"Grunff" wrote in message
...
phil wrote:
Is it possible for an oil burning boiler to become so inefficient that
it uses up far more oil than it should?

YES but there is usually a good reason which becomes obvious on looking


I ask because I had an oil delivery yesterday (1200 litres) and, on
the level indicator tube on the tank, marked the oil level. Since
yesterday the boiler has been on twice and the level has gone down an
inch, so at that rate our 1200 litres will last all of two weeks
.......... this is NOT normal!

If it was burning it that quickly, you'd get a *huge* amount of smoke.
You'd know about it.


Or the baffles (retarders) have become dislodged and the heat is going
straight out of the boiler.
NO-one has been working on it lately have they?
What size is your tank and have you worked out what an inch or 2.5cm
variation of level means in terms of volume?


I'm wondering though if the level in the indicator tube on the tank is
just settling - it IS slow to respond when the tank is being *filled*,
but it's not THAT slow.

Most likely a combination of settling and temperature - oil contracts a
lot as it gets colder.

A possibility but the oil is unlikely to have been "that" warm



I was also wondering if there was the possibility of a leak, either
from the tank or in the pipe to the house, but surely I would be able
to smell oil if that was the case?

Possibly, have you traced the route of the oil pipe, looking for signs
of a leak?

If the leak is underground it might simply collect under a membrane or a
sealed surface such as compacted tarmac. With tarmac you may find it appears
much later and destroys the tarmac around the leak:-(

Whatever you do don't involve the EA unneccessarily unless you want to watch
a group of clowns in big wellies remove vast quantities of ground and
transport it away at (your) vast expense when all that is required is to
allow it (the kerosine) to evaporate as it will do from wherever they dump
it. Now if you are near a borehole or controlled water source its a
different matter.

Try turning off the boiler, marking the level of the sight gauge, If the
tank isolation valve is between tank and the gauge you can shut it and any
loss will be obvious within a short period as the gauge level will drop
faily quickly. I'm assuming you may have a standard configuration with tank
outlet valve followed by sight tube, filter and supply pipe to boiler in
that order.