Oil Heat

banana · #1 (**permalink**) 06-22-2006, 10:28 AM

I heat my house with oil and we also use the oil for hot water. I was wondering for those that heat their home with oil how many gallons they use a year? We live in PA in a 1300 sq foot old brick ranch home with a partially finished basement which is also heated (400 sq feet). When I was home all day with my son we would use around 800 gallons a year. Now that he is in school full time and I have a part time job I am able to lower the temp while no one is home. We also used some electric space heaters to keep the oil usage down last year. I would never use them overnight since I am afraid about a fire hazard, and we only use them to supplement the heat when it really isnt too brutally cold or windy outside. On the weekends we dont use the space heaters at all since I dont think it would be cost effective. Last April we had all the windows replaced in the house since they were all the original and were approx 45 years old. I was able to cut our usage down to 537 gallons this includes the oil we use for hotwater in the summer as well. We also added insulation to the attic. I really am stumped as to what else we could do to lower our consumption. In PA we had a realtively mild January which I am sure helped keep my usage down.

Our local oil company offered a prepay for $2.49 a gallon. My hubby and I decided to prepay so we dont have to worry about possible skyrocketing prices. I remember when it would only cost me .89 cents a gallon!

We were also thinking about a wood or pellet stove but our son has asthma and we are not sure if it would aggrevate his condition so we decided against it.

Has anyone else here that has oil heat get any quotes on prepay prices? Does anyone have any other tips on how to lower your consumption?

Thanks

flash · #2 (**permalink**) 06-26-2006, 04:15 PM

Fuel oil is MUCH cheaper than electricity for heating! We had a heat pump in the last house...ACK. Price you have is about right, it bumped up a bit after Katrina but I believe it's gone back down. I'll have to check our actuals.

Insulating the attic and water heater should help. We recaulked all the windows two years ago, and saved ALOT. I'd have to look up the oil rate, but I know our electrical went down 10 kw a day (300 a month), and the oil usage went way down. Our windows were new, but the caulk had pulled away in some places. Insulating over the garage, around electrical outlets, anything that allows the heat to escape, will help. It was a very mild winter compared to the previous one.

msnln · #3 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006, 10:22 AM

I use Fuellist.com to compare fuel prices. They have only limited number of dealers but I have found that their prices are very competitive and in most cases, much cheaper then dealers I had been working with. Unfortunately, only dealers in NY and CT are listed on the website but hopefully they will expand to PA.