Oil Man P-O'd! Nyah-nyah...

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DAKSY

Full Time RVer
Staff member
Dec 2, 2008
9,960
Wherever we're parked
Got 6 people taking showers & doing laundry & doing dishes with DHW thru the oil boiler. The (Once) friendly neighborhood oil delivery person stopped by on his monthly schedule to top off the tank & I'm surprised he didn't leave the delivery slip stuck to the front door with a dagger. 21 gallons (*snicker*)...
Every drop means he parks at the top of my driveway & has to drag 80 -100 feet of hose down to the tank... They are basically delivering for free, altho I DID overpay them on the budget plan 5 years ago for the oil. That just happens to coincide with the timing of our first pellet stove (P43) install...We're STILL $400 in the black...Have I mentioned how much I love my Carbon Neutral, Environmentally Friendly, New England Compressed Sawdust Burning P61A?
 
The (Once) friendly neighborhood oil delivery person stopped by on his monthly schedule to top off the tank & I'm surprised he didn't leave the delivery slip stuck to the front door with a dagger. 21 gallons (*snicker*)... Every drop means he parks at the top of my driveway & has to drag 80 -100 feet of hose down to the tank... They are basically delivering for free​
Hey...I'm all for saving money, and I burn almost no oil anymore either. But remember, those guys driving the trucks or even the guys selling the home heating oil aren't the bad guys within the oil industry. They are just working slobs like the rest of us trying to raise families and keep the lights on. I'm no fan of "Big-Oil" but these guys are not them.
But it does feel good....doesn't it?;)
 
I have to buy oil and usually buy at 150 gallon clips. Bought last spring for $3.19 a gallon and unfortunately running low now and it will cost $3.76 a gallon so my average isn't that bad and neither is the consumption. I too have 4 showers per day 1 load of dishes at least a load of laundry and the ocassional lazy day that I burn oil for heat.

Question is does it pay to be on a budget or gamble with the price?
 
I haven't bought oil in over two years thanks to two pellet stoves and an electric hot water heater. Daksy, eliminate the DHW with an electric H2O heater and the oil man will be even more unhappy.

Noticed you have a Big Green Egg, my son has one and loves it.

Tom C.
 
I'm using my oil burner for hot water only now as based on the costs of operation and the upfront cost of an electric water heater it doesn't pay me to switch just yet. This is our first house with oil and while I love the super hot water and speedy recovery, I try to be as conservative with it as I can.
 
Got 6 people taking showers & doing laundry & doing dishes with DHW thru the oil boiler. The (Once) friendly neighborhood oil delivery person stopped by on his monthly schedule to top off the tank & I'm surprised he didn't leave the delivery slip stuck to the front door with a dagger. 21 gallons (*snicker*)...
Every drop means he parks at the top of my driveway & has to drag 80 -100 feet of hose down to the tank... They are basically delivering for free, altho I DID overpay them on the budget plan 5 years ago for the oil. That just happens to coincide with the timing of our first pellet stove (P43) install...We're STILL $400 in the black...Have I mentioned how much I love my Carbon Neutral, Environmentally Friendly, New England Compressed Sawdust Burning P61A?

This made me snarf soda.
 
I haven't bought oil in over two years thanks to two pellet stoves and an electric hot water heater. Daksy, eliminate the DHW with an electric H2O heater and the oil man will be even more unhappy.

Noticed you have a Big Green Egg, my son has one and loves it.

Tom C.

Working on it. I have an LP HW tank for the upstairs Master Bath. I can probably plumb the downstairs from that as well...May hafta go to a pellet boiler for the partially completed radiant floor project. All the plates are in & the PEX still has to be run. I can't throw away $3K in materials...

BGE is the best!
 
I havn't bought oil. Ever. Geothermal HVAC for me and 80gal electric hot water heater.
 
I got 100 gallons for my oil hot water heater last June and I'm still using it. Probably next month I'll get another 100 gallons. The oil man used to drop by about every 5 -6 weeks in the winter to the tune of 220 -230 gallons before the pellet furnace went in.

BUT my oil man is also my pellet man, so he's not losing out entirely.
 
That description made me laugh! it would be easier for your oil man to carry 4 five gallon gas cans down to your house vs hauling the hose.

we haven't bought oil in 1 year and 1 month. still have 1/2 a tank, so 100 gallons maybe
 
Haven't bought oil in about 18 months, but they are coming tomorrow as we are almost out. We burn oil for DHW only.
 
So why not call and have them stop automatic delivery rather than sitting in the house and laughing at the poor bastard hauling the hose?
 
Second year without buying oil. Will still have some left over for next winter. Have an eighty gallon electric hot water heater. The only oil I use is for about 15 minutes every morning to take the chill off after leaving the pellet stove on a low setting all night.
 
Because the poor bastard's boss owes me $400, that's why.

but why not just monitor the tank yourself and call when it finally gets low?

or are you just mad that they won't refund you the $ that's on account?
 
but why not just monitor the tank yourself and call when it finally gets low?

or are you just mad that they won't refund you the $ that's on account?

No I'm doing it because I'm an A-hole. They had no trouble raping me when the price skyrocketed. They pressured me to lock in at almost $5 a gallon back in 08-09 & I told them to pound salt. They tried to tell me that I may not even get a delivery unless I pre-paid, I called them out on it. I was a customer for over 20 years, they wanted to threaten me. Screw them. I don't care if he drags the hose all the way around my house & only puts in a quart. I realize it's not the driver's fault, but it'll get back to the owner...Maybe he'll be a nicer person for it.
 
I think I would do the same thing to my oil company.

Side note: I see a lot of you guys have "hot water heaters". Why do you need to heat hot water? I have a 40 gal electric water heater in my house. Haha!
I got a lot of grief on another forum about using "hot water heater" so I thought I would pass some along.
 
When my tank gets down to about 1/4 I call about half dozen local heating fuel services and ask them all what their cash price is and then I go with the cheapest. The cash price is usually ~30 cents per gallon cheaper than their auto delivery rates and everyone has accepted my credit card as payment.
 
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I still heat the second floor with oil and use oil for DHW. I was surprised at that sound of the oil delivery yesterday, even more surprised when I saw that he only delivered 60 gal. Love my Mt Vernon.
 
My oil guy (went to school with him) called me a few weeks back asking if he or his driver had done something to make me unhappy since I've not gotten any fuel in 18 months. I told my friend that I'm heating with pellets. He seemed fine with it and said call when you need fuel, can't blame you for saving money. I bought him a beer a few nights later and thought to myself.. damn you just gave $2 to the oil man..oh well a friend is a friend.
 
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I love when these threads pop up.
We have been oil free for our second winter!
What a great feeling.
I guess we are about $2500 ahead since we started burning wood.
 
I haven't gotten a DROP of oil all winter. DAKSY's story reminds me of what my former oil company did. I paid up front for oil in summer to lock in the price. Well oil went up that year way up and they called me and said "well we can't honor that price even though you lived up to your end and paid us, we are going to stick it to you and charge you the going rate" So I am paraphrasing but you get the idea. I fired them right then and there, I would've paid $2 more a gallon for a company that was honest. You know Averill Park and EG aint that far away could've been the same oil company. Starts with a P end in an O. ...so I totally understand where he's coming from.
 
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