Your top tips for saving heating oil

Posted by: Graham Archibald on 27 Jun 2008 at 4:04pm

You would think Oil boiler manufactures would look to develop equitment that could use 'veg oiil or other 'Bio' fuel. I have a AGA Rayburn Heatranger 499k and would like to think not only could I save some money buy also do a bit for the inviroment by using veg oil. I spke with Rayburn and they told me it would not work, 'Veg oil is thicker than kero and would clog us the burners' It was also pointed out that diferant oils burn at diferant temps and the Rayburn is set up to work only with Kero 28 Still maybe someone has some other thoughts or has conversted a boiler?

Posted by: Paul Williams on 27 Jun 2008 at 10:43am

I would not just go and dump a load of veg oil into your oil tanks. Most systems are designed and tuned to run on 28sec kero. Mods would need to be made to allow this to work. Engineers often get called out to burnt out boiler were the owners thought using red diesel was a good idea. Running a fuel the boiler was not designed for can wreck it.
Regards Paul Wiliams OFTEC engineer

Posted by: jim on 25 Jun 2008 at 4:35pm

I know a user of veg oil in a 10 year old diesel car - ratio very rough 50/50. Works absolutely fine .. no adjustments or other changes - just pour it in!

However I'm told it may not be so good with more modern engines?

I understand its legal as well - up to 2500litres pa i think.

With the increase in price for vegi oil the saving is not great these days.

Probably ok in place heating oil as well - however I doubt there is a saving due to cost of vegi oil.

Posted by: Dan on 24 Jun 2008 at 10:44pm

I am a new 2 oven oil-fired Aga user - in response to Andrew Fodens statement on 30th May 2008; can you really add/mix vegetable oil to your heating oil tank? If so, how much would you add to say 500 litres? Are no modifications necessary and would it adversely affect the aga itself?

Posted by: Martin on 19 Jun 2008 at 2:39pm

Another tip for further oil savings.
I installed an 'intellegent' heating/water programmer into our self build project, and 2 years later am really impressed with its performance.
It works by monitoring how the room cools down at night, and from this can calulate the outside temperature (including wind chill factors). based off this temp it then decides at what time to turn on your central heating in the morning to accurately hit your set temp at the right time.
e.g. you may normally set your timer at 6am enough time to heat your house to 19oC for 7am on a cold winter morning. If their is a particular warm snap, then it may only be necessary to turn on the boiler at 6:30 to hit 19oC at 7, thus, saving 30mins of boiler effort. Over time this builds up to a significant saving. Have a look at the web address beolow for further details.
we have a 2500sq.ft detached house in bedfordshire, although we have upgraded insulation, so far am still using our first delivery (2400lt) from 2 years ago, and still have approx 300lt remaining.
The device is called Dataterm (www.warmworld.co.uk) and can be easily exchanged in place of the current programmer. It's relatively expensive but far cheaper than a full computerised system with external sensors. Check out ebay as they are sometimes listed (I paid £25!).

Posted by: Martin on 19 Jun 2008 at 2:23pm

Agree with Dave. As an engnieer logic dictates that heating 'on demand' will always save oil due to heat transfer principles.
Additionally most condensing boilers run a their optimum efficiency when at max output, hence, further savings when heating from cold.
however... we run our hot water on demand and is a regular annoyance of climbing into a cold shower! guess need to weigh up the pro's and con's.

Posted by: Dave on 19 Jun 2008 at 12:30pm

"I agreee, run it constantly, provided you have very good insulation. Think about it, it take much more energy to heat a kettle of cold watter, and alot less if its already warm warm, topping it up is I have fond cheaper by (11% YOY diferance). Same goes for heating, heating a cold house takes hours, maintaining it at a constat level takes alot less energy. No point though is your insulation is poor as your heat is escaping as fast as you produce it."

This is not true and, as Bob Millar remarked, an old wives tale. It contradicts the Laws Of Thermodynamics.

You lose heat (and hence use up fuel) in proportion to the temperature difference between your house and the outside air. The more you can reduce the temperature difference by stopping heating your house during the night and during the daytime, the less fuel you will use. To save money, only have the heating on in the morning and evening.

Posted by: Graeme Edgar on 13 Jun 2008 at 4:26pm

Hi all,

As a small minority of heating oil users we are at the mercy of the billionairs who produce this vital fuel. The only way to free ourselves from this is by sourcing an alternitive.

I am beginning to conduct tests on waste veg oil converting it to bio-fuel, dont confuse this with using un-processed veg oil, the process seems quite straight forward with a little practise.

if all goes well i will let you know, its time to take a stand, the price of oil is never going to drop, they need to capitalise on the resource before it is exhausted, once the oil is gone they have nothing left to sell, so their making hay while the sun shines and theres nothing we can do other than beat them at their own game and find an alternitive, wish me luck!.

Posted by: Bob Millar on 11 Jun 2008 at 6:57pm

I beg to differ with those that say keep the heating on - this is one of those old wives tales!

Think about it - the amount of heat you put into a building over time is equaly to the amount of heat you lose - through conduction through walls and drafts etc. Laws of physics say that the rate of heat loss is directly proportional to the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside of the house - the insulation values are constant. So, if you turn your heating off (or down a few degrees) for part of the day when the warmth isn't needed as much the amount of heat loss during each day MUST be lower than if the house is heated to full temperature all day.

The same logic can be applied to heating water.

For this reason I would recommend anybody to fit a variable temperature programmable thermostat to replace afixed one - means you can reduce the temperature say overnight but still have the heating on just in case it gets really cold.

Posted by: Graham Archibald on 6 Jun 2008 at 12:53pm

I agreee, run it constantly, provided you have very good insulation. Think about it, it take much more energy to heat a kettle of cold watter, and alot less if its already warm warm, topping it up is I have fond cheaper by (11% YOY diferance). Same goes for heating, heating a cold house takes hours, maintaining it at a constat level takes alot less energy. No point though is your insulation is poor as your heat is escaping as fast as you produce it.