700 litres of oil used in 92 days

skydish79

Our house is 250sq metres, the house was built around 2003, we bought in 2017 and got walls pumped and attic insulated. I'd say the boiler is the same one that was put in when house was built in 2003

We got 700 litres January 29th and its all gone

7 larger radiators and 3 small ones downstairs

6 larger radiators upstairs

Oil used to heat water

We have a zoned system, able to heat upstairs,downstairs and water independently

We would heat water in the morning for an hour.

Upstairs and downstairs for around 45 minutes each in the morning, two downstairs during the day and upstairs for an hour in the evening.

Are we using more than we should, could there be a leak? Are ther any companies that can complete an efficiency test on the oil burner and check there are no leaks etc

mct1

Out of interest I've compared this with ours and I wouldn't say it's high enough to suspect a leak.

We've 10 rads in a 200sq metre 1970s part-insulated house - 3 zones like yours. From 1 Dec to 1 March (last two fills) we used approx 600 litres. Our annual usage is about 1400 - we've solar panels so hardly need the oil boiler on at all from May to October.

You have a lot of radiators! Do they all have thermostats? We try to adjust ours quite often as our room usage changes so we're not heating spaces unecessarily. Your heating times sound reasonable but with so many rooms maybe you could look at this?

We had a new condensing boiler installed in 2019 and it did make a difference - the house is much warmer, though I can't say we noticed any difference in the oil consumption.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058349276/700-litres-of-oil-used-in-92-days

When did you last get the boiler serviced?

skydish79

We get it serviced yearly, probably done in October

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072982#Comment_122072982

Cheers , ah that makes me feel a bit more comftable that there isn't a leak.

No none of the radiators have thermostats

We have no solar panels, we probably use around 1600 - 1800 litres of oil a year depending on the weather

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073063#Comment_122073063

Ok. You are saying you are heating rooms downstairs during the day. If that is all day and evening every day you will burn a lot of oil.

I use a lot less than you but usually don't turn it on till six in the evening unless there is a really cold period.

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073076#Comment_122073076

Downstairs would be on in the morning for 45 minutes, an hour say around 12 and another hour around 3. Then we would have the stove fire that we would use to heat the living are we use.

Upstairs just heated for 45 minutes in the morning and an hour in the evening

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073097#Comment_122073097

It does sound like you using more than expected.

Very unlikely but is your tank locked, could a sneaky neighbour be taking some every now and again. I

niallb

What model boiler is it - can you see the burner model too?
Your service report might show what it's set to for how many litres of fuel it burns per hour.
You can use that to get an idea whether or not your boiler is actually turning off when the water return is at a high enough temperature.

If it looks like it's not turning off at all, maybe check the thermostat in the boiler itself isn't set too high. If it's a condensing boiler you'll get better fuel economy by setting the boiler thermostat to about 60°C.
If it's much higher than 65°C it'll need to burn a lot more fuel for very little extra heat indoors.

Deagol

Sounds about right to me. My house is 320sqm, we use about 1100 litres a year but we both work a lot so often no need to turn on heating plus we have a stove we use to heat front room and spill keeps rest of house slightly warmer than ambient :)

What I have done though to keep track of oil usage is looked at boiler nozzle. Mine is a 0.85GPM nozzle, converting this to litres per hour it's approximately 3 LPH. So I have a counter next to the boiler control that we increment every time we turn on the boiler. It's not precise because boiler won't run continuously for an hour (i.e. it switches off once water in circuit gets to temperature) but it's close enough.

We bought 1000 litres of oil in November and counter is reading 860 and I dipped the tank and there's roughly 200 litres left.

I also have TRV's on most rads, there's 4 rooms we don't use much so temperature in them is set to ~16C to stop damp. Others are set to ~19C.

We don't use boiler during summer at all as all hot water handled by solar PV system.

You asked about efficiency of boiler, does the boiler service include a report on the CO level etc? The service should include an analysis of the exhaust and replacement of the nozzle. If he's not doing that then get a different service person. I had a couple of these chancers out to 'service' my boiler who did nothing more than open the cover and clean the baffles. I could do that myself I told them :)

blackbox

The stove - does it use oil or solid fuel?

Do you use oil for cooking e.g an Aga or similar?

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073135#Comment_122073135

Its a firebird popular 115, thermostat on the boiler was set at around 65

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073148#Comment_122073148

Stove just use kiln dried timber

SuperBowserWorld

I'm noticing we are using a lot of oil recently, think it's the extra long cold weather spell. We did measure the level, and didn't use the oil for 24 hours and measured again to see if there was any kind of leak. There was no change.

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073144#Comment_122073144

Thanks,

It's a local plumber that does the servicing.

Might be time to get someone out that actually gives a report on the efficiency etc.

We are in the north east, if anyone has used a reputable company

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073213#Comment_122073213

Not a good idea. I hope he has been changing the nozzle. You should definitely get a service from someone qualified now.

skydish79

Thanks to everyone for all the information and tips

mikeecho

Have you a stat in the house, what are they set at ?

I've a similarly sized house, and I was using about 1800L pa

Got 2 stoves & solar in and usage dropped to about 1200l pa

The stat is set to 19.9c downstairs and about 17c upstairs .

Here's a helpful guide to how much oil your boiler is using:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200121015503/http%3A//thehelpfulengineer.com/index.php/2011/02/how-much-does-an-oil-boiler-cost-per-hour/

MrMusician18

It's really impossible to say since we don't know how efficient your house is.

700l is about 200hrs of continuous run time for that boiler. Of course most boilers don't run continuously but for such a large house, 1hr in the morning and another in the evening would likely have a high percentage of run time.

niallb

Your local plumber might also have set that thermostat at 65.
It's the ideal temperature for modern condensing boilers.
Unfortunately yours is non-condensing and will heat the rads faster if set around 80.

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073524#Comment_122073524

I didn’t think there was anything magic about 65deg on a condensing boiler - the differential temp would be what you are aiming for. I think grant recommend a flow of 70degrees with a return of about 50deg to enable maximum condensing time.

80 degrees seems very hot, many boilers wouldn’t even have a duty stat that allows for this.

skydish79

Both stats are set at target of 20

skydish79

Ok so should I set it up to 80.

What difference does it make having it at 65 rather than 80

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122074522#Comment_122074522

It’s the temperature of the water which circulates within the radiators and heating coil on your cylinder.

I would say set it for 70deg. 65 deg is possibly a little low to allow for a cylinder to be brought up to temp and the zone to shut off.

jimf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122073196#Comment_122073196

my calculation you are using the boiler approx 5hours per day

if your boiler is firing for 4hours of that period on a .85 nozzle which is most likely in your boiler you could be using approx 12 litres per day

so approx 85litres per week

it doesnt seem high usage to me

skydish79

Update

Got boiler serviced and checked out today

Boiler efficeincy between 79 and 82%

Has set thermostat at 70degrees

Nothing else needed replacing

He agreed with yee, usage isn't out of the norm, given the especially cold period

Rows Grower

It's when you have to fill the oil tank 3 times as often as you did only 4 years ago is when you wonder have you got a leak.

You don't, it's payback.

Wearb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122082845#Comment_122082845

Can you explain how you got those boiler efficiency figures?

Did you get a combustion printout?

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122083029#Comment_122083029

No didn't get a printout, he had a machine with him that he was using

They are sending invoice later tomorrow, ill ask him for that printout

Wearb

Also ask how he got those efficiency numbers.

How long did the service take?

skydish79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122083141#Comment_122083141

I'd say he was here 30 minutes