I know it's been a cold winter, but I'm wondering whether my heating oil bills are way out of line with others. Just a hint as to "high", "very high" or "stratospheric" would be good.
If in fact this is about normal, then I'll stop fidgeting.
I've used £559 worth of oil in the last 50 days. Three bed detached.
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Eighty pounds a week, and presumably some electric to see where you are going and keep the gadgets glowing.
Seems like a lot to spend on energy to me.
I've no knowledge of heating oil, but I don't think you'd be spending that on gas central heating/cooking.
Hope you were nice and toasty warm, I'd want to be for that money.
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Three bed det bungalow, gas heating and water only, cost £50/60 a week to heat during the cold spell, we do have the place warm.
boilers about 20 now though, and i really should get it renewed, but they keep patching it up.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 09:34
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You are using oil at about twice the rate I am in my 3 bed semi. I have used approx 800 litres since I last filled up on 20th Dec 2009 (~90 days). This is a little higher than recent years.
Incidently, www.boilerjuice.com is a good place to monitor the typical price of heating oil. Their graph indicates that the current average price is about 45p per litre.
Last edited by: Arctophile on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 09:36
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Since we don't heat our house to a uniformly constant temperature, I can't comment on our oil usage.
I can, however, tell you that I had a delivery of oil a few weeks ago, and it was the most expensive oil I've ever bought. But if you study the Boilerjuice site, this probably won't surprise you.
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We spent £350 on gas cen. heating over 90 days.
That includes the gas hob and gas coal (effect) fire in our 3 bed det.
I thought THAT was high.
We had 'oil' in our last place but wouldn't want oil again thanx.
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380 on gas last 90 days. Hob, flame effect gas fire, and Hot water C/H.
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Thanks all. Given the design of the house (no cavity), the number of windows etc, I'm not surprised it's high, but it's food for thought how high it seems.
As ever, the cost of doing anything sensible about it far outweighs leaving it be, so I guess I'm stuck with it. At least I know.
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I lose track of the property I've owned (cars as well) we've had 2 houses 'on the oil'
One was a four bed detached with a (new) oil fired Rayburn which supplied the hot water + about 10 rads.
That thing used to literally burn money!
I was talking to a 'geezer' last week (heating eng.) he said "ya need to get a BIG oil tank so as to buy loadsa oil in the summer when its cheep, cheep".
I said mine was big = 1200 ltrs.
Nah he said ... I mean *BIG*.
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>> I said mine was big = 1200 ltrs.
That's small ~ ours is a similar size. Our neighbour has just had a new tank and my guess (comparing the dimensions with ours) is that it's about 4500 litres.
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>>> Our neighbour has just had a new tank and my guess (comparing the dimensions with ours) is that it's about 4500 litres. <<<
Yes, that's more like it, as long as its well hidden = ugly blimmin things!
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Sounds a little bit more than what we pay, on a large 3 bed end terrace. Its all down to an ancient boiler and poor insulation.
#
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Amazing how much it costs to heat your own reasonably sized 4 walled house, when i had my small mid terrace a couple of candles would have kept it warm, unbelievably cheap to heat.
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If both folks next door are heating to a proper temp then a mid terrace (in town in particular) can be so cheap to heat.
I thought our last 90 days gas for a 3-bed with solid walls in an exposed location was a lot at £270... perhaps not so bad looking above.
New boiler this week anyway so perhaps we'll see the bills tumble further.....
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 19 Mar 10 at 12:23
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It wouldn't be quite so bad if our previous boiler (ancient) hadn't packed up a month before the scrappage scheme, so we've just had to pay full whack (4k with some new pipework etc) for a new one in December. Should be at peak efficiency therefore.
No, I didn't make a note in previous years of the oil costs so I have no feel for whether it's cheaper to run, but the house is warmer. Sometimes this winter the lounge has reached a heady 15 or 16. We do have one "new room" extension, which we purposely had insulated to the hilt on all six "sides". That one has a thermostat in. I've set it to 22, but Mrs C still sits in there in her Berghaus mountain fleece.
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We made the scrappage approval... just waiting for the £400 cheque back. We've never been on the taking side from the state so this small offering recieved with some pleasure.
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Our oil direct debit is currently £91.75 per month ~ 3 bedroom detached bungalow, heated moderately 8 hours a day from 1st November to 1st May, two layers of insulation in the loft, cavity wall insulation, insulated floors, uPVC double glazing. I haven't got the means of measuring how much oil has been used for a given period, so I only know how much our monthly direct debit is. Our last delivery was on 19th December, and cost 51.7p per litre including VAT.
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>>> insulated floors, <<<
Could you expand on that for me Snaily - are they wood floors insulated from asunder?
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>> >>> insulated floors <<<
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>> Could you expand on that for me Snaily - are they wood floors insulated from
>> asunder?
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Starting from the top and working downwards ~ 18 mm thick tongue and groove flooring grade chipboard, 50 mm thick layer of expanded polystyrene, then 100 mm thick concrete.
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In their lounge some friends of ours have the original 60-year old floorboards, sanded to a smooth finish, and no carpet. I imagine that underneath the floorboards there is an air space between the floor and the soil which is vented to the outside atmosphere via grilles in the wall. I wouldn't want that. No way Pedro. No wonder its cold in their lounge.
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>> In their lounge some friends of ours have the original 60-year old floorboards sanded to
>> a smooth finish and no carpet. I imagine that underneath the floorboards there is an
>> air space between the floor and the soil which is vented to the outside atmosphere
>> via grilles in the wall. I wouldn't want that. No way Pedro. No wonder its
>> cold in their lounge.
I live in a 1930s detached bungalow. ALL My floors are exactly - to the t - those described by Mr Snail. Except my floorboards are 77 years old. Complete with 77 years of character. My house is warmed to 21c 12 hours a day, and my monthly dd for gas ( includes hob and Hot water and open gas fire on some evenings) is £80 month.
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>>> My house is warmed to 21c 12 hours a day, and my monthly dd for gas ( includes hob and Hot water and open gas fire on some evenings) is £80 month. <<<
Absolutely incredible Sir! Ours is 1930's with proper Kirstie's underfoot,
but no Mc.cavity and the ole broiler is 18 year old ... i set the wall stat to 17c and Bill is £350 per quarter.
Signed E. Scoodge
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>> wall stat to 17c and Bill is £350 per quarter.
>> Signed E. Scoodge
Ah but not in the summer its not. Whats your total bill for the year.
Oh and I have to say, that DD is based on heating the house 9 hours a day. (before I retired but I still seem to be in credit with the gas company)
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 20 Mar 10 at 10:13
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>>> Ah but not in the summer its not. Whats your total bill for the year. <<<
I believe its around the £1000 mark, but that includes the electric bill,
The Mr's will know the exact totals.
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>>> 60-year old floorboards, sanded to a smooth finish, and no carpet. <<<
That's the same as one of our bedrooms, but I went around with caulk sealing all the gaps between the skirting & floorboards, laid down some Tredaire underlay + a fitted carpet on top ... what a difference!
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>>> 18 mm thick tongue and groove flooring grade chipboard, 50 mm thick layer of expanded polystyrene, then 100 mm thick concrete. <<<
Thanks ... same as the barn conversion we used to live in, built/converted in the late 90's.
It also had night storage heating (E7) + a Dovre multi fuel stove for cold evenings.
I think I may well go back to that recipe on our next move.
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Oil is the third most expensive form of heating. www.coals2u.co.uk/fuel-price-comparison
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 20 Mar 10 at 07:41
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Interesting link. I was amazed that it showed Economy 7 to be the cheapest form of heating. I've never known anyone satisfied with it and their bills are always high in real life use.
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My daughter has economy 7 in her modern flat, misleadingly named to be sure, her bills are astronomical.
Wish we had the floor insulation of L'es, our bungalow is on sloping ground and is built on suspended floor with concrete 'sleepers' laid (can't remember the correct name for them, 6/12'x3' sort of size), the kitchen with its hard tiles has to be the coldest floor in the western world, it does have benefits though in that you can get beneath the house into the crawl space for any maintenance.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sat 20 Mar 10 at 09:52
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Cost of heating by oil - Iffy
