Oil fired central heating

[Karl]

SWMBO and I have the opportunity of renting (long-term) a River Cottage style property. Truly superb, with local fishing lake (100m), 3 gardens (1 for the kids, 1 for the veg and 1 for the workshop and chickens!), with the option of renting additional land at a later date for pigs, sheep etc.

Anyway, the property is heated by OFCH, and I need to work out what the costs of heating are likely to be? I am trying to work out the cost relative to our current heating bill. I apprecite that the price of oil fluctuates, but expect that over the next few years it is likely to remain relatively low due to the global economic recession.

Hope somebody out there can help.

Cheers

Karl

 

[RogerM]

Karl - it'll depend very much on the type of boiler, insulation, whether you use heating or sweaters during the day, and whether you supplement it with (say) a log burner. Will it also be used to heat HW?

FWIW we have a 2000 sq ft house and we spend £50 per month on oil. We replaced the old boiler with a condensing boiler about 2 years ago and at the same time zoned the house between upstairs and downstairs, operating off separate clocks and thermostats. Thermostats are set to 18 deg C downstairs and 17 deg C upstairs, and we have 250mm of insulation in the loft, and cavity wall insulation. When the weather is cold we light the log burner sometime between 5pm and 7pm. Overall, updating our heating/insulation halved our oil bill!

We very rarely use the heating during the day - it comes on at 6.30 am, goes off at 8.30am, and then comes on again downstairs at 5.30 pm, and goes off at 10.40pm. Upstairs comes on at 10.30 and goes off at 11.30pm.

Sometimes when it's not particularly cold, we'll light the log burner and the downstairs heating won't come on at all. With oil fluctuating between $148 and $35 in under a year, it's very difficult to set a long term budget, but my guess is that now could be a good time to fill a tank!

Anyway - £50 per month has done it for us for the last 2 years, covering both peak and trough in the oil price! HTH.

 

[RogerS]

Roger's pretty much covered it all.

Your problem is that being a rented cottage, your choices are limited. You could add extra loft insulation at nominal cost (assuming that the upstairs rooms have flat ceilings and not part sloping ceilings as we have which are a nightmare to insulate properly). Lack of headroom in the loft of old properties can also be a nightmare and you need to be a contortionist. You also need to check that the loft is well ventilated otherwise you'll end up with a lot of condensation up there post-insulation. Other thought is bats? Protected and all that.

Boiler - if you're lucky, it will be a condensing boiler with a high 90%+ efficiency. Just installed one in the cottage and the smell of the waste gas has hardly a whiff of unburned hydrocarbons in it while our old oil-fired boiler smells like a refinery (and it's running as efficiently as it can - circa 75%). Any ch engineer should be able to measure the efficiency for you - might be worth shelling out to get it checked as if it's a really really old boiler then the efficiency will be way way down.

We keep our thermostat down at 15deg during the day and bump it up to 16 in the evening. This is supplemented by local heating wherever we happen to be spending our time - either log fire in the evening or convector on a thermostat. Reckon it's halved our oil consumption.

Other thought is that TRVs can be fitted and is something you can probably do yourself.

Oh yes - while you are up in the loft check that the vent pipe for the ch system actually goes into the ch header tank and NOT the cold water tank - as I found it installed in the cottage. I'd also check that there is a good head on the vent pipe where it bends over prior to dangling over the tank otherwise you'll get constant pumping over and effectively heat the expansion tank - you can waste a lot of energy that way apart from the hassle of constantly having to bleed your rads.

Second thought - check all the rads get hot. If they don't then the system probably needs a good clean out with some de-sludging stuff.

Roger

 

[Karl]

Thanks for the replies.

The property looks like it was built circa 1950's. I'm hoping the boiler isn't from then as well! We're going for a serious view today and I will have a good gander at the boiler.

Cheers

Karl

 

[frugal]

Thanks for the replies.

The property looks like it was built circa 1950's. I'm hoping the boiler isn't from then as well! We're going for a serious view today and I will have a good gander at the boiler.

Cheers

Karl

You might also want to have a look at the electricity fuse box to see what sort of state that is in. If the electrics have not been touched since the house was built in the 50s then it might well be in a poor way

 

[johnf]

Hi Karl I am pretty much the same as Roger M but with 3000 ft of house woodburners and insulation the same I still have an old pressure jet boiler but still only use about 700 gallons of heating oil in a year this does all the hot water and heating.
best of luck

 

[Karl]

The boiler room was locked, and the agent didn't have a key. Got to go back again to have a look.

Frugal - it was re-wired last year. So one less worry.

John F - how much is a gallon of heating oil?

Cheers

Karl

 

[Gavin-T]

Hi try this for a idea on prices

http://www.fueloildirect.co.uk

Gavin.

 

[RogerM]

The boiler room was locked, and the agent didn't have a key. Got to go back again to have a look.

Frugal - it was re-wired last year. So one less worry.

John F - how much is a gallon of heating oil?

Cheers

Karl

Karl - Tincknell Fuels in Devon currently charge 36p per litre. So 4.546 x £0.36 = £1.64 per gallon. Based on this price, and based on usage over the last 6 months, we are spending £32 per month on oil. That's brightened me up considerably.

We keep our thermostat down at 15deg during the day and bump it up to 16 in the evening.

Roger

Roger - how do you get away with that? My SWMBO would be filing for divorce! We compromised by me telling her it was set for 20 deg C downstairs and then I set it at 18 C!

 

[RogerS]

We keep our thermostat down at 15deg during the day and bump it up to 16 in the evening.

Roger

Roger - how do you get away with that? My SWMBO would be filing for divorce! We compromised by me telling her it was set for 20 deg C downstairs and then I set it at 18 C!

Rod of iron, mate, rod of iron :wink: