Q: For you N/E People
 

With all the whining we hear about fuel and diesel costs, we got to thinking about the people who heat their homes with oil. Just how many gallons per hour (or day, or week) do you need to burn to keep your homes at a livable temperature? And is heating oil approximately the same cost as diesel?
Odd time to think about this, I'm sitting out here in a heat wave and running the A/C about 18 hours a day...

I heat strictly with wood! thinking about installing a combo wood/pellet burner though. would be great for running an extra heater in pole barn for the winter.

They said up in Maine that the average heating bill will be going from 2500 last year to 4500 this year. That is going to put a hurting on a lot of people for sure. Used to cost me 200 bucks to fill up my tank now it is almost a grand!!! Not much you can do but work a little harder and hope to make enough to cover the increase... They already said that the natural gas companies are looking for a big increase as well.

Our hot water is heated with oil, so we can't get out of using it for the summer. The minimum order is 100 gallons and we just forked out $450 for the minimum. I think we spent over 3K last winter and that was keeping the house at 63*.

I spent under $3000 last winter to heat about 4000sf which is pretty cheap as I'm natural gas. WOuld have been 5-6,000 if I was oil and even more this year.

I am HVAC contractor and we are offering Geothermal heating and cooling I've got about 30 quotes out right now and 27 sales calls lined up this month already.
The people I am meeting with are fed up with oil prices, the "lock-in" price is $4.90 for this winter. Why spend 3-5K and be uncomfortable when you can spend 1-2k and get heat,A/C and hot water and be comfortable? Don't get me wrong the cost to get in is about double the cost of a conventional system but the payback is there.
There are so many options with super high efficiency equipment now that the payback on replacements is getting shorter and shorter. Watch the price of oil today..Iran shot off a few rockets and Israel is "gravely concerned"

For Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, we spent about $450-500 per month for a $2700 sq/ft well insulated home with new windows, 2x4 construction with 2x6 in the main living area (kit, dinette, great room combo). This year it's going to be approximately $750 per month for an average to lighter than average winter. If it's a cold one it could be around a grand per month. It's approximately 150 gallons per month, more if it's cold.

Here is the problem for many people, if you're in a business that's affected by this economy most people are working less. I'm in remodeling and it's affecting me now, this winter when discretionary income is being gobbled up by fuel for home heating and gas for the car, it leaves less for other spending. This winter could be rough for me. Corvette is gone, boat is gone, old truck that broke down often is gone, credit cards are paid off, vacation is cancelled, we're hunkering down to weather this storm.

Geothermal is the way to go. My parents had it installed about 15 years ago, aside from changing the occasional filter they never have to touch it. The monthly electric bill to run the thing is pennies on the dollar. im sure they have came even farther with the technology since then.

No idea.

Kids & Wife need a warm place to stay and I do not control price of whatever my home uses.

The only thing I can help is earning to provide so that is all I worry about.

My house is all oil heat and my hot water heater is oil fired.... Last winter I locked in at $3.19 a gallon.... We took had 3 deliveries all winter and my house is set at 69 when we are home and 63 when we are at work... I think we spent almost $2000 for the year....

My neighbor got fuel a month ago and paid $4.99 a gallon :eek: I'm going to dread this winter!!!

I think most people have no idea what they are facing this winter. I have enough wood for the next 3 years. I like to think I'm hedged. And as I type this with the A/C on, I have no electric bill due to the Solar Panels on my barn roof. I also get paid 5-7k a year for the electric I make and use. Doug

We have a 2300sq house and our worst bill last year was about $240 per month I thought this was pretty good I can only hope this winter will be the same. Should we pray for Global Warming:rolleyes:

We live in NE Wisc so get plenty of cold weather, last year we installed in-floor hydronic radiant heat. Highest utility bill was only $200 a month for both elect and nat. gas. Friends were paying >$400

Sure is nice to walk around in bare feet when it is -10 outside and 24" of ice on the lake.

I have heard horror stories from some of my neighbors who use oil (we use LP) about companies NOT delivering because they locked in at a rate that was sometimes up to $2.00 per gallon less than prevailing rates. Ex: Contract ends in July, they still have room for a few hundred gallon top-off in thier tanks, and the oil companies will not deliver or return calls until August to charge the prevailing rates.

Firewood prices I guess are through the roof.

Pellet and wood stove distributors can't keep items in stock, and most of these units start at like $3,000.00 -so not cheap items.

This Thanksgiving/Christmas season is going to very different I think for alot of people. High heating costs/increase gas prices and airline travel is only getting more expensive.

cool.. what does a system like that cost? will it work anywhere?

Thanks for answers everyone. Almost figured it out. Seems no one calculates use per hour or per day, so the figures for annual heating is pretty close. For you who keep your homes in the 60's, I gotta hand it to you, I wouldn't let my garage get that cold! Guess we're a bunch of sissies out here. Thanks again for the responses and good luck this winter...

Yup, technology has come a long way, we have two stage compresors and ECM fan motors now. That means even less electrical consumption when the outdoor temps are mild.

I doubt that...don't forget we run the AC in the summer...not only for the heat outside but more importantly the humidity.

I paid between $600-800 a month for heating oil this past winter....

AC has been on 24/7 for the last month and a half....... Not sure what the Electric bill has been but it's significantly lower than my oil bills......

Infants will do this to you......

I have baseboard hot water (Gas) and electric air handler for AC. I am working on a 2 fold plan to beat the use of "fossil" fuel. I am adding a Solor Panel to run through a two stage Hot water heater one for my household needs and one through a coil in the air handler that will provide me 130 degree water to heat the house with an auto switch that if the solar panel can't keep up my boiler and gas hot water heater will come on. My boiler is full of 50/50 pink antifreeze so i don't worry about freeze ups. I figure I should save 75% off my heating bill next winter and 25% off my gas bill now.

It's a grid tie system,no batteries. Cost 65K, but the state picked up 35K of the bill, plus I get the solar energy credits 5-7K a year and free electric. Also Fed tax credit of 2K. Each state has different programs. The company that did the install was (www.thesolarcenter.com) mostly ny,nj,ct. but still good info. Doug

She must have PETRO or MEENAN same company anyway just one trucks blue the other green!

how much are the solar pannels?

Hey Sonic 30ss
 

That signs intresting to you do work in the Glastonbury area? I would like to get some info.

Art, Check post #20 Doug