How long should oil last?

Astrogeek

I'm living in a pretty old rented house at the moment, we got half a tank of oil just over a month ago and the tank is empty now.

This isn't normal right?

We haven't been over-using the heating, I don't think, it has only been on a few hours in the evening. We've never bothered turning it on in the morning.

The house takes ages to heat up, I was expecting it to be expensive to heat but this has to be pushing it? 250+ a month on just heating?



(I hope this is the right forum, I didn't think it fit in any of the home forums)

mrgaa1

Check for leaks from the tank to the boiler and within the boiler itself.
Also if there is a gauge on the outside of the tank get it removed - this is the most common way oil is stolen as it can be bent over, tank emptied, and then put back in.
You didn't mention how big your oil tank was but I'm assuming 900+litres or how big your house is. Any rooms which you don't use should have their rads turned down. Do you have a zoned system with stats? If not check the boiler to see what temperature its set to boil water to? Also by turning down your stats or boiler saves a lot of oil.
But in short half a tank of oil should last a lot longer than a month in normal circumstances

fatchance

This bits important..."The house takes ages to heat up...." I'd say heating system could do with a checking over, rads need bleeding, boiler needs servicing etc...As you are renting, you prob don't know insulation situation in attic and walls?

You're right though, that isn't normal, especially if you are just using the heating the way you say. Half a tank of oil is about 500litre, using the heating modestly and I mean a few hours in the morning before you rise and most of the evening when you get home, it should defo last just over two, three would be pushing it in the winter.

They're cold evenings now and you will walk through oil, but you'd want it on pretty much all the time to go through 500l in a month. House should retain heat once heated and boiler should only come on to top up heat. If it's on/burning all the time, somethings up.

convert

That seems quite a lot of oil to go through in such a short space of time. Is the tank in full view/close to the fence/road where somebody could perhaps see it and chance their arm taking some if it was easy to take the oil out?

Size of the house is also important as is the number of radiators, whether or not they're bled, as is the quality of insulation in the house.

Avns1s

The normal domestic boiler will have a 0.5 or 0.6 gal/hr nozzle. In other words, if the boiler is running constantly, it will use 2.5 - 3 litres per hour.

500 litres equates therefore to 166 to 200 hours of the boiler being on.

If you are saying that you have used 500 litres in say 5 weeks, then you're looking at the boiler being on for 33 to 40 hours per week or 5 -6 hours per day on average.

How would this compare??

Have you ruled out the possibility of theft?

746watts

if the house is poorly insulated or not at all, it's quite possible to guzzle through your oil supply very quickly.
If poor insulation is the cause then I'd be thinking of moving out asap and find a timber frame house to rent. Cheaper in the long run.

Astrogeek

The house is pretty old. The walls are very thin. I doubt there is great insulation and we definitely don't have double glazing (sp) anyway.

It wouldn't have been 5/6 hours every evening, 3/4 hours at a max and there's no one here over majority of weekends.

Theft is a possibility. We don't live in the nicest of neighbourhoods.

I'm not sure how I would deal with theft, other than hope they don't do it again...

I'll ask the landlord when the boiler was last serviced, and I'll try bleeding the radiators. I don't think the tank is leeking, my dad had a look at it when we ran out of oil the first time.

Senna

Avns1s wrote: »

The normal domestic boiler will have a 0.5 or 0.6 gal/hr nozzle. In other words, if the boiler is running constantly, it will use 2.5 - 3 litres per hour.

500 litres equates therefore to 166 to 200 hours of the boiler being on.

If you are saying that you have used 500 litres in say 5 weeks, then you're looking at the boiler being on for 33 to 40 hours per week or 5 -6 hours per day on average.

Is that a standard usage for all oil boilers?
We have the heating on quite a bit (4-5 hours per day this time of year) but 1000ltrs would last the 6 months of winter (nov-mar/apr), plus the house is 2500sq ft.

the_syco

Astrogeek wrote: »

I'm living in a pretty old rented house at the moment, we got half a tank of oil just over a month ago and the tank is empty now.

Sounds familiar. I'm guessing the tank is connected to the boiler via an underground pipe? If so, it's a lost cause. Went through the same amount of oil once in a rented house, and we never got oil again: too costly (we used it for maybe 2 hours a day for a month).

Cathmandooo

Did you actually dip the tank yourself to make sure the oil is gone? I was a week in the freezing cold last year cos the oil suddenly went and was waiting that time for new oil to be delivered. Turned out there was a reset switch on the furnace / boiler that needed to be hit. I'd get that checked out, I learned that the hard way, coldest week ever!

Astrogeek

I tried dipping the tank just there and there is some oil in the tank, there was a pole in the garden from the oil comany and the level of the oil is above the level on the pole that says order oil now. So I turned on the heating again just to see if I am losing it... I don't see a reset button on the boiler...

The pipe is over ground. You can see it going from the tank into the kitchen.

Cathmandooo

Astrogeek wrote: »

I tried dipping the tank just there and there is some oil in the tank, there was a pole in the garden from the oil comany and the level of the oil is above the level on the pole that says order oil now. So I turned on the heating again just to see if I am losing it... I don't see a reset button on the boiler...

The pipe is over ground. You can see it going from the tank into the kitchen.

My boiler was old and the reset switch was behind a panel you had to remove. I wouldn't advise doing it yourself as I had no clue until I was shown. If you know any handyman that could pop over then give them a shout! I hope it's a similar problem. Also that affected my radiators and they all had to be bled after the rest switch was hit.

the_syco

Astrogeek wrote: »

The pipe is over ground. You can see it going from the tank into the kitchen.

Have a sniff at it.

Astrogeek

Yay! It was some reset button! Thanks for your help

I'll see if I can get someone to bled the radiators, I'm not able to turn the yoke.