we are renting an old house with old central heating that is expensive?

Question

the house we are renting has no double glazing and no insulation it also has 5 bedrooms so it is a rather large property what i would lke to know is with regards to the central heating it is rather old and it is run by kerosene oil so is extremely expensive around £300 per month i was unaware of this cost when i took on the property and i was never shown how to work it properly so through the winter is a costly time can anyone give me any advice on this matter the house also has gas and elec i have four children so the house needs to be warm many thanks

Answer 1

Ask the current land lord to have the furnace checked by an authorized repair person at the land lords cost. This is a common saftey request and your land lord should be open to it. Make sure you are present with the repair person so they can give you the best advise on how the system works. If you land lord is not open to having safety issues checked, get a new place. I personally own three rental properties

Answer 2

I had a similar problem but not so expensive, we had to use electric heaters last christmas, we had 4 for an area of about 85 square metres, (average modern 3 bed home), it cost us £580 for our electricity for 6 months, we are slowly paying this off now. If I was realistic I would say look at moving, because if the heating is costing you £100 a month, then add about £60 of that onto the rental costs of your house and see what else is out there available. It would probably work out cheaper to have somewhere with central heating, while paying higher rental costs, and be far better for your health.

Answer 3

I see by the way you specify the cost that you are not from the U.S. I never heard of a house heated with Kerosene. In the U.S. we have some old houses with Oil heat. Kerosene is very dangerous and we do not use it except in small space heaters and even then not many people use it. I don't know anyone that does. I think it is very poor people that do that, and they often end up burning the house down.

You want to know how to lower your heating bills. First you will just have to wear warm clothes in the house all the time. I hate doing that and I don't. But my friends who are more energy conscious than I am wear long underwear, sweaters, socks, etc. I freeze every time I go to their houses. Hate it.

You can put up plastic around your windows. They have kits for that here, maybe they have it there too. In my town we have a company that helps people figure out what to do to their homes to make them more energy efficient. Look in your phone book or ask around. Ask your landlord for ideas.

Answer 4

dude. get rid of it put in a combi gas boiler.
if you have no money there is grants you can get where they come and spray insulations balls in the loft. that can add to the warmth.
speculate to accumulate. £300 a month for heating is mental thats £3600 a year. you could get your whole house re-plumbed for that.
sort it out.
also for the mean time you can use fan heaters instead of the oil. but you wont have hot water! (thats if you dont have an immersion heater)
remember fan heaters drink electricity, so act fast.

Answer 5

why not set fire to all the furniture , that will save you at least 2 nights heating cost

Answer 6

Cleaning out all vents and such will help.

Answer 7

What is your question exactly???