Heating oil usage

[selfbuildy]

We have used 500 litres of oil in 3 weeks!! Heating is on 3 hours in morning, then 7 hours in evening. System is underfloor downstairs and rads upstairs.

We have suspected that maybe oil had been pinched!.
We have security cameras on house which shows nothing. It picked up oil delivery,in which it took just over 2mins to pump 500 litres into tank. There cannot be anyway to fiddle that?

How many litres does a 32kw condensing boiler use per hour? Heat setting is on middle. Checked manual,states fuel flow rate 2.57kg/h. Is that same as litres/h?

Any info appreciated

[buildersmate]

This is too much oil unless you live in the palace. But surely you know the average rate at which you use it?
I agree that it is likely that it has been pinched.
Regarding the delivery, the tanker has a calibrated and sealed meter which stamps the start reading of the delivery and stamps again afterwards. They normally shove the copy showing the readings through the letterbox if no-one in.
I know of no way that can be fiddled.

[Ice.Maiden]

We also have oil fired CH as well as open fires, and although it's not something I usually bother to calculate, ours works out in the region of between 50-60p a litre. We have a very large tank which's housed above ground, and the driver's usually here for about 20 minutes, I'd say. Does yours have a dipstick, or a tank guage with an alarm? Do you have the tank cleaned out periodically, as sludge accumulates in the bottom, so you may not be getting your full quota of oil if dipped. Always try and be there to watch when you have a delivery, or get someone else to keep an eye on it.

[zig.zag]

flippin eck ice

have you got a maid and a butler too

iv'e got tac abilities if you would like to render my services

lol

[buildersmate]

Oil deliveries are not assessed by dipping, Ice. Far too inaccurate. There are flow meters in line in the dispensing system.

[meltoadhall]

not surprised youre using that much if you have the heating on for 10 hours a day, we use 1500 over 5 months!
we only put the heating on for an hour in the morning and 4 hours in the evening from october to march, with a log burner when it gets really cold

have you got a leak somewhere?

[ruthann58]

right this is not very accurate but it works for us 500 liters of oil in our tank measures 24" on the gauge we use between 1and a half " to 2" a week depending on how cold it is the heating comes on at about 5am and is switched off when we go to bed all the radiators upstairs are set on 1 and the thermostat in the lounge is set at 20 c kitchen rad is on 3 and dining room does not have a stat on so its just on same in the hall it heats all hot water as well the oonly time the lounge stat is turned down is if we go out then only if i remember we live in a 5 bedroomed detatched house dont know if this helps at all

[mtoner]

I appreciate using 500 litres of oil in such a short period is worrying but it was December.

What size of house have you got? Is it detached/semi-detached and how many bedrooms? And how many litres do you use annually?

A 3 bedroom semi detached might only use around 1650 litres of oil annually. If you are in a 5 bedroom detached however your usage will be much greater.

There is an energy report on the website http://www.CheapestOil.co.uk where you just type in how many litres of oil you use annually and it will tell you how your house compares against others of different sizes. For example, detached houses use alot more oil that semidetached. The site is focused on Northern Ireland but this section should still be useful.

[jswindells]

500L in a quarter would be excessive! Having said that, you have the heating on for a lot of the day. How hot do you typically keep your rooms, and how well insulated are you?

Our 4-bed house gets through around 1200L per year. It's fully insulated and the air temperature is usually around 18 degrees C. Media URL: http://swinny.net/Energy/Home-Heating-Oil
Description: How to manage your oil system