Heating oil at 3.69 a gallon or $925 for a 250 gallon fill who can afford this

I remember when home heating oil prices got crazy 7-8 years ago when I was at my old place before I got married.

Now, I have dual-zone heat pumps and my PECO bill is in the $500 range each month for the winter. That's coming to a stop next month when my insert gets installed.

Insanity...

If I didn't have the pellet stoves, that's exactly what I would be paying. This year, I added the second stove to balance the heat out. I will not be calling the oil man at all. Not to date myself, but I can remember when oil was 17 cents per gallon, pre embargo.

Tom C.

My last oil bill was in the spring of 1994. Much less than it is today, But still more than I wanted to pay. I have never looked back and glad I shed the oil glut.

He is a qoute that came from a guy who sells pellets for a living. He wanted me to pass it on.

Crude oil …thus heating oil is a world market, not just in NE and the price is determined by the world demand. Just because the consumption of heating oil has dropped in NE in the past few years doesn't mean the price is about to fall out of bed. At the same time it might be dropping in this country the demand in countries like China and India has exploded and we are competing for that same oil that goes there…..Supply and demand. Don't blame the speculators as that is an easy out….all a speculator does is provided liquidity to a market and for every buyer on a futures market there also has to be a seller….they can temporarily bump a market one way or the other, but only for a short period of time….the world market for oil is massive and there is only so much product on the market at any given time. If you have more demand over time, and the same supply, prices will rise…..as with any commodity. That is how capitalism works.

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I will also add that futures are what controls the price of oil/gas. Futures are what crashed the oil price back in 08 not actual sales. Hopefully someone that knows a bit more about it than I, Will explain in more detail about futures.

I paid 3.69 in October. Got a bill for $687.00 and thought about what it would cost to heat this year. That was scary so enter the new pellet stoves. I still heat my hot water with oil so I will use about 1/2 - 3/4 of a tank per year for now. That's going to change next year as well then the ol will only be a back up.

I have a one thousand gallon oil tank, I can go two years without filling it, but I top it off annually. I shop around and split a load with my neighbor, they give a price break when we do that. This year we paid $3.43/gallon.

Last summer, I installed a pellet stove on an enclosed porch, I've already noticed that the oil furnace runs a lot less. I'll know if I saved money next year when I top off again.

Dave

DneprDave said:

I have a one thousand gallon oil tank, I can go two years without filling it, but I top it off annually. I shop around and split a load with my neighbor, they give a price break when we do that. This year we paid $3.43/gallon.

Last summer, I installed a pellet stove on an enclosed porch, I've already noticed that the oil furnace runs a lot less. I'll know if I saved money next year when I top off again.

Dave

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Man am I glad I don't have to fill that tank!

helismash said:

I paid 3.69 in October. Got a bill for $687.00 and thought about what it would cost to heat this year. That was scary so enter the new pellet stoves. I still heat my hot water with oil so I will use about 1/2 - 3/4 of a tank per year for now. That's going to change next year as well then the ol will only be a back up.

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I used to heat my domestic hot water with oil also. Changed that last year with a Stibel Electron on demand tankless water heater. Only uses electricity when in use. Best thing I ever did. I HIGHLY recommend this unit. I got an oil delivery the other day and I only needed 13 gallons. I can't wait for my oil guy to call me in January when my contract is up. I am sure he will ask why my consumption is down from last year. $500 a month oil bills will be a thing of the past for me.

If anyone is a DIYer installing that tankless on demand water heater is pretty simple. It will cut down on the expense of having to hire a plumber and an electrician. The only major requirement is that you must have 220 service coming into your electrical panel not 110. This is a deal breaker for the people that I know because to upgrade the electrical service is pricey but if you have the 220 service already then it's a no brainer.

My area $3.25 a gallon.

I locked a 1,000 gal at 3.29 in July, but thanks to my new insert I expect to have half of it left over come spring.

It's $3.629/gal around here today. There were no lock-in offers around here that I could find. I'm just using oil for hot water these days. In the last 10 months, I've used 170 gallons of oil, far less than the 1100 we used to use.

My tank is basically empty right now, maybe 20 gallons left. I have not got oil since 1/3/09 and even then i only bought 200 gal. I like that much more than 650-700 gallons per year. I don't know how anyone can afford HHO anymore. I am dreading calling the oil guy, it's going to be another $700 but I am burning more pellets now, wife works from home and can turn the stove off in early shoulder times before its to hot. Hopefully get more than 2 years from this fill up. I wish I switched to pellets sooner.

Even up here in the great white north my last bill was a$1.20 a liter, which works out to $4.80 a gallon. Adding insult to injury they put a sales tax of 13% on a couple of years ago (which is approx. $5.32 a gallon). Just think how much worse it could be for you.

My Massachusetts oil dealer had been as high as $3.90 for a pre-buy recently, but currently his pre-buy has dropped back to $3.63. I still have 219 gallons left from last year that I purchased at about $2.50 a gallon and with the new pellet stove I'm hoping to stretch those gallons out. Also burning coal this year which I had done years ago in a different part of the house. Two years ago I got rid of a failing oil fired hot water heater and installed an energy efficient Marathon Electric Water Heater and my electric bill difference over the course of a year was just a little more than what I was paying to have the oil guy maintain the oil water heater.


New England Heating Oil Prices

My tank is still around half full. Oil truck hasn't been here for over a year. When I bought my house 10 years ago, oil was a buck and change a gallon. I had a new oil furnace installed 8 years ago when it was about $1.60 a gallon. The furnace hasn't been used much in the past 5 or so years. I've got 3 tons or so of pellets in the barn and two cords of firewood. I don't plan on inviting the oil truck to my house any time soon.

I put a timer on my hot water heater several years ago, so it only runs 8 hours a day. The savings ten years ago were 35 dollars a month. At the rates they charge today it will be a good deal more. I installed one in this house a year ago and it cost me 65 dollars. I'm sure south of the border you could do much better.

When oil was $4/gallon in 2008 is when I switched to pellets.
Got a $5k ( yes $5k ) budget plan bill (for one year) from the oil company !
Went done the Enviro stove path instead. House is alot warmer for ALOT cheaper.
The Xmas card from my former oil company stopped coming though....

The people and knowledge on this site have helped tremendously,STILL the best site on the web.

I don't know how people who are soley on oil are doing it.

Will have to look at the Stibel Electron recommended by gerryger (thanks).
This knowledge sharing is what makes this forum great !

Hi Guy's
Just dropped in from the Boiler Room. When Oil was $4 per gallon in 2008 we invested in an indoor boiler for our old farm house. We went from 3 fills at 550 gallons each for a total of $6600.00 to 7-8 cords of firewood. Some free most $100 to $200 a cord or $1600 total. Have never looked back. My parents and brother both use pellets and have saved thousands also. Have a great winter and just say no to oil.

Down to about 275 - 300 gallons a year and it's mainly for hot water. I'm happy with that as it's my back up for my heat too! Used 126 gallons since last April and we locked in at 3.19 with a neighborhood co-op. I remember filling up for 59 cents in the late 90s. Crazy how things have changed. I wonder what the cheapest way to heat hot water is now? I wonder what it will be in the future?

UncleAnthony said:

The Xmas card from my former oil company stopped coming though....

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And let me guess, you took him off your Xmas card list also and the rolodex.

Tom C.

Hi, my last fill up with a quarter of a tank left was in October. Cost roughly $800. A full fill up would be around $1000. We usually fill up at least 4 times a year so we spend around $3200-4000 on oil give or take some. It was getting way out of hand so we decided to supplement with a pellet stove this year hoping to cut down on oil usage. We can get 4 TONS of pellets for the price of ONE FILL UP! Sad part was with all the oil we used, the house wasn't even that warm. Our house was built in 2002 so pretty tight overall. Definitely not drafty. We have high hopes for our new pellet stove! Hoping to NOT have to call the oil man next month!

Past performance does not necessarily dictate future results, yes.

Yes, the price of oil is out of control. Fortunately, those of us who have invested in pellet stoves have a good alternative for now.

Ten years from now, we'll also have options, especially if the price of oil falls and the price of pellets rises. The most important thing, as a consumer, is not to be beholden to one energy source.

Last time oil man made a delivery to my house......never. House was built in 1983 & never had any type of furnace, whole house heated w/wood stove from basement. Bought the home 8 years ago, decided to switch over heating system this year and just couldn't fathom using oil - due to price & to keep the 'alternative heating' tradition of the home. Whole house heated w/pellets now and couldn't be happier.

On October 24 my Harman Accentra was installed. About 20 minutes after the install team left, the oil truck pulled up. We have an old 275 gallon tank and had been topped off at the end of last heating season, but burned oil over the summer for domestic hot water.

We took 131 gallons at $3.899, or $510 + 3% tax!

Last year we spent about $4800 on oil, service contract and one repair that for mysterious reasons was not covered by the contyract. Granted my mother in law was living with us last winter and we had to keep the house a little warmer and run the oil burner longer each day, but I have already broken even on buying the Accentra, installation and about 3 tons of pellets.

I heard a report the other day that this will be the most expensive home heating oil season ever. A friend just paid over $4/gallon. I am thankful to be free of that and will figure out an alternative for the DHW for next year. We have natural gas in the house as well, so that may be a way to go, but I have to look into the options.

If you have natural gas that is usually cheaper than fuel oil

Here fuel oil right now is $3.90. 1 Gal is 115,000 BTUs

1 CCF of natural gas is 103,000 BTUs. 1 CCF costs $0.80... so equal to fuel oil BTU is probably around 0.90 (I ain't doing the match it's 3 AM and I can't think that much!)