Home heating oil from NI

Satanta · 16-09-2010 10:16am #1

Hi,

I was wondering, could you drive a 1000ltr tank on a trailer into the North and fill it with home heating oil and take it home without it being classed as smuggling? I know that the nothern oil companies dont deliver to the south, and oil cant be taken in from the north to be sold on... but if it is for private use is this legal?

Thanks

muffler · 16-09-2010 10:18am

No, not that Im aware of.

If it was all legal and above board we would be seeing a steady fleet of lorries crossing back and forth over the border.

changes · 16-09-2010 10:24am

Is it that the NI Oil companies won't or can't deliver to the south?
Is it much cheaper?

Satanta · 16-09-2010 10:38am

It's about €480 for 100 litres in the north compaired to €660 I just paid for 1000 here.

I tried a couple of companies in the north and they just said they dont deliver to south. I had thought it might be a legal thing with customs etc. Was talking to my Dad then and we wondered if we could take some in a large tank from the north without it being called smuggling, as we would be using it ourselves and not selling it on

ednwireland · 16-09-2010 10:58am

as far as i know if a company delivered they would be liable for excise duties

not sure if you took a bowser yourself (you would prob be ok until the customs stopped you)

Beanstalk · 16-09-2010 11:37am

Yeah customs can dip your tank and they can tell if it came from the north. i heard of it happening to people before.

danbohan · 16-09-2010 11:43am

Beanstalk wrote: »

Yeah customs can dip your tank and they can tell if it came from the north. i heard of it happening to people before.

i think its not illegal to use northern ireland home heating oil in your house , same as you can use northern ireland disel in your car , yet , maybe after next budget

irish_goat · 16-09-2010 11:56am

We get heating oil in the north by filling the trailer with oil barrels just. It's only a ten min drive and the customs only be out in the morning so we've never been caught/questioned.

Senna · 17-09-2010 12:57am

Is there any garage around strabane or derry that has a home heating oil pump, the same as in Tinneys in Letterkenny? Its very handy, drive in and fill up the drums yourself, and pay the same as you would if it were petrol in a normal garage.

danniemcq · 17-09-2010 7:59am

Times like this i wish i had a car... and a couple empty drums... and a trailer

muffler · 17-09-2010 11:28am

danniemcq wrote: »

Times like this i wish i had a car... and a couple empty drums... and a trailer

Senna wrote: »

Is there any garage around strabane or derry that has a home heating oil pump, the same as in Tinneys in Letterkenny? Its very handy, drive in and fill up the drums yourself, and pay the same as you would if it were petrol in a normal garage.

I remember doing this down in Clady a few years ago. Filled up a couple of 5 gallon drums but it wasnt really worth it. The smell was in the car for weeks after it and then when I got home and up on top of the oil tank to empty the 5 gallon drums into it I probably spilled a couple/few litres which effectively left the whole exercise pointless with no saving involved.

irish_goat · 17-09-2010 11:51am

Senna wrote: »

Is there any garage around strabane or derry that has a home heating oil pump, the same as in Tinneys in Letterkenny? Its very handy, drive in and fill up the drums yourself, and pay the same as you would if it were petrol in a normal garage.

http://www.yell.com/b/Ferguson+Coal,+Oil+and+Haulage-Oil+Fuel+Distributors+and+Suppliers-Londonderry-BT480NH-719516/index.html?intCam=ux:share:email

As muffler says, there's no point unless you have a trailer to fill as otherwise the car will stink. Plus buy a decent sized funnel. We have an AGA which uses a bit more oil so we've saved a fortune over the years.

puffdragon · 18-09-2010 12:11am

Dolans filling station on the Lifford/Strabane border has a kerosene pump , Drum fill there £13.00 . Drum fill here don't know . Dolans have a wee sign on their pumps though that might interest some as it seems to suggest that quantities over 100 litres have to be declared, hmm? Must look into that!! Go down there for fags on the weekend I'll check it out tomorow.

puffdragon · 19-09-2010 11:27pm

Yeah, there's a notice on the pumps aright warning customers that any quantity of fuel over 100 litres must be declared, its a legislation introduced to stop people using large amounts of diesel( lorries/ tractors etc) from going down there and mixing green with kerosene which is undetectable , two 25 litre drums cost £26 or €31 at today's exchange of 82p against 2 drums in Donegal costing €40 saving €9 if you want to bother , in the height of winter my boiler burns about 75 litres per week so I would save €12.50 per week in winter if I wanted to lug drums of oil about but its probably easier just to have some delivered here , As I said before I be down there anyway for other things that are much cheaper like fags and drink, clothes, groceries, diy materials, shoes, toys at Christmas, back to school supplies ,anyway why go to letterkenny on a bad road to destroy my car and get stuck in traffic for goods that are costing me more!! Anyway sorry im getting off the point, I have been to castlederg on a few occasions in recent years with a 1000 litre tank on a trailer and took the chance crossing the border and had a fairly clean way of getting the oil into my tank but havent done that now for a couple of years , you can save maybe €200 that way if your set up for it , again its probably easier in the long run to get the best price here ans save yourself the worry and hastle, Maybe we should just turn the heating down a bit and do with less hot water or something instead of chasing our tails trying to save money the other way!!

puffdragon · 19-09-2010 11:42pm

Yeah, there's a notice on the pumps aright warning customers that any quantity of fuel over 100 litres must be declared, its a legislation introduced to stop people using large amounts of diesel( lorries/ tractors etc) from going down there and mixing green with kerosene which is undetectable , two 25 litre drums cost £26 or €31 at today's exchange of 82p against 2 drums in Donegal costing €40 saving €9 if you want to bother , in the height of winter my boiler burns about 75 litres per week so I would save €12.50 per week in winter if I wanted to lug drums of oil about every week but its easier in the summer because the heating is rarely on and as I said before I be down there anyway for other things that are much cheaper like fags and drink, clothes, groceries, diy materials, shoes, toys at Christmas, back to school supplies ,anyway why go to letterkenny on a bad road to destroy my car and get stuck in traffic for goods that are costing me more!!

theblueirish · 20-09-2010 10:46pm

A tip for anyone who want to try the drums,

The pumps at Dolans are not really that cheap, I used to go to McHughs in Strabane, pay for 1000L and bring it over 100L at a time. (handy for me as i was crossing the border everyday).
One saturday i had a free day and done three runs of 400l each the girl who served me told me that her sister just had 800L delivered to killygordon for the same price i paid for 1200L.
The secret to using a drum is only put 20L in each drum, you could squeeze almost 30 into them but you spill too much trying to tip them in, with only 20 one quick move get it turned upside down without spilling.
at the minute 1000l is £450 or €540 compared to €650 using a local company.

Theblueirish

Durnish · 21-09-2010 8:29am

so how much of this is legal?

theblueirish · 21-09-2010 6:54pm

i'm pretty sure its legal to bring the lids from the drum across the border:D

Tony_Homefuel · 24-09-2010 9:58am

Hi,
I think that if you shop around in the south you will get value for money , take into account the time and what you will lose putting into the tank , ye sit and work out prices

smashey · 24-09-2010 4:42pm

Tony_Homefuel wrote: »

Hi,
I think that if you shop around in the south you will get value for money , take into account the time and what you will lose putting into the tank , ye sit and work out prices

My sister got 500 litres in Lifford this week and a friend of hers in Strabane got 1000 litres for not much more money. That is the gist of what people are saying here.

Domscard · 25-09-2010 2:16pm

If there was a handy clean way of buying, transporting and adding smaller quantities of oil to the tank (preferably legal) I'd be up for it. That's an entrepreneurial opening for someone to supply a system to do that maybe?

Here in Donegal we don't have a viable alternative like gas and for most of us, trimming our budget is an absolute necessity. Come December, the government is going to be making life even more difficult and I'm willing to try anything that stretches what I've got left after they've dipped into my income (yet again!).

creaghadoos · 05-10-2010 10:29pm

Domscard wrote: »

If there was a handy clean way of buying, transporting and adding smaller quantities of oil to the tank (preferably legal) I'd be up for it. That's an entrepreneurial opening for someone to supply a system to do that maybe?

if you know who to contact, there are people who will bring oil,from the north, to your door and put it into your tank.
people with a wee bit of time on their hands

of course i can't condone any of this

deckycoop · 14-08-2012 9:03pm

soo its 2 yrs after the last post on this thrend..last winter oil was 103 a litre down south over xmas 2011.. i took spin up north on a saturday and got my home heating oil at 74 cent a litre. i saved 31 cent a litre or 3.10 euro for every 10. 31 euro for every 100L.. so this year i refuse to buy down south.

Senna · 14-08-2012 9:56pm

haven't check but with the price of sterling at the moment, it might not be as attractive as it used to be.

NIMAN · 14-08-2012 10:24pm

I have taken a handful of 25l drums a few times over the last year or two, and once worked it out.

Think each 25litre drum saved me €2. You have the hassle of lifting it up to the lid of your oil tank, spilling it, the smell in your car for weeks, general hassle.

For 125litres to save €10, I had to ask myself was it reall worth it.

I do think its illegal btw.

Cee-Jay-Cee · 14-08-2012 10:26pm

With the difference in cost, the exchange rate and having to use fuel to drive to where ever your getting it from, its totally not worth it anymore.

eth0 · 14-08-2012 10:35pm

Definitely worth picking up a few dhrums if you're going across the border anyway

NIMAN · 14-08-2012 10:37pm

Each 25lite drum costs around £4 or £5 in the North, so have to factor that into the initial cost too.

danniemcq · 15-08-2012 7:55am

Plus the cost of driving in and out.

especially out as the extra weight = more used fuel

TireeTerror · 21-01-2016 4:13pm

WOW amazing the price differences since these posts were made. Heating oil in the North is currently 22.1p per litre, thats 28.8c at current exchange rate. Soooo cheap.

NIMAN · 21-01-2016 6:20pm

TireeTerror wrote: »

WOW amazing the price differences since these posts were made. Heating oil in the North is currently 22.1p per litre, thats 28.8c at current exchange rate. Soooo cheap.

Where is it 22p?

muffler · 21-01-2016 7:07pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Where is it 22p?

Springtown Fuels in Derry were selling 1000 litres for £229 today. Get your van and tanks out Niman

TireeTerror · 21-01-2016 7:59pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Where is it 22p?

Its 21.2p per litre now!

You can check most published prices at http://www.cheapestoil.co.uk/Heating-Oil-NI

Im actually going to Springtown Oil tomorrow as they have a bowser I can borrow and take back. I will just fill it up and tow it with my Land Rover, plug in the pump and it will fill my tank lovely. No extra cost for the bowser either. They actually do deliveries to the South, but obviously they have to charge a lot more than if you do it yourself.

I will take a photo tomorrow!

NIMAN · 21-01-2016 11:22pm

Yeah but you'd have to buy 1000 litres to get it at that price.

I bought some the other day at 25.9p per litre, and that's a great price for buying smaller quantities.

muffler · 29-01-2016 12:07pm

Just looking at the prices of home heating oil here and I see its up by a tenner (1000 litres) compared to yesterdays prices so perhaps the tide is turning.

Swilly Fuels are showing up as the cheapest at €429/1000l but if you havent done so already maybe it might be a good idea to order now.

Home heating oil from NI

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