Fired by oil company 1 year after install

[cpmken]

Just had the greatest phone conversation. The oil company who I have had automatic delivery with for 12 years said I will no longer be on automatic due to low oil consumption.

Briefly - before installing my XXV last October my historical average oil use was 900 gallons a year. I have an oversized Raised Ranch 30x60 footprint with a finished basement. Heat and hot water with oil.

In the last 12 months I have used 300 gallons of oil prompting my oil company to make the call.

So I figure if I am eliminating 600 gallons a year.. $3.50 a gallon... $2,100 a year less in oil. I burned 3 tons of pellets last winter (furnace never was needed for heat.. just hot water) which cost me less than 900 with delivery. I saved $1,200. And my house was warmer than I have ever maintained it!!
Payback on the stove should be in 3 more years.

Had to share the news!!

 

[PELLETCONVERT]

Just had the greatest phone conversation. The oil company who I have had automatic delivery with for 12 years said I will no longer be on automatic due to low oil consumption.

Briefly - before installing my XXV last October my historical average oil use was 900 gallons a year. I have an oversized Raised Ranch 30x60 footprint with a finished basement. Heat and hot water with oil.

In the last 12 months I have used 300 gallons of oil prompting my oil company to make the call.

So I figure if I am eliminating 600 gallons a year.. $3.50 a gallon... $2,100 a year less in oil. I burned 3 tons of pellets last winter (furnace never was needed for heat.. just hot water) which cost me less than 900 with delivery. I saved $1,200. And my house was warmer than I have ever maintained it!!
Payback on the stove should be in 3 more years.

Had to share the news!![/q
Great news, lol
Switch to an electric water heater , then fire them

 

[dmmoss51]

Sounds great! I had the Nat Gas company out to "check my meter" after my first year burning.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Heh...

They can't fire you... you already quit!

 

[mass_burner]

I have an oversized Raised Ranch 30x60 footprint with a finished basement. Heat and hot water with oil.

congrats! what do you heat the basement with?

 

[maple1]

300 gallons to heat your DHW for a year? I think I'd be doing something about that too.

 

[The Grintch]

I had my oil furnace filled in May. My hot water heater went so I replaced it with an electric one. Shut the boiler off in June, I've used 1.5 gallons so far.

After work i change into shorts and a T shirt. House is kelpt at 74 and ask myself...why didn't I do this years ago

 

[dmmoss51]

I know our (unfinished) basement stays cool but nice thing here is below frost line stays about 50-55 degrees all by itself so don't have to worry about anything freezing etc.

 

[mass_burner]

300 gallons to heat your DHW for a year? I think I'd be doing something about that too.

definitely. i'm shooting for 100 gals for supplemental heat and hot water for the year.

 

[DBNH22]

300 gallons to heat your DHW for a year? I think I'd be doing something about that too.

Yeah I thought that sounded kind of high too. I went from the oil boiler doing everything to a pellet boiler doing heat and DHW during heating season and then rolling back to oil for DHW when the spring rolls around. It's myself, wife and two rugrats who don't shower yet using the DHW and I'd expect 300 gallons of oil to last us at least a few years if all it's being used for is DHW. My situation is a little different in that my oil is only doing the DHW from roughly Mid early/mid april to mid/late October but 300 gallons for just DHW, even year round, still sounds a little high. How many people in your home?

Also the oil company did't say you couldn't purcahse oil form them anymore right? They just cutoff auto delivery. Did they come out a time or two only to find that your tank was still almost full? Even better than the phone conversation you had with the oil company would have been if you were able to see the look on the oil guy's face when he went to fill it or if you could have listened in when he called his dispatch.

 

[maple1]

Just for some info for the OP - I had a wood/oil boiler, with a tankless coil for DHW, for 17 years until a year & half ago or so. Tons of hot water in the heating season from the wood, but in the non-heating season it was the most inefficient way there is to heat DHW, having to keep the boiler hot all the time. I figured we used about 150 gallons/year just for the months when we weren't burning wood. So 300 gallons for the whole year is certainlty believable if you have a similar setup. I would also get off that setup ASAP. I put in a new 80 gal. electric hot water heat a year ago. It uses about $30/mo (@ 0.16/kwh) in electricity for a family of 5. And I sent everything oil related in our house down the road - should have done it years ago. A heat pump water heater would be even better, especially if there are 'green' incentives in your area.

 

[dmmoss51]

Sorry for my ignorance I'm trying to figureout what DHW stands for Something Hot water?

 

[moey]

DHW -> Domestic Hot Water

nice..

When I had my oil boiler pulled out it was a cloudy day no sooner did they pull it out that the skies parted and the sun was shining. Coincidence Im sure but it was ironic.

 

[dmmoss51]

Ahhhh as opposed to that pesky foreign kind.

Good deal on all the savings! When my wife and I were first married we lived in a house that had a oil furnace and not an efficient one either. Couldn't believe the amount we spent on oil and this was when things first skyrocketed 2007/2008 era.

 

[Robert C.]

Just had the greatest phone conversation. The oil company who I have had automatic delivery with for 12 years said I will no longer be on automatic due to low oil consumption.

Briefly - before installing my XXV last October my historical average oil use was 900 gallons a year. I have an oversized Raised Ranch 30x60 footprint with a finished basement. Heat and hot water with oil.

In the last 12 months I have used 300 gallons of oil prompting my oil company to make the call.

So I figure if I am eliminating 600 gallons a year.. $3.50 a gallon... $2,100 a year less in oil. I burned 3 tons of pellets last winter (furnace never was needed for heat.. just hot water) which cost me less than 900 with delivery. I saved $1,200. And my house was warmer than I have ever maintained it!!
Payback on the stove should be in 3 more years.

Had to share the news!!

I would suggest you seriously consider going all the way off oil for your hot water too. That's what I did. Converted to electric and never looked back. My electric bill only went up slightly, but well below what I'd be paying for oil.

 

[Bender1320]

I am waiting for the same call from my propane co. Going off last year the tank should be around 25-30% right now. They come out when its at 30% and fill to 80%. This year the tank sits at 75%. They will prob think the gauge is broken. May even try to charge tank rental if I burn under 500gal this year and put me on will call. I need to buy my own tank so I can shop around..

 

[DBNH22]

I would suggest you seriously consider going all the way off oil for your hot water too. That's what I did. Converted to electric and never looked back. My electric bill only went up slightly, but well below what I'd be paying for oil.

How were you heating your water with oil? I'm not an expert but I know there are several different ways to do it. When we moved into our home we had the tankless coil in the boiler heating our water but when that failed we switched to an indirect tank on it's own zone off the boiler. this method seems to be much more efficient than the coil. I have considered the possibility of an electirc heat pump water heater but have been told by some that switching to that would not really be saving much if any.

 

[moey]

How were you heating your water with oil? I'm not an expert but I know there are several different ways to do it. When we moved into our home we had the tankless coil in the boiler heating our water but when that failed we switched to an indirect tank on it's own zone off the boiler. this method seems to be much more efficient than the coil. I have considered the possibility of an electirc heat pump water heater but have been told by some that switching to that would not really be saving much if any.

You most likely would be saving considerably. Its possible if your boiler is sized small and not maintaining temperature and modern its making reasonably priced hot water. But thats a big if. In the summer you would save a decent amount regardless when the heat pump portion makes hot water.

 

[chazcarr]

I am waiting for that call! Went from using over 1000 gallons a year to just a bit over 300 for DHW (guess that is high) this year using wood.
If they don't call I am firing them after their next delivery.

 

[slls]

And I just filled my oil tank, too old to haul lots of pellets when winter comes. Will go off pellets 12-1 and back on 4-1.

 

[DOLLARBILL]

I fill the oil tank about once a year say half a tank for my DHW and I have baseboard as a backup incase we go on vacation or what ever I have a rental block in town tomorrow I get the estimate to switch to natural Gas the least oil the better Youd think with comsumption down the price of oil would be going down or at least the dealers would be friendly not the case so I fill up when i get the best price 1

 

[DBNH22]

You most likely would be saving considerably. Its possible if your boiler is sized small and not maintaining temperature and modern its making reasonably priced hot water. But thats a big if. In the summer you would save a decent amount regardless when the heat pump portion makes hot water.

Well as I said I'm in New England and using the pellet boiler for heat and DHW from October through April so that only leaves roughly half the year or a little more that I'm actually using oil and then only for DHW with an indrect tank. I think the costs savings of the electric hot water pump in my particular situation over oil may be significantly less than someone who is using oil for DHW year round and/or using the coil.

 

[chriscarl]

I was down to 200 gallons a year . HW is electric off peak only. When I realized that it would cost over 700 dollars for oil this year I decided to buy the second stove. I figure a pay back in 2-3 years and a house that will be 10 or more degrees warmer.

 

[moey]

Well as I said I'm in New England and using the pellet boiler for heat and DHW from October through April so that only leaves roughly half the year or a little more that I'm actually using oil and then only for DHW with an indrect tank. I think the costs savings of the electric hot water pump in my particular situation over oil may be significantly less than someone who is using oil for DHW year round and/or using the coil.

Some day when your home time the runtimes. I used to go through about a gallon a day during the summer making hot water. Of course my boiler maintained temp it was old it was 75k btu these all added to the inefficiencies. Indirects are better then a coil but they are only as good as the boiler they are hooked up to. Maybe yours uses less.

 

[Redbarn]

Bought 1750 galls 3 years ago.
Bought 1010 galls 2 years ago.
Bought 515 galls last year.
Have 100 gall left and plan on buying no oil this year.
The secret is Insulation, Insulation, Insulation. Plus a large pellet stove, a lot of wood and a HPWH.
The Heat Pump Water Heater saved 300 galls/year by itself.