How much oil have you burned so far

[ColdNH]

Sorry if this has been posted recently

For those of you who have Oil heat, how much have you used so far this season to date? also where are you located and has the winter been colder or warmer then normal?

We have been heating 90% with wood so far this winter, only using the oil burner when we are away or to assist on really cold stretches. we also heat our hot water with oil. We are in south central New Hampshire and I would say the winter has been about average. had some serious cold stretches but also had alot of above normal temps as well

We have used 125+/- gallons since october.

oil guy just topped us off yestarday with 80 gallons, I love how they always seem to swing by when the prices are nearing 4$ a gallon. 300 bucks for 80 gallons!

 

[KaptJaq]

Pre-stoves my house was 750-900 gallons a year (prior owners left the bills for us). This year, since I topped the tank mid- September, we have used about 100-110 gallons. 275 gallon tank still shows over 2/3s full.

We use oil for hot water (new efficient burner/tank put in last summer). The heat is turned on once a month for about 15 minutes to make sure there are no problems with the system. I also turn it on for a couple of minutes around mid-night on nights that are going to the single digits to heat the pipe chase in the un-heated garage.

On average it has been a normal winter but there have been a few very warm periods and a few very cold periods. I usually do not start the stove until about Thanksgiving but this year we lit it during the blackout after Sandy. It has been going since.

My stoves have paid for themselves many times over. Scrounging and using the maul to split has saved me a gym membership.

KaptJaq

 

[KodiakII]

0.00 Gallons Imp.

 

[westkywood]

I had a 500 gallon propane tank filled 3 years ago ( 80% filled ). I've used about 15 - 20% of that so far..Do I love it... yes I do !!

 

[TX-L]

None. Have consumed 6-1/3 face cords (about 15" in length) of bitternut hickory, ironwood, and hard maple. That's it. Winter has been about average I think. Just got around a foot of snow last night. Ya gotta love that lake effect phenomenon!

 

[ColdNH]

None. Have consumed 6-1/3 face cords (about 15" in length) of bitternut hickory, ironwood, and hard maple. That's it. Winter has been about average I think. Just got around a foot of snow last night. Ya gotta love that lake effect phenomenon!

how big is your house, thats not much wood at all! i figure i have burned 3 cord so far heating 2k sq feet. jelouse of the lake effect, although their predicting 12+ for us saturday night. bring it!

 

[rkofler]

About 150.
Use oil for domestic hot water. And my bedrooms are on a separate heating zone, usually kicks on for a bit in the morning. I'm guessing I would have used at least 600 gallons of oil to heat my home without the insert.

 

[WES999]

None. I ran the furnace a bit last month to just to make sure it was OK. I live on the Mass/Nh border. Winter temps about average. Smaller house about 1100sf. Probably burned between 1-2 cords so far.

Did some air sealing and added additional insulation recently, seems to really help.

Installed an electric water heater a few years ago, as using oil was about $100/mo.

 

[milleo]

I have used about 60 gallons since top off Dec. 5th. 12x60 drafty old trailer. The wood stove won't heat all night so the furnace takes over in the early am. I quess average temps for Maine this year. Am working on tightening place up some more, used to use 400 to 425 gal a year before woodstove, burned about 2 cord so far. Staying plenty warm...

 

[Coal Reaper]

500 gallons since topping off tanks at the end of august. yeah, gonna be a different song and dance next year. if this wasnt my first winter in new house it would have been done a long time ago but going to pick up wood boiler on monday...

 

[Slow1]

We heat our hot water with oil as well as using it for backup. I have filled up once a year for the last few years, typically about 220 gallons in April/May. Right now my tank is reading about 3/8th (275 gallon nominal capacity). We've used oil for a week and then for a weekend while out of town, but other than that all our heating has been with the woodstove.

I really can't accurately break down how much oil has been used for heating vs hot water. Growing family uses more hot water (4 kids, oldest 10) each year so that complicates things more.

 

[NortheastAl]

Guess we've used about 100 gallons, and the water heater is oil fired. The woodstove was installed a week before Christmas, so we have had some oil usage before that. By now we would have used about 500+ gallons, easily.

 

[firebroad]

My calculation is about 205 gal so far. I am gone 12 hours of the day, so I just burn nights and weekends, and when I am off. I also use oil for hot water. I keep the thermostat on 59, and at 65 for a short period before I rise. As I only have a small insert at one end of the house, I sometimes use an electric space heater in the bedrooms, like when I am getting ready to bathe, or using the PC.
At $4 per gallon, even these low temps can be a challenge, I don't know what my nieghbors pay.

 

[murinsky]

Let me get my spreadsheet out.....

I have used 136 gallons since November 28th. 1250 sq ft with 900 sq ft finished basement. Burn every night and all weekend. Stove goes cold while we are at work.

Got the stove March 2012, new boiler (weil mclain ultra oil) in April 2011, added insulation in 2010 so year to year comparisons are difficult, but been in the house 4+ years, year 1 was 934 gallons, year 4 was 325. I project about 275 for 2013.

Plus it is unreal when you think about how much WARMER the house is on top of the oil savings!

Usually the heat comes on for a quick shot (71) right before we get out of bed in the morning (I decided not worth it to feed stove at 2AM), and heats up the house (71) right before we get home from work. Starting with a cold stove at 6PM takes too long to warm up the house from 60 degrees.

Use oil for DHW. During the summer, oil use for DHW alone is about .4 gallons/day. Adding the heat increases it to about 1.4 gallons a day, with some outliers that cause spikes.

I use a timer (like for christmas lights) on my oil burner to keep track of run time - 1 gallon per hour nozzle.

Hope this helps you.

EDIT forgot to add there is a small electric space heater in the basement that we do use to take the chill off if needed. But my HVAC fan runs 24/7 and does a decent job of spreading the warm air around.

 

[Uncle]

I still have no insert or stove and it looks like 2015 will be my first wood burning year. Anyway, we use oil for both water and heat. I have a two thousand square foot house with a two year old Energy Kinetics System 2000 boiler. I have gone through 435 gallons so far and I am down to a quarter tank. We are in central New Jersey "Shore" area. I was also without use of the boiler for about 3 weeks after "Sandy". I payed 3.49 for 218 gallons and 3.53 for 217 gallons.

I also recently added new insulation to most of the house and also replaced most of the windows. I keep the heat set around 65.

Last heating season we used 790 gallons, I go by October to October.

 

[Matt Ruggeri]

Although this is our first year burning 24/7 in this house (2nd year with the stove, last house was a Zero Clearance fireplace), we've had to turn it on a handful of times (stupid wind/blizzard backdrafting!). Maybe 5 gallons, TOPS! Tomorrow we're actually getting our first Oil delivery in 3 years (filled it in March 2010), $450/125 Gallons. We're almost out of anything seasoned (some odd beech splits/slabs, and some dogwood kindling), and i'd rather have the peice of mind burning Oil for a month or 2, than creating fuel for a chimney fire.

 

[ScotO]

around 3 quarts in the past 365 days.......but that was in my truck!
I don't have oil heat (thankfully), we have natural gas. How much natural gas have we used for heating the house this winter? A big, fat 0.000cfm......

We DO use gas for the kitchen stove, the clothes dryer and water heater......and I have two gas furnaces in the house (just in case), but we heat with nothing but wood, and we love it!

 

[nate vignola]

Central mass-
previous owner said 1500gallons/year.
About 1.5 tanks last year while using 3 tons of pellets.
No oil this year. chewing on ton #9...

 

[Oldhippie]

I live in north central Mass, just below Keene NH. It's been a colder winter than last year for sure. I've got 1500sq ft omn mainfloor, and 800 downstairs in a finished family room. I run the family room stove 24X7 and the upstairs smoke dragon when the temps dip into the low 20s and below.

I heat all our hot water and laundry with oil, and will occasionally turn the heat on just to get some warm water in the pipes on real cold days or early in the mornign while I'm re-stoking the stove/s.

I've used slightly less than a 1/2 tank of a 275 gallon tank. ..maybe a 3rd. I like saving the money, but I like the warmth too and keep it toasty.

 

[colin.p]

I'm too lazy to check the actual gal/liters I have gone through, but in early December, my fill-up cost $170. They just came and re-filled for $500. The insurance company made me get a new tank this year and I bought one of those Roth tanks. Looks about the same size as a fridge and with the supplied roof, it looks just like a steel outhouse. I wanted to paint a crescent moon on the side of it, but the house is up for sale and potential buyers may not have the same sense of humour as me.

I burn all day/every day and the little F3CB only gets a rest in the very early morning when the furnace kicks in. If I tightened this place up (it's like living in a screened gazebo right now) I would use the furnace even less. I could borrow some bank money to do it, but the miserable buggers seem to always want me to pay it back.

 

[Dix]

None. Zippo.

Installed an electric HWH 3 years ago when I added the 13.

That will change next winter when the 13 comes out of the apartment, and I'll be using oil for heat in there.

 

[Hearth Mistress]

We live right smack between Philadelphia and NYC. Heating about 1,000 sq ft of a drafty old barn. I never have filled our tank, but right after we installed the stove last year, I think around April, I bought 125 gallons for our 275 gallon tank. Our furnace runs a .65 gal/hr nozzle so we don't go through oil much at all these days. The stove produces good heat until about 3am then the furnace kicks on when it hits 64 degrees in the house. It runs for a few cycles, 5-10 minutes at a time before we are up at 5:30 and then the stove is cranked up all day again. So, by all estimates, less than a gallon a day. We have gone through just about 3 cords of wood, but haven't had the oil man out yet While we haven't had too much snow, we have had our share of 20-30 degree highs. Maybe not so cold to other folks but plenty cold for us!

 

[Todd 2]

20 gallon or less, warming up the upstairs when its to cold for the basement stove to keep up, but I do half to push the PH harder than I would like to. I keep it under max temps but I feel it hard on any stove pushing them hard when its colder than normal out and we have had our share of that this winter.
Gotta new plan for that though here in a month or so, been looking at smaller stoves to do a new install upstairs, something to fire up when the temps go below normal around here and let the basement stove just cruse.
I do like wood heat I do ! and the only thing I want to put in the oil tank is stabilizer

Todd 2

 

[raybonz]

No oil used for heat until I came home yesterday.. Worked 12 hrs. yesterday and commute over an hr., wife and daughter were out and that's the 1st time in 2 years It worked out OK as I know the furnace still works and we use it for hot water too.. The oil furnace will run for 6 days soon when I am on vacation..

Ray

 

[Mitch Newton]

No oil use this year. Just wanted to say we did it. Will fire the oil boiler sometime to make sure it works. Heck we're going on March now. We did it