The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Beewyched on April 16, 2011, 11:30:17 am
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We ordered our usual top-up earlier this week - only for the delivery driver to drop a note to us yesterday to ring the office ???
"Did we know that since our last order the price has gone up from 41p per litre to £1?" :o :o :o :o
Told him that we weren't desperate at the mo & to hold-off at just now - OMG I hope this comes down before next winter !!!
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when was your last order who supplies you
it must have rocketed in the last 2 weeks it was 59 pence per litre TIME TO SHOP AROUND :wave:
IS THAT DIESEL OR KERO I WAS QUOTING KERO :wave:
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Our heating is gas and we paid our big bill for our gas and electric and it cleared out all of our money....trouble is, since then we have not had any guests (we have a B&B) that never has happened before in the 4 years we have been here, also my husband lost his job, then got another as a laborer for some men staying here, they were suppose to be here a long while, they fetched a friend over from Ireland to replace my hubby and off they went to some one near heres spare home for a very cheap rent, cannot blame them but, if we do not get custom soon, we will be id dire straights, at least we do not need the heating on when we are on our own, we just have the hot water going and a big fire!!!!!!! Not sure whats going to happen to everyone as we are all more or less in the same boat, just some of us have no paddles and a blinking big hole in the bottom!!!!!
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Don't know if our heating oil is deisel or kero ??? guessing it's kero.
Similar situation to you Sandy :( I've not worked since my contract ended last November & the "gilt-in-pig" we purchased was not, so no £ in from her (though lucky our lovely young boar has just matured & done the deed & Portia's over with Karen's Red ;D )
It's a real worry though I've lost count of how many jobs I've applied for over the last few months - when I do get feedback it's usually some guff about being "over qualified" & "issues line managing you because of your experience" ??? At the last interview I had this week they said that they had concerns taking me on as the salary was less than 1/2 of that I've been paid in the past & they thought I wouldn't stay there - OMG ::)
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For what quantity was that £1/litre price?
We filled up in February with 900 litres for 54p/l - only to have some scumbag nick most of it!
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Price in Gloucester on the 1st of April was 60p plus 5% vat
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We ordered our usual top-up earlier this week - only for the delivery driver to drop a note to us yesterday to ring the office ???
"Did we know that since our last order the price has gone up from 41p per litre to £1?" :o :o :o :o
Told him that we weren't desperate at the mo & to hold-off at just now - OMG I hope this comes down before next winter !!!
When I had oil I used to shop around about a couple of days before I needed a delivery. Not so easy when you're on gas ::)
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I bought mine (kero) in Jan at just under 50p (1000l) and it's nearly gone :o - not sure if someone had some away as that would normally last a year but I've been at home more with not working so it might well be all my use :(
At £1 I'll be leaving the restocking til August as it usually drops in summer.. and you never know I might manage to move in which case I'd be leaving a token amount as goodwill rather than a tank full :)
I phone 3 suppliers and the last time it was Highland Fuels that came out best, rather than Scottish Fuels who I usually went back to before.
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I used Highland as well - excellent friendly service too.
This might help
http://www.boilerjuice.com/?gclid=CPjE2e-Vo6gCFYob4QodCXK5HQ (http://www.boilerjuice.com/?gclid=CPjE2e-Vo6gCFYob4QodCXK5HQ)
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Be very careful with BoilerJuice......it is owned by one the fuel suppliers and has been linked to misleading pricing......phone around as well!!!
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Be careful ordering from anyone in the Grangemouth area to get fuel in Scotland. Most of the company's are on a buying scheme and as such charge the same. They use the same computer system to log your quote so if you phone and try to bluff a better deal they can tell. The best independant ones are Associated Agricultural oils in Stirling and my favourite of Bryce Oils in Blackridge. The bigger mobs buy their oil from the manufacturer in a massive weekly bulk order but the independants do so on a day to day basis so can benefit from the lowest purchase price on any given day.
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Sorry if this sounds obvious.
If you keep a look out for fuel delivery trucks in your area, you can make a note of their names. If they are doing business near you, they will probably give you their best price when you needs some oil. This may not be the best price available so you have to phone about 5 companies to get an idea of what is on offer.
Looking in yellow pages is ok but you don't know if the company is doing business locally. If they have to make a special trip, it puts the price up.
Don't depend on the same company that you dealt with last time. Most of them have quotas to fill (bulk ordered stuff) particularly towards the end of the month.
As an aside, I work (part time volunteer) for Norfolk Credit Union. Last winter they did a deal with an oil supplier so that a Credit Union member can order oil via the CU, get a bulk/group discount and cover the cost with a loan. This is then repaid to the Credit Union over the next 6 months or so. There may be a Credit Union near you with the same offer.
You can also set up a co-operative with your neighbours to buy oil together. You will get a better price if you buy 2,000 to 10,000 litres than for 200 to 500.
Don't get locked into a single supplier deal. The price will not be good (after the first delivery). Look at the people depending on LPG deliveries on this basis. They get the storage tank and plumbing as part of the contract and then pay a scary price for fuel. Also, last winter the deliveries were so backed up by the bad weather in December that many ran out and couldn't shop around in spite of delivery 'guarantees' in the contract.
Keep an eye on the price of crude oil as an indicator of what to expect. Problems in the Middle East (Libya etc.) are definitely pushing up the price at present. There is trouble brewing in Azerbaijan and this is a big oil supplier to eastern Europe. If this flares up the price of crude will go up to $150 (currently around $120) so the price of fuel of all sorts will also jump.
However, if the price of crude drops, it could be the best time to fill up.
try:
http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/ (http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/)
http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/futures/ (http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/futures/)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/commodities/default.stm (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/commodities/default.stm)
Don't worry about the difference between West Texas intermediate and Brent (different grades of crude oil) or Spot prices versus Futures. Just pick one or two as reference values and go from there.
It's pretty clear that the price of fuel isn't going to drop much for the next 3-4 years. Any disasters and it will go up. After that it may drop as the oil companies cash in on the current searching for new oil fields and their development is completed (takes at least 4 years). Then it will go up again.
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buy a 30 kw stove...ours has freed us from oil and our house is 3500 sq feet. it has already paid for itself. if you need more info pm me
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Sounds like lots of ringing around needed ???
Would love to get a wood burning stove but we're in a tenanted holding :(
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Should be around 60p or so at present
http://www.boilerjuice.com (http://www.boilerjuice.com)
will give you an idea of prices in your area. You can usually get it less than the site by phoning round; but it gives you a good idea of what the price should be at any time.
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Should be around 60p or so at present
http://www.boilerjuice.com (http://www.boilerjuice.com)
will give you an idea of prices in your area. You can usually get it less than the site by phoning round; but it gives you a good idea of what the price should be at any time.
I quoted this site a few posts back and was shot down in flames lol ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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What appalling stories folks! I agree on avoiding Boilerjuice, its a ripoff. I bit the bullet last summer and had another multi fuel stove installed ( with a chimney liner as the flue is 10 feet wide at the bottom ) I topped up with oil in August to the three quarter mark and still have a quarter tank left so thats used about 500 litres. I spread the cost between wood and coal, doing a lot of the wood myself in summer. The other stove has made all the difference to the whole house and total heating costs for November to March were only £200. We use bottle gas for the cooking range and with electricity I can honestly say we only have an annual bill of around £600. Thats for coal, oil and wood plus the electricity bill. I am seriously looking at a coal pellet boiler to replace the oil but as I dip into this tank for tractor fuel as well at present.......
All fuel is dear, I think the secret is not all eggs in one basket, my wife retired two years ago and consequently is inside all winter so needs the heat. I bought the best stoves I could afford, a 6kw Stovax for the lounge and a 5kw Woodwarm for the dining room, as I said they have worked wonders and the central heating was hardly on even in Decembers cold.
I hope the price comes down soon for people, somehow I think we are stuck with high oil prices so maybe diversifying to coal and wood is the answer. It works for us!
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Time for those that can, to think about another way of doing things . Grow you own oil !!!!! or grow your own wood !!!
It is easy to do either way , but prices for bought in stuff are not going to go down in the long term so if you are going to do it , do it now .
If you plant wood , you can go for willow , ash and hazel ( all have other uses as well , basketry, fencing etc etc). 3 or 4 acres would be what was needed . Either a boggy field for willow or maybe just extra wide hedges all the way round your holding .
Oil is more intensive as you have to process the seed once grown and harvested . Sunflower or rape seed are probably the best to go for , but I am not sure how well this type of stuff grows too far up north ?
About 1/3 of the weight of seed is oil , so 3 ton = 1 ton of oil (+ the remaining 2 ton is animal feed ie oil seed cake). You have to have some sort of processor to get the oil out and that could set you back from £500 - £1000 for a new machine , but it is a one off expense and would cope with many more tons of seed than you are likely to ever process. The hand operated ones are ok for very small amounts of oil , but for 1000 litres + forget them .
Once you have the seed and the processor , you are set up for virtually free oil thereafter .
The same with the wood. Once planted and growing the coppice will provide you with all you need for just the time it takes to cut and stack .
For those that say " but it means loads of work " and " this can happen , or that can happen " and so on , don't do it , carry on paying for it at whatever price 'they' decide you are going to have to pay ., and it IS NOT GOING TO GET CHEAPER !!!
cheers
Russ
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Good points for spare acres Rustyme. I forgot to mention that foraging licenses are avaliable from The Forestry Commission as well, they wont let you loose with a chainsaw but there is always ample windfall on most estates and its free. I used to pile the family into the truck every weekend and fill the trailer, now I go once a month with a large trailer and do half a days gathering. I reckon on gathering around 6 tons a year that way.
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my wife retired two years ago and consequently is inside all winter so needs the heat.
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Im very mean i afraid when the kids say there are cold i tell them to go and put a jumper on!
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Sounds like it's gonna be thermals & 2 minute showers for us ::)
Seriously - how much would someone charge to fit one of those 3kw wood burners & probably line the chimney? Think our landlord would be ok with us doing that (& we could always take the burner with us when the tenancy ends ;) ) At least it would heat about half the house for us :D
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I just installed a 5kw multifuel stove in my lounge. Cost to buy fire and pipework was £2500, installation £1300 - I own a 1988 timber frame kit house, so needed non combustible material all round the flue pipe through the wall and under the fire. I had a concrete plinth built with slate tiles on top. It looks great and is brilliantly warm.
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Wow £3,800 - just calculating the number of piglets I need to sell ???
Yours looks so cosy Annie - can feel the warmth just looking at it, bet the dogs love it too ;) ;D
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Beewyched, cost for us was £1,900 for the Woodwarm, £900 for the stove and liner was £25 a metre. They fill the gap with Vermiculite and thats not too expensive, this was the old kitchen chimney for a range so hence a wide flue at the bottom and more filling.
The Stovax I bought and installed myself in the lounge in an existing working fireplace, I got that for £1,200 but its solid cast and enamel finish, it should see me out!
So just over £3,000 is a hundred weaners at £30 each! ::)
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NO IT IS 50 WEANERS AT £60
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Lillian, at £60 a weaner they must have gold plated trotters! :farmer:
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YOU HAVE TO KEEP AND FEED THE weaners for at least 8 wksthe sow for the 3 months 3 wks 3 days the boar or the boar hire the cost of the sow to start with and you want weaners with a token price of £30 expletive expletive expletive
you would be better trying to get your hands on my wallet at least i would get the chance to cut it off ;D :o :wave:
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I hate to say it but doganjo paid dear for what she got. 30 kw multifuel stove ~ 1700 euro including flu and bits n' bobs. Two friends put it in for a song.
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Ah, over here you're not allowed (as per usual) to let 'two friends put it in' - either need a HETAS certified fitter or get stuck in a pile of building regs and consents. One can only assume this increases the cost quite a bit!
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if it is wood burner only all you can do is set the house on fire if it has a boiler then you can blow yourself up and your neighbours :o
some of these tradesmen the nearest they will come be what ever trade they indulge in is if they slept with one :wave: :wave:
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We only pay £30 for our weaners, prices inflate north of the wall obviously!
Benkt, its time to say ........ to the regulations my friend, think free, act free and pay little. Frankly, the sooner we all start ignoring the EU, The Government and our friends at DEFRA the sooner we will get rid of the red tape and return to common sense. Sorry to soap box but Hetas is a joke, anybody with an ounce of common sense can check a chimney, follow your nose or buy a detector. The rules were put in place for gas flues, any chimney thats in use already will be fine. I only went for the lining because the wide flue is a sod to sweep and I am too old to get on the roof with holly and a rope! Like a lot of regulation we start to ignore common sense and personal responsibility, that in turn leads to deskilling the rural population. End of rant!
Ok I was a fireman for years and if you are talking re opening a disused flue in a thatched house fine, have a liner, but any in use flue that is swept a couple of times a year will be fine. Most older houses are held up by the chimney stack anyway! :farmer: