Awareness-raising post; Heating oil

[Tab]

I've done a few posts on this, and don't want to belabor it, but it's important.

i live in new england (forgive my capitalization deficiencies - my shift key is broken), and although a few homes heat with electricity (usually vacation homes, because electric heat sucks) or gas, or occastionally wood (which I used to do, but the novelty wears out Real Quick when you're going out in a frickin' snowstorm at two in the morning to get more wood when it's 20 below zero. Anyway, most people heat with oil. You can have a forced air system, or a hot water baseboard system, but invariably your heat and your hot water boiler run off of oil.

we buy oil usually by subscribing to a service that delivers - the prices are generally pretty close, so it just depends on who you like - and most have computerized usage calculators, so you can subscribe for automatic delivery and it's their responsibilty to properly calsculate the usage (based on history) and fill your tank before it gets empty.

Your vehicle's gas tank is usually around 16 gallons. Well, a home oil tank is typically 275 gallons. yes - do the math.

We creuise through at least 3 or 4 tanks a winten when we're goof, and that's still about something like five or six THOUSAND DOLLARS to heat the house.

A lot of this winter will be hurting. Although you can choose not to drive or whatever, houses need to be heated.

i think it's the the bigger picture that probably affects half our nation; i haven't lived in the south, so i don't know what you use, but i suspect you don't have 275 gallong oil tanks in your house, but trust me - nearly everyone up north does, and it's now moved from being a slight inconvenience to one of the top expenditures.

[Parche]

1. We need To

Start getting all homes with oil heat off, and start using electric heat..........

Solar heat from the desert southwest..............

[AndyTiedye]

5. Electricity is Expensive in New England Too

[dysfunctional press]

18. how far can electricity realistically be transported for use...?

if someone turns up the electric heater in bar harbor- would the solar plant in palm springs be able to deliver..?

offshore wind turbins, or underwater tidal turbine(if that's the correct term) might be the way to go for the coastal areas.

[dtotire]

2. Oil Heat

I live in CT. Yes, to fill up a 275 gal tank every 3 or 4 weeks is expensive. I am having a more efficient furnace being installed next month. They are rated at 86% efficient. I understand the fuel savings are at least 25%. That should save me about $1000 per year. It will pay for itself in 5 or 6 years.

[carlyhippy]

3. we had a heat oil furnace a few years ago

it was the back-up furnace for our off-peak electric furnace, the oil furnace heated the house up toasty in a matter of minutes, where the electric furnace never could get the house warm enough and it seemed to be on all the time.

I am glad we are on a natural gas furnace now, it's still expensive, but I cannot imagine with the price of heating oil how much our bill would be every winter, it gets -20 to -40 in the winter here

[NutmegYankee]

4. Thanks for bringing this up.

Many of the homes in New England are old, and cannot be retrofitted with forced air systems without total gutting (think early 20th century, and REAL plaster walls). Since Oil heat displaced coal about this time period, most homes use OIL. And I'm sure about one thing, the Republicans could care less if people up here freeze to death this winter. We are not their base.

[Warpy]

6. You're right about the lack of herbal romance around wood heat

especially when the only seasoned stuff you can get is tree lengths and you're out there freezing your tail off for weeks cutting, splitting and stacking the stuff. Oh, and yes, there's usually snow on the ground by the time the job is done. There is nothing like having to get up in a frigid house and shovel a path to the woodpile through a foot of snow and then dry it off with a hair dryer because you forgot to bring the damn stuff in the night before.

However, when you're looking at several hundred dollars for wood heat versus several thousands for the alternative, it makes a lot of sense.

Those days were the 70s and early 80s for me. My neighbors without woodstoves would get a 5 gallon Jerry can full of heating oil to take the chill off in the mornings, then bundle up for the day. Houses were kept just warm enough the pipes didn't freeze.

It also meant closing off most of the house and living in one or two rooms all winter, sleeping in unheated bedrooms.

Not fun. People who remember the 70s will remember what to do. The rest of them are going to have a very rough time of it.

[Tab]

11. it only works if you have a system installed already

my last house i replaced the junk woodstove with a very nice soapstone stove, but it can't physically heat the whole house and you can't really / easily / cheaply retrofit your whole heating system.

the wood was cheaper than oil, but it's gotten pricey too.

wood is sold by the cord (a particular length) and you can get it green or dry. My first house, I was paying about $80 for a cord of dry. My last house, about $220. it's still cheaper than oil, but on that house I think I went through 3 1/2 cords for the winter. But like i said, and as you agreed, the blush comes off the bloom real quick - the novelty of it doesn't last very long.

i'm okay, so far - I make enough money and have a decent enough house that we can pull it off, but there are a LOT - and make that a big word - a LOT of people that won't be able to heat their homes - the supplemental reserve which we've always had is already spoken for and there's a ton of people that won't make the bills, and it's not like you have to hitch a ride instead of walking - this is heating your frickin' house. Particularly if you have kids, but even if not, you don't need pipes bursting and flooding the place in the middle of winter.


i'm not sure how to help people, but i'm just trying to raise some awareness. i don't do this often - i don't post in favor of the whales, or migrant workers or whatever, but everyone's so bent out of shape about what it costs to drive their car that it seems like some aren't aware there's more to this than just driving your car. my car is nothing compared to what my house takes, and uunfortunately, it's not an option up here. you HAVE to heat your house.

[Warpy]

13. Right, but a lot of people will be like my non wood heat friends

in New England in the 70s, doling out oil to the furnace in just enough quantity to keep pipes from freezing, wearing coats, hats and gloves indoors and sitting under blankets, closing off most of the rooms in the house and living in the kitchen, and sleeping in unheated bedrooms. There will be a lot of people in the basement with hair dryers, hoping to thaw pipes before the copper cracks.

This winter is going to come as a real shock to people who were too young to know what went on 30 years ago. I don't envy them the steep end of that learning curve, it was a miserable one.

FWIW, I learned the lesson too well. First thing I put into this place was an efficient woodstove, capable of heating living room, kitchen and bath.

But gawd it sucks to split, stack and lug wood while allowing the fire to go out and the house to get cold every 5 days to clean the ashes out.

[Tab]

14. I fully agree

there's not a lot of romance to be had when you're hauling your ass at a 3 frickin a.m. in January.

[damntexdem]

7. Haven't had quite that problem here in North Texas.

But we're in the HOT time of the summer now. The weather reporter actually referred to 100 degrees as a 'cold spell.' He was partially joking; but only partially.

Still, good luck in NE? Can you get any help from CITGO?

[aikoaiko]

8. That's rough. I'm grumbling about my $300/mth electricity bills for AC for June, July, Aug, Sept.

In the winter, my bill goes under 100.

[intheflow]

9. The only times I ever had problems paying my mortgage

on my Massachusetts home a decade or so ago, were the months I had to pay for heating oil. And that's when oil was cheap. All my friends and most of my family still live back there and still use oil. Oil is the norm for most houses built all the way up to the 1960's when many homes switched to electric--which hasn't been a cheap heating alternative since the '70's. My prayers are with all in New England who have to use oil to heat their homes.

[MANative]

10. I was quoted $4.98/gallon for heating oil last week when

I spoke with our oil supplier here in CT. We've decided to install a pellet stove for our ranch-style house. It will cost about $4000 to buy/install, and the pellet fuel is about $300/ton. We've been told by neighbors and friends who use this kind of system that we will need between 4 and 6 tons for the full heating season - about $1200 - $1800. Based on what we used last year (1140 gallons), our oil bill would be about $5700. So, payback in one year.

Truly scary for millions of New England/Northeast residents.

[Tab]

12. i'm looking at a pellet stove too

i haven't done the math, but at this rate I'm pretty sure i can write off affordable oil for the near future.

so, 4k to install? we have a hot water baseboard system - would that swap out similarly? what were you running initially?

[MANative]

15. We also have a hot water baseboard system, fueled by oil...

so it sounds fairly similar. If your house is smaller than 2000sq ft you might be able to spend less. We had to get one of the largest systems available as the area we're trying to heat is about 2900 sq ft. We currently have 4 zones, one of which is for my office on the lower level, and is a completely separate electric baseboard system.

Ours is an insert into an existing fireplace. The installer says we have an advantage in that the central air system will increase heating efficiency by running the fan only option. You can also get a free-standing system, and it works best if installed in a "central" location. These also typically require that you place it on some kind of tile/stone or other fireproof platform.

One suggestion - if you haven't ordered one yet - do it ASAP. They are getting really hard to find and get installed before the season kicks in. I've been told by 3 different dealers that one really big brand is now not guaranteeing delivery until late February.

[Tab]

16. I may not be able to pull this off for this winter (due to other obligations)

but I'll need one pretty darn soon.

We don't have central air. Our house is probably 3300 sq ft when you could the stuff that doesn't technically count as footage (for appraisal reasons), and we have three zones - basement, upstairs, downstairs. The downstairs is sort of an open-concept layout, so I bet we could heat that without a whole lot of changes, and I need the basements heated (but not much) to protect the pipes.

My parents once got a kerosene something or other - I think it was called a monitor heater. If oil's going up, I don't think kerosene will be far behind, and in the time from when I first bought wood (maybe 1993) to the last time (maybe 2005), it skyrocketed from $80/cord dry to $220/cord dry, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's over $300 now. I couldn't get green because I wouldn't really have time to dry it.

Funny, though - my salary hasn't increased although everything I pay for has. Maybe there is something to be said for being a Republican. Naw - I still have a tinge of ethics. (sigh) - price you pay for your values.

[MANative]

17. We're probably going to need to use a small amount

of oil as a supplement for the 700 sq ft not accounted for by the pellet stove, which is intended to cover the main level of the house. That area is a large playroom/bar area that we really only use in the warmer weather anyway, so I just need to keep it around 50 or 55 to prevent any pipe freezing. We also have a second fireplace in that space, and a couple of cords of wood from some downed trees (storms!) so we're probably OK in keeping that space handled.

In an apartment we had when we were first married (25+ years ago) we had a kerosene heater for the open kitchen/dining/living area. Did an OK job, but I was always afraid it was a fire hazard. I do remember my Dad once telling me that in an emergency, you could use kerosene as a substitute for heating oil, but I have no idea if that's really the case. Wonder if a system can be retro-fitted to use kerosene instead of heating oil???

Sadly, my income has decreased pretty substantially since the Shrub took (feel free to read "stole") office. My business is tied to the employment/staffing world, so when jobs go lacking, so does my income. If it were still at the same level as it was during the Clinton administration, I'd have absolutely no difficulty paying the $5700 for oil, with plenty left over to play with. Not the case anymore, by a very long stretch. Now, we're just barely keeping the mortgage paid on this monster. Funny thing is, that regardless of how well I was doing financially, I never once have even imagined becoming a repug.