Even before the cost of home heating oil quintupled, (sadly not that long ago) one, being cheap by birth and by termperment) was in the habit of siwtching off my oil burner during the summer for long periods of time. It was usually 23 hours at a time in warmer months, turning it on to wash self, clothes, and dishes and then turning it off again, as the sound of it running in the midst of eighty five degree temperatures was somehow jarring. One also routinely turned it off for a week or more at a time when travelling.
A visiting oil burner repairman told me recently that this was not a good practice and gave me some techical, logical sounding reason why this was so. I don't remember what he said, although he seemed convincing enough that I curtailed the practice for awhile more.
HOWEVER, he makes his living working for a company which SELLS the stuff, and so my saving on it is not necessarily in his best economic interest, and therefore I have to wonder whether his judgement on the subject might be tainted. If anyone KNOWS or has strong opinions on the possible damage to an oil fired oil burner which could be caused by turning it off periodically, I would be MOST interested and appreciative of any advice. El Cheapo
Even before the cost of home heating oil quintupled, (sadly not that long ago) one, being cheap by birth and by termperment) was in the habit of siwtching off my oil burner during the summer for long periods of time. It was usually 23 hours at a time in warmer months, turning it on to wash self, clothes, and dishes and then turning it off again, as the sound of it running in the midst of eighty five degree temperatures was somehow jarring. One also routinely turned it off for a week or more at a time when travelling. A visiting oil burner repairman told me recently that this was not a good practice and gave me some techical, logical sounding reason why this was so. I don't remember what he said, although he seemed convincing enough that I curtailed the practice for awhile more. HOWEVER, he makes his living working for a company which SELLS the stuff, and so my saving on it is not necessarily in his best economic interest, and therefore I have to wonder whether his judgement on the subject might be tainted. If anyone KNOWS or has strong opinions on the possible damage to an oil fired oil burner which could be caused by turning it off periodically, I would be MOST interested and appreciative of any advice. El Cheapo
Stick two fingers up to the Utilities and buy a woodburner!!
Location: Lulsgate Bottom Sanatorium for the feeble of napper
Posts: 949
finfly 1- the late Std Noise Snr was a heating engineer for thirty odd years and I don't remember our central heating boiler (as we call them in the UK) ever being on after April every year except for an hour a day for hot water. I don't remember him saying it had to stay on regularly because it was 'good practice'. My old man was a bloody good engineer and tight as get out, so if turning it off was less efficient or harmful to the mechanics of the system, he wouldn't have done it.
The argument seems to settle on how you store your hot water and how well insulated it is. (I presume you're talking about hot water for washing and not heating.) IF you regularly use hot water (every day) and your storage is well-lagged, there IS an argument for leaving the boiler ticking over so that the 'core' water temperature is maintained and only requires topping-up. IF your water is poorly lagged or you RARELY need hot water, then switching it off makes sense, but realise that you have to heat the core water from ambient up to useable temperature.
If your hot water is produced by the 'geyser' method (ie not stored, but heated according to demand) then it doesn't make much difference (apart from the fuel required to keep the pilot light lit).
The argument revolves around the temperature of the heat exchange surface and condensation of the burn products.
Most fuels when burnt produce a number of by product gasses and some of them are somewhat corrosive. If the heat exchange surface does not fall below a certain temperature (because the water behind it is still hottish,) the corrosice gasses do not condense out of the fumes and are passed up the flue and out into the air. However if the surface is cold enough for condensate to form on it then you have a wet corrosive liquid working on the Iron or steel surface which is then heated, so you have hot corrosive materials on it.
In the old days the boiler surfaces were so heavy they would last for years anyway, however today, in order to speed heating the water and for economy in manufacture those sufaces are made as light as possible. In order to squeeze the last therm out of the fuel the more efficient designs also transfer much more of the heat out of the combustion products, sometimes even so much that the flue can be made of plastic. If these boilers and furnaces are not adjusted just right the heat exchange panels are destroyed very quickly, especially if they are allowed to get dusty or dirty. (The particles form nucleii for the corrosive gasses to condense on.) I once saw a a newly installed commercial furnace destroyed in just a year because the temperature gradient was not properly adjusted.
There is a trade off. I know what the risks are but I really have no idea where the value is. In my own house I avoided the problem by having seperate furnace (air temperature) and boiler (hot water) so we can turn the furnace off completely.
Location: England. But, hey, just look at my post count, post count, post count....
Posts: 357
Quote:
A visiting oil burner repairman told me recently that this was not a good practice
And of course he's completely unbiased and has no interest whatsoever in encouraging you to wear out your oil burner.
I mean, if you wear out your oil burner, the oil burner repairman would have to come out to you, rub his chin and say "That's an expensive job, can't get the parts no more, y'see". He'd then have to fix it and then charge you loadsa monee, so it doesn't make any sense whatsoever for him to do that, does it?
I regularly work away from home (supposedly 2D, 2N, 4O, but seems to bebe coming more 2d, 2N, 2O, and more recently, 3d, 2N, 3O, and in the near future, 3d, 1O, 3D, 1O, 1D,2N, 3O
My storage heaters have been off all summer and my H2O gets turned on when I arrive home for my days off (OK, I leave the washing up from the first night home until the next day), and turned off for my days away at work.
Yes, that's what I've been doing for years. Boiler is turned off some time in April and immersion heater on. Reverse the situation about the end of October. Been doing it for years and never a problem. Cheaper running costs too (but we have a thing called Economy 7 - cheap leccy at night, so the immersion is turned on by a time switch and heats a big tank with enough water for a days showers, baths washing etc.)
Remove boiler. Install solid fuel rayburn/Aga (for winter) Install solar panel to heat water (for summer) Did that 20 odds years ago, current costs for hot water (and heat and cooking during winter) around £150
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