Home heating oil consumption

The Waxbill

I've only been in my new house 6 months or so. I put 500 litres of kerosene into my tank for the central heating on the 28th of October last and it ran out last thursday. I wasn't expecting it to run out that quick but I don't know as I had gas central heating in my last house. It's a 2700 sq ft dormer. I don't have all the rads on, only around 10 I'd say. The heating is on for around 6-7 hours a day. The house is reasonably well insulated, I think and we also have a fire lighting in the main sitting room. Is this consumption normal or do I have a problem?

Ger.

kippy

The Waxbill wrote: »

I've only been in my new house 6 months or so. I put 500 litres of kerosene into my tank for the central heating on the 28th of October last and it ran out last thursday. I wasn't expecting it to run out that quick but I don't know as I had gas central heating in my last house. It's a 2700 sq ft dormer. I don't have all the rads on, only around 10 I'd say. The heating is on for around 6-7 hours a day. The house is reasonably well insulated, I think and we also have a fire lighting in the main sitting room. Is this consumption normal or do I have a problem?

Ger.

6-7 hours per day is a lot (in my opinion),
that said it is a relatively big house and probably takes a lot to heat it. 10 Rads is also a lot to have on...
Do you have kids, can you turn off the rads in the unused rooms, cut the amount of hours it is on, especially when you have an open fire....

I think the rate of consumption is normal, however you could look to cut down a bit on it if you wanted to save some.

stillbornalive

it could be that the boiler size is not big enough for the task at hand. also check that the water is circulating. ie the pump is working. Having the heating on that amount of times during day is very high indeed

Heatherview

Hi Waxbill

For 2700Sq Ft Sounds ok working at 6/7 Hrs per day. If it is a brand new house the heating will be drying out house for 1 and maybe 2nd fill,after that you will find it more reasonable.
2700 Sq Ft house would need boiler size of approx 120,000 Btu's inc domestic water assuming ceiling height of 8' ? check boiler size.
You could maybe cut down working time of boiler during day. If its anything like my house the Lady likes the heat, i come home and the house would roast you.:D
What is the boiler temterature set at should be around 65° if higher turn down ?
Heatherview

The Waxbill

Thanks to all for your replies. The boiler is on up to the max most of the time. To be honest it's needed as the house is by no means roasting even at that. To be honest I was just a bit concerned that there was something up but the concensus so far seems to be that it's normal and if so then I'll just have to put up with it. I will check out the size of the boiler though and get back to you.

JamesM

If that was your 1st fill, you will find that you have not actually used 500L.
The oil flow will stop when the level goes down to the top of the outlet pipe. With modern plastic tanks, this can be quite a bit above the bottom of the tank. Also you should not have to run the boiler at max temp.
Jim.

bertie1

Used 2600 liters last year for a 3000sq ft house with condensing boiler , underfloor heating & solar panels for hot water in the summer.

De_man

bertie1 wrote: »

Used 2600 liters last year for a 3000sq ft house with condensing boiler , underfloor heating & solar panels for hot water in the summer.

circa 3500sq ft apprx 600 litres (maybe a bit less) used since first week in march:D, filled it up 802litres last monday. condensing boiler & solar panels for HW

eddie73

I put in 660litres of home heating oil exactly 2 months ago and the tank is empty this evening. Was locked so oil wasnt stolen (I hope). House is a 4 bedroomed semidetatched house. Average oil consumption would be about 7 hours a day. Using an outdoor Grant oil burner.

kippy

eddie73 wrote: »

I put in 660litres of home heating oil exactly 2 months ago and the tank is empty this evening. Was locked so oil wasnt stolen (I hope). House is a 4 bedroomed semidetatched house. Average oil consumption would be about 7 hours a day. Using an outdoor Grant oil burner.

Seven hours a day is a lot, in my opinion. Is it an old house? Are there peole in the house all day?

Pete67

What sort of controls are you using? Have you got seperate zones for living and sleeping areas? Programmable room thermostats will allow you do select various temperatures at different times of the day as required, so you only heat rooms when they are needed, and only to the temperature needed. Also the boiler should be interlocked with the zone controls so that it only fires up when one or more of them is calling for heat.

If you haven't already got them, fit thermostatic radiator valves to each radiator to avoid wasting energy heating rooms to excess. Bedroom and hallways do not need the same temperature as living rooms etc. Look to the level of insulation fitted. 8" fibre glass insulation in the attic will dramatically reduce heat loss. A few hundred spend on insulation and better controls will pay for itself very quickly.

JamesM

I've said this before: I've known some people on the same estate, (exact same houses), to use 1000L in less than 6 weeks - and others to make it last a year. All depends on control, hours on, number of rads on and boiler temperature.
Jim.

themadchef

I think it's madness. I see people going around bare foot and in tee shirts, with the heating on all day.

If it's on for 7 hours it's going to eat the oil in the tank in no time, especially if the thermostat is high.

We have to cut corners..everywhere. Close doors, avoid draughts. As others said, turn off rads in rooms that are not in use. I'm not saying put coats on inside, but more than a tee shirt .

I know no one wants to be sitting in the cold, Honestly though, some people have their houses so warm it's uncomfortable!

If you're going out the door to work do you really want to be leaving a hot and cosy house behind? If there's no one left in the house for the whole day I'd be more inclined to let the heating rip at night.

I'm sorry now i didn't put a back boiler in the sitting room. That fire is on from 8am and really wasted. Definitely putting in a range for turf this year. It will practically eliminate my oil costs. Turf for the whole year will cost €600 from cutting to getting to my door (God only knows what oil is going to cost this time next year). It will also mean i will hardly use the immersion heater. Going to cost around €6k to get it in, maybe more, but i think it will pay for itself in the long run. I know it's not an option for everyone. For countrybumkins it's a thought though

Just The One

themadchef wrote: »

Turf for the whole year will cost €600 from cutting to getting to my door (God only knows what oil is going to cost this time next year). It will also mean i will hardly use the immersion heater. Going to cost around €6k to get it in, maybe more, but i think it will pay for itself in the long run. I know it's not an option for everyone. For countrybumkins it's a thought though

Did the government not stop the cutting of turf in bogs from 2008?

Kristopherus

No.

The Waxbill

I've since had my tank filled up again. I;ve also made a few changes. I now have the heating timed to be on for an hour/ off for a half hour, so now it's only on for about 3.5/4 hours a day. i also have it turned down and i also turned off a few of the rads in the house that didn't really need to be on. i also fitted a lock to my oil tank just in case. i've also since been told that average consumption was 1 to 2 litres an hour. Does this sound right?

Avns1s

The per hour consumption will depend on the nozzle and the overall length of time the boiler is running in that hour.

Usually the nozzle will be 0.5 or 0.6 Gal per hour. i.e. if the boiler is running all of that hour without the thermostat cutting it out for a period(s), then it will use 0.6 gal (close on 3 litres) and so on.

Hope this helps.

Fishtits

Fishtits Manor is an 1800 sq ft detached, uninsulated (9" cavity), shoddy built residence.

Changed 30 yr old diesel boiler for a kerosene condenser type, so far, heating bill has been halved.

JamesM

Avns1s wrote: »

The per hour consumption will depend on the nozzle and the overall length of time the boiler is running in that hour.

Usually the nozzle will be 0.5 or 0.6 Gal per hour. i.e. if the boiler is running all of that hour without the thermostat cutting it out for a period(s), then it will use 0.6 gal (close on 3 litres) and so on.

Hope this helps.

It will also depend on oil pressure - but you are fairly close

JIm.

JamesM

Fishtits wrote: »

Fishtits Manor is an 1800 sq ft detached, uninsulated (9" cavity), shoddy built residence.

Changed 30 yr old diesel boiler for a kerosene condenser type, so far, heating bill has been halved.

Agree - Anything from 30% plus.
Jim.

JamesM

The Waxbill wrote: »

I've since had my tank filled up again. I;ve also made a few changes. I now have the heating timed to be on for an hour/ off for a half hour, so now it's only on for about 3.5/4 hours a day. i also have it turned down and i also turned off a few of the rads in the house that didn't really need to be on. i also fitted a lock to my oil tank just in case. i've also since been told that average consumption was 1 to 2 litres an hour. Does this sound right?

You are right to cut down the time the boiler runs, but, if you only turn it off for a half an hour, it runs longer when it comes on again to bring the temperature back up to what you had it at.
Jim.

The Waxbill

Ok Jim, thanks for that, what would you suggest, i thought if i left it off for longer the rooms would cool down too much?

Ger.

Guvnor

Our boiler can if on for a solid hour can use 4.5litres max.
I reckon it would on average use 40-70% of this per hour.

All imo but no matter how well insulated a house is - if the heat is not on then it will not be warm inside.

On a 3000 sq ft house I would not think using 2000-2600 litres of gas oil / kero a year to be excessive.

You find me people using gas who have 3000 sq ft homes who have sub €100 per month gas bills which would equate roughly to someone using 2000 litres of oil per year. There won't be many.

I might have it all wrong here but I find it hard to believe you can heat a 3500 sq ft home to a comfortable level using just 60 litres of oil per month.

If the outside temperature is -4 to +6 most of the time then keeping the house at a modest indoor temperature of 18-19 will take more than 2 hours of heat per day - all imo and maybe I have it all wrong!:)

JamesM

The Waxbill wrote: »

Ok Jim, thanks for that, what would you suggest, i thought if i left it off for longer the rooms would cool down too much?

Ger.

Ger, I'm not saying that you are wrong. Just don't think that you are saving a half an hour's worth of oil. The boiler will run for longer during the following 1/2 hour to make up. As Guvnor says, in this cold weather, you just have to run the heating to keep the temp up.
Maybe try running the boiler at a lower temperature. That will use less oil, but your hot water temp may suffer.
Jim.

Avns1s

JamesM wrote: »

It will also depend on oil pressure - but you are fairly close

JIm.

Not totally correct. While clearly an increased pressure will force more fuel oil through the nozzle in a certain time, the pressure of the oil pump is "fixed" for whatever fuel you are using (or should be if the burner has been serviced recently and properly!) so the figures I am using should reflect this and therefore I left out any reference to the pressure. Sorry to be a wee bit pedantic about it.

The Waxbill

JamesM wrote: »

Ger, I'm not saying that you are wrong. Just don't think that you are saving a half an hour's worth of oil. The boiler will run for longer during the following 1/2 hour to make up. As Guvnor says, in this cold weather, you just have to run the heating to keep the temp up.
Maybe try running the boiler at a lower temperature. That will use less oil, but your hot water temp may suffer.
Jim.

Thanks Jim, I welcome any input. I think it's just a matter of playing around with it until you reach a happy medium and I suppose there are a lot of variables involved and every house is diferent.

Ger.

Fishtits

Put simply, there are two separate actions with "boilers"

The first is with the burner, it must supply fuel (diesel/Kero) to the combustion chamber in the most efficient manner (nozzle/pressure/air draft)

The second aspect is how efficiently the surrounding boiler converts the heat generated by burning this diesel/kerosene.

Bottom line, the more heat going out your chimney is less heat going into your heating system.

De_man

Guvnor wrote: »

I might have it all wrong here but I find it hard to believe you can heat a 3500 sq ft home to a comfortable level using just 60 litres of oil per month.

yep that's what i put into our tank unless someone gave us a present of a fill;)

we have circa 3500sq ft storey and a half, nothing is standard in our home, a self build it was designed from the outset to be energy efficient
(i project managed) spent a packet on insulation, construction method (air tightness) window/ doors U-Values and the heating system with the associated electronics so that we'd save in the long run.

for example we use a condensing boiler (saves approx 25%) our heating system anything up to 30% (when compared to normal rads only a litre of water or so in each unit) so straight off were up 55% when comparing our gaff with neighbouring builds without taking into consideration the extras

have the heating on for a bit in the morning, we are out for the majority of the day and a few hours in the evening.

Stoves then take over the heating of the house it'll be interesting to see how
long this fill of oil last but i certainly expect it to last the winter

Guvnor

Interesting mate,

What's the deal on the rads? Same heat output? mad expensive, an easy retrofit? How much insulation in the attic and crawl spaces (if you have them)?

If you did not have the three stoves and solar panels, is there underfloor heating as well - (was browsing that oisin thread) do you think you would use more oil and what twice as much, three times?

Now a condensing boiler is an easy retrofit?

As I said interested and not having a go but what do you use for your primary heat source the stoves or the oil?

suitseir

What would be the average consumption of kerosene in a dormer approx 2050 sq ft using a stand alone Waterford Stanley which is on 24/7 at the moment since November (apparently, uses very small amount of oil) and then the home heating coming on from 4.00pm to 9.00pm. I put 500 litres into tank 30.11.09 and it is a 1,000 capacity tank and having dipped it today, I have 14" left. I may have to top up if this weather continues. Only on 2 to 3 days did I leave it on all day (approx 8 hours). House is quite warm with the stove.

Thanks.

fitzie79

hi - i came across this old post on oil consumption. i ran out of oil on thursday. i got 1300l put in in middle of october so was very surprised/shocked that it ran out so quickly. we have a new house about 2900sq ft. the house is well insulated and we don't have the heating on a lot. we also have 3 programmable heating zones (living areas, downstairs bedrooms and upstairs bedrooms) so no issues with bedrooms being on when they dont need to be etc.

my worry is that the oil pipe that feeds the boiler may have a leak in it and that the oil is draining away. what would be the best way to check out if this is the problem? turning off the valve at the oil tank and monitoring the oil level is one possibility but we'd have no heating then.

also what is the average consumption of oil in a condensor boiler per hour?

JohnnieK

When you get the boiler serviced again make sure he checks the fuel pump pressure on the burner. 8bar for Kerosine and 12bar for Oil. If the the pump pressure is too high it can use more fuel. Although it dose sound about right for the size of the dwelling.

cnocbui

fitzie79 wrote: »

hi - i came across this old post on oil consumption. i ran out of oil on thursday. i got 1300l put in in middle of october so was very surprised/shocked that it ran out so quickly. we have a new house about 2900sq ft. the house is well insulated and we don't have the heating on a lot. we also have 3 programmable heating zones (living areas, downstairs bedrooms and upstairs bedrooms) so no issues with bedrooms being on when they dont need to be etc.

my worry is that the oil pipe that feeds the boiler may have a leak in it and that the oil is draining away. what would be the best way to check out if this is the problem? turning off the valve at the oil tank and monitoring the oil level is one possibility but we'd have no heating then.

also what is the average consumption of oil in a condensor boiler per hour?

I would say the easiest way to see if you have a leak would be to pressure test the oil line. Any possibility someone could have relieved you of some of your oil when you weren't looking?

fitzie79

thanks for the replies.

i think (hope) that 1300l in 3 mths is very high. a neighbour who would have a similar size house but with a bit less insulation goes through 1200l a year.

i am going to do a level test tmw - have gotten some clear flexible pipe. will disconnect the supply line at the tank side and connect the clear pipe to it. by filling the pipe up and leaving it for a day with the boiler turned off i should be able to see the level dropping if there is a leak. i'm sure that the oil wasn't robbed - the tank is in a garage and also has a lock on the cap. the lock hasn't been broken and no sign of any holes in the tank either.

Stevie Dakota

We go through about 4000 liters a year, 2200sq ft and UFH. Having said that we never use the immersion, so that kero does all our hot water as well, and the hot press is big and warm, so no tumble drier bills either.

Not sure it it would be cheaper using more immersion and switching the boiler off for the summer months, any thoughts?

cnocbui

It would be a lot cheaper switching it off during the summer months I reckon. Use the immersion heater in summer for hot water.

Our house is 2500sq foot and we use 2700 litres of kerosene a year. We have the CH controlled by a thermostat so the heating only comes on when it is needed. I also have a wood burning stove.

lfp

We have a 2,500 sqft 1.5 year old house. Fairly well insulated, but no solar panels or air tightness. We got 1,000l in Dec 08 and the system was on all the time to dry the place. We then got 700l at the end of March 09 and we haven't filled since. I don't know how close to full the 1,100l tank was after the 700l delivery, but if it was full, 1,100l has lasted us for over 11 months.

Heres what I do to keep the heating bills down
1. Solid fuel stove with back boiler heats the house without the need for oil on most weekends and some of the week days that one of us is off work (me or wife are at home about 3 times during the week). Saying that most cold mornings the oil will be needed to kick the heating off in the house and then the stove will kick in later in the day.
2. Of the 5 bedroom, 2 of them have the rads turned off 95% of the time. The utility is small and has veg/fruit etc. stored so we keep that rad off and keep the door closed. The walk in wardrobe has a rad, but it is between the bedroom and the en-suite, so the walk in rad isn't needed.
3. The thermostats in the 3 zones are set at between 17.5 and 20 degrees, rarely higher. A lot of friends do seem to think that you need to be in t-shirt and shorts and feeling warm in a house. 20+ degrees at all times is not cosy - it's really warm!
4. I turn off the rads in the living room any time I light the stove as the stove is well able to heat the room on it's own. To good in fact after a good few hours of the stove going the room can get to 22/23 degrees
5. On cold nights I regulate the rads when the back boiler stove is in use. I go around to the kitchen and dining room rads and turn them off as the rooms arent really used from 8/9 o'clock on. That allows the rads in the hall and bedroom to really heat up and give enough heat for the night.
6. When the plumber was putting in the system he said 90% of people boost the heat for say 2 hours solid and get the house really warm, then for the next few hours the heat is off and the house gets cold and they need another boost of constant heat. Every boost needs a lot of oil to get the water from 5 degrees or 10 degrees to get up to 70 degrees+. He advised me to put the heat on for 6 or 8 hours on really cold days and set the thermostat at 19 degrees. It may burn for 45 mins or so to get the house up to 19 but after that the heating may only be needed every 15/30 mins to "top up the heat" for a few mins and get the rooms back up to 19. In a typical 8 hours you may only use 2.5 or 3 hours of oil, whereas boosting when it cools like a lot of people, may use 4/5 hours of oil in an 8 hour period - and the house gets cool at times even though you are using more oil.
7. I try to heat my hot water for bathing at the same time as the house is being heated as (seemingly) an economies of scale kicks in a little bit in this scenario. Not possible in summer obviously.
8. My wife was a divil for drying clothes on rads. We now set up a clothes rack in front of the stove when we go to bed. The hours of heat the stove gives off when we are in bed drys the clothes brilliantly and none of the rads in the house are covered and thus wasting heat (also no need to use the tumble drier).
9. If we have a short evening - both at work all day and time in the living area before bed is only 3 hours or so, we will turn off the rads in the livingroom and office and just live/watch tv/chill in the kitchen/dining area and only heat it those rooms.

I'm still learning and trying to find better ways of managing the stove. I'm still trying to find the best solid fuel in terms of heat output and value for money. It's all a learning experience.

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have other money saving tips on managing the heating.

suitseir

Can someone explain to me the average consumption of home heating oil (kerosene) in a stand alone oil stove. I don't understand the technical data and I am sure there is someone out there who would know all this stuff.

I usually leave this small stove running 24/7 although I have cut back these times. According to the booklet this is the technical data:

It has a setting 1 to 6. I have it at 3 or 4 most of the time:

Valve Setting Oil Consumption Burner input Heat output
l/h kW (Btu/h)
3 0.38 3.59 (12,500) 2.87 (9,800)
4 0.43 4.11 (14,000) 3.28 (11,200)
6 0.54 5.13 (17,500) 4.10 (14,000)

Basically, how many litres at day is it using going 24/7?


Thanks

suitseir

It is a week from Christmas and I am using a lot of kerosene. Now mind you, I don't light a fire so I guess I would be spending it on solid fuel. Only light a fire at Christmas.

Anybody else finding the consumption of home heating oil pretty high in this cold weather?