How long does 1000L of oil last for you?

By 18 Feb 2011 | Comment
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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:

  • 6 months
  • 4 months
  • 3 months
  • 5 months
  • 9 months
  • 1 year
  • 12 months
  • 8 months
  • 10 months
  • 2 months
  • Six months
  • 7 months
  • One year
  • 2 years
  • 4 months in winter
  • 3 months in winter
  • 10 weeks
  • One month
  • 3-4 months
  • 8 weeks
  • 3-6 months
  • 6-8 months
  • ABOUT 8 MONTHS
  • 16 weeks
  • A year
  • 3months
  • Nine months
  • 3 to 4 months
  • 5 months in Winter
  • Not sure
  • Two months
  • 11 months
  • 3 months in the winter
  • Don't know
  • 1 yr
  • 6 to 8 months
  • 3/4 months
  • Not long enough
  • 18 months
  • 2 months in the winter
  • Most of the year
  • 6-7 months
  • 6 weeks
  • Depends on the weather
  • 2 months in winter
  • 100 days
  • Varies
  • 2.5 months
  • ~6 months
  • Six months approx
  • Approx 6 months
  • 4-5 months
  • About a year
  • 13 months
  • Four months
  • 4 month
  • 15 months
  • 12 weeks
  • 8 month
  • About 4 months
  • 11 to 12 weeks in winter
  • 8 months heating water and rad
  • In winter 3 months
  • 1yr
  • Not long enough!
  • 4-6 months
  • Depends on time of year
  • New user
  • Most of year
  • 5-7 weeks
  • Winter months if used carefully
  • Depends on how cold it is
  • 8-9 months
  • 1000L = 3months
  • One year if we are careful
  • About 10 weeks
  • A little while
  • Five months in the winter
  • 7-8 months depending on the weather
  • 7 weeks
  • No, I want to know how much 500L will be
  • Not sure this year! Depends on the weather; I need to get some logs as well for 2 wood burners
  • Depends on the time of year
  • 45 DAYS
  • Summer 8 months, Winter 2 months
  • Depends on when - in winter 2 months
  • We make it last about 5 months, Nov - April
  • 5 weeks
  • 10 months roughly
  • Last bought a 1000lt august 2010
  • Never bought that much
  • Approx. 13mths
  • Depends what time of year it is; could be 2 or 3 months
  • 12 months approx
  • Depends, but if averaged out, about six months
  • January 2011 order has lasted until end September
  • New property - change to occupancy - dont know
  • 3 to 6 months
  • 20 months
  • 1 month
  • Winter
  • 3 months if i am lucky
  • Third of a year
  • 6months summer, 2months winter
  • At least a year
  • About 8 months, we tend to have 3000lts over 2years
  • it swee
  • 2 months - 3 months
  • 22 months winter time
  • Half the year
  • 4 months in extreme cold
  • 3 months - I'm 93
  • Approx 5months
  • Just under 3 months approx
  • Depends on weather
  • Three to four months, sometimes longer.
  • You what! I've never been able to afford 1000L
  • 3 - 4 months depending of time of year
  • 14 months
  • App 3 mnths
  • ~8 months
  • 18 to 24 months
  • Normally 6 months, but 12 months in 2011 2012
  • Depends if its winter or summer!!!
  • Around 6 months in normal weather; now its only lasting 4 months
  • 4 winter months
  • On average 4 months
  • The winter months
  • This last 1000L has lasted 10 months
  • Depends how cold it is: last year was about a year; year before was about 9 months
  • 1 yr plus
  • No idea, just moved in!
  • One winter
  • Approx. 12 months
  • Approx 1year
  • About 6 months
  • 2 months max
  • About 6 to 8 months
  • Do not know yet - just moved
  • Approx. 4-5 weeks
  • 4/5 months summer
  • Year or so
  • Not sure depends on weather
  • About 5 months
  • 10 - 12 months
  • 4 months in the winter.
  • 9 to 10 mnths depending how cold it gets. I use my oil for hot water all year round; still cheaper than Electric.
  • Roughly a year
  • Never used it before
  • In winter it lasts for 4 weeks
  • ~1year
  • About 8/9 months
  • In winter, 6 weeks
  • 9/10 months
  • Around 3 months
  • 12mths
  • 15 to 20 weeks weather dependant
  • 5 to 6 months
  • About 7-8 months
  • Approx 3 months in winter
  • Winter 2 months, Summer 6 months
  • In winter about 4 months
  • About 9 months
  • Over 18 months
  • About 1 year
  • Summer - 10 months; Winter - 3-4 months
  • 4 months in cold weather
  • Depends on time of the year....3-4months if not too cold
  • Approx 100 days on average (much more winter, much less summer)
  • ABOUT 11 MONTH
  • Nearly a season
  • 3 - 4 months
  • ?
  • I try and make it last for 1 year
  • 3 months using timed heating & water heating of 8 - 10 hours per day
  • Dont know yet
  • 2-3 months
  • 5 month
  • Approx 5-6 months
  • About 2 months
  • About 3 -4months in winter time like this year .we have had 1,300 liters since november , this will last us till end of march
  • About 7 months
  • Approx 5 months
  • 8 months? not sure
  • Usually, it would have gone long ago (i.e. 2-3 months in winter). Now I am mostly burning wood to heat the house, and ekeing out the oil left in the tank to heat water only. Trying to make it last until (say) April. I refuse to fall prey to profiteering!
  • About 6 months.
  • Depending, in winter, 2-3 months; outside winter, 6 months
  • It lasted me 5 weeks from early/mid jan to mid february. I have not bought any since i ran out as coal and wood is proving more cost effective.
  • 6 to 7 months
  • 4 months winter 6 months spring and summer
  • I had 900l on christmas eve and had to put in another 1000l 6 weeks later. I am still using this as the weather is now milder.
  • 9 to 12 months
  • Approximately 4 months
  • Depends on the weather, and how cold my wife thinks she is!
  • On average, until we had a new boiler (the old one was over 25 years old), 1000L lasted about 6 months. Hopefully, with the new boiler, a lot longer!
  • More than a year
  • Bad winter: 3 months
  • I have a small 900 litre tank which could last me, in theory, 6 to 8 months in summer time or 4 months in winter - it also heats water for domestic use - showers, baths, sinks etc, in a 4 bed house, two (sometimes) three people.
  • It lasts about 8 months on average
  • 3mths
  • Base load heating just hot tap water we use 250 litres a month year round - cold winter months we use another 200 litres a month. The detailed analysis surprised me as I would expect the central heating to be much the greater consumption
  • 4 months winter, 7 months summer
  • Two to three months
  • Haven't the facility to store 1000L. 700L is the largest amount I can store.
  • 3 months in winter; usually 8 months or so in summer
  • Depends on weather. 100 to 120 litres per week in the cold spell..
  • 12-18 months
  • Two years
  • Around 2 months
  • 9 to 10 months
  • 2 months winter
  • 4 month remainder of year
  • Generally 2 deliveries a year of 1000 litres does it. One in April, one in December
  • At the current prices 6 months, purchased a wood burning AGA and a wood burner for the Drawing Room plus a propane cooking range. Previously 2 months
  • 5 MONTHS NOVEMBER TO MAY!
  • 5 months from May to November
  • 3 to 4 months if i am lucky
  • 3 to 4 months in the winter,I also have 2 wood Burners, & 8 to 9 months the rest of the year
  • 2 months in winter, much longer in other times of year.
  • Just under one year
  • I do not know
  • 6-9 months depending on time of year bought
  • A whole winter - used mainly for heating, a bit on kitchen tap
  • 5-6 months
  • 4-6 weeks
  • Around 4 months in the winter and around 7 months in Spring / Summer
  • During this winter not too long, but am collecting prices BUT the important thing is the deliverey must be made in 4 wheel base lorry
  • Seems to have only lasted less than 3 months, even by being very careful
  • 20 weeks
  • 12-16 weeks
  • Depends on the season. two to three months in winter, six to eight months in summer. thermostats never above 17 degrees max.
  • Normally 10 months but have used 500 litres in the last 10 weeks and its used just 2 hrs in the mornings and 5 hrs in the evening when home!
  • We got through 1000 Litres in 6.5 weeks but believe our tank has been leaking. We are now monitoring consumption even more closely - we were caught out by a faulty gauge which suggested we had a lot of oil in the tank when it ran dry.
  • 4-5 weeks last december
  • Winter - 3 months
  • On average 3-4 months
  • 6 months?
  • 9 months approx
  • Appx. 45 winter months
  • 2 -3 months between October - March. Minimal cosumption March - October may be 100L only during this period
  • DURING WINTER PERIOD ABOUT 5 MONTHS
  • 6 winter months
  • Approx 5 weeks
  • 2 months in winter / 4 in summer
  • About 6 months averaged over a year
  • Winter: 3 months. Summer: 5-6 months
  • 6 weeks in the winter
  • 4 months average
  • 12 month
  • Just under a year
  • Approx 6months
  • 7-8 months
  • 4/6 weeks
  • 2 month in height of winter. 6 month summer
  • 3 months in winter, much longer in the summer
  • 8/10 weeks in winter
  • Four months in summer or maybe longer
  • 11 to 14 months
  • Summer: 3 months
  • 6 - 9 months
  • 11 weeks annual average, winter probably 7 weeks, summer 18/19 weeks
  • Six weeks in the winter time
  • 9 months to 1 year
  • I last bought oil (2000L) june 2009, I own a 4/5 bed detached house, of which I have upgraded the insulation. I still have approx 100 gal at 28/7/2011, but am looking to buy oil.
  • Seven months
  • If we use the central heating it will last between 4-6 weeks; otherwise around 3 months.
  • 1 month in winter; more in summer.
  • 5 months but in winter we have to fill other oil tank which is another 2000 litres and that lasts the winter
  • Roughly a year, just for occasional heating & heating water
  • 6 months in summer
  • Between 3-4 months depending on weather and temperature
  • Approx 5 to 6 months
  • 18 month
  • 10 month
  • 1 second
  • It's lasted 6 months this time but I also have 2 wood burners as well, which I've had 3 loads of logs @ £50/load
  • 1st time bought 1000 litres
  • Between 6 and 8 months depending on the season
  • 2 - 5 months dependant on weather
  • Don't know , but 1800 lasts a whole year
  • 3 months in heating season
  • Couple of months
  • Depends on the weather!
  • 7 months in Summer
  • 3-5 months
  • Approx 1 year
  • 3-4 weeks in winter
  • It varies from 6 weeks in the winter to about 4 months in the summer
  • Approxamate 1 year
  • Neeed to last the winter as we cannot afford to use any more than that
  • 6 to 8 months in summer, 3 to 4 months in the winter
  • In the winter - 2 months. Summer months 500L.
  • 7/8 months
  • 10 to 14 weeks depending on the weather
  • Summer - 9 months

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6 Comments

by Victoria Elliott on 15 March 2011 Reply
1000 litres lasts us 2 months.
by John on 22 February 2011 Reply
Chris Pomfret - Results of trying to get to your website, via Mozilla?

"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!

by John Swindells on 22 February 2011 Reply
That's frustrating! It's like living close to a railway line, but the nearest station is miles down the track.
by John on 23 February 2011 Reply
John, funny you should use that analogy.

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!

by john knight on 22 February 2011 Reply
Local buying group.

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.

by Paul on 18 February 2011 Reply
Our House

---------

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!)

by Chris Pomfret on 19 February 2011 Reply
Paul - it is people like you that give the lathargic and apathetic a bad name and the deserved title of errr...well...lathargic and apathetic. YOU are now on a list of personal heros. Well done John for asking the question. All those who read this and think they just can't be bothered pay the heating bills they deserve! BUT unfortunately they burn the emissions that we none of us can afford...but talking of afford, whilst you design the need for OIL out of your life (hopefully and eventually) PLEASE come and buy your OIL with us because if we can't save you at least ?300 a year (and hopefully LOTS more) on 6000 litres, that you can spend further reinforcing your frontiers, then you can call me a dutchman.

chris@oilbuying.co.uk

by Paul on 19 February 2011 Reply
Chris,

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.

by Chris Pomfret on 21 February 2011 Reply
Hi Paul...thanks for that. I too have every sympathy with your response and I grasp completely the "loyalty" angle because when I first began this I really thought there was a reason for loyalty. However, I now have many members that require OIL extremely regularly and often next day. Two new members joined this week because they had actually run out and we got them OIL within 24 hours of their initial desperate enquiry.

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

by Chris Pomfret on 18 February 2011 Reply
Were you just bored John?

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

by John Swindells on 18 February 2011 Reply
That's exactly it - see how little oil some people use, so that more people think "I should be using less!"
by Simon on 18 February 2011 Reply
Oil when I 1st had an oil boiler fitted the price per litre was 7 pence ! now it seems everyone just wants to rip you off i paid 57 pence per litre last time i filled up.I have no choice as i live near a power station so no gas avaliable.

I some time hate rip of britain !!

by Chris Pomfret on 18 February 2011 Reply
You may have little choice about the type of energy you use, buit you sure as hell have a choice how you buy it! Rip off Britain indeed! Come and join the people's movement and buy your OIL with a group...NEVER buy OIL on your own again... www.oilbuying.co.uk

The power is with the group...over to you

Chris

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