Scotland's trusted heating oil people

Heating oil is an alternative fuel for homes across Scotland not connected to the National Grid. It’s a derivative of petroleum that is found deep beneath the earth’s surface. 

Heating oil comes as gas oil, also known as red diesel, or kerosene. Homes generally use kerosene, while red diesel is used in agricultural settings. To heat your home, the heating oil is burned in an oil burner, which heats up water that flows through radiator pipes in your home.

Kerosene is used for heating your home. At Scottish Fuels, you can choose between two types of kerosene: standard and Glowmax. Standard kerosene, also known as ’28-second oil’ will power your home efficiently, but for best results, you should choose Glowmax. Glowmax is our premium quality heating oil and could help reduce build-up in your boiler, making it burn more efficiently, and assist in prolonging its life.

The amount of heating oil you need will depend on the size of your home, the size of your tank, and how often you use the heating. For example, you should expect to use more oil throughout the winter months.

A typical home tank gets through around 1,000 litres a year, but this can vary. You can talk to us about using a Scottish Fuels Heating Oil Monitor to keep on top of your fuel usage or check the oil gauge. Most home tanks range from 1,000 litres to 2,700 litres in size, and our minimum orders start from 500 litres. 

You can keep on top of your oil levels by checking the gauge or using a Smart Monitor. Generally, you should place an order when the gauge says there is less than a quarter of a tank left. If you leave your tank until it’s nearly empty, you could risk going without – particularly if bad weather causes delays to fuel deliveries.

In general, always try and order your fuel at least 10 days in advance of when you’re going to need it if you can. 

To get the best heating oil prices, you should plan ahead. Try to reorder in the summer months for a cheaper quote

Alternatively, if you want a hassle-free way to stay topped up, talk to us about our automatic top-up services. 

You can make sure your delivery goes as smoothly as possible by keeping an eye on your tank. Look out for any rust, cracks or bulges, and make sure the fuel gauge works.

You don’t need to be home for your delivery, but you do need to make sure the area is safe to deliver to. Please give our drivers full access to the tank, or let us know in advance if your property is hard to reach. This way, we may be able to send smaller tankers to get your delivery on time.

Keep all obstacles out of the way and make sure any gates are unlocked if you’re not going to be home. If you have any questions, give us a call on 0345 600 3423.

Most oil storage tanks are made from plastic or steel. These are known as tanks, drums, mobile containers or intermediate bulk containers. If you’ve not installed a tank yet, you should call an OFTEC-registered engineer to do so safely.

Heating oil tanks need to meet strict environmental regulations, while tanks over a certain size are classed as business tanks. If you have any questions about looking after your tank, or if you need a tank service or replacement tank, please call our dedicated tank helpline on 0345 600 3423.

For easier fuel monitoring on the go, ask about a FoxRadar Oil Monitor from Scottish Fuels. These use an app to let you know how much fuel is left in the tank, which you can check on a mobile, tablet or computer. There’s no need to go out in the cold to check your tank!

Give us a call on 0345 300 8844 to find out more.

When we come to top you up, our delivery drivers will always give your tank a visual inspection first – to protect you from costly leaks and spills.  If you have any questions or concerns at all about your tank, you can contact our dedicated tank helpline on 0345 600 3423.

Watch our video to get hints and tips on how to care for your tank.

If you need a new tank or want to get your current one serviced, our OFTEC-registered tank engineers can help.  Simply give our tank team a call on 0345 600 3423.  We supply premium quality Kingspan tanks, which come bundled as standard (meaning they are protected from spills) and have a 10-year warranty. You can even have your old tank removed and a new tank installed by one of our OFTEC-registered engineers.  

There are two main reasons that we ask specific questions every time you call about an order.

The first reason is to comply with GDPR Information Security and protect customers’ personal data. 

We have a legal obligation to protect our customers’ personal data from misuse, exploitation, loss or theft. One of the ways we do this is by always asking you to answer two security questions each time you call about an order, a delivery, or anything else that involves sharing your personal information.

The second reason is that we sell controlled oils which are given a rebated rate of duty. That is why we are part of the Registered Dealer in Controlled Oils (RDCO) scheme with the HMRC, which aims to tackle fuel fraud.

 As part of that scheme, when you place an order with us we are legally obliged to ask certain questions to ensure legitimate usage. This includes asking what you will use the kerosene for, or checking details of any non-domestic accounts you hold, as well as verifying standard contact and address details. 

We have a legal obligation to protect our customers’ personal data from misuse, exploitation, loss or theft. We ask a number of security questions to help safeguard your information and to comply with GDPR Information Security. 

When calling about an order, a delivery, or anything else that involves sharing your personal information, we always ask you to answer two security questions. These security questions are based on the personal data that you provide when you set up your account.

We comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) to reduce the risk of misuse, loss or theft of customer payment details – and to help ensure that all transactions are secure. 

We’ve recently raised our standards to provide an extra level of security to the way we process and store customer card data to help reduce the risk from ‘handling’ data. 

You will now be required to manually enter your card details rather than quoting them over the phone. This is to protect both our customers, employees and the business from card fraud.