Tell me about oil central heating

[lucylightly]

I am currently helping a friend to deal with her relative's empty home whilst it goes through the probate process. The home is a short distance from where I live so I call in regularly to check and pick up post etc. I have kept the heating on at a low temperature to prevent freezing

The house was cold when I went at the weekend and I discovered that the heating oil tank was near empty and presumably there wasnt enough oil for the boiler.

I know I need to arrange a delivery of oil but Ive never done it before! is it done in standard amounts and how much is appropriate? The house will be empty so whats the best amount for low usage over the next six months? And what kind of price will I be paying?

Will it be OK to restart the boiler straightaway once the oil has been delivered or is there something I need to do before it will go?

Do oil delivery drivers need someone to be at home to receive it or can I tell them to put it in the tank and invoice later?

And advice welcome ! Many thanks

The minimum we can order for our oil tank is 500 litres, last time i ordered it was around £400. We pay for it online and the money comes out of our account when it's delivered, there doesn't need to be anyone home. I expect 500 litres would be plenty to last 6 months if it's just for heating.

Might be worth calling some local companies though to see if you could have a smaller quantity delivered.

We have to order a minimum of 500litres (cost around £400 last time I ordered). That'll last us 5-6 months over the winter for a 3 bed house (heating and hot water).

Oh and you may need to bleed the boiler if it cut out due to oil running out. YouTube is your friend here (Google make of boiler).

its not really worth having less than 500litres delivered. How long it will last depends on the size of the house, temperature you are keeping the house at, outside temperature etc.
Normally oil in the tank is purchased when a house is sold as part of the sale process.
You might need to have the system bled if you ran out of oil. You would need an OFTEC plumber if it doesn’t light up.

500L is probably your minimum order unless you are very near a depot (there is one up the road from me, so I could get a smaller quantity if I wanted as there is basically no delivery cost to them).
At a "ticking over" temperature for the house of say 10°c, 500L should last at least until the summer when the heating can be turned off.

(In a 4 bed house, average 3 people, I typically use 1,500L pa for heating and hot water).

As a pp said, the boiler might need bleeding through when the tank is topped up.

Echo 500l. If we ever run out a certified boiler engineer has to come out to clear air locks in the lines. It doesn't last us as long at PP though; in winter 500l only does us 5-6 weeks (heating, hot water and AGA) but listed house with no double glazing x

Our last 2 oil boilers had a reset button that you had to press if the tank ran dry. Sometimes we had to press it a few times to bleed the air out. If that doesn't work then a heating engineer can sort it.

Thank you for all the replies.

I have contacted a local company who will deliver 500 litres of oil next week at just under 70p per litre. The company knew the house, having delivered to it before, and so know the location of the tank etc so it should be fine for them to do it without me being there.

I will look at the boiler on my next visit to look for a reset button and model number so I can find it on youtube

I now feel confident I know what I am doing!

Check there isn't a padlock on the tank!

Make sure the tank is unlocked or they know where padlock key is (presume it's locked ...) Or else they won't be able to deliver ...

Once they have delivered, they will put a delivery note through the letterbox. I don't think we ever get a 'your oil has been delivered' email, but we do usually get a notification that it will be delivered the day before it is.