1000L is a lot of heating oil, right? So how long do you make it last? Let everyone know by completing the "Buying Oil" survey on the right.
Here's what other people have already said:
"Your search - www.oilbuying.co.uk - did not match any documents."
Via IE8 it worked fine!
Simon - I live in the middle of East Anglia, we have a main gas distribution pipe running through the village but we have no gas supply because the operators of the supply pipe won't build a station to reduce the main pressure down to domestic pressure!
It applies!
And then the Government loads on more and more taxes onto petrol & diesel which we absolutely need to use even to go to the nearest town to get our food!
In last 12 months the average member has bought 1460 litres. This is based on total sales of 195000 litres, 131members and 650 litres per drop.
I would estimate that we cater for any property ranging from 2 bed semi bungalows to fairly large detached houses of up to 5 bedrooms.
---------
A B&B, located in a steep-sided valley in central Scotland, no south facing windows and very little solar gain. Main house and attached cottage, 8 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 sitting rooms, 6 bathrooms and a conservatory. Solid stone walls with good outer blocks but rubble in-fill. Dormers built into roof space of much of house and therefore little scope for loft insulation.
Occupancy
---------
We and our long-term guest in the main house are in all day most of the winter.
Annual Consumption
-----------
a) When radiators first fitted to entire house in 2004, 10,500 litres!
Allowing for the unusual cold over the last 12 months , without remedial measures, we estimate this would have been 12,000 litres and we still would have been cold.
b) Consumption over last 12 months: around 6000 litres
Note that the cottage has doubled in size and is heated far more effectively than in 2004 so the reduction in oil consumption for a like-for-like comparison would probably be nearer to 60% than 50%.
Outstanding Problem
-------------------
Temperature inside the house and cottage in particular plummets over night from 21C at 10pm to 15C at 6pm with an outside temperature of 3C.
This is despite the cottage being modernised to conform to Building Control regulations, having masses of loft insulation and Kingspan on interior all outside walls.
Measures already taken
----------------------
* High-efficiency condensing boiler installed
* House divided into several heating zones each with separate programmer
* All radiators fitted with TRVs
* Full double glazed
* All accessible loft space well insulated
* Specialised heat recovery extractor fan installed in kitchen
* External walls of cottage, 2 bedrooms and office all lined with Kingspan
* Large cracks on one external wall filled with lime mortar
* All external doors and windows draught proofed
* Tree and large shrub to south-east removed to give allow more sun-light to reach house
Planned Measures
----------------
a) We've been waiting months for a plumber to install an optimiser for our boiler which will monitor internal and external temperatures, the temperature of the return flow etc in order to maximise the time the boiler is in condensing mode and optimise the temperature to which the water is heated.
b) Considering external insulation to side and rear of property. Will not compromise the appearance of the front of the property and the gable ends and would not be allowed to since we're in a National Park.
c) Wood-burning stove. Whenever I have considered it, I've concluded that spending the capital on WELL-TARGETED insulation is better for the environment, involves less work, operates 365 days, 24 by 7 and yields a far better return on investment.
Does anyone know how we can get any help, advice etc ? (No double glazing, cavity wall insulation or loft insulation sales people need apply! Ground
heat pump probably impractical because of rocky substrata and we need much more than background heat!)
chris@oilbuying.co.uk
Firstly, my reference to the temperature plummeting was about what happens overnight and so "6pm" should have read "6am".
Secondly, whilst I'm in complete sympathy with what you're doing with oilbuying.co.uk we'll probably stay loyal to a local supplier who has provided a consistently good service over the years at competitive prices. In particular, during the very harsh weather they went the extra mile in appalling conditions to make deliveries to loyal customers and did not inflate the price to the extent which other suppliers did; at the time when we were reading about people being asked to pay over 90p per litre and not getting a delivery until January, we received oil within 4 days of placing an order.
A nearby hotel who switched suppliers every delivery was unable to obtain oil, suffered burst pipes on three floors, had to cancel bookings for Christmas and Hogmanay and will not reopen until April. Given that we can get through 1000 litres in a little over 4 weeks and only have a 1200 litre tank, we are inclined to stay with a supplier who has provided us with a good service - normally next working day delivery.
Please don't misunderstand me, if a tank of heating oil lasted us 3 months or more in the winter, then we'd be much more inclined to use your service since we'd always be able to order oil well in advance of us requiring it and would be less dependent on the excellent service we currently receive. However, cost aside, we also feel that we should express gratitude to our local supplier by continuing to patronise them.
BTW our most recent order was priced at 55.4p ex VAT.
BUT that is NOT the really important issue here. In a situation like yours what I would look to do is find a group of other buyers to you locally that buy as regularly, put those together as a group and take those orders back to your local supplier and negotiate a better rate because they are receiving a grouped, streamlined order. This is good for EVERYONE - reduced price, reduced delivery costs, energy & CO2. Increased level of priority because supplier will never want to lose all those orders!
SERIOUSLY, the issues that this industry has are only ever going to be ironed out if WE the consumer get organised and teach THEM how to supply us better! When I mean better I really mean as if they are in the same century as every other industry!
It is really no different to all the other stuff you've done...you got organised!
Over to you - keep warm!
Chris
Some of my members actually do eek out 500 litres for nearly a year! Some order so much you might question if they wash in it!
But I guess if you live in a house that is 300 years old and has a river running under it the chances are it is pretty difficult to heat.
However, surely the really important issues should be:
1. can we educate OIL users to use less - because there are many techniques
2. can we save them a ton of money on their heating OIL so that they can spend the savings on installing an alternative, renewable energy source?
Questions, questions...we have some answers chris@oilbuying.co.uk
I some time hate rip of britain !!
The power is with the group...over to you
Chris