Which would you rather have? -- $1,200.00 of Oil or Wood Pellets

[Don2222]

Hello

In southern NH, Home Depot has Stove Chow for $197.00 per ton.

Haffner's oil, the least expensive oil company in the area is $3.49 per gallon

See pics below.

OIL

So $1,200.00 of Oil is:

$1200.00 / $3.49 = 343.84 Gallons

A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)
In fact by law in Mass the landlords must supply heat to their tenants during this time period or face fines and penalties.

So 1,200 gallons is approx 200 gallons per month average. More in the colder months and less in the mild months.

So 343.84 / 200 = 1.72 months

Wood Pellets

$1,200.00 of Wood Pellets is:

$1200 / $197 = 6 Tons !

A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 3 Tons for 1 full winter or 1 year in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)

So 6 / 3 = 2 years

So 2 months of oil or 2 Years of Wood Pellets.

Houses and usage varies but this may give some idea of the cost effectiveness of wood pellets these days

 

[iron stove]

Easy, pellets. I have over 4 tons stashed away, and can heat all winter. A tank and a half of oil doesnt go far in the heart of winter.

 

[BradH70]

Ok, so what about hot water. I'm still using the oil fired boiler to heat the water in a Superstore water tank. Looks like I'm going to use about 350 gallons/year to do this. I'm thinking of installing a couple point of use systems for the upstairs bathrooms and take the hit in the electric bill instead.

Any thought?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Ok, so what about hot water. I'm still using the oil fired boiler to heat the water in a Superstore water tank. Looks like I'm going to use about 350 gallons/year to do this. I'm thinking of installing a couple point of use systems for the upstairs bathrooms and take the hit in the electric bill instead.

Any thought?

Install a propane or electric hot water tank. The propane on demand tanks are the best.

Eric

 

[mepellet]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

 

[iron stove]

I have a indirect fired hot water tank, running off the oil fired boiler. I burn .75 gallons a day for hot water.

BUT, they just ran natural gas down my street in October. Have to do some figuring in the spring.

 

[Freddels]

I'll take the pellets any day. I have 4 tons to be delivered next week.

I also use oil for hot water. One of my projects in the near future will be to get a tankless gas water heater and get propane installed. I'll also get rid of the electric stove while I'm at it.

 

[Xena]

I only read the title not the first post or
the rest of the posts but which would I rather have?
The pellets.

 

[BradH70]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

I'm not an expert at HVAC, but I would think that part of the equation that is missing in the oil system is the heat loss as the water travels through the pipes to get to the room it is trying to heating. Think about how long it takes to get hot water out of a faucet that is far away from the heat source. Now apply this to the baseboard system. The furnace starts heating the water, pushes it through the pipes, has to heat up the pipes as well to maintain the water temp, now the room is finally seeing some heat. Once the T-stat is satisfied, the zone is turned off. Now all that hot water is sitting in the pipes and cools down as it is waiting for the next heat cycle. Although a great system, it does have some inefficiencies. Even though the furnace may be rated at 90 or 95 or 99% efficient, doesn't mean that the entire system is that efficient.

I would be more then happy to have someone set me straight on this one though if I'm that far out of line.

 

[BradH70]

[email protected][/email]]

Ok, so what about hot water. I'm still using the oil fired boiler to heat the water in a Superstore water tank. Looks like I'm going to use about 350 gallons/year to do this. I'm thinking of installing a couple point of use systems for the upstairs bathrooms and take the hit in the electric bill instead.

Any thought?

Install a propane or electric hot water tank. The propane on demand tanks are the best.

Eric

Do you have any manufacturer recommendations?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

 

[mepellet]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

 

[kykel]

Id rather spend more on pellets than give those greedy s.o.bs my money for oil

 

[Murphy118]

I just love this site,,,,,,,

John

 

[Bank]

Some good points, but don't forget about the intangibles, like being self sufficient and not using foreign oil. Supporting local home grown companies that produce wood pellets and keep jobs and our dollars in the U.S.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

Read the rest of the post where he is talking about what is being offered. It is 1200 dollars your choice as to what you buy. Oil or pellets.

Then we will talk about differences between central oil heat and small space heaters.

 

[kmapsrule]

[email protected][/email]]

Ok, so what about hot water. I'm still using the oil fired boiler to heat the water in a Superstore water tank. Looks like I'm going to use about 350 gallons/year to do this. I'm thinking of installing a couple point of use systems for the upstairs bathrooms and take the hit in the electric bill instead.

Any thought?

Install a propane or electric hot water tank. The propane on demand tanks are the best.

Eric

Do you have any manufacturer recommendations?

I Had a Baxi wall mount propane boiler/on demand hot water heater installed about 5 years ago
it has been reliable and saved me a fortune over the previous 80 gallon industrial electric hot water heater that a contractor previous owner had salvaged from a hotel remodel and installed in the house, even with the old hot water heater on a timer to run only in the morning during showers,
dishes, and when doing the laundry the electric bill was over $180 dollars a month, after the changeover my electric bill went down to 70 bucks a month and If i didn't have the boiler and cookstove on the propane as well, the hot water heating for the year would only take me around 150 gallons of propane.

The only downside is that the Baxi units have almost tripled in price in the last 6 years.

 

[GrahamInVa]

 

[Don2222]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yes, That is $1200 Dollars or 343.84 Gallons @ 138,000 BTU/gallon is only 47,449,920 BTU

So you get double the heat in BTUs for the same price, but let's take this one step further.

I have a 45,000 BTU pellet stove that heats the whole house and a 109,000 BTU oil boiler that heats the whole house
Again twice the capacity for half the BTUs

The difference here is heating hot water baseboard with oil which in turn heats the air. Lot's of transfer losses. The pellet stove heats the air directly. That is why I am really not in favor of pellet boilers. Gas water heater or HP electric water heaters save more money because of the more efficient transfer of energy!!

So in my case $1200 in Pellets is over 4 times the heating of $1200 in oil!

So by this very rough estimate for my 2,000 sqft house.

2 months of Oil x 4 = well over 8 months of pellets is approx 2 winters or 2 years

Anyway you figure it wood pellets is CHEAP

 

[mepellet]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

Read the rest of the post where he is talking about what is being offered. It is 1200 dollars your choice as to what you buy. Oil or pellets.

Then we will talk about differences between central oil heat and small space heaters.

I understand the question. I never gave my answer but it is pellets for sure

I was hoping that my question would get to the difference between central heating vs. space heating. This is a very interesting topic to me. Please discuss the differences!

 

[mepellet]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

Read the rest of the post where he is talking about what is being offered. It is 1200 dollars your choice as to what you buy. Oil or pellets.

Then we will talk about differences between central oil heat and small space heaters.

I understand the question. I never gave my answer but it is pellets for sure

I was hoping that my question would get to the difference between central heating vs. space heating. This is a very interesting topic to me. Please discuss the differences!


EDIT- for some reason this posted twice....

 

[pelletdude]

[email protected][/email]]

Ok, so what about hot water. I'm still using the oil fired boiler to heat the water in a Superstore water tank. Looks like I'm going to use about 350 gallons/year to do this. I'm thinking of installing a couple point of use systems for the upstairs bathrooms and take the hit in the electric bill instead.

Any thought?

Install a propane or electric hot water tank. The propane on demand tanks are the best.

Eric

The best thing I have done for energy conservation - tankless hot water - use 10 gallons of propane per month

 

[Don2222]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

Read the rest of the post where he is talking about what is being offered. It is 1200 dollars your choice as to what you buy. Oil or pellets.

Then we will talk about differences between central oil heat and small space heaters.

I understand the question. I never gave my answer but it is pellets for sure

I was hoping that my question would get to the difference between central heating vs. space heating. This is a very interesting topic to me. Please discuss the differences!

There is a large difference between central heating hot water baseboard with oil which in turn heats the air with lot's of transfer losses from one medium to another and the pellet stove which heats the air directly. That is why I am really not in favor of pellet boilers. Gas water heater or HP electric water heaters save more money because of the more efficient transfer of energy!!

 

[mepellet]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yes, That is $1200 Dollars or 343.84 Gallons @ 138,000 BTU/gallon is only 47,449,920 BTU

So you get double the heat in BTUs for the same price, but let's take this one step further.

I have a 45,000 BTU pellet stove that heats the whole house and a 109,000 BTU oil boiler that heats the whole house
Again twice the capacity for half the BTUs

So in my case $1200 in Pellets is over 4 times the heating of $1200 in oil!

So by this very rough estimate for my 2,000 sqft house.

2 months of Oil x 4 = well over 8 months of pellets is approx 2 winters or 2 years

Anyway you figure it wood pellets is CHEAP

I totally agree! That's why I got a pellet stove. I wasn't trying to cause any arguments. I just want to know/understand how people use less BTUs by using a pellet stove instead of oil. I have an oil fired boiler with a three zone baseboard system.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Somethings wrong here-

1200 gallons of oil per year @ 138,000 BTU/gallon = 165,600,000 BTU
3 tons of pellets per year @ 8,000 BTU/pound = 96,000,000 BTU

Yeah there sure is it isn't 1200 gallons of oil it is 1200 dollars of oil.

???

Don2222-
...."A typical 2,000 sqft house uses 1,200 Gallons for winter in this area from Oct 15th thru April 15th (6 months)"....

Read the rest of the post where he is talking about what is being offered. It is 1200 dollars your choice as to what you buy. Oil or pellets.

Then we will talk about differences between central oil heat and small space heaters.

I understand the question. I never gave my answer but it is pellets for sure

I was hoping that my question would get to the difference between central heating vs. space heating. This is a very interesting topic to me. Please discuss the differences!

There is a large difference between central heating hot water baseboard with oil which in turn heats the air with lot's of transfer losses and the pellet stove which heats the air directly. That is why I am really not in favor of pellet boilers. Gas water heater or HP electric water heaters save more money because of the more efficient transfer of energy!!

And heaven help us if we factor in the lovely heat loss up through flue from the water jacket when the boiler is off and mother nature is a bit windy.

At least a lot of the so called "transfer energy loss" gets inside the house shell but the water jacket up the flue can be brutal. Those lovely efficiency ratings aren't exactly telling the entire story. There is a huge difference between combustion efficiency and the output from a heating device.