Eye opener today!

[pennwalk]

The oil company called today asking if I would like to lock in at $5 for home heating oil. Isn't that something?

Chris

 

[RollTideRam]

Being from the south, I don't know much about heating with heating oil. How much would you use during an average winter? I do know that LPG is $2.19 for prepay here. It was less than $1 a gallon just a few years ago. JC

 

[pennwalk]

We have a 1000 gallon tank. We have been using between 600 and 800 gallons a winter the last 3 years but the winters have been mild. The previous owner was using more than 1000 gallons. We are looking at a $1000 increase to fill the tank this year. We have been thinking about making a change but it seems like energy saving heating/cooling systems have gone up in price too. In a way it is crazy using liquid fuel to heat a house. Sadly every other form of energy is going up. What with the value of housing going down and the price of everything else going up it is a darned good thing we don't have inflation to mess us up.

Chris

 

[WTA]

You all are getting good mileage I think on that heating oil. We have a 500 gallon propane tank and it only lasts a month running both furnaces in the house with the thermostat set in the 60's. We have double pane windows, storm windows and are sealed up so tight I can't even hear the drag strip behind our property but those furnaces really burn through it.

Last year we closed off most of the house and cut up some dead trees on the property to burn in the wood stove. Two of my friends near us did the same thing and we kept warm that way instead. It was just too expensive filling that tank.

 

[ToadHill]

My wife is a heat magnet, she likes the temp above 80 in the winter. Over 25 years ago we bought our first of three wood stoves and have been using it since. I have 60 acres of hardwood forest that we are cleaning up, getting rid of dead and diseased beech trees and thinning maple and ash to allow the better trees to grow.

I guess cost of gas for the chain saw and wood splitter ran be over $50.00 last year.

By the way I spend the winter in my bermuda shorts. I can't get her to go south for the winter since she would be too far from the grandkids.

 

[LBrown59]

We have a 1000 gallon tank. We have been using between 600 and 800 gallons a winter the last 3 years but the winters have been mild. The previous owner was using more than 1000 gallons. We are looking at a $1000 increase to fill the tank this year. We have been thinking about making a change but it seems like energy saving heating/cooling systems have gone up in price too. In a way it is crazy using liquid fuel to heat a house. Sadly every other form of energy is going up. What with the value of housing going down and the price of everything else going up it is a darned good thing we don't have inflation to mess us up.

Chris

Do you use fuel from the tank for your tractor also? ? ?

 

[LBrown59]

It was just too expensive filling that tank.

Last time I knew Elect. was the only thing more expensive than LP gas to heat with.

 

[Bird]

Last time I knew Elect. was the only thing more expensive than LP gas to heat with.

Our home is total electric and I don't even worry about heating costs, but the cooling costs right now is what hurts.

 

[dmccarty]

My last power bill was $171 due to the high temps and running the AC. Average bill is $112ish and we can drop below $100 in the non AC months. Our power costs 10 cents a KWH which is not bad. Heard some places are much worse. The power bill for old house which was half the size of the "new" house was about the same. We would push up toward $180 with the high temps in August and the low temps in January. Since we heat with wood the low temps don't cost me anything anymore.

I hear family and friends using propane complaining about spending $300-500 a month to heat during the winter. That just shocks the heck out of me. Given todays prices they may be in a coma after seeing the prices for this winter.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

That sounds good to me, Dan. My last bill was $238.22 but we paid $.1363 a kwh.

 

[Bird]

It's not a small house

Yeah, but mine is. I'm only air-conditioning 1,295 sq. ft. continuously with a central HVAC system (Rheem heat pump), and occasionally the 21' x 25' shop with a Whirlpool window unit. And we just have 4 ceiling fans.

 

[dmccarty]

Our house is 2,425 sf with 10 foot ceilings. We do keep the thermastat at 81/82 during the day and I might kick it up to 83 at night. At night if the humidity is 60 or below and the temp are going to be cool, I'll open a couple of windows. Helps the power bill, we like the fresh cool air and we get to hear the night critters. One of the hawks was out keeeing at dawn this morning.

I saw a blurb about how people are reacting to higher fuel/power bills. One lady said she no longer keeps the AC set to 71ish. I would hate to see her power bill. The kids side of the house might get to 70 on real cold days in the winter early in the morning if the fire went out. Can't imagine keeping the AC set to 71. The wife would be wearing a sweater in the house. In the summer.

I don't mind keeping the house on the warm side and the wife is kind reptilian in her need for heat. The only time we disagree about the temp is on trips in the truck. I'll be hot and turn on the AC. She will wrap up in a wool blanket. In JULY!

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Dan, that's another big difference between us. For most of my life, I liked the fresh air and liked having windows open, but we haven't had a window open in at least a month and a half and don't expect to have any weather to open a window until after Labor Day at the earliest.

But my wife and I and the dog go in and out so often that we ought to have a revolving door, so we do let some fresh air in.

We don't mess with the thermostat all summer. It's a programmable one, but we just leave it the same 24/7. And you may have guessed, it's 71 degrees in here, and I'd sure hate for it to get above 73. I don't know how you measure your temperature in the house, but our thermostat is set on 78. In other words, it's that far off because by leaving it on 78 all summer, my real thermometer shows 71 plus or minus one degree.

We kept our daughter's two Maltese dogs this past weekend and took them home Sunday afternoon just before our daughter got home. I didn't have a good thermometer with me, but the minute we walked in that house, my wife said something about it being terribly hot in there. I found that my daughter had turned off the air-conditioning, so I simply turned it on. I didn't mess with her thermostat setting, but it showed to be set to 80 and was actually 83 in the house. And yep, that was certainly not dangerously hot, but sure was uncomfortably hot.

 

[dmccarty]

I don't know how you measure your temperature in the house, but our thermostat is set on 78.

With a thermometer of course!

The one mistake I made when building the house was the placement of the thermostat. Its on a wall in the living room. I could have moved it 6 inches and been around the corner in the Kitchen but the space was tight so it went where it went. The problem with the placement is that the thermostat is right above the big huge hot CRT TV. So the TV warms up the thermostat. Moving it to the kitchen likely would not have helped but I have always wondered. I think we should have put it in the dining room but that is not convenient... Danged if you do danged if you don't.

We have ceiling fans in every room except the utility and bathrooms. Each of the fans has a remote which is very nice. As a bonus each remote has a thermometer. So I know what the temp is in each room of the house.

Our study with two laptops and two desktops plus people is at 85 at the moment. Its real nice in the winter thought especially with the passive solar. But its comfortable for me in the summer. Wifey just basks in there. Our bedroom is at 78. The other rooms are around 80. Themostat is 82.

The house would be more efficient if we had not put in all of the windows but we love the view of the woods.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

With a thermometer of course!

I really walked into that one, didn't I? I was thinking about the fact that I have some pretty accurate thermometers, but the HVAC thermostat is quite a ways off. I've read all the manual without finding any ajustment.

The house we had for the last 11+ years before I retired was 2,471 sq. ft. and had the thermostat in the hall. That was generally no problem, except when we used the fireplace in the "family room" or "den". It was quite a long distance from the thermostat and around three 90 degree turns, so the heat from the fireplace did not affect the thermostat, and occasionally that room would get too hot.

 

[atgreene]

It's going to be a rough winter. My little excavation co. is running $2500 per month in fuel.

I use an indoor wood boiler and oil to heat my 4000 sq. foot house and wood to heat the 3200' garage. I am going to look at adding pex to the underside of my 1 st. floor, the basement has heat in the slab, and add a 600-800 gallon water storage tank so the boiler works more efficiently.

At $7 per gallon for oil, there will be a lot of people in deep trouble.

 

[sunspot]

I do know that LPG is $2.19 for prepay here.

Why is Birmingham always so much higher? I just called and pre-pay is $2.89.

 

[RollTideRam]

I am on my 3rd gas company in 18 years. I guess each company can only be the cheapest for a while. My Dad next door bought his tank, so he can go with any company. Call around, the price varies for some reason. JC

 

[skargo]

This could be huge!

Some oil producers see now as time to sell - Jul. 17, 2008