poor, poor oilman

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woodmeister

New Member
Nov 2, 2008
155
lower ct. river
had oil tank filled first week of November, Tarm went live Thanksgiving eve when i got home from wok today the bill from the oilman was hanging on the door - result - 30 gal I sure would have liked to see the look on his face, I'll bet it wasn't the same as on mine!
 
Last Friday the oil truck came (because I'm on automatic delivery) 3.3 Gallons @$2.5919 total $8.32.

I love my little EKO 25
 
I love it too. First full winter of having the jotul winterport in and the oil guy came in November and we got a call two days later from them saying they thought something was wrong with our inlet on our tank; they couldn't get any oil in!!! I called and informed them we were using wood and things would be slower and if they didn't want to come out regularly, I would give them a call if I ever needed them. I come home from lunch the other day and there i a receipt of delivery on my door. I was wondering how much they got. So far this year, 40 gallons on the button (I was out of town for three weeks for work and the wife was not excited about going outside for wood as she was 7 month pregnant at the time - can't blame her for that). Normal winter = 70 gallons a month for 5 months or so. Since Feb. 15th, when I installed the stove, we have used 68 gallons of oil total and our house is normally 5-8 degrees warmer throughout and at least in the mid 70s where the beautiful heat source is.

I love the stove.

Good luck in the next few cold days. 8 degrees outside right now and 75 in my family room and 71 in the back bedrooms.
 
I don't even have my 275 gallaon tank hooked up, I just use a 6 gallan plastic gas tank to feed my oil boiler, just in case I need it. I have not called the oil man in over a year, I may just buy 100 gallons now because the price is down now, and I may run out of wood a little early.

Steve
 
I am running about the same as last year. Use the oil to supplement the 2nd floor and the pantry but most of the house gets its heated from the stove. Had the tank filled early November and am probably looking at another fill in early Feb of about 175 gals. When I didn't have the stove I would have used 450 gals in that same time frame.

BTW for S.E. Pa we are running 10% colder than last year but 2% warmer than normal.

Erik
 
Having been the victim of spoiled oil, I keep the oil level in my tank to a minimum but I still want to keep my oil system "exercised". I let it run periodically to top off my DHW. I don't get my oil delivered because if the 100 gallon minimum. A couple weeks ago, when off road diesel was $2.19 at the pump, I stopped by and pumped 40 gallons into a drum and pumped it into my tank. I'll probably be using the oil for my DHW this summer since I won't have my storage up and running.
 
The oilman stop by my house last week. He pumped 150 gallons in my tank. My oil fill pipes were buried under about 4 feet of snow so he had to shovel them out. Here is the best part I haven't ordered any oil in two years, he was suppose to deliver the oil to my neighbors house not mine. Needless to say I was burning some free black gold this weekend :)
 
Hearing these stories is Awesome!! I have a wood boiler but not a gasification (I guess its a booster) so I still use some oil early in the morning before I get up though. I do feel for the small local oil man, who are feeling the pain right now from all the people who jumped off the oil ship. I use a little less than 1 gal/day which is a lot compared to the gasif. units but no where close to what I use to use.
 
I had to order 100 gallons before we went on vacation to Florida in early December. I estimate the housesitter used abgout 50 gallons. Besides that my oil burner has actually been powered down since October - it can't kick on even if it wants.

Last 5 years I used 2000 +/-gallons per year.

Even at $2.25/gallon, I don't mind not paying those bills.....
 
Wood/coal boiler came online in November. Have installed barometric damper to get more heat out of it, and longer burn times. Got both.

From November 11 to December 18, I burned 77 gallons of oil... 3,500 sf, three unit, apartment building, with the basement (75 sf) set at 68 degrees. During the REALLY cold times, I burn the airtight insert in the living room fireplace in my unit. Gives me longer burn times on the wood/coal. House is rated at 130K btu for heat loss, wood/coal boiler is rated at 90K btu, and the insert?? God knows... darned hot. Drive you right out of the 1,700 sf I occupy. Would have stuck with it and not done the wood/coal boiler, but I was already spending 17,000 dollars on a new heating system. Spend another 5 grand and shove the oil man off into the corner... duh.

Seamless transition between the two boilers the way it's set up. Wood/coal circulator comes on at 140 degrees when you light it, shuts off at 140 degrees when it goes out. Have aquastat on supply of wood/coal boiler that is a 5-6 interrupt... set at 140 degrees. Had to play with that a little bit to get it "just right". It is now...

High low on the combustion fan is 185 degrees with a 20 degrees differential. Overheat zone is set at 195, rarely comes on unless... hasn't come on lately. :)

No January oil delivery yet... not sure they're coming. I'll find a bill stuck in the door and it's going to be just like Christmas. Haven't burned 1/4 tank (275 gallons) according to the gauge, which reads a little low anyway. Anxious to the the "K-factor"... kind of like "miles per gallon" for your furnace.

Lined my folk's chimney a year ago, and replaced their slammer with a "Heatilator" EPA compliant insert, afterburner model... they had oil delivered last week for the first time since last spring. They burned 33 gallons... my father was so happy he was nearly in tears. :)
 
I am glad to not be paying the oil bills- although I do feel some sympathy for the local oil companies, who, at least near me, are still mostly locally-based and family-owned, and have never made huge profits on the stuff they deliver, compared to their wholesale suppliers, who raked in all the dough from the obscene run-up in pricing.

Another things that PO's me is how heating oil/ off-road diesel is running substantially more expensive than gasoine in recent years, even though the gasoline is harder and more expensive to refine from crude.

And, ever notice how the price always goes up fast and comes down slow?

If I could ever do a backyard Fischer-Tropsch to make liquid petroleum from gasified wood, so that I could run a vehicle on it, it'd be one happy way to give the oil magnates (and speculators) the big, emblematic finger!
 
PYBYR, the cost of diesel is because of the new laws requiring the "Clean Diesel". It is going to get worse next year also. Anyway, that is what I have been told from people who buy diesel.
 
kshultz said:
PYBYR, the cost of diesel is because of the new laws requiring the "Clean Diesel". It is going to get worse next year also. Anyway, that is what I have been told from people who buy diesel.

I used to own a diesel- loved it - 'til the oil companies jacked the price with the excuse of the supposed costs in transitioning to low sulfur. based on my reading in energy and transportation trade publications, it seemed that there was indeed a cost involved in the change-overs at the refineries and in the distribution system- but that was all in 2006, and should have come and gone by now. in my opinion, it's just that the oil companies figured out that people who heat their buildings or transport things with #2 petroleum have a limited number of other options, so that the oil companies can keep the price high. It really is not hard to distill low sulfur #2 fuel oil- most of the world was doing it long before the USA.
 
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