Let me set the scene for you, it’s Saturday afternoon, there’s frost on the ground outside (it’s been there for a few days but hasn’t gotten warm enough to thaw it out), my house doesn’t have insulation but does (thankfully have a fireplace) and I’ve just got back to mine to do some work with a friend.
This work normally consists of us sat on our MacBooks, in my living room, the TV is on in the background with quiz shows on, and he’ll teach me how to do things or we’re pushing for the next deadline. My dog is normally invading his personal space until she finally settles.
I walked into my house with my friend this weekend and thought “Gosh it’s nippy”, then I tried to reason to myself that I did light the fire later today. Just to check, more than anything, I put my hand on a radiator. My heating should be on at this point so to feel a cold piece of metal when I touched my radiator, I knew what had happened. I’d run out of oil.
After uttering an expletive and having stoked the fire, I left my friend to get comfortable on the sofa in his usual spot. Luckily, I knew I had blankets. I have always felt the cold so I have a few blankets kicking about. I grab the first warm one that I can see for my friend and my own off my bed. While I was upstairs I also made sure to turn the heating off so that the boiler wasn’t running on empty.
I reappeared downstairs and explained that I’d run out of oil which fueled my boiler, however I didn’t want him to be cold so had a blanket for him. He was gracious and thanked me.
Ok, so one of the reasons that I have been putting off refilling the tank is because I’ve seen the price of oil and how much it’s gone up.
I usually use an oil price comparison type website and just paid three times what I paid last time. When I told my friend, he apologised, I told him that he didn’t need to say sorry, this wasn’t his fault! However, I will have guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, it’s currently Saturday evening.
I wish I could say that this is the first time this has happened, however, in honesty, I’m terrible for leaving it till last minute. Ideally, there wouldn’t have been a deep frost on the ground when this happened.
So, what to do in the meantime? Like I mentioned earlier, I have blankets to snuggle up under. I also have an electric blanket on my bed. I used to have a small fan in the kitchen but, Sod’s law, that gave up the ghost in the last couple of days. Usually, I’d have that going especially in these circumstances. I’ll also try to keep the fire going as much as possible. If I really stock this up and then close the vents down overnight, there’s a good chance that I’ll come down to a pile of embers in the morning along with a warmish sitting room and I can easily rekindle the fire just by putting the right type of firewood on the glowing embers. There’s also my dog. I know that a lot of experts say that dogs shouldn’t sleep in the same bed and normally she’ll sleep overnight, downstairs, in her crate, however, she’s a great hot water bottle, when she’s not being a fidget. To say she’s got ants in her pants is an understatement.
Alternatively, I’ll find an excuse to go somewhere warmer. My parents are more organised than I am and they have an aga in the kitchen so it’s normally quite pleasant to sit in there and chat with family members about recent events.
So I know that once the oil is delivered, it’ll need to settle in the tank for a good few hours. I’ll most likely be at the office where it’s normally quite warm, so just pray that they deliver to mine fairly early on or before Tuesday. I have security cameras set up so I’ll be able to see when the oil is delivered as they give me a time as well.
After the oil has settled, I’ll have to try and get the boiler going again. This can be a bit of a faff and my dad warned me against running out of oil as it can damage the boiler, however, I’ve been lucky/ persistent before. That said, before I can even get to the boiler, I have to move the dog crate, handle all the cobwebs in the cupboard under my stairs, get the cover off my boiler and then try and restart it. At first it will probably cut out straight away. Then it will most likely give me a couple of minutes before it cuts out and finally, as I am losing the will to live, it’ll actually work for me. Hopefully.
Don’t be like me. It’s way more hassle than it needs to be and embarrassing when you have a friend over and you run out. Get organised, get oil and stay warm.
