we get through less oil now but I don’t think it’s very efficient.
Thankfully oil prices are currently low and I refuse to be cold so have worked out the money saved on commuting whilst I continue to work from home cover the additional heating

[Jennywren]

We are in a large 4 bed detached bungalow, with radiators in all the rooms incl dining room, kitchen/diner, utility, conservatory, hall and 2 bathrooms. We have the heating on for around 16 hours a day from Sept - April set to around 21 degrees, and hot water a couple of hours a day, we both have limited mobility and feel the cold a lot. We tend to use around 3100 litres of oil a year. We had a new boiler in 2018 and have it serviced annually, we also had a new oil tank last year. During winter months we only order 500l at a time to keep the tank topped up and fill the tank in summer when oil is cheaper. Hope this helps.

[thehails]

I’ve not had a chance to read through all the replies but have you checked the tank to make sure there isn’t a leak in it? How old is your oil tank? We had to replace ours 2 years ago because it was rusting out at the bottom, no clear leaks but it was seeping out slowly around the rust areas.

Another suggestion we were given was to keep the heating on all the time & use the thermostat to control the temperature in the house, so the boiler didn’t have to work so hard, not sure how true that was but we used to use a whole lot less oil than our neighbour who switched the heating in & off over the day.

We’ve now got a new boiler & we have used less oil, but can’t quantify exactly how much because we’ve had a wood burner put in as well so don’t use the heating anywhere near as much as we used to, although the oil is used to heat the hot water as well.

[catlady]

Have you looked at the insulation in the property? 1970's houses often did not have great insulation? Or if they have added cavity wall insulation a while ago it could have broken down and need re doing? Some of the early stuff used can go to dust! You can get a heat loss infra-red tool from tool companies to check for heat loss in walls and ceilings etc? Might be worth checking that?

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by catlady

Have you looked at the insulation in the property? 1970's houses often did not have great insulation? Or if they have added cavity wall insulation a while ago it could have broken down and need re doing? Some of the early stuff used can go to dust! You can get a heat loss infra-red tool from tool companies to check for heat loss in walls and ceilings etc? Might be worth checking that?

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I think this is something we will need to look at. There is no leak in the tank, so we're definitely using the oil. Even family remarked on the living room not being overly warm when they visited (which is a bit embarrassing for me).

[catlady]

Originally Posted by skalexander

I think this is something we will need to look at. There is no leak in the tank, so we're definitely using the oil. Even family remarked on the living room not being overly warm when they visited (which is a bit embarrassing for me).

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I would definitely look at! Worth checking the government scheme they announced aswell? There is a check list form on the government website that you can go through to see if you are eligible? Assuming it covers where you live, (think you are isle of Wight?).

I personally never understood how important insulation was! We moved to a new build, highly insulated property from an old one! It's like an oven here and hardly use the central heating!