Who hasn't turned on their Heating Furnace yet? - and a graph of my oil usage for 13 years....

[buckstove]

First year heating with wood stove insert got rid of pre fab fireplace. Gas furnace usually comes on about 5am. Quits running whenever I build a fire in the morning. Hopefully next year I will be heating 24/7 already got wood seasoning for next year.

 

[Dix]

0. It's broken.


I have oil tank /supply line issues. It clogs after a few days. Figure that there is digging involved in repairing (550 gallon tank in ground, install early 1970's). It was less expensive to put in an electric hot water heater and add the second stove, considering I had plenty of wood, and access to really seasoned wood for purchase if need be.


I'll fix that issue later. We're warm & have hot water. And I'm not paying $600 + a month to heat the place to 62F right now.

 

[Dix]

I have not yet used the furnace for heating, it just comes on for an hour a day to heat the water, which does give a small amount of supplementary heat in our bedroom (daily gas costs currently come to just 40p (about 50 cents) a day compared to £2 a day average before installation of the woodburner). All our heating now basically comes from our 34,000 btu per hour woodburner with free/foraged wood.

Our house has just 1200 sq ft, with a foot of loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, and double glazing all round, and we do not get the extreme low temperatures you guys get (although December is currently the coldest here in 100 years).

Woodchip, you guys are taking a major hit of nasty weather right now. I work with a man from Poland. He's describing the weather, and we're amazed. Stay warm !!

 

[BrotherBart]

Heat pump thermostat is set on 20 degrees. Doesn't matter since the unit died of old age and lack of use back in the nineties sometime. I popped the breakers back then and haven't ever gotten around to having it replaced.

If I grab my chest and fall over there are oil filled radiators in every room of the house on programmable thermostats. And yes each is on a separate circuit. I just never wanna see the electric bill if they all fire up at one time. :ahhh:

 

[woodchip]

add the second stove, considering I had plenty of wood, and access to really seasoned wood for purchase if need be.

I'm considering putting a second stove in at present, and it was my wife's idea! The open fire in our dining room looks like it's days are numbered.........

And it was 16f at Yeovilton (a few miles away) at 8pm, the temperatures are just plummeting like a stone this evening.

Might have to get another foot of insulation in the roof

 

[BrotherBart]

And it was 16f at Yeovilton (a few miles away) at 8pm, the temperatures are just plummeting like a stone this evening.

Might have to get another foot of insulation in the roof

Looking at the news it appears that you folks are getting hammered.

 

[Chargerman]

I used the N.G. furnace a little in the shoulder season for convenience but it has been all wood since early November now that the temps are lower.

 

[fire_man]

The thermostat to the oil boiler is set to 63 degrees. The only time so far this year it has been needed was the night when someone named "Not Me" failed to latch the front door closed. The wind blew it open and as far as I can tell, it was wide open all night. Outside temp: 10 degrees F. The downstairs was at 55 degrees, furnace working full time. Upstairs at 60 degrees, the heat upstairs is shut off, so any heat comes from the stove downstairs.

We're going through about 300 gallons of oil per winter, and that includes oil consumed for hot water. In the summer, the solar panel provides almost all the hot water we use.

Nothing would make me happier than for someone to say: "It was me"

Ouch Ouch Ouch. It was not me!

 

[argus66]

i made it to last week my wife put it on for about a hour, i turned it off and hasnt been on since. been a real cold dec. here not much snow well hardly any. but frigid.

 

[fire_man]

I wish I could go 100% stove and no furnace but unfortunately I just don't have enough stove to do the whole house without doing a reload at something like 3:00 AM which I"m totally not going to do. Programmable stats in the house drop my overnight temps down and if I don't oversleep in the AM I can usually get the stove refired to keep the furnace run down to a minimum. That being said, since I've gone to 24x7 stove ops, my propane consumption is significantly lower than it has in years past - so it's doing what it's supposed to - keeping us warm and keeping money in our pocket.

Agartner, I struggle with the 4am feeding, but in the end I think it's worth it. Fortunately (or not) I leave for work at 4am so it sort of works out, I just stay on that schedule on weekends. I'm laying lobbying my wife for the bigger Woodstock stove next year, then maybe I can get a full night's sleep!

 

[deck2]

turn the furnace on once in the Fall to make sure it works so it was on for a little while last christmas when we went away overnight and that was it, We are going away agian this xmas so it will be on agian this year for one day and that is one day to many.

It just really gets me ticked off if I have to pay the power co. to heat my house when there is 10 cords cut, split, seasoned and ready to burn that I paid for with sweat and hard work.

 

[Quinte]

This has been my first winter season home from Kandahar, so I'm hoping to put a major dent in the oil bill this year. So far so good, but with the oil water heater and basement, it will be impossible to cut it off completely. The fireplace was originally installed as a supplement, but I can see this was a mistake. Fortunately the BIS CE Traditional does a far job of heating the main floor, but I need to look at options for the basement as it gets pretty cool without the furnace running.

Interesting statistics though, something to strive for!
The solor options are of interest too.

 

[fire_man]

This has been my first winter season home from Kandahar, so I'm hoping to put a major dent in the oil bill this year. So far so good, but with the oil water heater and basement, it will be impossible to cut it off completely. The fireplace was originally installed as a supplement, but I can see this was a mistake. Fortunately the BIS CE Traditional does a far job of heating the main floor, but I need to look at options for the basement as it gets pretty cool without the furnace running.

Interesting statistics though, something to strive for!
The solor options are of interest too.

Quinte: I have a separate Oil fired water heater that uses about 10 gallons/month. I figure it forces me to refill the 275 gallon tank at least every other year. I'm not sure how long the heating oil in the tank lasts before going bad??

 

[Raptor]

NH_Wood:

This is the website I got most of my Solar Water Heater info from

http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/PEXColDHW/Overview.htm

 

[certified106]

The thermostat to the oil boiler is set to 63 degrees. The only time so far this year it has been needed was the night when someone named "Not Me" failed to latch the front door closed. The wind blew it open and as far as I can tell, it was wide open all night. Outside temp: 10 degrees F. The downstairs was at 55 degrees, furnace working full time. Upstairs at 60 degrees, the heat upstairs is shut off, so any heat comes from the stove downstairs.

We're going through about 300 gallons of oil per winter, and that includes oil consumed for hot water. In the summer, the solar panel provides almost all the hot water we use.

Nothing would make me happier than for someone to say: "It was me"

I can't even imagine how livid I would have been that morning!
We actually had the same thing happen the other night while we were sitting there in the living room the front door blew open as my daughter hadn't shut it completely after letting the dog out. Needless to say everyone got a lecture and I have started checking all the doors before heading to bed at night for peace of mind.

 

[CTburning]

I called my oil company and asked if I could pre-buy my oil. They said I could only prebuy if I purchased 500 gallons and I only go through 300 a year. That includes my hot water as well. I kept it a little cool at 60 two years ago with the old smoke dragon and 61 last winter with the new Fireview. I have better wood and air tightened the house and now leave the tstat at 66. It has been going on in the morning around 6am. I'm hoping that by adding a ton of insulation to the attic I will be able to keep the house at 68 and not burn any more oil.

 

[krex1010]

I have made it so far using NO heating oil thanks majorly to the great advice on this Forum. There have been some 10 F nights and the Fireview has struggled, but thanks to a tolerant family the furnace has been OFF. Oil has hit $2.85/Gallon in New England and seems headed up. Who else has made it so far this year with absolutely no oil or gas?

I know Backwoods Savage (Dennis) has not used oil or gas because he ripped his furnace out. My wife would send me packing if I did that! :ahhh:

This is my oil usage for 13 years for only heating the house (Domestic hot water subtracted out):

Dude......you made a graph of your heating oil usage?

 

[TX-L]

I got a fuel oil delivery last week; I'm on an automatic delivery schedule so they thought I probably needed some this late in the fall. They were able to squeeze 5 gallons into the tank somehow. I have to call them and remove myself from the automatic delivery, as I will use very little if any at all this winter. My goal is to use none, but I will have to if I go to Quebec snowmobiling for a week. That is bothering me somewhat...

Cheers!

 

[Quinte]

Fire_man, being that the oil is less refined, I would imagine it would be ok in longer storage. I would not be surprised if there are additive already added, but that’s just a guess. Our tank is 240 gallons, which is approximately what the 4 or use during the year for hot water.

Like TX-L, we are also on automatic delivery and the tank was just topped up with only 56 gallons after 2 months of heating. I estimate that we will only need 2 tanks of oil for the year instead of 5.

Raptor, thanks for the solar heater link. Given that the originator lives in Montana is promising. Son #3 is currently studying renewable energy and I hope to see a return on my investment Actually, Ontario is currently offering a micro-fit buyback program for solar electricity. It’s reported that people are seeing returns of $1k / month (taxable though). Along with solar heating it is certainly something we are looking into. I’ve also heard of hybrid systems that are tied into existing oil tanks. The idea being to pre-heating the water to cut down the overall energy needed.

Thanks to this post though, I’ve now been inspired to start my own graph to see how things progress from here.

 

[mtcates]

The house I live in was built in 1976 and has never had a furnace. I have lived here for four years now and have upgraded the stove and chimney and now it heats better than ever. The only problem with having no furnace is that it ties me down in the winter. I couldn't get a loan to buy the place since it had no furnace and I had to install a propane wall mounted heater to get a loan but after I was approved for the loan I removed it.

 

[shawneyboy]

Just had the Oil man stop by (auto delivery).

Total amount delivered 21.7 gallons ! (HA HA HA)
Avg December delivery (10 year avg.) 124.09
Net gallons saved 102.39
Price $2.897


One month savings $294.78


I LOVE MY WOODSTOVE

 

[ColdNH]

Havent turned on the electric heat at all this year and loving it! burning free scrounged wood too just makes it that much better.

The best part is, we are warmer then we ever were with the electric heat. even during those single digit nights.

 

[fire_man]

I have made it so far using NO heating oil thanks majorly to the great advice on this Forum. There have been some 10 F nights and the Fireview has struggled, but thanks to a tolerant family the furnace has been OFF. Oil has hit $2.85/Gallon in New England and seems headed up. Who else has made it so far this year with absolutely no oil or gas?

I know Backwoods Savage (Dennis) has not used oil or gas because he ripped his furnace out. My wife would send me packing if I did that! :ahhh:

This is my oil usage for 13 years for only heating the house (Domestic hot water subtracted out):

Dude......you made a graph of your heating oil usage?

What can I say. The Engineer in me sneaked out at home. :roll:

 

[BrowningBAR]

I've turned on the furnace 4 times.

Once was to test the furnace system, another was when we were having company over and the third stove was not installed, the third was out of drunken paranoia that the pipes were going to freeze one night, and the fourth time was this morning as I am still testing a few things with the third stove and moving heat upstairs.

Total is about 10-20 gallons so far for the season.

 

[fire_man]

Fire_man, being that the oil is less refined, I would imagine it would be ok in longer storage. I would not be surprised if there are additive already added, but that’s just a guess. Our tank is 240 gallons, which is approximately what the 4 or use during the year for hot water.

Like TX-L, we are also on automatic delivery and the tank was just topped up with only 56 gallons after 2 months of heating. I estimate that we will only need 2 tanks of oil for the year instead of 5.

Raptor, thanks for the solar heater link. Given that the originator lives in Montana is promising. Son #3 is currently studying renewable energy and I hope to see a return on my investment Actually, Ontario is currently offering a micro-fit buyback program for solar electricity. It’s reported that people are seeing returns of $1k / month (taxable though). Along with solar heating it is certainly something we are looking into. I’ve also heard of hybrid systems that are tied into existing oil tanks. The idea being to pre-heating the water to cut down the overall energy needed.

Thanks to this post though, I’ve now been inspired to start my own graph to see how things progress from here.

Quinte: I think you are correct, the oil should keep for a while (a couple years?). I know there are additives available to pour into the tank, but since we have not had a problem to date I have not fooled with success. I wonder what additives are already in the oil as delivered?