Oil heating . How much are you using ?

We mostly have it on for just 1-2 hrs in the morning. For showers and such. We have a large wood burner in the living room, so if we leave the doors open the house gets a modicum of heat. Over Christmas , when we have visitors the central heating will be on a lot more.

Wow that's good MrsKen33 . We probably get through around 1500 to 2000 L per year .

Our tank is 1800 litres and we think we use about 8-900 litres a year. It is practically full now so we can use more over Christmas .

Woah! No wonder then!

It is a lot, Violetsky. A biggish house in rural Scotland is expensive to heat - that’s partly why we’ve relocated. I admit we do keep our home warm. Dh has psoriatic arthritis and has lived for many years in warm countries and he just can’t tolerate the cold now. The last two winters, temps have been down as low as minus 17 - the heating struggled in that, I can tell you.

I will definitely need to look at the plans to end the installation of new oil boilers . I m not sure but thought it was potentially 2025 for new homes but 2035 for existing homes , but I dont think anything is definate as yet? .

We moved to a 3b semi in a rural area with oil heating twelve months ago after always using gas. The boiler and tank (2500l) are both 20yrs +. The sellers were suppose to leave us 200l however when we got our first delivery a few days later the driver said the tank was nearly empty. So this past 12 months we have had three deliveries of 600lx2 and 500l = 1700l. My oh checked the level two days ago and said its about half full which means we have used approx 900l this year.

We had issues with the boiler when we moved in which cost us £300+ for new parts and labour. In the summer we had it serviced and although it passed its MOT he thought the pump was likely to go in next twelve months and suggested replacing boiler. However another plumber who came to sort out a different issue said our old Warmflow boiler was made to last and was much better than new ones. Ours is a combi boiler with no timer. Its on and off and water only or CH+water. However it is perfect for our needs as we put water on for 15 mins each morning and it provides enough for showers for 2 and plenty to wash up (no dishwasher). Its then switched off until I next need HW usually after evening meal. During the cold weather we have switched CH on at the same time and left it on for two hours. Its switched back on at 4 pm and turned off 7.30pm. The house stays warm as it has loft and cavity wall insulation but as a back up we bought an electric fire in the summer and have used that for extra warmth in the lounge during the past few weeks. If the Gvt go ahead with plans to stop oil, LPG boilers etc being replaced after 2025 then we will have no option other than to replace with new in next two years as we are not going all electric.

We use a tank full a year usually, that’s 1200 litres. Our house is pretty energy efficient I think, it’s only 15 yrs old. The boiler should last plenty more years, they last a lot longer than gas boilers though if they ban new ones we may have to think about replacing it. The service engineer is very happy with it. We also don’t have the option of mains gas. We have a wood burner to heat the living room and the heat spreads around the house to an extent.

That's a lot, worries me what people must be facing as oil prices at the moment

It helps that we are all out most of the day

Dh found our old fuel bills. We used about 3000 litres a year.

We are dependent on oil, and the price this autumn was mind-blowing. So we have put heavy curtains on front entrance from enclosed porch- and between parts of the house we only use when having visitors, and only heat living kitchen, lounge and OH's office next to it. Our bedrooms are not heated, and are at 15C- but that is fine with warm duvets and blanket on top. And we are using our very efficient amazing wood burner a lot more, despite wood also going up in price. We have solar panels for hot water, which really help. We do heat our bathroom with small efficient electric heater, which I put on when I get up in the middle of the night for a piddle. Planning to insulate it better for next winter, ie tiling over the top of tiles walls and floors with insulation in between- and new cladding for ceiling on top of existent, with insulation in between. It is a very large room, so can afford to take up a bit more space with insulation.

I have a 4 bedroom house, good loft insulation and cavity wall insulation.

We use about 1000 litres every 10 months.

Our thermostat is in the hallway with no radiator. We used to have it on 18 in the day and 16 at night but with the price increase we have it 17 in the day and 15 at night.

No idea how that translates to the rooms with radiators though.

Hope this helps

So the councils are taking out open fires, the govt are discouraging wood burners, fade out oil boilers and replace with unreliable electricity ….. think I might start up a business for thermal clothing
.

We’ve just moved to an area with gas but before that we had oil CH for 25 years. We had to replace our boiler in Jan 2021 when the original one became irreparable. The new boiler was more efficient, particularly with hot water, which never seemed to run out.

We used about 250-300 litres of oil a month, for a five bed house. I’m not sure of the price per litre now.

One thing to consider is that there are proposals to ban the installation of new and replacement oil and LPG boilers in the future. The situation seems unclear as to when that might happen but it’s worth looking into.

I did read those without gas and using oil may be entitled to a small government up payment ( £100 or £200) but this hasnt been finalised yet as far a I am aware.

Thanks both . Our house is a small three bed ( we are only heating one bedroom though/ except for very cool setting on other radiators to avoid damp ) . We are indoors quite a bit as not working . I appreciate that it will vary but just wanted to get an idea of our usage .

Impossible to compare.
Your house will be bigger or smaller than ours and you probably use it differently. I, for instance, work from home and clients visit me - it needs to be warm.
I will say though that when we had a new boiler our oil did last longer.

I’m on oil heating too and wonder how long our last fill will last

I am in a new build with super duper insulation, that makes a big difference

In the last house we had an old boiler and we’re reluctant to change it , the maintenance man told us it was worth hanging on to , and a new boiler wasn’t worth it , but we took advice and changed , the difference was noticeable in heat and cost