Does anyone have a spreadsheet to help calculate the reduction in oil consumption?

[23westwood]

Does anyone have a spreadsheet to help calculate the reduction in oil consumption?

I have been tracking my oil deliveries since purchasing my home in 2001 and just installed a pellet stove in November '08. Attached is an Excel spreadsheet showing all of the oil deliveries that I have received to date. Is there a way for me to calculate the savings with pellets? From what I can see there is defenitely a savings for the winter heating season.
I burned 4 tons of pellets last year at a cost of $1,120 including delivery. The stove was also off for about 15 days because of vacation and a few days of laziness when it went out.

Is there a spreadsheet already created to help me determine my savings by using pellets? I have two 275 gallon oil tanks and a tankless hot water heater running all year with 3 small kids in the house.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[pinewoodburner]

You really need to look at an entire year to get a good figure on savings, 2 years would be even better. To look at a short period of time, you need to compare apples to apples, which means you need to compare time periods with about the same average temps. If you compare a cold snap to a period that was warm, your results will not be accurate.

 

[jdeere5220]

You just need to calculate your fuel use (and fuel cost) against your heating degree days. I've made a spreadsheet for myself that does exactly that. Go to

http://www.degreedays.net/#generate

amd find a station near you. Get the HDD for all of 2007 and all of 2008. Divide your total fuel cost each year by the HDD for each year, to get $$ per HDD.

Now calculate your cost of pellets per HDD (or combined if you are still using oil heat along with your pellets). You have to keep track of how many pellets you are burning.

To get the total savings for a whole year, just multiply your savings per heating degree day by the avg number of HDD in a whole year.

The longer you go the more accurate it will be as stated above, but this will get you started. Once you have a couple of full years under your belt, you can throw all this away and just go by what you spent on fuel before and after.

 

[23westwood]

thanks for the replys. What is considered a year for this calculation? Does it matter or should I go by calendar year or July to July?

 

[jdeere5220]

Nope, doesn't matter. Actually I would choose July to July if I had a choice.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

jdeere - thanks for the post and link...very informative stuff...exactly what I was looking for...glad there are other misers out there such as I

 

[CrappieKeith]

I think the answer is much more simple.
Look at what a year cost for liquid fuel against a year of heating with pellets. What was the difference?

You may be more interested in specific pellet brands and what they put out per pound as they vary ,so you could get your best buy on pellets.