Account terminated at oil company

[gzecc]

I called the oil company to deliver 100 gals of oil. Guy couldn't find my acct said it was terminated. Last time I bought oil was 100 gals on 9/3/13. Asked to bring another 100, they reopened my acct.

 

[Craig S.]

I can see this happening if your price per gallon included a service contract.

 

[gzecc]

Service contract was not included.

 

[Longstreet]

I've never understood why the Northern states are so much more likely to use oil to heat. 6 out of the last 7 houses I've lived in have had Nat Gas. The other was all electric (heat pump).

Why do the yanks use heating oil instead of gas? I get that heat pumps historically haven't been ideal in the colder climates, but I don't understand the oil.

 

[BrotherBart]

One reason is that most of the natural gas pipelines were constructed in the thirties and forties. While roads and streets for the oil tankers to roll on had been around for a really long time.

 

[Ncountry]

Not sure about other areas, not all the local villages have ng and 0% of the rural areas do. Our choices are limited.

 

[chrispr1]

In CT, there's a large push by the current Administration to have oil burners to convert to gas. If there's a line on the street they will go as far as to subsidize the spur going into the house if you convert. If you're out in the woods, the odds are you're burning wood (or some variant), oil, or electric.

 

[Craig S.]

Can't speak for the entire North East, but when I moved into my house in the early 90s, we had oil heat and home heating oil was under 80 cents per gallon (with a service contract). Natural gas never been available in my neighborhood.

 

[Applesister]

Too Bad for the oil companies. The Mom and Pop delivery companies may feel the pinch of a few oil consumers switching to wood heat. But I seriously doubt it. We got a very similar response from our oil company. We were told we "wernt regular customers anymore".

 

[HybridFyre]

In CT, there's a large push by the current Administration to have oil burners to convert to gas. If there's a line on the street they will go as far as to subsidize the spur going into the house if you convert. If you're out in the woods, the odds are you're burning wood (or some variant), oil, or electric.

This. I'm in the sticks. Nearest natural gas line is 6 miles away and would apparently cost about 6 million to bring to my house. So it's oil, propane or electric. I already had oil in my house but when the equipement goes out in a few years i may switch to propane.

 

[Applesister]

I saw a news clip once of a house a couple of counties south of me that suffered a "tragic accident", luckily all the occupents wernt home at the time. It suffered a Natural Gas explosion and the entire house was blown off its foundation.

 

[chrispr1]

Too Bad for the oil companies. The Mom and Pop delivery companies may feel the pinch of a few oil consumers switching to wood heat. But I seriously doubt it. We got a very similar response from our oil company. We were told we "wernt regular customers anymore".

Forget about the oil companies, the small business oil delivery people are taking it really hard in CT. The margins now on oil are slim, they're on a COD basis if they don't meet a net 10 day basis, and if they manage to try to make money, the DMV police is always at the entrance waiting to pull them over for a dirty license plate violation or some other trivial item. Customers aren't switching to wood because that takes effort and will; they're switching to ng if they can because the State's producers (taxpayers) are subsidizing it.

 

[WiscWoody]

That is somewhat like when my propane company said I didn't use enough LPG to keep the tank lease at $1 a year any longer. I just said that's fine and pulled out the plastic and bought the tank right there and then.

 

[Ashful]

I've never understood why the Northern states are so much more likely to use oil to heat. 6 out of the last 7 houses I've lived in have had Nat Gas. The other was all electric (heat pump).

Why do the yanks use heating oil instead of gas? I get that heat pumps historically haven't been ideal in the colder climates, but I don't understand the oil.

History. Around this part of PA, at least... it was coal (north and west), oil (rural and suburban), or natural gas (town / city). Boilers and baseboard heat or radiators were the preferred solution of the time, when heat pumps were not yet a viable solution. Once a house has been plumbed for a boiler, changing it to forced air is not typically an attractive solution. Most houses in which I have lived, we use a boiler for heat, and have a separate duct system for summer AC. The ducting requirements are somewhat different for summer AC than for winter heat, so this plan makes sense, as a retrofit.

If you live in a city, even in the northeast, natural gas is a more popular legacy system than oil.

woodgeek posted an interesting thread on this subject a few months back: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/home-heating-oil-the-bell-tolls-for-thee.110427/

 

[bobdog2o02]

One reason is that most of the natural gas pipelines were constructed in the thirties and forties. While roads and streets for the oil tankers to roll on had been around for a really long time.

I think you are right on here. In downtown Lancaster the oldest buildings had coal ramps in the front of the building. This is all of them, residential commercial........ Truck pulled up, they laid a sliding board type thing between the truck and building and it got shoveled off the truck t a big hopper/bin in the basement. With the advent of oil (less labor intensive and about the same price i bet) it was an easy trade out on equipment. coal boiler to oil boiler..........

 

[BrotherBart]

The largest natural gas pipeline from the Gulf to the NE passes eight miles from my house. And we will never have the option for NG. Not that I would have the stuff near my house in the first place. Growing up in Texas at least one house a year up and disappeared in the middle of the day every year. I have never heard of wood stacks exploding.

 

[BrotherBart]

Also the first oil well punched specifically to produce crude oil, instead of brine, in the country was in Pennsylvania and the first refining capacity in the country was in the NE.

 

[Grisu]

Why do the yanks use heating oil instead of gas? I get that heat pumps historically haven't been ideal in the colder climates, but I don't understand the oil.

As mentioned before, a small village of a few hundred houses is just not going to be connected to a NG pipeline that costs several million of dollars to build. Here in VT only the "urban" area around Burlington has NG and there are plans now to build a pipeline to connect more southern cities to it. Still, in a state of 600,000 citizens many households will never see NG.

Also don't forget that NG being much cheaper than oil is a rather recent development. Adding in the cost of the pipelines, NG would have been way more expensive than oil outside of larger cities except for the last few years.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Growing up in Texas at least one house a year up and disappeared in the middle of the day every year. I have never heard of wood stacks exploding.

Yeah, I'm always reading about someone who got severely shocked or electrocuted, so we've made it a point to never have electricity in our home...an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Woodman37]

No NG where I live it's either propane oil or all electric. If NG became available in my area I'd be all over it. I like cooking with it and would use it for hot water. Maybe lower those electric bills some.

 

[BrotherBart]

someone who got severely shocked or electrocuted

At least the house is still there for the Wake.

 

[Paulywalnut]

This last winter the oil guy came up to the filler and pumped 70 gallons in. This happened two time at 5 week intervals.
I think I saw him shaking his head as he went back to the truck. Oh well, plenty around here don't burn wood so I don't feel like I'm taking anything away from him. I heat my water with oil too.

 

[BrotherBart]

Like the three times they replaced my electric meter. Even though they had to walk around my wood stacks to get to it. All electric house.