burning oil

Not my bike (this time).

I do not have mains gas at home, and my heating / hot water combi boiler is oil (kerosene) fired. A vague question I realise, but what would be a 'normal' rate of oil consumption? I dont go mad on having the heating on all day, an hour or so in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. this is my first winter in the house, so dont know what to expect. I think that I am getting through 10 to 12Litres per day - does that sound about right? Boiler was recently serviced and was said to be working efficiently.

Recent oil order was 84p / L, so I can put up with wearing a jumper indoors if it saves a few £s.

daveforty said:

Not my bike (this time).

I do not have mains gas at home, and my heating / hot water combi boiler is oil (kerosene) fired. A vague question I realise, but what would be a 'normal' rate of oil consumption? I dont go mad on having the heating on all day, an hour or so in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. this is my first winter in the house, so dont know what to expect. I think that I am getting through 10 to 12Litres per day - does that sound about right? Boiler was recently serviced and was said to be working efficiently.

Recent oil order was 84p / L, so I can put up with wearing a jumper indoors if it saves a few £s.

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I'd say too many variables here....home insulation quality/condition, outside temps, condition of the heaters/air circulation systems. Can you check with a neighbour with a similar home and heating setup to get ballpark consumption?

daveforty said:

Recent oil order was 84p / L,

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I was quoted today

This weekend's rate is £0.6934 ppl* plus VAT


As Tornado says too many variables, first one is what is the boiler output rating.

Yes, I understand its a vague question. Boiler is serviced and working efficiently, a Grant boiler. 26kW according to their website. But an old-ish model. House is early 80s build, detached, cavity walls, modern double glazing. I dont go mad with the heating, an hour early morning and a couple of hours in the evening.

Oil club looks good, I think I will have to subscribe. See a lot of Watson or Certas tankers around here. New ish to rural living, this is my first winter in the house, so not sure what to expect oil consumption wise. Dont want to to out of the stuff....

daveforty said:

Yes, I understand its a vague question. Boiler is serviced and working efficiently, a Grant boiler. 26kW according to their website. But an old-ish model. House is early 80s build, detached, cavity walls, modern double glazing. I dont go mad with the heating, an hour early morning and a couple of hours in the evening.

Oil club looks good, I think I will have to subscribe. See a lot of Watson or Certas tankers around here. New ish to rural living, this is my first winter in the house, so not sure what to expect oil consumption wise. Dont want to to out of the stuff....

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Square footage is also important to know. I assume this is with water-radiators in each room? How is the thermostat setup, in one room (that may be draftier than others? Have a different service company check the system for a second opinion. Talk to the oil delivery driver to see how often tanks the size of yours need to be topped compared with other similar sized homes.

Get the largest tank you can or get hold of some cheap IBC's off ebay (I paid £40 for 2 1000L a few years ago). The price is linked to the Brent crude oil index but an element of the price is dictated by demand for heating oil. So by having extra storage you can pick and choose when to buy and August is always the cheapest if you ignore the crude oil price.

Get your boiler serviced annually which should include a new burner jet and a retune to get max efficiency, go for a local guy with good reputation and some gas engineers will work on oil boilers, their equipment is the same and the burner technology is not much different, a lot of gas engineers do not advertise as the oil certification is too costly for the few they do but will do it if asked.

If you assume 180 days a years heating then 10l a day gives 1800l a year, which is not unknown but again too many variables to know if it high or low for you. Its about the same as mine which is 25kw but in a colder part of UK and with 2ft stone walls that cannot be insulated.

Old houses with 2ft thick stone walls benefit from a constant but low heat source, that’s why Aga’s / Rayburn’s / etc work so well in old houses.

A constant but low heat gradually warms up the fabric of the building. Which once warm, takes less heat.

A modern super efficient condensing boiler doesn’t suit old buildings as the high heat on / off nature of them is not conducive to the ideas of heating up the fabric of the building, that kind of use is designed for modern very well insulated buildings.

But back to the OPs point, I can’t really see the problem… one radiator in the garage, the rest turned off, can’t be that expensive surely…?!

Fast Eddie said:

Old houses with 2ft thick stone walls benefit from a constant but low heat source, that’s why Aga’s / Rayburn’s / etc work so well in old houses.

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Not in my house, the plaster is held off the walls with a 2" gap, so internal heat has less effect as its held up inside, the gap is needed to allow the walls to breath as the mortar is lime based. What is noticeable especially after a hot and warm summer is the heating is not needed early on in autumn as the walls have retained the heat, come april may the opposite is true, the house is cold even on a hot day. That's will the heating on for 12 hours. The exception is the room with the multifuel burning stove which sits in an alcove inside the wall, after a full days burn the wall is warm the next day.

Our previous house was very old, with very think walls.

When we bought it, it suffered damp. Basically caused by it being ‘modernised’ in the 1970s.

I stripped off all the modern plaster, pointed up with lime mortar, and white washed the walls with lime wash. Not only did it look nice and ‘ye olde cottage’ it cured all the damp too !

Fast Eddie said:

.....But back to the OPs point, I can’t really see the problem… one radiator in the garage, the rest turned off, can’t be that expensive surely…?!

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probably need two radiators in the garage it is a double garage. One of the things that attracted me to the place.

And a dehumidifier, it is a bit damp in there - especially after a downpour. The garage is set back into the sloping ground.

Two radiators and a dehumidifier sounds entirely reasonable …