1000ltrs of oil in 2 months???????????

[Aquaheat]

Now................

Oilman i would not try and start a debate with you as you know a hell of alot more than i.

the reason i asked that question was that i was under the impression that deepending on what boiler/burner you had dictates the nozzle size/burn pattern that you needed.

I dont do oil, i only worked with someone for a few months and learned a little bit but i was taught that.

Just because the nozzle is in there doesn't mean its the right one?

Am i right? Feel free to berate me!! Lol

 

[cider]

when the boiler is set up correctly and serviced ask the guy to check oil lne (pressure test). I had one freeze and split a few weeks ago and if not detected will happily empty your tank. Also make sure no one is helping themselves to your oil especially if the tank is near a road or tucked away out of sight near a dodgy neighbour who i thought you said was an oil engineer

 

[oilman]

Now................

Oilman i would not try and start a debate with you as you know a hell of alot more than i.

the reason i asked that question was that i was under the impression that deepending on what boiler/burner you had dictates the nozzle size/burn pattern that you needed.

I dont do oil, i only worked with someone for a few months and learned a little bit but i was taught that.

Just because the nozzle is in there doesn't mean its the right one?

Am i right? Feel free to berate me!! Lol

There are several different nozzle sizes which are quoted for boilers to give a range of outputs, but there's a lot of variation which can be used to tweak a contrary boiler into behaving better. Also happens if you don't happen to have the right size nozzle in the van.

The output for boilers is the biggest joke of all. What output do you need? Well it depends on the time of year, wether the boiler is run most of the time, or just two hours in the morning and four hours at night. The biggest factor though is that whatever the size of boiler, if the pipes are 22mm, then you are pushed to get 14kW through them. So why the 32kW boiler?

I have seen a combi piped in 15mm plastic, all the way to the boiler.

 

[Aquaheat]

There are several different nozzle sizes which are quoted for boilers to give a range of outputs, but there's a lot of variation which can be used to tweak a contrary boiler into behaving better. Also happens if you don't happen to have the right size nozzle in the van.

The output for boilers is the biggest joke of all. What output do you need? Well it depends on the time of year, wether the boiler is run most of the time, or just two hours in the morning and four hours at night. The biggest factor though is that whatever the size of boiler, if the pipes are 22mm, then you are pushed to get 14kW through them. So why the 32kW boiler?

I have seen a combi piped in 15mm plastic, all the way to the boiler.

Thats why i asked that question, if you dont know what the system requires then how can you judge what is "excessive" consumption.

The OP needs to get some one out that can judge this for him.
just because you know something doesn't mean you know a particular system!!! (eg his neighbour)

 

[Agile]

By the way the advice I was previously given by my neighbour, who incidently is an oil engineer, is that they burn approx 3 litres per hour whenever they are ignited, is this about right

Should I buy the family some jumpers???

In that case one wonders what calibre of oil engineer he is if he cannot easily sort out your simple problem.

You seem to immagine the pump squirts some oil into the boiler and it just burns there as if by magic!

In reality the oil is mixed with an accurately defined volume of air which is carefully set to correctly burn the oil being injected. That setting is very critical and has a big effect on the efficiency. The flue gases are measured with an analyser to get the right proportion of CO².

Tony

 

[mackandmutley]

This seems to have detiorated in to a beating for me simply because I asked a question about the oil usage of my boiler and the fact it seems excessive usage. The advice being given is being taken but I am unable to understand why amongst the replies there isn't a oil engineer who can answer the question about how much oil it should be using approximately when fired up, if somebody were to suggest 1 litre/per hour or 10 litres per hour it would at least give some advice.
Am I missing the point or do customers not ask you how much a system would use when deciding whether or not to get one fitted or as a comparison against gas for example.
Up until this point I have always recieved helpful responses from this forum but now I seemed to have opened up a can of worms with this one.

Apologies for any rattled cages




"You seem to immagine the pump squirts some oil into the boiler and it just burns there as if by magic!"

-Err, No.

 

[OilLecky]

mack,

You have been given some good advice. We can tell you what your oil consumption should be provided that we know a) the boiler model (Camray 3 / Camray 5?) the burner make and model and the fuel nozzle size. To get the nozzle size you need to remove the burner from the boiler and read what is written on the side of the nozzle. It will be something like "USgal/h 0.80 60 W"
The 0.8 US gallons per hour is a clue to the oil usage but that of course depends on the fuel pressure, which your neighbour has now adjusted to what?
There is no point in trying to measure the input flow to the pump, forget it. You can get the thing up and running without test equipment but going back to your original question, economy of oil usage can ONLY be achieved by using a pressure gauge on the fuel pump and a Flue Gas Analyser.
Plus of course checking that you have no leaks in your tank or pipes and that the local "travellers" aren't helping themselves.

 

[Richard C]

I have a 5 year old Boulter Camray 5 & a large 3 bedroom 60’s detached house, DG, additional loft insulation but no cavity insulation. It has a g/floor extension & additional rooms so is probably the equivalent of a modern 5 bed in terms of square footage. Most of the C/H system has been replaced & upgraded except the boiler & main pipe runs. I have been monitoring oil consumption regularly for 4 years & here’s some figures if it helps.

House is occupied daily so heating is running but is off between 23:00 & 06:00. During the recent below freezing temperatures, it was burning around 14 litres/day; for the last 7 days, it’s been burning just under 10 litres/day; when the temp. rises in more favourable weather, consumption drops to around to 8 litres/day, reducing to around 4 litres/day in March/April.

On the face of it, your consumption looks a little high but it does rather depend on your personal comfort levels & we also have an open fire in the lounge which is lit every evening so this obviously helps. Your neighbour’s twiddling may well have buggered the burner settings but a service should sort it out.

 

[Agile]

When I moved in the oil had run dry and after filling it my helpful neighbour came around and said he'd bleed it thru. Turns out rather than undoing the bleed screw he messed about with what someone else has told me is a pressure setting screw on the side of the pump - its black with a flat head screwdriver slot on its top and an o-ring on its flank. After b*****r about with this he told me he couldn't fix it!!

You told us this and then said that he is an oil engineer!

We would draw other conclusions!

You have received lots of advice on what needs to be done to get your boiler properly serviced and set up to operate correctly.

You have also received lots of advice on what others use but the final oil consumption can vary greatly according to different homes and comfort levels.

I think this forum has been very helpful to you.

Tony

 

[Tipper]

I used to live in a 4-bed detached house out in the sticks where it was fairly exposed to the weather. It had a good level of insulation with UPVC windows and cavity insulation althought the system was gravity HW so not too clever.

During the year I would use upto 4000 litres of oil much of it during the winter. I would fill up with 2000 litres in October/November and refill in say February/March. This would then last through the summer and we would start all over again.

In a mild winter the consumption would drop to 75%. So what you have used over the two coldest months we have had for a few years I would say is pretty much what it should be.

Incidentally if you have the boiler manual it should tell you the burner jet size, (and set pressure!) something like 0.75 US Gal/hour from which you can work out you daily consumption. Some boilers (Trianco) have this info on the boiler somewhere but not all do. Boiler makers should be forced to do this so as to ensure the burners are set up correctly.

Oilman is right to suggest getting it serviced which is now essential as it has been fiddled with.

How much is oil these days? (I'm now on gas) Oh for the days of 10p/litre in 1990!

 

[Richard C]

I used to live in a 4-bed detached house out in the sticks where it was fairly exposed to the weather. It had a good level of insulation with UPVC windows and cavity insulation althought the system was gravity HW so not too clever.

We are also in the sticks & have gravity fed HW; I was going to convert to pumped as part of the upgrade but it works so well so left it alone.

During the year I would use upto 4000 litres of oil much of it during the winter. I would fill up with 2000 litres in October/November and refill in say February/March. This would then last through the summer and we would start all over again.

Subjective again but that seems an awful lot; my consumption was around 2400 litres/year initially but since we put in the DG, additional insulation & upgraded the heating system 2 years ago it's been around 1800/1900 litres/year which I'm pleased with. We also have 2 x solar panels so oil use is all but zero 6 months of the year.

How much is oil these days? (I'm now on gas) Oh for the days of 10p/litre in 1990!

Oh happy days ! Here in Norfolk out first time fill up with oil 4 years ago was 22p/litre, last year it was up around 65p/liter ! I just managed to fill up @ 34.5p/litre so was very relieved to take advantage of the latest price drop; there can be huge price differences between suppliers, as much as 10/litre on the price I just paid so you really have to shop around & barter.

 

[superdupergasman]

Check out www.boilerjuice.com for a good search tool for the cheepest suppliers!