Oil company price for heating oil is $2.43 a gallon. Calculations show $285 a ton for Pellets as my break even point. I paid $299 a ton last fall. $14 difference isn't a make or break thing when it comes to heating the home, it's just that the constant increase in Pellet price irks me.
OIL CHEAPER TO RUN THAN PELLETS
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acammer
Burning Hunk
I hear you. Pellets have been oh so hard to find this spring, and the prices have been outrageous. A few weeks back I found a place that finally had some, they wanted $7.27 a bag. CRAZY! It takes ~6.75 gallons of propane a day to heat my home on a 20*F day, so $15.16 @ $2.24/gallon. In pellets it requires 90lbs/day, so at $7.27 a bag that would cost $16.36/day. When propane goes back up to $2.50/gallon then it's about a break even proposition, and the propane requires zero work on my part.
Now, I was able to score pellets this week for $5.58/bag, so that's only $12.55/day running costs - that makes it worth it!
Now, I was able to score pellets this week for $5.58/bag, so that's only $12.55/day running costs - that makes it worth it!
john193
Minister of Fire
Got some timber heats at lowes for $4 a bag after coupon. Never burned them before but the price was right.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
Holy cow - at 20F days, it takes about 1.5 bags (or less) to heat my place. Must be a size difference there. Propane is at 3.17 here, and oil just under $3, so pellets are still economical for me (most pellets bought from HD at <$5/bag).
Pelletluvr
Member
No kidding. I just did the fuel comparison exercise here. Pellets would cost me a thousand bucks more than oil. It's not really gonna be that much, but for comparison sakes I get the idea. I just filled my two 275s for $2.15 a gallon because I get more than 400 gallons delivered. It'll probably be lower by summer, but I needed it now. With pellet prices pushing 300 bucks, the stove will be an ornament next winter. I love pellets, but I love money more
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
Oil is 2.83 here. I just ordered 5 tons of pellets at 272. At that oil price, breakeven is about 340. Nice spreadsheet: http://www.eia.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls
Its been around $2.25 +/- $.05 all winter. I hope folks arent just realizing it may have been cheaper to run their boiler.
acammer
Burning Hunk
2,100 sq ft. <600,000 BTU/day @ 20*F ambient, it's not too bad. Yea, when propane is over $2.50/gallon for me I start thinking pellets. When it's as cheap as it is now, might as well burn the gas and save the work.
acammer
Burning Hunk
It didn't drop under $2.50/gallon here until recently. When I bought my 4 tons it was $3/gallon, so it was a no brainer - if only I could have seen the future I wouldn't have been cleaning and feeding the stove all winter.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
Now, I could be doing something wrong, but using that spreadsheet above, at 2.50/gal propane I come up with about $450/ton pellet breakeven, with efficiencies set at 83%.
St_Earl
Minister of Fire
just called the local supplier. HHO is $252.9. my pellets i just bought were $229 per ton.
there are different figures for the equivalencies, some say 120 gallons oil for 1 ton pellets. but even if it were 110 gallons, i'm still well ahead by burning pellets.
especially since our oil furnace is forced air. i'm pretty sure that fact would cause us to burn more oil in ratio to pellets to stay warm when it's below zero out.
because it's forced air, i'm fairly sure we'd burn more than 120 gallons of oil to stay even close to as warm as a ton of pellets keeps us.
my den/tv room where i spend most of my time doesn't even have a register in it.
so yeah, oil is going to have to be a good bit below $2 for me to even think of filling the tank.
there are different figures for the equivalencies, some say 120 gallons oil for 1 ton pellets. but even if it were 110 gallons, i'm still well ahead by burning pellets.
especially since our oil furnace is forced air. i'm pretty sure that fact would cause us to burn more oil in ratio to pellets to stay warm when it's below zero out.
because it's forced air, i'm fairly sure we'd burn more than 120 gallons of oil to stay even close to as warm as a ton of pellets keeps us.
my den/tv room where i spend most of my time doesn't even have a register in it.
so yeah, oil is going to have to be a good bit below $2 for me to even think of filling the tank.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
You guys in Maine have great prices on pellets!
Edit: On the other hand, it might be a good idea, for me, to top up the oil tank.
Edit: On the other hand, it might be a good idea, for me, to top up the oil tank.
JRHAWK9
Minister of Fire
xSpecBx
Member
Your propane boiler is most likely more than 83% efficient. I would take a look at the manufacturer literature. I would suspect its somewhere in the 90s.
Oil here in CT this morning was $2.26/gal. I didn't burn much in way of pellets this season with oil prices low. Luckily enough they haven't shot up and have actually come down a bit over the last month or so
Pellet-King
Minister of Fire
bogieb
Minister of Fire
Yeah, my boiler says it is from 1980 - I'm guessing not too efficient - so even if I ever did actually see cheaper propane prices, it still doesn't mean it would be very economical for me to run the gas. I figure last winter was warmer than this winter and I burned >3k in propane before I got the stoves. Now I'm down to zero (for heating) unless I go out of town (rare). Locked in propane at $3.11/gal over the summer since I had been hit with >$5/gal last winter, so never would have seen the really cheap prices - even if they had found their way here.
NHcpa
Minister of Fire
Arti
Feeling the Heat
$2.44 for fuel oil in my area, 1.90 for Propane.
Early buy on pellets is in the 220 ton plus $50 delivery for any amount, I can't really haul 2 ton for that amount. These are Hartland or White Lightning pellets which work well in my stoves.
Menards selling Indeks for about the same amount however they produce a lot of ash in my furnace.
Located in South West Wisconsin. Next to the Scenic Bluffs of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers
Early buy on pellets is in the 220 ton plus $50 delivery for any amount, I can't really haul 2 ton for that amount. These are Hartland or White Lightning pellets which work well in my stoves.
Menards selling Indeks for about the same amount however they produce a lot of ash in my furnace.
Located in South West Wisconsin. Next to the Scenic Bluffs of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers
Pete Zahria
Minister of Fire
As of March 30, 2015. In New Hampster.
Average costs of fuel, and cost per million btu
Fuel oil----- $2.76 - $19.92
Propane---- $3.07 - $33.62
Pellets------ $245 - $14.89
Cordwood--$325 - $16.25
Electricity-- $0.19 - $58.07
Dan
Average costs of fuel, and cost per million btu
Fuel oil----- $2.76 - $19.92
Propane---- $3.07 - $33.62
Pellets------ $245 - $14.89
Cordwood--$325 - $16.25
Electricity-- $0.19 - $58.07
Dan
He's in northern Maine, much closer to the pellet sources. On the other hand, oil is more expensive up there. The further south you go, the cheaper it gets. I'm in central maine and I paid $2.07 a gal back in November, and $2.06 a couple weeks ago.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I feel, with nothing to back it up, that a lot of time firms charge what they think they can get.
Pellet-King
Minister of Fire
NHcpa
Minister of Fire
Peterfield
Minister of Fire
I used to buy semi-dry cordwood for $180, then $200, now from the same supplier it's $300. Right around the corner from you.
NHcpa
Minister of Fire
Ouch.
Don't know around the corner from me, but I use Browns in Weare. I also buy between 4-6 cord at a time. Decent people and have used for years.
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