Just about to move from a four bed modern (2002) house to an older (70’s) 4 bed in a village location which does not have mains gas so has an oil fired boiler. How much more is it likely to cost? Any tips for buying smart or any general pointers?

For info we currently spend about £800 per annum on mains gas for a family of four. Both places have got ‘D’ EPC’s.

We’re about to buy some – the price for 600 litres has gone up £60 since November.

Check boilerjuice.com for an idea of cost, depending on the size of the tank.

Quite a lot in comparison. How old is the boiler how well insulated is the house how much control is there on the system.
Budget for insulating your house as much as possible and if your boiler is very old then consider upgrading to a biomass appliance.

Expensive thats why its nicked so often,and what they dont take they allow to drain onto the ground,

Oh and my brother spends about 1600 on a 4 bed chalet bungalow of similar era although loft rooms are well insulated.

The last lot of oil cost us 63 pence per litre.We never fill the tank because of the theft problem,usually ordering 500 litres at a time.

I think for a full year it will probably be about £1000 on a 3 bed terrace thats pretty well insulated although 100 years old.

We have a 4 bed detached and we get through about 1500ltr about £1k a year but to be honest we do use a wood burner hell of a lot

Also I only have about 100mm of loft insulation and no cavity wall insulation both of which are to be sorted at the end of the month, oh and it is a new boiler so very efficient

For us similar property, 4 bed detached, built 1970 in village location & oil fueled central heating and we don’t like a warm house ~17 deg on thermostat.
Using ~1000 litres per year, having had a brand new Worcester external boiler fitted last year, new radiators with thermostatic valves and B-rated windows everywhere.
Other helpful things are 4.5kW woodburner which we use evenings and weekends and we also benefit on sunny days as our biggest windown face south.
Things to help your oil purchase price: order through buying consortium if one covering your area and if your tank is big enough try and time your big order for the summertime when heating oil price trends lowest.

4 bed detach built 1990 ish, we use about 1500 ltr a year

The biggest influence will be yourselves. 1 deg on your room stat is about 10% change.

3 bed cottage here (mixture of 16th-19th centuries) and we get through about 1500l/pa. If you want to save money then buy in the summer/autumn – only problem there is the risk of theft.

Tip: always speak to the tanker driver. They’re pretty sound and can give you a heads up on any thefts in the area etc.

1 deg on your room stat is about 10% change.

That’s quite impressive.
Also, Bear, how much insulation would you consider to be too much insulation?

Too much insulation ???????

is there such a thing

I’m starting to think so, I’ve been doing a bit of research on overheating buildings in the summer and part of the problem, I believe, is due to houses being insulated too much.

No, you can’t have too much insulation. In Britain I’d consider this a minimum:

Roof: R7
Walls R3-4
Floor R3

R1 bing about 40mm of recycled polyester/hemp/rockwool or similar. You get R2 or better with only 30mm of multi-layer insulators made up of aluminium, polythene and polyester.

Insulation should work both ways keeping heat out and in according to the difference in temperatures.
Overheating is not the problem of the insulation I suspect, more likely heat generated by humans, pets, lighting, computers, cookers etc not being able to escape due to poorly designed ventilation systems.
I think that heat recovery is the next boom for new build housing. Insulate so well so no heating required just managed by heat recovery systems.

No, you can’t have too much insulation.

So you don’t agree that the overheating of buildings is a problem then?

Insulate so well so no heating required just managed by heat recovery systems.

That I guess is all well and good in the winter, I’m talking more about heat gains in the summer. Once the house warms up from all that glorious sunshine, just like what we had in ’76, where does the heat go?

You need a “puit canadien”, Don. We find just closing the shutters in the day and oppening up at night (mosquto nets on all windows) keeps the house livable even when it’s 40°C outside in the day. I really can’t see overheating being a probelem in the UK.

Edit to add puit canadien:

I really can’t see overheating being a probelem in the UK.

Possibly not and as I said I have been doing a bit of research and a lot of folks seem to think it is an important potential problem as does the building regs. I kind of think that while people are rushing out to insulate the homes in the winter to save a few quid, they will be the same people rushing to start “which air con?” threads in the summer. 😛

ed – I was thinking about using something like that to cool my wine cellar, but TBH , I cant be arsed to dig a big enough hole

I think im going to go with a PV driven bilge pump using a larger water butt system as a heat sink.

If summers get any hotter here I’ll dig one. It would also be useful in winter, air for ventilation that is prewarmed by the ground would save us a bit of wood.

esp if you can thermo-syphon

That would be the idea in winter but a fan would be needed in summer.

The ventilation system should manage the air flow and help keep the building cool. Shouldn’t be as much heat gain if you have insulated as it will keep the heat out. If it isn’t then it isn’t insulating!

The ventilation system should manage the air flow and help keep the building cool

Aaah! Got you. In what form is the ventilation? Are we talking vents in the windows, chimneys and air bricks?

Shouldn’t be as much heat gain if you have insulated as it will keep the heat out. If it isn’t then it isn’t insulating!

I think the main concern is heat gain through the glazed areas and made worse because the insulation is doing its job perfectly, hence the question.

Shutters being the answer. Pertian in Summer to let light in, boarded over and draught proofed in Winter. Insulating under the floor has made the house marginally warmer in Summer but all the other insulation has reduced the temperature. The roof tiles are too hot to touch and the walls hot, inside it’s cool enough to sleep without a fan.

and back on topic…..

Check boilerjuice.com for an idea of cost,

just for an idea though – all my local suppliers are cheaper than any price I’ve been offered on boiler juice. But what its giving you an idea of I’m not sure as knowing what a litre of oil will cost unless you know how it relates to a unit of gas

More generally – boilerjuice aside be a bit wary of online retailers of fuel oil, there are a few scam sites about, taking payments and delivering nothing .

Find a local oil buying syndicate, and if there isn’t one, start one. Suppliers will discount for a bulk order from properties close together. Saves us a few p per liter – syndicate gathers requirements from members by email then rings round local suppliers for a quote. Typical order can be over 10k litres…

Have a house with too little insulation and can’t easily add any so a bit obsessed with this t.b.h.

😥

Four bed 70’s detached house, average about 5 litres a day over the last 7 years, but it’s very variable (not just the winter/summer but within seasons.) Which is about £800 a year.
Phone around for quotes, and don’t believe the price quoted from a syndicate is the best, check yourself. Buy in the summer (it’s cheaper). Get a log burner. (And free logs.)

and back on topic…..

We haven’t been off topic

Both places have got ‘D’ EPC’s.

Seems to me that insualtion and energy saving are part of the topic as the OP defined it.

Hey, it’s all good stuff. Thanks for the responses. The energy efficiency of the building is obviously related to the cost to heat the place, hence giving some context with the EPC info. Focusing on better efficiencies within the building is probably going to be more productive than trying to beat the market – provided I can keep the wife away from the thermostat!

Just to add; 1970’s 4 bed detached, village location, 4 year old wallstar boiler, d/g, cavity and loft insulation etc. We use about ~1000l p/a. Buy in July/August and we keep the house ‘cool’. I dropped the stat 1 degree this year and it has made a difference (but increased the moaning from SWMBO).