Oil truck stopped by....

[zmender]

The oil truck stopped by today to top off my tank. Last refill was 11/01, and since then I've gone through 73 gallons of oil for about 1.3 gal/day.

For comparison:
Summer (4/20 - 11/01): 0.8gal / day
Spring (02/15-4/20): 2.1gal / day
Prior winter (11/10-02/15): 3.8gal / day

Very happy with the tremendous improvement in energy efficiency of the house past year! Thanks everyone on this forum for the help and assistance last year. Tonight, please throw a log on for me!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I went from burning 2 or more tanks per heating season to none or very little.. Last heating Season I never turned the heat on.. I burned 0 gallons of oil.. I did turn on the heat this past cold snap.. I may have burned a couple gallons over night for this past cold snap.. the heats back off.. Its a great feeling to get away from big oil.. Im not funding there record profits every year..

 

[Kevin Weis]

Tank fill this past November at around $950 will make me a woodburning fool this season. This tank will last the whole season though and then some.

 

[heavy hammer]

I probably go through some where in the rande of 75 to 100 gallons of fuel a winter. My daughters bedrooms are over the garage so when temps get in the 20's or below we run the heat. I figured not bad for 4000+ sq feet. Fuel prices are outrageous, I'm going to give them the least I can. I would rather burn wood any day over running the furnace.

 

[zmender]

My hot water is also on oil, so I’ll use the .8gal / day as a baseline. Without too much investment (free cash flow tight next few years), I tink I can still gain from stocking more wood and continuing to fix all the drafty doors in the house.

 

[heavy hammer]

You can never have to much wood, like money in the bank.

 

[mpaul]

My house runs on propane. Heat, stove, dryer and hot water. Expensive.

The first year we moved in the propane company was stopping by on a weekly basis to fill up the 500 underground tank. That was one expensive year. That spring and summer was spent converting the ambient two sided gas fireplace into a ZC fireplace that now heats the whole house.

I saved the voice mail from the propane company asking me what the hell did I do 😂😂😂

 

[lml999]

I saved the voice mail from the propane company asking me what the hell did I do 😂😂😂

"I'm just not that into you anymore."

 

[zmender]

Definitely feels smug seeing the propane and oil trucks shuttling around neighborhood like ants and passing by neighbors desperately trying to lit up soaked birch

 

[Prof]

I can relate, during the recent cold snap with windchills down to the -30sF I kept the house above 70F. I burned a pile of wood, but it is nice to know that I can!

 

[Garbanzo62]

First year burning. We have the heat set at 62. Oil for heat and HW. Hoping to cut oil consumption in half. What I need to do though is track Kilowatt hours now as I have the Insert Fan, Ceiling fan and a few other fans running to try to move air around the house.

 

[peakbagger]

One of these is real handy for the fans that plug in. As for the ceiling fan, its bit more difficult but if you have access to the nameplate, the nameplate watts is better than nothing.

(broken link removed to https://www.hecdistribution.com/shop/consumer-electronics/kill-a-watt-elec-usage-monitor-p4400/?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAiA-8SdBhBGEiwAWdgtcNncPqXiNHE8eKlKqwgk6yjrVQv_0id-kQdo5MTbPs6SivCqDADs9RoCLngQAvD_BwE)

 

[BIGChrisNH]

I've had the oil guy ask with genuine curiosity about the stove and heating primarily with it. He delivered once during winter and we only needed like 40 gallons or something and that perked his interest.

 

[brenndatomu]

First year burning. We have the heat set at 62. Oil for heat and HW. Hoping to cut oil consumption in half. What I need to do though is track Kilowatt hours now as I have the Insert Fan, Ceiling fan and a few other fans running to try to move air around the house.

Ceiling fans, insert blower, and the like won't even be a blip on your power bill in comparison.

It's been so long that I've ordered oil that my oil guy has retired, and he wasn't that old last time!
Not sure when the last time was, but it was probably in the 07-08 range... I've toasted a few trees since then!

 

[Caw]

My blower fan uses 34 watts running on low, which it is 95% of the time. On high it's 54 watts. The wall mounted fan I use to move the air down the hallway also uses about 30 watts. Your lightbulbs use more power.

 

[heavy hammer]

I have 3 ceiling fans that run 24/7/365 it doesn't seem to make the bill a lot more but I know that it helps to move heat around and help cool the house down in the summer.

 

[zmender]

On Jan 1 our electric rate went up to $0.23/kWh. Based on a BTU basis, it is now cheaper to use oil heat (assuming $4.5/gal) as opposed to electric heat. Cord wood is still cheapest (assuming $300/cord) option.

When I WFH I use an unheated "office". Door is closed most time so temperature here drops down to mid-50s. I guess that if I do need to heat the space, it's better to do with oil....

 

[Mutineer]

Wow, zmender, you guys are really getting hosed on electricity. We have a competitive market here in Ohio where you can pick your electricity and gas supplier, I was at about a nickel/kwh beginning of the year and then that supplier got out of the market so I locked in 36 months with another at 7..79 cents/kwh. Saw over the last year or two that the unfortunate CA people are as high as 35 cents/kwh.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Here in CT there ae two parts of the bill. Generation and distribution. You can pick your provider for the generation part, distribution is the electic company that owns the wires. Cost went up Jan 1. Adding insult to injury, they suspended the gas tax over the summer. It is getting phased back in now. So 5 cents each month thru May

 

[Mutineer]

Yeah, we have the two components. The distribution part is relatively fixed but the generation part is pick your term, fixed vs variable, with or without an early termination charge, and so on. During one of the gas spikes a decade or two ago I was locked in at around $6/mcf for a couple of years while the market rate spiked to $11-12/mcf. Felt like I was stealing, but now I've been locked in at $2.89/mcf since Jan '21 but that ends next month and the new rates are in the $6.50/mcf range. Burn more wood, but the dryer, stove and water heater are all gas so there is no easy way out.

 

[Caw]

You guys are cute complaining about $0.23 / kWh. Here in MA my electricity rates just went from $0.24 to $0.42 / kWh. I'm not even using my heat pump anymore for heat I'm just using the stove when it's 45 degrees instead. 1 cord of wood costs me about $50 so it's just way more practical. A bit of a pain in the ass with all the cold starts but we have lighting fires down to a science. My wife has become a pro so that helps a lot.

The silver lining of the electricity price hikes is solar has never been better. My 11.8 kw system will pay for itself that much faster.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

In 2016 I went completely utility free.. I installed a solar system large enough to cover my complete electric use for the year.. Im on well and septic.. no fees for water or sewer.. I heat with wood.. I stopped purchasing oil.. I do have a gas bill of 140 dollars per years for the 6 burner cook top and the occasional use of the gas fireplaces

Energy and energy costs will only go up.. society has been groomed to pay these outrageous fees.. Every bill you pay increases their record profits. We need to get away from things like this

My son and I built a Greenhouse out back.. we grow a lot of our own food.. Just this past weekend, we ate the last of our bell peppers and onions in omelets we had for breakfast. Lots of homemade Spaghetti sauce.. asparagus..

There are many ways to keep your money... in YOUR POCKET.

 

[Caw]

In 2016 I went completely utility free.. I installed a solar system large enough to cover my complete electric use for the year.. Im on well and septic.. no fees for water or sewer.. I heat with wood.. I stopped purchasing oil.. I do have a gas bill of 140 dollars per years for the 6 burner cook top and the occasional use of the gas fireplaces

Energy and energy costs will only go up.. society has been groomed to pay these outrageous fees.. Every bill you pay increases their record profits. We need to get away from things like this

My son and I built a Greenhouse out back.. we grow a lot of our own food.. Just this past weekend, we ate the last of our bell peppers and onions in omelets we had for breakfast. Lots of homemade Spaghetti sauce.. asparagus..

There are many ways to keep your money... in YOUR POCKET.

Yeah there has never been a better time to own solar. Our house is 100% electric (well, septic, heat pump, induction range) and our 11.8 kw system covers 80% of our usage. It would cover more but with two young kids the hot water demand is high for laundry, showers, and dishes.

I purchased it two years ago and the original break even date was around 6 years but with the new electricity rates that number is more like 3-4 years...and it's only going to improve. I wish I had a bigger roof for more panels!

Heat with wood, use the sun to power the house. Your own labor processes the wood and keeps you in shape. House can stay cozy warm without the stress of more bills. It's a good way to live if you can swing it.

 

[zmender]

Gone through 48gallons of oil since Christmas last year for steady 1.3gal / day. Really pretty happy since in Jan both wife and I were able to work remote & stayed at home entire month, and I doubt we've consumed maybe 10gals of gasoline at most last month for occasion trips to shop + church.

I think Feb oil consumption is going to be crazy... I'll spend most of month away, and wife is not as diligent as me in keeping up a regimented burn schedule.... and anytime she gets cold first thing doing is dialing up temperature to 80F and press HOLD..... we'll see lol.

 

[Eman85]

Water is my biggest complaint as far as utilities. price keeps going up and quality keeps going down. We don't drink the water, use it for everything else. Can't have a well, ground water is polluted from dumping and most that have a well that isn't polluted is hard or iron water.