Why am I burning so much oil?!?

DrPhilG

Just moved in properly this month to a new house. From initial use of the oil, I seem to burn about 20 litres if the oil is on for about 4 hours a day!

It's a bungalow, 1950 sq feet. Old boiler was gone when I arrived so had a high efficiency condensing boiler put in, (sorry don't know the brand etc as I'm at work). The boiler is in a room off the garage, so about 20 feet from the house so I expected to lose a bit extra heat due to it crossing the yard but the plumber who fitted the boiler (father in law) said that it wouldn't cost that much extra and it wouldn't be worth the cost of relocating it. Pipes in back yard are approx 30-40cm down.

A friend of mine knows a fella who lives nearby and has a similar sized house and he says he uses about 100 litres a week in oil and that my usage isn't that surprising. Just makes no sense to me though. In my last house, 1400sq ft 2 story end terrace, I used about 1300 litres a year. At this rate I'd use about 5000 here!

Are there any things I should check, or particular settings I should use to keep the costs down? I've already decided that it'll be cheaper to use the immersion to heat the water rather than the oil. The oil timer has 2 sections on it, bedrooms and living areas and we have turned the rads off in the rooms we don't use regularly etc.

My wife is a severly cold person (actually has a medical condition causing this) and being restricted on heat will mean major discomfort for her, and for me when she sticks her feet up my back for warmth...

kerryplumbing

It does appear to be an excessive amount of fuel being used. Did your father in law commission the boiler when he installed it as it seems to me that perhaps the setting are incorrect for your needs.

DrPhilG

kerryplumbing wrote: »

Did your father in law commission the boiler when he installed it as it seems to me that perhaps the setting are incorrect for your needs.

Dunno. He's not the most reliable to be fair, sometimes a bit slapdash. The downside of getting family/friends to do work, cheap maybe, but it's harder to complain if there's a problem!

DrPhilG

I did mention the excessive oil use and he just mumbled that it was normal for a bigger house. :rolleyes:

kerryplumbing

I would suggest that you get a technician to commission the boiler and that way it will be set up correctly for the most efficient use

DrPhilG

kerryplumbing wrote: »

I would suggest that you get a technician to commission the boiler and that way it will be set up correctly for the most efficient use

Thanks for your help. Don't suppose you could give me a rough idea of cost for that?

kerryplumbing

It really depends on your area but probably looking at between €80 to €100 to have it done right - would suggest that you ask around for some recommendations for service technicians alternatively check out OFTEC website but that can sometimes be a bit of a lottery

DrPhilG

Just to continue picking your brains...

A few friends are insisting that the distance from the boiler to the house would cost me a lot of lost heat.

Could this be true or do you definitely think it's poor settings on the boiler? As I say the pipes are sunk approximately 30-40cm down under concrete. Not sure about insulation but the fella who first built the house 7 years ago and lived in it was a builder himself so I wouldn't have thought he'd make silly decisions!

Ddad

DrPhilG wrote: »

Just to continue picking your brains...

A few friends are insisting that the distance from the boiler to the house would cost me a lot of lost heat.

Could this be true or do you definitely think it's poor settings on the boiler? As I say the pipes are sunk approximately 30-40cm down under concrete. Not sure about insulation but the fella who first built the house 7 years ago and lived in it was a builder himself so I wouldn't have thought he'd make silly decisions!

I've had two builders tell me personally that they hadn't used properly insulated piping from their garages to their houses and it was a big regret. They'd tarmaced over and the cost of reworking was prohibitive along with messing up the fifnish on the tarmac. The decision was made on cost with the district heating pipe (calpex etc) costing a fortune; very short term. Both houses built in the last ten years btw and neither of these lads would be considered slapdash.

I'm no expert but that run on a poorly/uninsulated pipe is a major loss of heat and therefore oil in that lenght of a run.