Hi all,
With some help from hearth.com, I busted loose the plug in the top of my oil tank and dropped a new, working oil meter in. I had the tank filled in October before ever firing it up, and 234 gallons were added (I believe it's a 250 gallon tank). I had the stove installed and started running it around November 1st. I've used ~1.5-2 cords of wood thus far, and that includes not running it at all for a week due to a broken elbow, poorer performance for ~2 months due to said broken elbow, and learning to use a wood stove for the first time.
My oil tank is now reading 55-60% full (above the half way mark but not at the next hash). So I'm guessing I've used 90-100 gallons of oil so far. Also means that I'm on track to go a full year with less than a tank of oil used up.
Considering my service guy even said that "you can easily go 2 full tanks of use before needing another servicing, or 2 years" I'm pretty happy right now.
Next year, we're going to use the furnace more to get the house to a temp we like and then use the stove to keep it there for as long as possible. So probably won't decrease the overall oil usage, we'll simply increase our comfort for a given cost.
...
My question to ya'll is: I've got a 1974 built 2-story colonial with decent insulation/windows/air-sealing that's 2300 square feet + a 450 square foot finished basement. My oil furnace is 84% efficient as a burner and uses forced hot air. Oil is only used for house heating.
How am I doing for oil use?
Joe
With some help from hearth.com, I busted loose the plug in the top of my oil tank and dropped a new, working oil meter in. I had the tank filled in October before ever firing it up, and 234 gallons were added (I believe it's a 250 gallon tank). I had the stove installed and started running it around November 1st. I've used ~1.5-2 cords of wood thus far, and that includes not running it at all for a week due to a broken elbow, poorer performance for ~2 months due to said broken elbow, and learning to use a wood stove for the first time.
My oil tank is now reading 55-60% full (above the half way mark but not at the next hash). So I'm guessing I've used 90-100 gallons of oil so far. Also means that I'm on track to go a full year with less than a tank of oil used up.
Considering my service guy even said that "you can easily go 2 full tanks of use before needing another servicing, or 2 years" I'm pretty happy right now.
Next year, we're going to use the furnace more to get the house to a temp we like and then use the stove to keep it there for as long as possible. So probably won't decrease the overall oil usage, we'll simply increase our comfort for a given cost.
...
My question to ya'll is: I've got a 1974 built 2-story colonial with decent insulation/windows/air-sealing that's 2300 square feet + a 450 square foot finished basement. My oil furnace is 84% efficient as a burner and uses forced hot air. Oil is only used for house heating.
How am I doing for oil use?
Joe