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Original poster

Oil Central Hearing Cost

30 replies

Powerplant · 27/12/2020 17:53

We are in the process of buying an older 2 bedroom property that has oil central heating. I have no experience of running costs or how often you ‘fill up’. I’m not sure of the size of the tank but there will be only two of us living there and we don’t have the heating on all day. The cooker is electric if that helps. Can anyone suggest a ball park figure please?

OP posts:

onyourway · 27/12/2020 18:44

The only way to find out is to ask how big the tank is and how often they fill it? You can then go on Boilerjuice or similar and look at the cost.
So a fairly small tank might hold 1000 litres, you might put in 600 litres twice or three times a year (you never let it get too low) so that could cost you 1200 litres times 37p which would be about £450 a year or £670 if you fill up three times. Remember it's doing your hot water too, unless you only have an electric immersion?

TheNationsFavourite · 27/12/2020 18:49

We've had oil a couple of years, and have paid 60p a litre before now. And 16p during lockdown. There are a lot of external factors. Don't let it get low, you'll pay more for an emergency delivery!

OrangeBananaFish · 27/12/2020 18:50

I think most of the oil tanks round here are 1000 litres. You buy online. I've always found Home Fuels Direct to be cheapest. You place an order (minimum is 500 litres) and then a big tank comes and fills up your tank which is outside. We have a counter think in the kitchen that lets us know how much is in. We last filled it in March/April (the price dropped lots at the start of lockdown) and we are currently on 500 litres left. Family of 5 with 3 children so heating is on more than what you may, but 2 of the 3 DCs do prefer baths.

DressingGownofDoom · 27/12/2020 18:52

We go through about 200 litres a month in winter, much less in summer so probably around 2000 litres a year at the most. The price is variable depending on how much you order and the price of oil at the time but that would be roughly £700-£800 yearly for a draughty 3 bed house.

Peanutbutterblood · 27/12/2020 19:12

We used to use loads but had a new boiler put in last year and weve used about 1500L in the year since which is good for our 3 bed farmhouse

Original poster

Powerplant · 27/12/2020 19:15

Wow so much more expensive than mains gas! I need to find out a bit more. Thanks for all your replies.

OP posts:

ThreeLadsPointingAtAStar · 27/12/2020 19:34

It's impossible to say because the price of oil fluctuates so much.

We have a 1000L tank that gets filled about 4 times a year.

Over the past 4 years the refill has cost between £607 and £259 depending on the price at the time.

Ours runs the cooker (on permanently), hot water and radiators in a 4 bedroomed house.

ragged · 27/12/2020 19:43

We have a big detached but well-insulated house, the oil has cost us about £600/yr on avg over last 10 yrs.

tabulahrasa · 27/12/2020 19:46

While all you oil people are here...

We moved in the beginning of October, 1000l tank had to get it filled that week, so like the 8th. Had to get another tankful on the 10th of December. So 9 weeks it lasted...

Does that sound right? I didn’t really question it, till I read this thread, lol

It’s a big 4 bedroom and I do like it warm, but, we’re not using huge amounts of hot water (bath is a pain to fill and there’s a separate shower which heats it’s own water) the cooker is electric.

The boiler has been repaired and serviced since we’ve been in, but it is old.

JumpingJamboree · 27/12/2020 19:54

1000L in 9 weeks is an awful lot to get through!
Do you have the heating and hot water on constantly? Or do you have an aga? They tend to get through it like anything.
I have a 1500sq ft flint stone cottage with a 1000L tank. We probably get it filled up 3 times a year. The price of oil fluctuates a lot. Can be as expensive as 60p per litre or as cheap as 15p a litre when we were in lockdown. I would say the average is around 45-50p a litre where we are. I use boiler juice to get prices and pay a direct debit every month so it isn't as painful than having to find £500 in one lump to pay for oil.

ragged · 27/12/2020 20:02

I don't think we get thru more than 1400 litres in an average full year. our tank is 2500. We refill our tank in early summer if possible (cheapest time of year), and that's probably every 2 yrs on avg.

Check the insulation OP. Lack of good insulation is a major way to lose money.

bloodywhitecat · 27/12/2020 20:06

1000 litres of oil in 9 weeks sounds excessive, we filled up in Oct (1255l tank) and have barely made a dent in the oil level yet.

We buy through NRG Oil or The Oil Club

ThreeLadsPointingAtAStar · 27/12/2020 20:07

@tabulahrasa - that seems a lot if you haven't got an oil fired cooker like an Aga.

Our consumption is high but I know it's the cooker that makes the difference.

Original poster

Powerplant · 27/12/2020 20:10

Thanks for all the advice I’ll take a look at boiler juice. The EPC isn’t too bad not as good as our current house but I’ll see what we can do to increase it. I believe the boiler is fairy new so hopefully more efficient

OP posts:

crazycadetmum · 27/12/2020 20:22

We have 2deliveries a year for our 3 bed house..1000 litre tank.

PlainHonesty · 27/12/2020 20:27

Allow £500-1000 a year based on the little we know.
Have you considered an ASHP to replace the oil boiler? Allow about £15k all in but the government pay you about £10k over 7 years for it. And you'll never run out of oil!

78percentLindt · 27/12/2020 20:29

Wow 1000L in 9 weeks! Are you sure you don't have a leak somewhere- or oil thieves in the area? It might be worth thinking about an alarm which I think most oil suppliers sell.
We have a 4 bed house and probably used 2000-2200 per year, I reckon that is about £8-900 but the least I ever paid was 9.9p/l and the most over 60p. We had oil for 22 years and found the Oil Club to be the cheapest, and they also have a warning system if there is an oil theft in the area, although around here the only one I heard about was at the village school.. www.oil-club.co.uk
We had our system replaced with an Air Source Heat Pump in the summer- as our boiler was playing up. Our electricity direct debit has increased to £100 a month so I think we are saving money, and the house is warmer as we have background heat all the time. At the moment you can get a Green grant towards ASHP as well, and you may also get the Renewable Heat Initiative payment, but I am not sure.

78percentLindt · 27/12/2020 20:35

Cross post PlainHonesty We did have a power cut a couple of weeks ago which lasted about 4 hours........ We have a log fire if needed but the house is reasonably well insulated.
OP - i never found boiler juice particularly competative. If you live in an area covered by Goff they are usually pretty keenly priced.

tabulahrasa · 27/12/2020 20:39

Doubt we’ve had oil thieves... unless they were coming round and taking a bit at a time, lol... and given the canine alarm system, I’d notice that.

But we could have a leak, yes, we’ve had one fixed already, but it’s an old boiler, old system and was empty for about 3 years before we moved in.

I mean, we could also have just used it - the heating is on a lot, the insulation is rubbish and I’m in Scotland and do not like to be cold

We were considering swapping it for a heat pump, but we’re still working out what’s what tbh.

I might get someone to come check if there’s still a leak though.

Oh and OP, I found it was definitely worth getting loads of quotes - they varied by loads, some were about £100 for 1000l more than who we went with, some were more

Mum2jenny · 27/12/2020 20:40

We use oil and its around 1000 liters a time which the costs can be anything between 20p to 60p a litre. Is it’s really cold and if we have the heating on 24/7 like we would at Christmas we can empty the tank in 6 weeks, but typically we fill the tank 2-3 times a year. Cost does really depend on time of year and environmentally issues.

User0ne · 27/12/2020 20:40

It totally depends on

how efficient your boiler is
how well insulated your house is
how hot you have it and for how long
the price of oil (which is low at the moment)

We have a big 4 bedroomed house (moved in July) and have spent £500 on oil - the tank was filled just before Xmas and I'm hoping it'll get us through to April. The house is generally well insulated but it's an old shop with huge windows everywhere and I've only just finished making decent curtains - buying them was too expensive. We can feel the temperature difference. DH works from home so heating on all the time; 18 in the day and 14 at night (6.30-6.30).

It is more expensive than mains gas (and will be much worse when the price of oil goes back up) but if you're out in the sticks you often don't have much choice.

Mum2jenny · 27/12/2020 20:44

I must admit we run the heating around 21-24 degrees so it’s nice and warm.

78percentLindt · 27/12/2020 22:24

@tabulahrasa
If you have someone out to check,make sure they check the pipe between the boiler and the oil tank.

Its worth looking at an ASHP if you need to replace your boiler ( and probably the tank when you get down to the detail) Energy Saving Trust is worth a look and I found some other useful articles.

inappropriateraspberry · 27/12/2020 22:29

@tabulahrasa when we first moved here with oil heating, there was a problem with the frost thermostat. Our boiler is in the garage and was kicking in all day and night. The engineer fitted some sort of loop to the boiler pipes and our consumption dropped right down.
I'd definitely recommend getting an oil boiler engineer out to service it and check. It's probably a simple fix, but will save you money!!

tabulahrasa · 27/12/2020 22:38

We have had someone out to fix a leak and he serviced it... but he also said - could you not tell it had a leak by the smell? And I was like, well... no, I don’t know what smell is normal or not, it only ran for a day after moving in, rofl.

But there’s still a fairly strong smell - outside btw, I’m not in my house being suffocated so we were thinking we should get him back out anyway... but it was Christmas, so put it off.

My DP has been trying to work out if a heat pump would be better or not, he’s actually a refrigeration and air con engineer so he can fit them, but he keeps muttering about possibly needing radiators too and it being a big job in that case.

Moving has been real stressful and a bit complicated, so the plan is to see how we get on with oil first.

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