Uncategorized – heatingoilinfo

Which heating oil tank is right for you?

Buying an external fuel tank to supply heating oil to the home is a major investment, of course, and it also represents a responsibility to the environment. The cost of keeping a home warm in the winter months can be substantial, but purchasing oil in this way allows for the property owner to make some significant savings in this area.

There are several types of tank available on the current market, and it’s important that consumers select the right one for their needs. Before siting any heating oil tank, however, there are a number of factors to consider:

Ease of access and security
Capacity
Cost
Plastic or steel
Single or double skinned

A growing number of home-owners are opting for plastic tanks nowadays. They are relatively inexpensive and, although they may not look particularly strong, they are extremely tough and robust. Usually, they are made from moulded polyethylene, and will generally be green in colour.

In the past, the most popular choice was steel, and although it’s been overtaken by plastic in many homes it still represents an excellent and viable choice. The interior of the tank is treated with a protective oil-resistant coating, and new purchasers need to bear in mind that this coating will need to be maintained over a period of years.

Single or double skinned durability

Both steel and plastic tanks can be single or double-skinned. Needless to say, the latter will offer a greater level of protection against damage or contamination, but will also cost more to buy. Which of these options you choose will obviously depend on your requirements and your allocated budget.

Every tank should have a bund installed around it, in order to contain any spillage. The damage that can be done to the environment by a broken tank is substantial, so it’s important to bear this in mind when purchasing a new tank. Some people opt to purchase a tank with an integral bund already fitted, which will usually be capable of holding 110% of the tank’s total capacity.

Often, it’s a prudent course of action to seek the advice of a specialist before making a decision. Concerns over health and safety need to be taken into account, and the input of an expert often proves invaluable.

Read more @ http://www.valueoils.com/

Discount Heating Oil Prices is a company where one can find the lowest home heating oil prices. The company also provides delivery assistance to your home punctually and securely. Just visit the official website, enter your zip code, browse the lowest price available on heating oil in your place and click on the “buy now” button. Getting discount heating oil in Massachusetts is now just a click away from you

3 Reasons why Heating Oil Thefts are on the Rise‎

After a recent spate of metal thefts making national headlines, criminal gangs across the UK seem to be broadening their horizons and turning their hand to oil. With heating oil pricescontinuing to rise, oil is seen as ‘liquid gold’, and a highly valuable commodity that is increasingly attractive to the more unsavoury members of society.

According to a recent survey by rural insurance company NFU Mutual, domestic oil is now the third most common item stolen from the countryside, sitting behind tools and quad bikes, up from sixth in a similar survey just 12 months previously.

So what are the reasons behind this unwanted growing trend, and importantly, what can you do to buck it?

High Value

Although we’d like to think the opposite, thieves aren’t stupid; in fact, it’s often quite the opposite. They’re very aware of the risk versus the potential rewards and organised gangs will have the necessary tools to ensure a clean grab and a quick getaway. Whilst heating oil prices remain high, it’s a sad fact that anyone with a domestic oil tank is a potential victim.

Valueoils.com top tip: Whilst you can’t personally have much influence over heating oil prices, you can be discreet about how much oil you have. If everyone knows you get an oil delivery on the first day of the month, the likelihood of someone pouncing is increased. Aim to vary the date of your top-ups to keep them guessing.

Limited Security Measures

The vast majority of the £2.5m UK households with no access to a mains gas supply are in rural areas, making it much less likely that a theft will be caught on CCTV. A surprising number of domestic oil tanks have very little to protect what’s inside, which is a huge oversight considering there are often thousands of pounds at risk.

Valueoils.com top tip: As a bare minimum, all tanks should be fitted with a robust lock, and it would be even better if they could be disguised or hidden away from the gaze of would-be robbers. More expensive investments such as motion sensor technology and alarms will pay for themselves in the long run.

Personal Consumption

Thieves who prey on jewellery stores or art galleries generally aren’t after something for themselves, regardless of how pretty they may look in a pair of sparking diamond earrings. These types of theft require a black market to distribute the swag, whereas heating oil can be stored and used without anyone else ever having to find out.

Save money, hassle and the environment with proper care of oil tanks

If your oil storage tank, or the fuel lines to and from it, become broken or compromised in any way, the effects can be disastrous. The local environment can suffer greatly, of course, and there could also be extensive damage to your home and garden to contend with. In addition to the inconvenience and upheaval, the whole repair process could end up costing you a small fortune.

To avoid this, there are some basic tips about maintenance that should be observed. As always, prevention is far better than cure, so it pays to be proactive in this area at all times. Perhaps the most important step towards keeping everything in fine working order is observation. Taking a regular look at the tank and supply lines only takes a few seconds, yet it can forewarn you about potential issues before they become major problems.

It’s a good idea to check the ground underneath the tank for any heating oil leaks. The slightest leak may only produce a drop or two of fuel, but it could prove to be a sign of things to come. Such droplets should be seen as an early warning system, and should be dealt with as quickly as possible.

You should be checking all the connections, too, and making sure they are tight and secure. All fittings are capable of becoming damaged by accidental knocks or erosion, so vigilance is extremely important. If you even suspect a fitting of being looser than it should be, you need to rectify the situation immediately.

It’s recommended by tank manufacturers and industry specialists that you should replace the fuel tank on a regular basis, which many specify should be every ten years. As well as the corrosion that’s caused by the fuel itself, water, in the form of condensation, can cause a large amount of damage over a given period of time.

One of the major problems with oil tanks, especially older ones, is the presence of sludge at the bottom of the tank and, subsequently, in the supply lines. Condensation inside the tank will cause a certain amount of contamination of the contents, and over a period of time the degradation of the fuel will lead to an increase in the quantities of sludge that occur.

Another important factor in the battle against damage to fuel lines is cleanliness. Any spillages during the refilling process, even the smallest ones, can lead to oil collecting on fittings and the fill cap. You should always make sure these are cleaned off with a wipe of a cloth every time you accept a delivery.

How much heating oil will cost in January 2013?

Making predictions is a dangerous game to get into, but that doesn’t usually seem to dissuade your average man on the street from expressing their opinion on the future. Some predictions could earn you a bit of spending money if you’re able to foresee who will be top of the Premier League when it comes to the crunch, or if you’re able to pick the winner from the latest celebrity entrants to the Big Brother house.

The tricky game of predicting heating oil prices could also bring you in a cash windfall, with the average price per litre fluctuating significantly throughout the year. Some of these fluctuations are relatively simple to judge – we know for example that global crude oil prices are continuing to increase as the global economy continues on an uneven keel which has a direct bearing on how much heating oil costs locally.

Then there are factors which are much harder to see through a crystal ball. Britain’s notoriously unpredictable weather for one will once again surprise us throughout the year with unseasonably hot or cold conditions throwing the transport network into turmoil which will have a direct impact on heating oil supply networks. World political systems also come into play and it is never possible to predict accurately what will happen in a year’s time but any additional turmoil, or change in supply or demand, will have an effect on the prices.

So, to answer the original question of how much heating oil will cost in January 2013 – we wouldn’t like to say exactly, but it’s highly likely to be more than it is today. If you can buy your heating oil at the right time, you could save a considerable amount of money. If you want to get heating oil at the best price, keep a keen eye on trends over the course of the year, and buy in bulk when you sense a good deal.

How many days of heating do you get for your Winter Fuel Payment?

Along with the Warm Front programme, the Winter Fuel Payment scheme helps around 12m households in the UK overcome fuel poverty every year.

Almost everyone over the age of 60 is eligible for a payment, with those aged over 80 appropriated additional funds to make their energy bills more manageable. Variable payouts depend on personal living circumstances, with anything up to £300 available for the most vulnerable.

For example, if you’re 60 and live alone, you’re entitled payout is £200. That sounds like a nice bundle of money to put aside to cover your bills at the time of year where you need to heat your home the most, but in practical energy price terms, what does that actually equate to?

During the winter people are in their houses for long periods, and therefore using many of their electrical appliances for longer periods of time. With no natural sunlight streaming through the windows, light bulbs are on for longer and a household with 10 bulbs on for 120 hours will be paying around £12 per month.

Add to that a washing machine (£2.40 per month), tumble dryer (£4.80), television (£1.80), vacuum cleaner (60p), iron (£1.12), toaster (48p) and kettle (£1.32) and you can soon see how the monthly costs start adding up without even turning the heating on. There’s nothing like a steaming cup of tea on a cold day, but every time you turn that kettle on, it does have an impact on your bill.

Temperatures drop, heating bills rise

The same can be said every time you turn up your thermostat – it’s estimated that daily heating and hot water bills increase by 28p for every degree drop in the outside temperature. If temperatures in your area are around 7°C below normal, that works out at an extra £60 to your monthly bill.

There is no such thing as the average monthly heating cost as there is a huge variation in property type, location and usage of gas, electricity or domestic heating oil. Offering an educated estimate, over the summer most people expect to pay around £80-100 for three months worth of heating an average sized three-bedroom house. During the winter months, this can be closer to the £300-400 mark, even if you’re out for most of the day.

Going beyond heating, there are many other uses of fuel within your household that you’ll be paying for which can have the side effect of heating your home. Anyone who has come in from a winter stroll to a Sunday roast cooking away will know how it can add to the overall warmth of a house.

Cooking a meal with a medium sized gas oven will cost you around 10p per use (based on 223 uses per year). Cooking on a gas hob however will only cost you around 3p (based on 424 uses per year).

That means for our 60 year old living alone their payout of £200 would pay for the £36.60 they spend every year on cooking two hot meals a day, which will usually be more frequent when the weather is colder. For those cooking using electric ovens and hobs, the costs would considerably more, coming in at around £69.10 over the course of twelve months.

The Winter Fuel Payment is a welcome boost for anyone finding it hard to manage their bills, but there is still a lot you need to consider about how you live to ensure you’re using energy in an efficient and economic way.

Which regions of the UK are most reliant on heating oil?

Across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, nearly 1.5 million households rely on domestic heating oil with the majority of those unlikely to become attached to the gas grid in the near future.

As the government works towards introducing initiatives that will lower fuel bills and help contribute towards the UK’s renewable heat targets before 2020, these numbers will decrease, but for now heating oil and the associated costs remain a major consideration for millions of people across the isles.

This map shows the percentage of domestic properties by region reliant on heating oil:

uk heating oil usage map Which regions of the UK are most reliant on heating oil?

* data from consumerfocus.org.uk

The distribution of these homes isn’t just limited to the out of town areas you might expect. Whilst it’s true that approximately 37% of rural properties rely on heating oil, in towns with a population over 10,000 approximately 5.5% of residences use oil to heat their homes.

The most striking statistic is in Northern Ireland where 495,560 (around 70% of households) are unattached to the main gas heating network. Fuel poverty (when you pay more than ten per cent of your income to maintain an acceptable level of temperature in the home) is said to affect over a third of dwellings in the region.

With so many people potential purchasers of heating oil, community oil buying schemes are becoming a great solution to help keep on top of heating oil price fluctuations. If you live in an area that isn’t yet connected to a gas supply, do what you can to gather others together and improve your buying power.

New ways to cut your heating oil bill

Given the relatively high price of home heating oil in the UK, most families are understandably very cautious about their oil usage. However, when the frost is on the ground, your home needs to be warm, especially if there are young children or elderly persons present.

We all know that setting the timer is a sensible idea and only having the heating switched on for a few hours each day will reduce your oil consumption. Keeping the boiler or room thermostats at a lower level will also reduce usage levels but there are a few other steps that we can take to keep costs in line with the family budget and some of the savings are really attractive.

As we have previously covered, OFTEC registered boiler servicing is always highly recommended to achieve better boiler efficiency and the service should e carried out every 12 months to avoid excess carbon build up. An additional service which many heating engineers or plumbers can provide involves fitting a “Magnaclean filter” on to the home heating system for improved efficiency. The majority of heating systems systems suffer from black iron oxide contamination. This creates thick sludge like deposits which are the result of corrosion taking place within radiators and other metallic components.

The filter attaches to any point on the main heating oil circuit but it is ideally located between the last radiator and the boiler. As the water circulates, the magnet removes all the red metal particles (and also the non-magnetic parts) that have built up in the water.

Replacing the old water in the heating system with fresh water and flushing all of the radiators with a cleaning agent whilst using a drill hammer to tap all the radiators will clear any excess particle build-up throughout the entire heating system.

According to ADEY professional heating solutions the system ‘Saves up to 6% a year on heating energy bills’ and customers who have had the MagnaClean installed report that the boiler was able to heat every radiator in every room in half the time that it normally takes. As a result of the filter rooms heat up quicker and the room thermostats then kick in much earlier. Some customers are reporting that their home now heats up in about 1/3 of the time it used to take.

Given the tough economic times we would highly recommend asking your local OFTEC registered engineer or plumber for an estimated cost of having the filter supplied and fitted as in the long run it will inevitably save you money on your heating oil bills.

General advice for those who travel or have a second home

For those people with holiday homes, a second house, family home or other property which may be unoccupied for significant parts of the winter there are important steps to protect them from the worst ravages of the weather.

Many Insurance companies now insist on steps such as these, if they are aware that the house will be unoccupied for any length of time.

1. Make sure that your tenant or person checking the house and yourself know where your water stop valve is located. Also check that it will turn and is not stuck in the on position.

2. In the loft make sure that all pipes are lagged and that the top and side of tanks are insulated. If they are lagged check if they need to be replaced or improved.

3. It is especially advisable to securely lag parts of the pipe that are difficult to reach or the ends of pipes. These are often the most vulnerable points.

4. Leave open the trap door to the loft. This enables warm air from the rest of the house to circulate throughout the loft.

5. Visit the house or have a local contact visit the house as often as possible so that if there is a burst pipe, it will be detected as soon as possible, and so minimise any damage.

6. Ensure that there is sufficient heating oil at the property to allow the thermostat timer to regularly heat the house. Where there is a very severe weather forecast it may be advisable to have the heat on 24 hours a day or at least for lengthy periods at a time. Remember that the coldest part of the day is often during the middle of the night, so ensure the heat is on during this period.

These are some precautions that you may wish to follow and which may prevent damage from burst pipes. In a worst case scenario this is damage that may not be covered under your home insurance policy.

Is the Green Deal a Good Deal?

The 2011 Energy Act includes the provision for a new ‘Green Deal’ which is intended to reduce the cost of carbon emissions by overhauling the energy efficiency of British homes and Businesses. The ‘Green Deal’ is a financial mechanism intended to eliminate the upfront cost of energy efficiency measures and instead assures home and business property owners that the cost should be covered by the savings on their electricity bill.

The deal will also be intergrated with a new Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which will allow supplier subsidies and Green Deal finance to provide a seemless offer to end users.

According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change the Deal will allow ‘many households and businesses to imporove the energy efficiency of their properties so less energy is consumed and less money is wasted’. However, OFTEC has raised concerns that the deal does not sufficently address the growing problem of fuel poverty in rural areas. Around 25% of rural properties and in recent years the Warm Front scheme has been successful in reducing fuel bills for many rural homes but with the scheme coming to and end, OFTEC is concerned that the new Green Deal will not be as affective as the old scheme.

Jeremy Hawksley, the Director General of OFTEC has said, “Under the Green Deal proposals, energy efficiency improvements will be financed through higher long-term electricity bills for the householder. The Green Deal needs to recognise that fuel poor households may be unable or unwilling to accept higher bills, and therefore it is unlikely there will be a significant take up of the Green Deal in rural areas. Although the scheme plans to provide assistance for both the hardest to reach and hardest to treat properties, it must focus initially on the fuel poor as a priority.”

Ways to Disguise Your Oil Tank with… Landscaping

Useful though they may be, few people can say that oil tanks are attractive. However, getting rid of them completely isn’t really an option when you use heating oil. So what can you do? One of the best ways to deal with the often unsightly problem of a large oil tank sitting outside your house is to disguise it.

heating oil tanker Ways to Disguise Your Oil Tank with... Landscaping

More than just simple decoration, hiding your oil tank so that it isn’t easily visible also has the added benefit of discouraging theft; if a potential thief is unable to see an obvious oil tank on your property at a quick glance then they are unlikely to bother investigating further.

This series of posts hopes to give you ideas on how you can disguise your oil tank, preventing it from drawing unwanted attention while hopefully also increasing the attractiveness of your property.

This month we’re looking at what the art of landscaping can do for your oil tank. Here are a few ideas:

If your property has the earth to move around, it can be quite easy to sculpt some natural-looking hills into the surrounding landscape in order to more effectively camouflage it (more so than simply painting it green, one of the most common methods people employ in an attempt to disguise their oil tanks).
Be careful not to bury your oil tank completely, however; a normal above ground oil tank cannot be buried, with only specially made versions able to be buried (and you require the permission of your regional environmental authority in order to do so). Additionally, remember that you will still need to be able to access it in order to refill it and get it serviced anyway.
Some people go so far as to attempt to disguise their oil tank with sculpture. If custom commissioned this can, of course, be rather expensive, and can ultimately draw more attention to the tank. However, if painted accordingly (and the sculptures are suitably subtle), this can be rather effective.
Read more @ http://www.valueoils.com/

Discount Heating Oil Prices is a company where one can find the lowest home heating oil prices. The company also provides delivery assistance to your home punctually and securely. Just visit the official website, enter your zip code, browse the lowest price available on heating oil in your place and click on the “buy now” button. Getting discount heating oil in Massachusetts is now just a click away from you