What's the average heating oil consumption?

Recondite49

Hi guys,

I have a friend who's a single mother. Winter is approaching and her house is heated by oil - she has just run out!

She's currently surviving on buying bags of coal from the local garage which I'm sure you'll agree is something of a false economy.

I want to help by having her oil tank topped up but have no idea how much she will need to see her through until end of February, I was hoping you guys could tell me how many litres you burn through usually, perhaps we can arrive at an average?

I realise it's difficult to arrive at an estimate, so here's what I can tell you.

- The house is 3 bedroom, detached. No insulation.
- One mother with two children. Naturally during the day the upper floor with bedrooms doesn't need to be heated.
- As mentioned above the main living room has a wood/coal fire so it may be possible to supplement heating by oil with this.
- The oil tank used is a Titan R900 and can take up to 900 litres. It's currently empty.

I am placing order at the end of November, and ideally would like to make sure they have enough for 3 months.

From doing some googling I thought perhaps 500 litres would be enough.

Does this sound about right? Hugely excessive? Abysmally low?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Wearb

I think that would be about average for a house like that. Of course it all depends on on many rads are left on and for how long. Also on the condition of the boiler and its distance from the house. But 500L is a good ballpark figure.

donglen

That should cover the 3 months with a litte left over.........of course it will also depend on what kind of Winter we get.

agusta

It will depend mainly on how long the heating is turned on for and if the house has seperate zones.If the heating was on for 5 hours a day i would expect the oil to last untill mid-feb with 500 euros worth of oil.

dpofloinn

Assume the worst case scenario,detached house, old inefficient unserviced boiler, no controls, no insulation, equals major heat loss. Assume boiler runs for seven to eight hours in the day. (2 hours in the morning 2 in the afternoon and 3 to 4 in the evening/night @ 3ltrs for the first hour and 1 litre for every hour after ) then it would be 10 to 15 litres everyday ..........So over 90 days at lower estimate it would take the full 900 litres to see your friend out till the end of February. However if your friend is more conservative with the oil for example 1 hour in the morning and 2 to 3 in the evening then 500ltr should just about cover her till Feb

mirrorwall14

Recondite49 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I have a friend who's a single mother. Winter is approaching and her house is heated by oil - she has just run out!

She's currently surviving on buying bags of coal from the local garage which I'm sure you'll agree is something of a false economy.

I want to help by having her oil tank topped up but have no idea how much she will need to see her through until end of February, I was hoping you guys could tell me how many litres you burn through usually, perhaps we can arrive at an average?

I realise it's difficult to arrive at an estimate, so here's what I can tell you.

- The house is 3 bedroom, detached. No insulation.
- One mother with two children. Naturally during the day the upper floor with bedrooms doesn't need to be heated.
- As mentioned above the main living room has a wood/coal fire so it may be possible to supplement heating by oil with this.
- The oil tank used is a Titan R900 and can take up to 900 litres. It's currently empty.

I am placing order at the end of November, and ideally would like to make sure they have enough for 3 months.

From doing some googling I thought perhaps 500 litres would be enough.

Does this sound about right? Hugely excessive? Abysmally low?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

We're in a 3 bed semi which is not well insulated but has double glazing. With conservative enough use (we usually have an hour in the morning, 2 after work), we get the year out of 600l

agusta

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

We're in a 3 bed semi which is not well insulated but has double glazing. With conservative enough use (we usually have an hour in the morning, 2 after work), we get the year out of 600l[/QUO
Maybe you mean the winter..,if your heating was on 3 hours every single day and you had 600 litres it should be gone in 4 and a half months.

mirrorwall14

agusta wrote: »

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

We're in a 3 bed semi which is not well insulated but has double glazing. With conservative enough use (we usually have an hour in the morning, 2 after work), we get the year out of 600l[/QUO
Maybe you mean the winter..,if your heating was on 3 hours every single day and you had 600 litres it should be gone in 4 and a half months.

Nope the evening use may or may not go on depending on the weather and obviously the morning one we stop during the summer months. With the exception of the bitter winter 2010 was it? We've done two 300l fills each year since we moved in here

Recondite49

dpofloinn wrote: »

Assume the worst case scenario,detached house, old inefficient unserviced boiler, no controls, no insulation, equals major heat loss. Assume boiler runs for seven to eight hours in the day. (2 hours in the morning 2 in the afternoon and 3 to 4 in the evening/night @ 3ltrs for the first hour and 1 litre for every hour after ) then it would be 10 to 15 litres everyday ..........So over 90 days at lower estimate it would take the full 900 litres to see your friend out till the end of February. However if your friend is more conservative with the oil for example 1 hour in the morning and 2 to 3 in the evening then 500ltr should just about cover her till Feb

I like your line of thinking dpofloinn, play it safe and be conservative. Fortunately the nearby oil company have indicated they do a payment plan so you don't have to pay for all 900 litres at once, really appreciate your thoughts - might have to just man up and just top up the whole damn thing.

Recondite49

Many thanks to all for your thoughts.

I've decided to buy 600 litres worth, and pay for it in instalments until end of Feb. If we need more I'll get it for my friend on an ad hoc basis.

I really appreciate all of you taking the time to think about this as I know things like the size of the house, number of rads, boiler quality etc. can mean it's difficult to make estimates of this kind.

Of course you can't really have too much oil ; it's just comes down to what you can afford. I imagine if we all had the space and resources we'd have a few spare barrels in the cellar!

agusta

Recondite49 wrote: »

Many thanks to all for your thoughts.

I've decided to buy 600 litres worth, and pay for it in instalments until end of Feb. If we need more I'll get it for my friend on an ad hoc basis.

I really appreciate all of you taking the time to think about this as I know things like the size of the house, number of rads, boiler quality etc. can mean it's difficult to make estimates of this kind.

Of course you can't really have too much oil ; it's just comes down to what you can afford. I imagine if we all had the space and resources we'd have a few spare barrels in the cellar!

Well done,Not many people have friends as good as you.600 litres sounds like the right amount.

Recondite49

agusta wrote: »

Well done,Not many people have friends as good as you.600 litres sounds like the right amount.

She's my partner's younger sister, she's a single mother with two kids. Can hardly let them freeze! Am sure any one of you would do the same.

Anyway, 600 litres it is - apparently gauging these kind of things is notoriously imprecise.

There's also reliable data to show that wood and coal are both cheaper than oil but sadly you can only use those in every room of the house if you have one of those old fashioned stoves.

Still, onwards and upwards..! :-D

agusta

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

agusta wrote: »

Nope the evening use may or may not go on depending on the weather and obviously the morning one we stop during the summer months. With the exception of the bitter winter 2010 was it? We've done two 300l fills each year since we moved in here

I can see how 600 litres could last the year then.however the average house would use at the very least twice this amount..,ya it think it was 2010

Recondite49

agusta wrote: »

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I can see how 600 litres could last the year then.however the average house would use at the very least twice this amount..,ya it think it was 2010

As we discussed, this is a very imprecise art, and one person can consume less than another, many thanks to all for your thoughts.

jimf

your a good and kind person you will have good luck for this

Froststop

Recondite49 wrote: »

She's my partner's younger sister, she's a single mother with two kids. Can hardly let them freeze! Am sure any one of you would do the same.

Anyway, 600 litres it is - apparently gauging these kind of things is notoriously imprecise.

There's also reliable data to show that wood and coal are both cheaper than oil but sadly you can only use those in every room of the house if you have one of those old fashioned stoves.

Still, onwards and upwards..! :-D

Well done, sure sign of a kind caring person!

Recondite49

Froststop wrote: »

Well done, sure sign of a kind caring person!

Nothing you wouldn't do for your own family I'm sure mate! :-D