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

Your price seems pretty low?
In the lower 48 I think the average price for NG is $2 per therm

Yup we have replaced 500 gal/yr oil with 4 tons of pellets. Current avg price is $3.50/gal in our area. We paid $209/ton.
$836 vs $1750(todays price) Hmm.... warmer too!
Our Governor is looking into using more natural gas. Funny how the oil companies are complaining again just like
they did in 2008 when many bought pellet stoves. Oil was $4.50/gal at that time.

Seems that our best options are often where there is a variety of options. i.e. Wood and pellet stoves, and wood and pellet providers. Mix that and the fact that you are personally involved, not plug and play as in the oil/gas furnace. Home heating oil cost is influenced by factors far beyond use in the north east. Best to work with things you have some control or influence with. We are very pleased with our pellet stove. Our home is warmer. Cost have come in control. We are involved. This past year we started canning food again. Very gratified with being more directly involved. Networking in this forum has helped tremendously.

If we had another pellet stove in the basement I would try to fabricate
an external heat exchanger to help with DHW. Seems to me a forum member did try this.
Years ago my Parents had a loop installed(External) between the wood stove and hot water tank. (No Pump)
Worked well enough to blow the relief valve even with a small fire.

Sure did !

Oil's getting worse, no doubt, but it's still not as much as electric (here, anyway), and no NG here either.

I'm still debating what my back up will be here next year, but so far, it's still oil.

yes i was on auto delivery with Standard Oil, what a rip off, they came and delivered and the price was 3.89 gal, called them right up and canceled my account with them. i still am dependent on oil for hot water, but the children are not at home now , 1 in college and the other moved out on her own, so less usage for hot water. 4 tons in basement redy for winter, pd 197 ton , should last the season. should save approx 2000 for season. so glad we changed to pellet heat , going on 4 years now, love it.

I used to heat the hot water with oil but had a plumber come and hook up an electric hot water heater so now the furnace never goes on unless the stove cannot keep up.I did not see much a difference in my electric bill I put in a 40 gallon tank.

Wow Its already been said seems where all going down the same road oil is just out of control. I would always think twice when touching the Thermostat last year this year Enviro M55 love it I Think. Now all I need are Solar Panels and Electric Cars!
Maybe one more stove on the other side of my house because everyone now wants to live by the New Stove and the other side is still not under 68 degrees! Everyone now took off there Hats and Gloves and walk around in there under ware on the Stove side including me cause I start to pass out from the heat as sweat shoots out like a weak water pistol from every orifice of my body. I need to keep a Mop near by at all times. I drink 12 gallons of water just to stay alive! I can't drink Milk cause I look like a deformed COW Utter.

My house stays so warm it's rediculous. Now all I have to do is get an electric hot water heater and be done with the oil thing, and only use it as a back up!

I agree that the price of oil is getting out of hand.
The sooner people stop buying it the better.
Its criminal people having to pay so much to have a warm house in the winter.
Its not a luxury its a necessity.

Your right, I did not factor in all the b/s taxes and "fees".

My last bill, 19 Sep to 17 Oct was 34ccf for a total of $39.57, so that figures to $1.16/ccf.

I use natural gas for the clothes dryer, kitchen stove and also run the boiler for the hot water, garage slab heat and I keep the house T Stats at ~65* so it comes on once in a while. I'm sure my next bill will be higher as it was colder.

$4.92 a gallon or $1.30 a litre as of Friday. You guys still got er cheap, plus a milder weather to heat with. Time to insulate.
Seen $5 a gallon before. It will be here again. Good thing we've got Pine trees.

The oil company around here have 100gal min to 150 gallon min. I ordered the min 100 gallon it cost 4.14.9 a gallon plus tax. the pellet stove will be ran most the time,fuel as a backup or while cleaning pellet stove. I think next summer I will buy another pellet stove and give up on fuel.

I did just what you are talking about Joe. I bought a second stove and have an electric hot water heater. Goal this year, no oil man and it's worked so far.

Tom C.

I am currently heating my DHW with HHO at around .75-1 gallon per day. I did some "quick" calculations on what it would cost to use an electric hot water tank using the manufactures estimated kWh/year estimate and it looks like I would save about $350/year over oil. So with this, it would take ~3 years to start to get a pay back from switching to an electric hot water tank.

So, now, how could I determine how much per year an on demand electric hot water heater would cost. Does anyone that has switched from oil to an electric on demand have these numbers? I know it would very by household, but it would still give me a good idea of the savings.

If your getting a 2 nd stove for the basement they have kits that use your pellet stoves to heat your hot water tanks

I can't answer the on demand questions, but have you looked at heat pump water heaters? You could get a Geyser & just plumb it into your existing water heater pretty easily. I don't know a heck of a lot about those either, aside from on line reading, but seems to me a heat pump heater would be an even better way to go - especially factoring in their air conditioning/dehumidifying capabilites too (as long as they last, that is - fairly new technology).

I bought my stove when i got my fillup at 4.89/gal back in 07 or 08 i think it was...

I need to invest in an electric hot water heater though, as my boiler still runs and uses oil. I use about 1 full tank in 2 fill ups (125 gal each time) a year. And that's mostly for hot water! Thats like 700. i really need to just call a plumber and install the thing. But then there's the on-demand type that run on gas, but there's no gas here, so i'd need a tank.... and then there's those solar water heaters.... AHHHHHHHHHH@#$@#$#@@#

it's never easy when you don't have a budget for any of it

Wow, quite a few oil fired hot water heaters among the people here. I have to admit, I've seen only electric and gas home hot water heaters.

Dave

Sure glad I made the switch to pellets this year

Yep, me too. Most people in my area use propane for hot water and the balance use electric.

I'm still heating water with oil. But electric hot water would still be more expensive. My oil was pre-buy at $3.55. A couple of years ago when I worked up the numbers it looked like the 17 cents-a-kilowatt electricity here would be more expensive until oil reaches $4.50 or so. And on the really cold January mornings, it's good to have a blast of oil heat.

I have electric, If I had my choice? I'd do natural gas. Might look into the NG in the springtime. If its reasonable to have it installed/piped to the house. May add the NG genny too?