I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark. Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Thanks

Liz

EN wrote:
I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark. Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!


24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider electric
heating if you have oil.


--
Grunff

--
Blair
"Grunff" wrote in message
...
EN wrote:
I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll
do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has
bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark.
Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in
the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to
buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but
am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!


24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider electric
heating if you have oil.


--
Grunff

I paid 29.1p last week! Living in Pitlochry,Perthshire
Blair

EN wrote:
I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark. Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Since the price of our oil is based on Brent Crude Oil, you may find the
following BBC page of interest.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/f...es/default.stm

If you select the twelve months graph, you will see that the price of
oil is close to its highest level during that time.

--
Howard Neil

"EN" wrote in message
...
I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark.
Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Thanks

Liz


Boilerjuice is good for price comparisons.
http://www.boilerjuice.com/

If you can wait a few weeks summer prices should kick in - usually a few p
per litre cheaper.

John

Grunff wrote:

24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider electric
heating if you have oil.

About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with a heat
pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into the room for
1kW worth of electricity.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Grunff wrote:

24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider electric
heating if you have oil.

About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with a heat
pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into the room for
1kW worth of electricity.


Why is this? I had assumed they'd be less efficent at heating than a
traditional heating element.

Alan.

In article , Alan wrote:
About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with
a heat pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into
the room for 1kW worth of electricity.


Why is this? I had assumed they'd be less efficent at heating than
a traditional heating element.

No, because you're using the electricity to drive the heat pump not to
provide the heat: the heat itself is being extracted from the outside
air (the reverse to running it in a/c mode during the summer).

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.10 released 4 April 2005]

"EN" wrote in message
...
I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark.
Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Forget electricity - unless you have your own windmill/hydro plant.

Oil is still second only to mains gas in energy/£ so try haggling. Some
suppliers have rather a lot of stock at the moment and I've had two 10% off
vouchers through the door recently.

EN wrote:

I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark. Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Thanks

Liz


I cjecked today and in my area it was 28.5p a liter.

Try www.boilerjuice.com for a quick quote in yours.

Oil dipped below $50 a barrel briefly last week - its back over $55 for
Brent Crude, and I've now made enough for 3 tankfuls on buying futures
in it

Alan wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Grunff wrote:

24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider electric
heating if you have oil.

About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with a heat
pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into the room for
1kW worth of electricity.


Why is this? I had assumed they'd be less efficent at heating than a
traditional heating element.

Because the 1KW is used to pump 3kw of heat from elsewhere that's
already there(like outside air). The 1 kw heat from the compressor is
added to this so you get 4kw.
It's a refrigerator back to front, with a fan. You could say it's
cooling the outside air and transferring the heat to inside. I gather
some heat pumps are even more efficient than just 300%.
In some places they have pipes under their garden which collect heat
from the ground instead of the air, but britain is a bit ecologically
backward, so most people haven't even heard of "ground source heating"
and the efficiency of heat pumps(1,800,000 gooogle hits) :

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oogle+S earch

M.K.


Alan.

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:43:32 +0100, "EN" wrote:

I need to buy some more oil but am scared by what it might cost. I'll do
some ringing round in a moment but just wondered if anyone else has bought
any recently and what you paid per litre as a bit of a benchmark. Normally
prices drop a bit in the summer but as it's so freezing today I cant see
summer ever arriving! What are your predictions for heating costs in the
year or so ahead?

Has anyone done any comparisons for example would it be cheaper now to buy
more electric heaters and use those instead? I can't get gas here but am
very cosy in front of blazing log fire!

Thanks

Liz


Work out how many tress you burn a year, and plant that many, then
every time you chop one down, plant 2, you have an endless supply of
virtually free wood.

I have a friend with 40 tress, he burns 1 a year.

Rick

wrote in message
oups.com...


Alan wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Grunff wrote:

24.5p a few weeks ago.

Oil is much, much cheaper than electricity. Don't even consider
electric
heating if you have oil.

About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with a heat
pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into the room for
1kW worth of electricity.


Why is this? I had assumed they'd be less efficent at heating than a
traditional heating element.

Because the 1KW is used to pump 3kw of heat from elsewhere that's
already there(like outside air). The 1 kw heat from the compressor is
added to this so you get 4kw.
It's a refrigerator back to front, with a fan. You could say it's
cooling the outside air and transferring the heat to inside. I gather
some heat pumps are even more efficient than just 300%.
In some places they have pipes under their garden which collect heat
from the ground instead of the air, but britain is a bit ecologically
backward, so most people haven't even heard of "ground source heating"
and the efficiency of heat pumps(1,800,000 gooogle hits) :


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oogle+S earch

M.K.


Alan.


Thanks, I often wondered about the efficiency of running A/C heat pump
systems all year to heat and cool a building as required.
I guess by the same token, the cooling process is reasonably energy
efficient also.

Alan.

Alan wrote:

Thanks, I often wondered about the efficiency of running A/C heat pump
systems all year to heat and cool a building as required.

It works well in places with mild climates. The greater the temp diff
between outdoor and in, the less effieicnt it gets. So its inefficienct
in the coldest weather, not ideal. Still better than plug in leccy
heaters tho.

The other issue is the upfront cost. I gather this has fallen a lot now
tho.


I guess by the same token, the cooling process is reasonably energy
efficient also.

not compared to the other options, no.


NT

wrote:
Alan wrote:

Thanks, I often wondered about the efficiency of running A/C heat pump
systems all year to heat and cool a building as required.

It works well in places with mild climates.

Ground source heating is used in places like Canada, where the
underground temp is way above ambient.

The greater the temp diff
between outdoor and in, the less effieicnt it gets.

Underground pipes make sure that differential isn't as high.

So its inefficienct
in the coldest weather, not ideal.

It's not bad if you use below ground as your heat source.

Still better than plug in leccy
heaters tho.

The other issue is the upfront cost. I gather this has fallen a lot now
tho.

It should keep falling in relation to energy costs.



I guess by the same token, the cooling process is reasonably energy
efficient also.

not compared to the other options, no.


NT

"Alan" wrote in message
...

Thanks, I often wondered about the efficiency of running A/C heat pump
systems all year to heat and cool a building as required.
I guess by the same token, the cooling process is reasonably energy
efficient also.

Heat pumps are very expensive to install. Running cost is the same as
natural gas. No need to cool domestic houses in the UK, if proper
insulation, shading, ventilation is done.

"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
In article , Alan wrote:
About the only way to get a sensible price using leccky is with
a heat pump aircon unit. That way you can dump 4kW of heat into
the room for 1kW worth of electricity.

Why is this? I had assumed they'd be less efficent at heating than
a traditional heating element.

No, because you're using the electricity to drive the heat pump not to
provide the heat: the heat itself is being extracted from the outside
air (the reverse to running it in a/c mode during the summer).

Heat pumps move heat. They are less efficient in winter, when you want
them, as there is less heat to move. They require careful thought,
understanding and a lot of figures worked out before buying one.