Heating oil - how much!

I need to sort out my ho****er system.

Our oil combi used to be right outside the kitchen window.... Now it's 30 ft away ..... And the subsequent pipe ....even lagged up needs displaced every time. Might be imagining it but we are going through considerably more oil than we used to..... Even though the heating is off.

Sorry I meant 3 bars out of 10 above 🙄

Being new to oil I'm not sure how much 3 bars actually equates to or how long it will last? We were told when we moved in that it needed refilling at 2 bars??

Being new to oil I’m not sure how much 3 bars actually equates to or how long it will last? We were told when we moved in that it needed refilling at 2 bars??

3 bars on a 1300l tank is probably about 400l (3 x 130l). That's pretty rough though and assumes your tank is a uniform shape all the way down. As for how long it'll last, what you need is a spreadsheet 🙂 We have one, and make a note when the level drops a bar, that way you can start to gauge how quickly you go through the oil. In winter we generally do one bar every couple of weeks, that's on a 1000l tank. Worst was 9 days. Soon starts going for longer once the weather warms a bit.

I assume you've got a modern plastic tank. In which case it's not easy to work out use rate in litres/day. The old metal tanks were much easier, just measure it and you get litres/mm, which is the same over the full tank. Moulded tanks have a different cross sectional area as the height changes.

If you know what the flow rate is of the burner, the jet diameter (it should be in the boiler spec) and you measure how long the burner is on for (I did this with an Arduino which detected the sound of the burner starting) you can get an estimate of the volume per mm drop of the sight glass. For my 1000l tank, it's about 1l/mm in the middle (200 to 800 litres.

Also make a note of the reading just before it gets filled and just after, the difference is the amount added.

But it's not easy getting a reading in litres!

Yeh it's a green plastic one, cylinder on its side, so 2/10th of a tank height from the bottom (if that's what the bars represent) will not be 2/10ths (260l) of the 1300l volume.

I don't know I guess we'll have to see and not leave it too late before filling! And I better start recording when we have it filled, I do that with our prepaid electric and currently on about £14 a week

Does it have an external sight glass?

I think the electronic ones just bounce a light onto the oil surface. It still just gives a linear value but you can stick a tape measure to a sight glass and read it off in mm's, so much higher resolution than 10 bars.

But yes, you need to start recording before and after filling it, that will give you some info.

I've planned ahead...

I've stacked a pile of rocks on top of a dead horse in the back garden. I'm hoping it will be ready for winter.

Just filled up, again.

Called our local two providers as per usual - first wanted 112.84ppl and the second 94.29ppl (both inc VAT).

£170 difference when I'm buying 1000 litres.

Good to know as we'll be topping up next month, 1000l too.

Fingers crossed for us though as we have £100 in credit with our last supplier. My wife had decided to sign up with them to bank £100 a month with them. I didn't find out until she'd already paid a month and I said what if they go broke or have a crap price next time 🙄. Atleast we have since been sticking £100/month in another bank account and have around £800 in hand.

Not sure if we could just ask for it back if theirs isn't a good price. Grrrr ...

Yeh it’s a green plastic one, cylinder on its side, so 2/10th of a tank height from the bottom (if that’s what the bars represent) will not be 2/10ths (260l) of the 1300l volume.

Get a long piece of wood like a broomstick and dip the tank, measure how deep the oil is and the size of the tank then put the tank dimensions and the oil depth into this calculator and it will tell you what you got in litres

https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/tank-volume

We have no mains gas in our bit of Germany, its oil, solar or wood from the forest for heating/hot water.

For some reason we have an in-ground 18,000 oil tank. It used to supply two houses but now it's just for us. The Telmar gauge to show contents is broken and imagine our surprise when the last delivery brimmed it during low price covid times....

Its also possible to find recovered oil for sale. This is from houses that had oil but changed to another fuel. Its filtered and clean as well as cheaper than "new' oil and often appears on Facebook marketplace posted by reputable companies that offer a tank cleaning service.

Thanks to this thread resurrection I’ve just ordered 500l at 85ppl. (The Heating Oil Club/mid Suffolk). Not great, but a lot better than the last 500l.

Aye I just ordered 500l at 83p via Boiler Juice, delivered yesterday.

Same here just got 85ppl via Oil Club. About half full so I'm gonna throw another 500l in get the tank as full as possible. Better than 98ppl last time. Can't see oil going down as we head towards winter.

Just ordered 800L to fill our tank in Fife at 89p/L. Can’t see it getting much lower for now.

Oil refill booked; £871.50 for 1000l, Angus in Scotland.

@blitz who did you use in Fife?

@SSS Johnsons

@blitz thanks! I'll maybe give them a call, i normally use OilFast or Gleaner

So apparently oil users will be getting £100 towards our oil cost from October but how will 1. They know who we are 2. Get it to us?

We need it back dating , oil is now half the price it was a few months back but still roughly double what it used to be 🙁

I wondered that too! It's only £100, but I want it!

It's going to be interesting to see how they do it - I have 4 different suppliers that I order from depending upon price.

I did think that £100 wasn't much but, seeing as we also get the £400 gas/electricity payment, it's £100 more than people who use gas are getting!

Yep I can’t see how any system would work.

I can see a bit like ev car charging points that the supplier would have to reclaim from the government, but that would be massive to administer + open to fraud and potential losses for the oil companies

I had an email from Boilerjuice saying, regarding getting the £100 payment:

'Inevitably this will take some time, so we strongly recommend that customers do not wait if they need heating oil. We are working closely with the government to find a solution and ensure that heating oil households receive their £100 as soon as possible.'

Not sure how much this is useful info or just them trying to get some orders.

We bought when it was 93p /l thinking it’s just start going up over winter, very silly as Truss came into power and within days it was down at around 77p I think! Then again we have 1000l and a new born literally days away so priorities are different 🤣

This £100.

Is it
- per household with oil
- per household oil order
- for each oil order
- something else

I did think that £100 wasn’t much but, seeing as we also get the £400 gas/electricity payment, it’s £100 more than people who use gas are getting!

Yes, but we pay more (per unit) for our electricity because we don't get the dual-fuel discount.

89p a litre this week for 1000 litres in Kinross-shire. We're now sitting with about 2/3 of a tank which should do us through most of spring.

Mentioned to Mark on here I work in this industry, need to see if u can get a scheme or discount code set up so I cab try n get a stw rate for folk.

How many of us are on kero?

Can't promise anything but if I know jow much there is volume wise I can at least try.

Me !

Yes, but we pay more (per unit) for our electricity because we don’t get the dual-fuel discount.

So do those of us who use wood.
But then my wood is free so🤷‍♂️

Thanks @duncancallum - I’d be up for that.

Thanks @duncancallum. On Oil for heating and water. Currently holding out on the heating going on.

@duncancallum On Kero for heating and water 👍

Count me in please @duncancallum

Me!

Me!

Me too.

And me

Moi aussi!

Water and (as yet unused) heating here too

gotr about 400l left so will need some soon, just hard to judge when to order at the moment, last time was about to order and the price shot up again, now seems to be coming back down again

Yep, me too!

I would be interested. Currently by through oil club.

We need it back dating , oil is now half the price it was a few months back but still roughly double what it used to be 🙁

When people are working out how out of pocket they are, don't you offset it against 2020/2021 when it's been as low as 20pish? I'm probably breaking about even at the mo, although another tank at the current price would change that.

Had anyone got a link to the proposed Govt help scheme?

My elderly parents have LPG and need some help

Not found any guidance yet. The energy support scheme page hasn't been updated since April, with no mention of oil/LPG yet.

Getting the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

How many of us are on kero?

That would be great! im in!

Mentioned to Mark on here I work in this industry, need to see if u can get a scheme or discount code set up so I cab try n get a stw rate for folk.

How would that work as we've only 2 suppliers who deliver (rural Scotland), so I just ring both when we need, and buy the cheapest.

1,000 litres, 3 times per year.

How many of us are on kero?

Me also thanks!

How many of us are on kero?

If it's just the fuel oil we get, me! If it's something more specific I don't know. I think we have 3 local suppliers to choose from, rural Scotland, my wife usually just sees who's cheapest.

And me