Oil Home Heating Costs Extremely High (HELP)

IrlMonk

A friend of mine has asked for advice on the following:
He has an oil tank which he fills with 2x €25 drums of kerosene per week.
The burner airlocks due to insufficient oil at the end of each week!
€50 is obviously not enough to keep the system going, which I find hard to believe.
Here is his the system info:
Burner: Firebird Heat Pac 90-120 Oil Boiler
Cylinder: Phoenix 200L IND

3 Radiators Downstairs
3 Radiators Upstairs

Hours of use:
Downstairs: 3hrs a day
Upstairs: 1.5 hrs a day
Hot water: 20mins a day

He reckons he might need a third drum, that's €75 approximately per week.
I know the drums would not be great value but surely 2x €25 drums should be plenty to cover most houses oil costs!

Any advice or thoughts are very much appreciated.

Wearb

Any idea when the boiler was last serviced and what the results were?
How much oil is he getting for €25?
That's a huge boiler for 6 rads and cylinder. Boiler would need to be set-up at its lowest firing rate and even then would be oversized, but would help. And probably only max of 3 rads most of the time. Are they double rads?
How old is the house? I am trying to guess at the level of insulation. Double glazing? Is it a large house?

If its a large house with poor insulation and badly setup boiler, then that would not be extraordinary usage to heat it, but unless they are very large radiators or not getting much oil for €25, it is hard to see where the heat is going.
Answering the questions above will help pin the problem or explanation down.

jimf

the average cost of kerosene around my gaff at the pumps is 1yoyo per litre so at a guess I would say he is getting 50litres for his money

if we are talkin 7 days that's only an average of 7 litres a day

not really excessive for the stated run hours

theres no doubt about it the boiler is grossly oversized

IrlMonk

Hi Thanks for the replies
The boiler was only recently serviced.
He is unsure about any results, does that give the efficency etc?
He gets a large drum full of oil 5 gallon for €25x2
There is about 20+ radiators in the house, in closets etc, but all turned off.
Boiler is set to its lowest.
They are mostly double radiators.
House has double glazing, about 8 years old and it's big enough.
Attic is insulated.

Wearb

IrlMonk wrote: »

Hi Thanks for the replies
The boiler was only recently serviced.
He is unsure about any results, does that give the efficency etc?
He gets a large drum full of oil 5 gallon for €25
There is about 20+ radiators in the house, in closets etc, but all turned off.
Boiler is set to its lowest.
They are mostly double radiators.
House has double glazing, about 8 years old and it's big enough.

It would be good if we saw the results of the flue gas analysis. Most good service persons give a print out of it and a service report which would state nozzle size and pump pressure.

With double rads and I presume large rooms, that isn't way over the top usage.

All you can do is keep doors closed in rooms with rads on and make sure burner is operating at its most efficient settings for your demand.

Kerosene in bulk can be bought for €0.70 per litre at the moment, which if it could be afforded would cut 30% off your bill. Also there will be more repair bills on the way if it is let run out if oil regularly.

agusta

IrlMonk wrote: »

Hi Thanks for the replies
The boiler was only recently serviced.
He is unsure about any results, does that give the efficency etc?
He gets a large drum full of oil 5 gallon for €25
There is about 20+ radiators in the house, in closets etc, but all turned off.
Boiler is set to its lowest.
They are mostly double radiators.
House has double glazing, about 8 years old and it's big enough.[/QUOTE
Does he have the upstairs and downstairs and the hot water heating at the same time or seperately?.If seperate it would cost more on oil.
If your friend has a longterm plan to only have 6 rads turned on, he could set the boiler to 90k btu which would also give a saving.

IrlMonk

He has worked it out:
75 p/w for 3 of the coldest winter months =€900
50 p/w for 3 of the milder winter months= €600
Total of €1500 for 6 months of the year.
That's not including any cold summer months.
The cost could be €2000+ for the year!
For 6 radiators and hot water!
The house is warm when the heating is on, is the costs due to the size of the boiler?

I was talking to someone with oil home heating and they pay €750x3 for two years and their heating is on much longer during the day with more radiators.

Wearb

The size of the boiler isn't a huge part of the extra cost, IF it is running efficiently and setup at it lowest firing rate.

Most of your costs are because oil is being bought at 30% above going rate and that usage is close to the amount of heat needed to heat what is being heated.

IrlMonk

agusta wrote: »

Does he have the upstairs and downstairs and the hot water heating at the same time or seperately?.If seperate it would cost more on oil.
If your friend has a longterm plan to only have 6 rads turned on, he could set the boiler to 90k btu which would also give a saving.

No, Heating 1 & 2 and HW are firing at seperate times in the morning.
Downstairs (Heating 1) is boosted twice a day.
Upstairs (Heating 2) is boosted once in the evening.
Auto setting in the morning is set for Heating 1&2 and HW, so having them on at the same time could cut costs
Also setting the boiler to 90k btu could be an option.
He says the most rads that will be on at any one time is 10 approx.
Cheers

IrlMonk

Wearb wrote: »

The size of the boiler isn't a huge part of the extra cost, IF it is running efficiently and setup at it lowest firing rate.

Most of your costs are because oil is being bought at 30% above going rate and that usage is close to the amount of heat needed to heat what is being heated.

He is kinda stuck at the moment and paying weekly is his only option.

agusta

IrlMonk wrote: »

He is kinda stuck at the moment and paying weekly is his only option.

I think having them on at the same time might save a little but not much.Id agree with wearb that the problem is he is paying too much for oil.I think alot of the oil companies do direct debit or pay weekly for oil after buying it.This could be well worth looking into!

agusta

http://www.corriboil.com/payment-plans/

IrlMonk

Yes, to be able to pay monthly or weekly could suit him better.
Saves lugging a drum around.
Paying 70c p/l is the job rather than paying 50euro per 5 gallon drum. 30% extra will go a long way.
And with a few other tweaks you suggested will help even more.
Thanks