Oil here, count me in please
Can I join the STW Oil family?
I feel the AGA pain, not personally mind, but we've got some friends who've just moved in down the road and have used >3000L of oil over the spring/summer as its their only form of cooking appliance.
Oddly they've just found some room in their kitchen for a freestanding oven/hob...
I feel the AGA pain, not personally mind, but we’ve got some friends who’ve just moved in down the road and have used >3000L of oil over the spring/summer as its their only form of cooking appliance.
Oddly they’ve just found some room in their kitchen for a freestanding oven/hob…
Doing something wrong and/or not been serviced (for ever?).
We've a permanently on AGA, and use 3,000l per YEAR - also has the internal water 'boiler', so endless hot water and a huge old-fashioned bath. Have no other means of cooking.
Also, have they actually been taught/learned how to cook on an AGA?
If they use the hot plates for pans/kettles etc, then no, they're using it wrong. Electric kettle for boiling water and ALL pans go in the ovens (except steak pan - LH top plate or butter warming - RH top plate).
This lady is very good, we went to a demo when we knew we were 'inheriting' an AGA.
Aga say 80/20 80% oven. Tbf we try and get to 90/10. We did use a stove kettle but it's not as efficient at all.
Also don't go full bore on the heat control.
Still uses 40 to 50 lts a week though
Toast on the Aga is awesome though....
I've a call lined up later this week to see if I can do anything.
It might prove pointless, but if I don't ask....
I'm on oil too. I bought 500l to tide me over (I'm hoping prices will continue to fall) at the end of last week at £0.87990 per litre.
Just bought 500 litres at 79.65p/l. It's insane that I'm thinking that's cheap as I paid 14p/l in May 2020.
Happily, my tank, which I thought was down to the last 10%, turns out to be half full still. Now, if I keep the heating off, by the spring I should still have a full tank! 🥶😏
Just bought 500 litres at 79.65p/l. It’s insane that I’m thinking that’s cheap as I paid 14p/l in May 2020.
The 14p thing was just a bizarre set of circumstances. At that time, companies were paying to take oil away in the USA.
80p a litre is dear but it's not eye watering. I can cope with it.
@duncancallum - on oil here please count me in.
Just bought 500 litres at 79.65p/l. It’s insane that I’m thinking that’s cheap as I paid 14p/l in May 2020.
In 2020 we paid 41p in March, 35p in July and 32p in November - cheapest price available to us (rural Scotland).
Duncancallum as you're in the business do you know anything about the £100 rebate? I still cant find anything about how to actually claim it, despite it being mentioned in several places
I still cant find anything about how to actually claim it, despite it being mentioned in several places
No-one knows yet, they're still working out how to do it.
https://www.goffpetroleum.co.uk/news/im-a-heating-oil-user-how-do-i-claim-my-100-payment
Our Aga never gets turned off, oil central heating and hot water in a big old stone house. We use about 3000 litres per annum.
That sounds a similar setup to theirs. We're frugal by comparison at home, stingy with the heating and only fires up for 1 hour twice a day for hot water. We do have insulation however, our friends....well, don't!
Sneaking back up again in North Cumbria. Qtd £980.00 for 1000ltrs today. Can last another month or so, will stick it out and see what happens.
It's jumped from 79p to 99p a litre over the last fortnight, herefordshire. Gutted I hadn't got room for 1000 litres when I checked back then...
If you have an Aga you can switch it to low flow overnight (just stick it on a cheap timer, when it loses power it’ll switch to low flow automatically) and have it come back on about 30 mins before you get up. Will save a huge amount of oil.
Can also consider sticking a thermocouple in the shell next to the top oven and using a programmable thermostat with PID control to hold it at 240C.
Nothing about the 100
I'm industrial not domestic but I'm trying to sort it.
Best saving would be a pound recovery.......
****ing turds in charge 😤
It’ll drop again soon. A moderate chunk of China has again gone into lockdown.
Or will it drop soon..? The weakness in Sterling isn't exactly helping. Diesel prices are suggesting a noticeable hike, yet of course the cost of extracting and processing the stuff at Grangemouth hasn't changed any, the industry is happily gouging yet again.
If you have an Aga you can switch it to low flow overnight (just stick it on a cheap timer, when it loses power it’ll switch to low flow automatically) and have it come back on about 30 mins before you get up. Will save a huge amount of oil.
Based on us actually doing this and then monitoring usage vs leaving on, saved the square root of FA.
Oil here, count me into any group savings.
Currently use heating oil club which recently saved me 15p/l over our usual supplier
On the rebate, in NI they seem to have decided to give credit via electric bills. Seems sensible tbf.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-63235534.amp
do you know anything about the £100 rebate?
Recently updated Govt factsheet
The Alternative Fuel Payment (<abbr title="Alternative Fuel Payment">AFP</abbr>) will provide a one-off payment to UK households that use alternative fuels for heating, such as heating oil or <abbr title="Liquefied Petroleum Gas">LPG</abbr>, instead of mains gas... Households eligible for these payments will receive £100 as a credit on their electricity bill this winter.
How do they know to link your electric account to your being on alternative fuels ? Just that you don't have a gas account ?
I have never known heating oil go down over the Winter. It's always been more expensive November to March.
I have never known heating oil go down over the Winter. It’s always been more expensive November to March.
I don't think we can treat this winter as the same as normal.
How do they know to link your electric account to your being on alternative fuels ? Just that you don’t have a gas account ?
Maybe that combined with a govt website you use to claim it? A neighbour has 2 properties, separate address, separate electricity bill, one oil tank.
How do they know to link your electric account to your being on alternative fuels ?
My thought exactly.
And if someone says it's not having dual-fuel, then anyone electric only without oil/LPG would also get it.
I read it's coal and biomass too, but not wood I guess?
Cheers for sharing that, but...
What about if you don't even have an electricity bill as you're on a traditional Pre-payment electric meter, grrr....
Isn't it vouchers or they apply a credit for prepayment folks? There does need to be some way of claiming this via a website IMO. Nearly impossible to validate though.
From the factsheet
Households who are eligible for but who do not receive <abbr title="Alternative Fuel Payment">AFP</abbr> or the £100 heat network payment, because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier for example, will receive the £100 via the <abbr title="Alternative Fuel Payment">AFP</abbr> Alternative Fund which will be provided by a designated body. We will confirm details of the <abbr title="Alternative Fuel Payment">AFP</abbr> Alternative Fund shortly.
Cheers, seems they have a lot of to be confirmed, in the near future, type answers to most things lol!
Quick update. Just ordered 1000ltrs at £0.82p per litre. Dropped a little and might go down further but down to 1 bar on 1250ltr tank. Rather than being dropped into the septic tank I thought I'd better press the button before we ran out. With some due diligence; turning off unnecessary rads, using the tvrs properly, setting the stat at 16° and cuddling up a bit more it should see us to April for water and heat in a 4 bed house. Only 2 of us now due to empty nest 😦
Only two of us here now and we've got by with just the stove so far but my eldest daughter is home for the weekend tomorrow with her BF - apparently I've got to put the heating on 😣
Think I've got about 600L still but the price is nearly low enough to buy another 500L which would see us through hopefully.
Yeah, my wife's parents are coming to stay over Christmas and new year, no doubt with numerous scroungers and opportunists from her family staying over as well 'cos we live 70 miles away and they expect to, don't they? That two weeks will equate to about 6 weeks of normal energy use (heating, water,cooking, laundry, endless cups of tea and coffee). Hey ho but it's a nice thing to do 😕
78.7p for us this week, through the local cooperative in the village.
I'm installing Hive with clever TRVs soon in an attempt to make the CH more efficient, particularly whilst most of the children are away during term time.
The very old Aga provides a core heat to the house throughout the day, but it's still getting quite nippy.
expatscot - where are you as that feels cheap (including VAT?)
Gov still working very hard to figure out how we can get our £100 still 🙄
From Daily Record 4 days ago...
The UK Government will confirm details of the AFP Alternative Fund and when the payment will be made shortly.
The guidance states: “The £100 payment has been calculated to ensure that a typical customer using heating oil does not face a higher rate of growth in their heating costs since last winter, in comparison to those using mains gas who are supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.”
The UK Government said it will continue to monitor the prices of alternative fuels, such as heating oil, and will consider further intervention if required to protect households from extraordinary fuel prices.
Though our main issue is it's costing us £30 a week on prepayment for electric just now and that's with sensible use, short showers, a few washing loads a week and no tumble driers or this like that.
I've just had an email from one of my oil suppliers stating:
"The government has confirmed how the Alternative Fuel Payment Scheme for domestic heating oil users will be administered.
The £100 payment will be made through electricity bills NOT fuel distributors.
Although it is still NOT CLEAR when this will be paid"
Yeh , that's what they've been saying for a while now...
From today's budget:
Support for people who use heating oil or alternative fuels will double to £200.
🥳
The question is when will the Govt instruct the electricity suppliers to pay this directly to the consumer?
Still not seen any method of getting that.
We are still on 4/10 bars currently expect that'll go down quickly once the heating starts in Ernest.
The scheme has been trialled in Northern Ireland.
It's quite good because you can have multiple oil providers so paying that way is difficult and open to fraud. Plus if you're skint you might not have filled your tank for 2 years.
99+% of houses only have 1 current electricity supplier.
The advice is to keep filling your tank when appropriate and the cash will arrive eventually. My parents get a phonecall every 8 weeks from their oil supplier and they come out if below a certain threshold eg 70% full
My parents get a phonecall every 8 weeks from their oil supplier and they come out if below a certain threshold eg 70% full
I don't doubt it. Nice little cash cow that .
Constant topping up of small amounts keeps the bills high.
I don’t doubt it. Nice little cash cow that .
Not really. I'm on a similar top up scheme for my LPG but my monthly DD is the same. It just means I don't have to worry about running out as the tank has telemetry to report back to base and they top up to around 80% when it drops to ~30%.
It's a bit like electric car range anxiety really.
your dd doesn't represent the cost of a unit of fuel though does It - it represents a fixed cost your prepared to spend to have heat on tap.
Oil can be 30-40 pence a litre dearer in small amounts. <500l than say 1200l
Two people in this life. Those than keep the car brimmed and those who know exactly how far their reserve gets them 🙂
your dd doesn’t represent the cost of a unit of fuel though does It
Yes it does. I signed a 2 year fixed price deal this time last year so I guess that's the major difference between LPG and Oil.
It depends on your local supplier. I'm sure North Wales is not the same as Scotland
If anyone is interested Boilerjuice have a £10 off code (BFRI10EL) available today for new (use a different email) customers. Was going to hold off but as it's dropped to 76ppl thought it was worth topping up 500l which would see us through the winter.
Lucky you getting 76 pence
Word of warning on the code. - check your local suppliers first.
For me today locally it's 83p a litre with connons and Johnston oils.
With boiler juice it's 94p for the longest delivery time - rising rapidly the quicker you need it
At a 1000l fill that's 100quid difference - no wonder they can knock a 10er off....
Just seen Carnegie's in brechin will delivery in 7days for 82p .
Or next day for 86.....
Cheapest I've seen for a while but makes boilerjuice prices a piss take.
Rung local suppliers and they couldn't beat 76ppl with cheapest being getting them down to 80ppl. The tenner knocks off the excessive service charge but can't grumble with delivery expected on Monday.
Still no update on how we get the alternative fuel payment, just confirmation that it will now be £200 if we ever do get it. Don't suppose anyone else has heard more?
https://watsonfuels.co.uk/news-archive/rise-in-alternative-fuel-payment/
We're struggling to get our £67 electric payments from EON, so god knows how they cope with this 🙄
I'm probably being incredibly thick here, but how can I calculate an approximate hourly consumption of oil by a Worcester Heatslave 15/19 running at full chat on heat only? Not that it ever does, but I could do with at least a bench mark for heating/hot water.
but how can I calculate an approximate hourly consumption of oil by a Worcester Heatslave 15/19 running at full chat on heat only?
You could calculate it if you want to, but it's easier to look it up in the manual
2.01 litres / hour at the defalt mid-range output.
Down to 77p/l at the moment here in the Cotswolds.
tilly dog...cheers👍. Somebody had a tidy up a while ago. I couldn't find the figures on line. Just unearthed the manual now. Thanks again.
Support for people who use heating oil or alternative fuels will double to £200.
Since our oil in 2022 will have cost us £3000 (need to fill up this week) and was £1500 in 2021 that £200 barely touches the sides.
I'll call our two suppliers today and see what prices are on offer.
83ppl in the Borders today for 1000l, after a bit of haggling.
84p per litre - 500l - Carnegie Fuels
95p per litre - 500l - Oil Fast
97p per litre - 500l - Boilerjuice
South Fife area. Needless to say Carnegie got the order.....
Markets down so will start to see that washing through hopefully
Down to 3 bars..... I'm going to have to fill before Xmas aren't I.....
Sods law I'll run out between Xmas and new year if I don't.....
Nah, you'll be fine. Early Feb at the worst. Just knock the boiler temp down a notch and the stat down to 17°.
Go on...play that game 😂😂😂
Since our oil in 2022 will have cost us £3000 (need to fill up this week) and was £1500 in 2021 that £200 barely touches the sides.
Don't you have to include 2020 in that calc to work out how out of pocket you are? Prices were below the norm then, so didn't you make a bit of money back in that year? Won't make up £1,500 I guess though
Just ordered an additional 500l at 67ppl here in the Cotswolds. That’s the cheapest I’ve seen it since February and for that amount and that price, any cheaper and it won’t make much difference.
We only use around 1000-1250l a year and will be moving to solar thermal in the new year, so should drop again.
Just ordered an additional 500l at 67ppl here in the Cotswolds.
Including the VAT?
Just ordered an additional 500l at 67ppl here in the Cotswolds.
Who's that.. and do they deliver south of the M4!?
97p per litre – 500l – Boilerjuice
Boilerjuice quoting is the equivalent of 81.9 ppl for 500L inc VAT & service charge here (N Wales) today. (75.6ppl ex vat, ex service charge)
I think we'll make it past Christmas, but will need to fill up again Jan / Feb
On a related point, we had our (oil) boiler replaced almost exactly a year ago, we got rid of the Rayburn and had an external Worcester Greenstar fitted outside.
How often should we be getting it serviced? The people who fitted it said annually, but, well, they would, wouldn't they... It runs for about four hours a day, October-April. It's off through the summer as we have solar thermal
We had it done once a year when we were on oil. There's plenty to clean out, soot etc, replacement bits like nozzles. I can't see why you would leave it beyond a year.
Apparently a big thing in boiler servicing is the jet.
Our boiler is a huge ancient thing that's basically a big box full of baffles and the pump/fan/burner in a box on the front.
I once had it serviced and all the guy did was hoover out the box as best he could and replace the jet. I've bought a couple of jets and do it myslef now - it's really not difficult*
If you've got a condensing boiler it might be a different matter though!
* if it's way ou tof whack then it probably needs the gasses analyzing properly though.
Just ordered an additional 500l at 67ppl here in the Cotswolds.
WHAT?!!
I've just been quoted 79.95p + VAT in N Wales!!
(Sure you didn't get the 6 and the 7 mixed up?!)
Edit: Actually I've just had a price of 75.70p ex VAT from boilerjuice so my other suppliers should be lower.
We were down to 3 bars so I placed an order of 700l. It's taken it to fairly full, I was concerned that the bottom 2-3" of the tank was not high enough to make it out of the outlet.
Can't remember what I was quoted now. Bill will land soon enough though.
If you’ve got a condensing boiler it might be a different matter though!!
Its not- Only issue i have is the turbulators can be quite fragile and the soot is the messiest soot you ever saw.
Grant Vortex Eco.
on the subject of the grant vortex combi actually - It lives outside and is fairly poorly insulated.
Annoyingly it heats up a small tank of water inside it for on demand water. - this it fires up every 90 minutes for 3 minutes to maintain that tank temp - and the maths works out that it accounts for why my oil usage for hot water over the summer is so much when the heatings been off.(always has consumed this much over summer its not a new thing)
till now I've had a controller with no timer on the hot water- I'm toying with wiring up the second channel on the thermostat to switch of the hot water side during the night and assuming the smart thermostat can do it - when we are away and letting the frost stat control the firing.
Next year once the solar thermals in the combi water heating will likely get wired off permanently when i move the heating controls onto the tank valves.
This £200, we've had 3 tanks worth delivered this year, from 2 separate suppliers - what's the chance of us getting 2 lots of £200? 😉
I think the £200 might come to us via the electric suppliers. Only read that in one place so might not be correct.
till now I’ve had a controller with no timer on the hot water- I’m toying with wiring up the second channel on the thermostat to switch of the hot water side during the night and assuming the smart thermostat can do it – when we are away and letting the frost stat control the firing.
I can’t believe you haven’t done this already. I added a Hive thermostat to my mum’s Vortex combi and the utility room is no longer like a sauna most of the day now the water channel is off from 10am - 4pm, and 11pm through the night. There’s a big boost button on the thermostat if you want a bath or shower outside these times and the mini-tank stays hot enough for hand washing etc anyway.
its worth calculating how much heat your tank actually loses. A modern tank does let out some heat, but its so marginal I changed ours away from timed heating just to being heated all the time, the maximum it costs (even if you assume "lost" heat isn't going into the building) is about 10p/day
