Home oil usage

Lynfo

We appear to be using oil at an alarming rate, we got 236L delivered on 25th March, and we woke on Tuesday morning (2 weeks and 1 day later) to a dry tank.
Previous to that delivery, we got 226L on 20th Feb and it lasted until 25th March.

We're not there during the day so the heating isn't on, it comes on for a total of approx 5 hours between 5pm and 7am, and then is on a little more over the weekend during the day.
The thermostats are both set to around 21° and none of the rads are turned up to the max.

Have we really gone through that much in such a short time or is it possible we've had the oil robbed?

Billy Bunting

Would seem excesive for an average size boiler, what boiler is it and exactly what are the on/off periods of use ?

Lynfo

I'd have to check the make/model when I get home, but the on/off periods are something like this:

4.30pm on for approx 1 hour
7.30pm on for approx 1.5 hours
11pm on for approx 30 mins

During the night then it comes on and off every couple of hours for about 15 -30 mins each time.

Billy Bunting

Lynfo wrote: »

I'd have to check the make/model when I get home, but the on/off periods are something like this:

4.30pm on for approx 1 hour
7.30pm on for approx 1.5 hours
11pm on for approx 30 mins

During the night then it comes on and off every couple of hours for about 15 -30 mins each time.

With those short on periods the boiler thermostat would likely be calling for heat most of the time, the night time use would also add a couple of hours use so a guesstimate would be around 12/14ltrs per day, over a 15 day period between 180/210ltr. :eek:

Thats an average serviced boiler, lots of things come into these calculations.

Ascii

Get a plumber to check the nozzle size on the boiler. I had the same problem when we moved into the house a few years back with a fire bird boiler. The original nozzle was a 1.0 and we reduced it to a .55 almost halving the usage. This coupled with Duncans advice to turn the main dial on the boiler down by 3 degrees resulted in being able to get 8 months out of the 1000 litres with moderate usage. (2-3 hours per day). Was burning more kerosene than was needed.

Might be worth checking the fitting coming out of the tank. these can weaken over time, and you might have a little drip draining your tank

Lynfo

Billy Bunting wrote: »

With those short on periods the boiler thermostat would likely be calling for heat most of the time, the night time use would also add a couple of hours use so a guesstimate would be around 12/14ltrs per day, over a 15 day period between 180/210ltr. :eek:

Thats an average serviced boiler, lots of things come into these calculations.

So should I put it on for longer periods, less frequently?

Thanks Ascii, I'll try turning the main dial down and will get somebody to check those fittings.

Billy Bunting

Lynfo wrote: »

So should I put it on for longer periods, less frequently?

You should have it serviced but an average boiler will require to run best part of an hour to get upto temperature, after that the boiler thermostat will cycle and maintain the temperature clicking in and out when need be, on average 20minutes per hour, so you could say that the next 3 hours of use would cost you the same as the first.

As previously said, thats a rough guide to a complicated topic, a topic that has been discused here before at lenght, maybe a search may help you further.