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using lots of oil quickly!

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deathbat
deathbat Member Posts: 1
in Oil Heating
We just got oil delivered 2 weeks ago and we are already down to 3/4 of a tank! I also recently replaced the oil filter. I have forced hot water heat with the hot water being off of the furnace. Is it possible I left the bleeder screws too loose? what are they supposed to be set all the way loose or half loose? It sounds like more hot water is going through the baseboards as well. I don't want to keep going through oil like this since it costs so much! please let me know.



thanks

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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,282
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    You lucky man

    I go through about 200 gallons a week in this weather.



    It's cold out.  If it's cold out, you need to burn more oil to stay warm.  That's most likely your problem.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • JStar
    JStar Member Posts: 2,752
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    Oil

    What bleeders? Any air bleeder needs to be completely closed.



    How can you hear "more heat"?
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    Oil usage:

    How much oil is in a 1/4 of a tank when the top and bottom are round and the middle of the tank is square. A square pipe holds more oil than a round one. The middle/flat part of the tank is way more than half the tank.



    Fill the tank and you will know how much oil you have used.

    You can get a chart listing tank sizes and how much oil is in them by measuring.
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
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    you are correct.

    when you say you hear hotwater running thru the baseboards as well , what you are hearing is a pipe that is not filled with fluid , that is air that you hear.

    a full pipe delivers the heat properly , one with air in it , Not So Much....

    find someone who can install a spirovent and check the pressure in a captive air (expansion tank ) , then you will get a bit more of what you are paying for.. icemans saying, when you stick the tank ,( to determine how much fuel you have ) , you may be getting some different reading if the place you are "Measuring from is not the bottom of the tank.



    Iron mans saying that when it gets these blasts of super cold weather it eats even more fuel oil a day just to keep things going like normal.. so, check on what we are all saying because each one of those things is a definite reason ...



    i hope that helps..

    *~//: )
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    edited February 2014
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    Pressures:

    All the Spirovents in the world won't fix the problems if the system doesn't have enough pressure in it.

    If the "bladder tank", when there is 10# of pressure in the system reads 14#, there's still 10# PSI in the system. If the system has 16# in it, the bladder tank should read 16#.

    If you put a circulator on the supply above the boiler, and you have 10# or less showing at the gauge, the pressure is less at the circulator above the boiler. It is highly probable that the circulator impellor will cavitate and boil water from vacuums developed in the pump. It will gather in higher points. It will make nice with the noises in the system. And as pointed out, these are not scorched air systems. They are hot water systems.

    If you put auto coin vents on the upper floor heat emitters to eliminate air, and the pressure in the system is too low, it is a sure thing that the automatic air vents will work perfectly, doing their job. Eliminating atmospheric air into the heating system piping scheme. Mother Nature intensely dislikes unequal pressures and will do anything possible to equalize them.

    Consider this.

    I've learned just how much better a steam system will work on lower pressures. Steam novices will immediately raise the steam pressures to try to improve a system that isn't working. But 1/2# steam is a wonderful thing. That's slightly more than a 1' head of water.

    IMO
  • wrooper
    wrooper Member Posts: 58
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    oil tank gauge

    The gauge on the top of your tank is not very accurate and certainly not a good way to gauge efficiency. You ARE likely using more oil in this weather than you are used to.

    I suspect you do have some air in your system but buying spirovents etc is overkill.

    Vent/air purge your baseboards/radiators [the small valve,requires a key,at the top of your radiators/one end of your baseboards].  Vent them several times over a week? until you do not hear "water" running through your system

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