The cost of fuel oil versus????

15 years ago

Hello all, As the winter approaches I'm trying to find a better way to heat my home/domestic water (less expensive)....

I heat my home(2000 s.f.) with a Ford(20 years old) oil fired boiler and the domestic water is also heated this way (on demand per se.,no storage tank)

My current price on fuel oil is $4.53 a gallon and sure to go up (in 1989 ,I pd,.77 cents a gallon :o( .

Natural gas is at the top of the street ,but not enough neighbors want to "hook up" so I can't get natural gas yet ...I also have a 300 pound L.P. tank that the dryer and cook stove run off ,L.P. cost me $4.28 a gallon on last fill up...

I also have an electric fireplace that I'm thinking of using in the living room(it's currenty downstairs in the master bedroom ) to offset the heating of the upstairs living space with ...as I believe it will be cheaper to heat with electricity versus oil ...

I have never liked the On demand part of my domestic hot water thru the oil fired furnace ,and my thoughts are to install an electric hot water tank ,so I heat the domestic hot water with electricity and not fuel oil ....fuel oil will be only for heating the house .....I have looked at the on demand electric water heaters ,but just don't know much about them ,I could go on demand with L.P. but I don't really see any cost savings there .....I don't burn wood,or pellets or anything else taht requires lugging, as lugging stuff to burn in just not up my aisle ....nor my wifes...

Any and all thought would be appreciated ,there are 4 of us living here ,the house is well insulated (I did it my self) ...Thanks Jim

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Comments (10)

tigerdunes
15 years ago
jimc

what area of country do you live? Vt?

what is your electric rate?

any chance that neighbors can make case with local nat gas company for hookup?

what is cost of LP?

is geothermal a possibility?

IMO
funnycide
15 years ago
Your electric rate would have to be less than $0.14/ kwh for it to make sense for you to run an electric heater. Do you have central air? It may make sense to install a heat pump.
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dwpc
15 years ago
I can offer no specific advise, but you're smart to start investigating now. If the oil price trend continues, there will be a rush in late Fall by people in the NE for new heating systems and fuel sources. Prices for equipment and installation will probably rise dramatically with demand.
frog_hopper
15 years ago
Price a ground source (geothermal) heat pump.
countryboymo
15 years ago
A new thing on the horizon here in the US to check into is a heat pump water heater. They can be purchased as stand alone units as part of a tank heater or by themselves. For every unit of electricity you get 2-3 units of heat and also the ability to dehumidify and condition the basement or garage or some other area. Other countries that have had higher utility costs have used them for many years. I have no clue why we haven't.
garymunson-2008
15 years ago
If you are in an area that allows a heat pump water heater to work, you should be using a heat recovery unit on your AC-Heat Pump instead. You are moving that heat around anyway...you might as well use it to heat your water for free (also raises your heat pump's SEER rating a couple of points. Should be required by law in hotter areas IMHO..Gary

I really worry about people who are in the northeast now...The rising cost of fuel oil is going to have serious consequences on their finances. I'm scrambling here in Florida to come up with any strategy I can to lessen the coming impact of the higher electric bills that I'm sure are on the way...Worst case scenario here in Florida I can just go without air and sit and sweat...Going without heat isn't much of a option up north..
heimert
15 years ago
Why not look into getting an indirect water heater and tank hooked up to the current boiler. We have that, although with natural gas. But there's no reason it couldn't work with an oil boiler. All it does is run water heated by the boiler through a storage tank, heating that water, and then returning it to the boiler for reheating. Obviously the boiler is also connected to radiators, and valves send the hot water as appropriate. Not sure what the cost is to upgrade (and the boiler may need to be larger), but it would likely solve your problems. If you ever get NG, you could then swap out the boiler if desired.
jimc_vt
Original Author
15 years ago
thank-you all for the replies ....no heat pump up here...I'm about 1 hour from the Canada border.....I'll have to check on the cost of electricity rates ,I don't know what they are off hand...I'm going to hold off as long as I can,to see if N.G.comes my way ....The only thing to do now is tighten up the house ......I don't know what a lot of Vermonters will do ????? But pellet stoves and wood stoves are a hot item currently :o( Thanks Jim
taddpeake
15 years ago
I'm in Vermont. I have electric baseboards that haven't been used in years, and a freestanding kerosene Monitor that easily heats my small, open plan condo. The Monitor was very cheap to run until last winter, and this year will be much worse. Yikes!

Below is a link to a PDF from the Vermont Dept. of Public Service that compares prices of available fuels in Vermont right now. The number to compare are $/mmbtu.

Electric and oil are about the same (right this minute). I wouldn't go for electric unless there was no other choice.

I'm betting price disparity between oil and natural gas will continue. Even though gas prices follow oil prices, they seem to rise slower and less dramatically.

Have you looked into pellets? They are about the cheapest fuel and can be very efficient. You can have pellets delivered. I believe there are tanks and delivery systems so that you don't have to feed the furnace. Energex in Quebec or Jaffre in New Hampshire are probably closest to you if you are in VT.

I don't have room for wood or I would consider it.

I'm looking at a gas fireplace insert with blower and heat exchanger, but for the $ to work, the insert would have to be efficient enough to be my primary heat source. I haven't been able to confirm that it would be.

Here is a link that might be useful: PDF - Comparing the Cost of Heating Fuels
janedibber
15 years ago
Go to the Wall on heatinghelp.com for other great opinions. You may want to complete an energy audit and blower door test and try to zip up the house as best you can. No money lost in that investment at all. If your local fire dept has an infra camera, sometimes they offer to take pix.

There are numerous steps you can do to make your current boiler more efficient, such indirect HW, outdoor reset, beckett heat manager, etc

The cost of fuel oil versus????

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tigerdunes

funnycide

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